‘Autism Speaks’ loses another one

I’ve blogged before about Alison Singer, the high-ranking official at Autism Speaks who resigned due to her frustration with her organization’s pandering to the pseudo-scientific, anti-vaccine crowd. And I’ve also blogged about her more recent founding of the Autism Science Foundation, devoted to helping real autism research, and about their new blog on WordPress.

Well now the Autism Science Foundation blog  is reporting that another key official from Autism Speaks, Dr. Eric London, has left the organization for similar reasons:

Dr. Eric London has announced his resignation from the Autism Speaks Scientific Affairs Committee.  London is the Director of the Autism Treatment Laboratory at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. He is also Chief Scientific Advisor of the New York State Autism Consortium and a member of the Autism Science Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.  He is the co-founder of the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR).

Here is an excerpt from his resignation:

However, the pivotal issue compelling my decision is the position which Autism Speaks is taking concerning vaccinations. The arguments which Dr. Dawson and others assert– that the parents need even further assurances and there might be rare cases of “biologically plausible” vaccine involvement –are misleading and disingenuous. Through its website and other communications, Autism Speaks has been influential and contributory in encouraging parents’ doubts. By preferentially investing and advocating for the use of limited financial resources on the “biological plausibility” argument, the organization is adversely impacting the advancement of autism research.

Recent reports have documented significant outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases which could have been controlled and even eradicated. The lowering of the vaccination rate has already led to deaths. If Autism Speaks’ misguided stance continues, there will be more deaths and potentially the loss of herd immunity which would result in serious outbreaks of otherwise preventable disease. I further fear that if and when herd immunity is lost, there may be a societal backlash against the autism community.

In my role as an Autism Speaks Scientific Affairs Committee member, I would be lending credibility to an organization whose scientific agenda and positions I can no longer ethically support. Please accept my resignation, effective immediately. 

I applaud Dr. London’s decision. His departure itself will no doubt hurt the credibility of the anti-vaccinations but now hopefully he’ll also be actively promoting good science while actively challenging their claims. So far Age of Autism hasn’t started their inevitable smear campaign against Dr. London, but I surmise as I write this blog, they’re working feaverishly through on how to spin this story. They’ll probably go with same pack of lies they spread about Alison Singer. Congratulations Dr. London. You’ve just inherited an army of zombie cultists who will stop at nothing to destroy you.