The FDA Takes Action Against Quack Autism "Cure" Peddlers

The FDA announced on Friday 25 April 2014 that they have issued warnings to "companies" who have been making false, misleading and dangerous claims regarding some of the more heinous "autism cures".

April is National Autism Awareness Month, a fitting time to think about the growing need for concern and awareness about autism.
One thing that is important to know up front: There is no cure for autism. So, products or treatments claiming to “cure” autism do not work as claimed. The same is true of many products claiming to “treat” autism. Some may carry significant health risks.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays an important role in warning these companies against making false or misleading claims.

Some of the "cures" that the FDA has warned about are:

• “Chelation Therapies.” These products claim to cleanse the body of toxic chemicals and heavy metals by binding to them and “removing” them from circulation. They come in a number of forms, including sprays, suppositories, capsules, liquid drops and clay baths. FDA-approved chelating agents are approved for specific uses, such as the treatment of lead poisoning and iron overload, and are available by prescription only. FDA-approved prescription chelation therapy products should only be used under medical supervision. Chelating important minerals needed by the body can lead to serious and life-threatening outcomes.

Chelation has quite a fan base over at the autism-hating pit also known as Age of Autism. Unfortunately for their children who have been subjected to this dangerous "treatment", the need for chelation is based upon bogus tests that use a chelator administered to the child, urine collected and then "tested".  These provoked challenge tests are not recognised as valid by any regulatory authority any where in the world. 

Research suggests that chelating in the absence of heavy metals can actually cause permanent neurological damage in children because the chelators will scavenge essential nutrients necessary for growth and development.  None of those peddling chelation for autism have any safety or efficacy data to support their claims.  Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue peddles chelation along with off-label prescription drug use to "recover" your autistic child.

• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. This involves breathing oxygen in a pressurized chamber and has been cleared by FDA for certain medical uses, such as treating decompression sickness suffered by divers. It has not been cleared for autism, among other conditions.

TACA via autism crank Kenneth Stoller make very specific claims regarding Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and "treating" autism. Forcing special needs children into HBOT chambers is not only cruel but has already resulted in the death of at least one child and his grandmother for another unapproved use of HBOT.  There are no valid data to support HBOT as an effective autism treatment although that doesn't stop the quacks from taking advantage of desperate parents.

• Miracle Mineral Solution. Also known as Miracle Mineral Supplement and MMS, this product becomes a potent chemical that‘s used as bleach when mixed according to package directions. FDA has received reports of consumers who say they experienced nausea, severe vomiting and life-threatening low blood pressure after drinking the MMS and citrus juice mixture.

This is perhaps one of the most horrifying and ludicrous autism "cures" and Kerri Rivera is at the forefront of this disgusting and abusive snake oil peddling.  Ms. Rivera has presented MMS/Chlorine Dioxide (CD) as an autism cure at the premier crankfest AutismOne since 2010 and will be there again this year claiming 128 children "recovered" by bleaching them. Ms. Rivera would have her followers believe that since chlorine dioxide isn't sodium hypochlorite (household bleach) that it isn't a bleach.  She is either too stupid, too evil or both to make this claim as "bleach" is a classification of chemical compounds, not a single one as Emily Willingham so aptly demonstrated.  

Users abusers of MMS/CD report nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhoea but Ms. Rivera blithely exclaims that "it's working".  Parents who force this on their autistic children also report and proudly supply pictures of their children's intestinal mucosa which is sloughing off to which Ms. Rivera claims that it's "parasites".  Ms. Rivera lives hides in Mexico but peddles her snake oil globally so is not immune from FDA action.

• Detoxifying Clay Baths. Added to bath water, these products claim to draw out chemical toxins, pollutants and heavy metals from the body, falsely offering “dramatic improvement” for autism symptoms.

A completely useless and potentially dangerous "autism treatment".  Clay baths are not regulated and can contain harmful contaminants, the very things that peddlers claim they are purging from the body.

• CocoKefir probiotics products. Product claims include being a “major key” to recovery from autism, but they are not proven safe and effective for this advertised use.

CocoKefir is a sponsor of AutismOne this year and although they have received at least one FDA warning letter, are still making claims that their products treat autism. Again, these products are considered supplements and are not regulated so may contain contaminants and other ingredients which are not listed.

I applaud this action by the FDA as special needs children are being subjected to dangerous, harmful and downright abusive "treatments" by dubious quacks and cranks.  Now if only the AMA and AAP will recognise these abusive "treatments" for what they are and disciplining their own physicians, perhaps autistic children may be spared from harms perpetrated by the very people who should be protecting them.

The View of Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy, well known to those following anti-vaccine issues, is vying for a full-time position on ABC's The View in light of departing hosts.  Ms. McCarthy should not be given a platform that can potentially legitimise her and garner a wider audience to spread her anti-vaccine propaganda as Phil Plait writes about.  But even more insidious than her anti-vaccine activities, which she has tried to back away from in an attempt to re-vamp her failing image, is her role as organiser, spokesperson and sponsor of AutismOne.

AutismOne is the crank conference for all manner of quack "cures", "treatments" and "causes" (namely vaccines) for autism spectrum disorders.  The speakers and nostrums being touted at AutismOne are nothing short of child abuse of special needs children.  I have compiled a short list of the most notable "doctors" who Ms. McCarthy signs on to present at AutismOne year after year:

Andrew Wakefield has been named by TIME magazine, one of the great science frauds.  Dr. Wakefield has been struck of the UK's General Medical Council (analogous to the U.S.'s American Medical Association) for over 40 counts of unethical behaviours regarding his treatment of special needs children and others. Dr. Wakefield has also committed fraud regarding his findings that autism was caused by the MMR vaccine by fabricating data.  These studies were subsequently retracted.

Arthur Krigsman is a gastroenterologist who supports Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent science regarding MMR and autism.  He has been disciplined in numerous states for his own unethical behaviour.

Anjum Usman is being sued along with Dr. Dan Rossignol by a parent of an autistic child for unethical medical treatment of his child with chelation.  Dr. Rossignol didn't even examine the child yet prescribed chelation based upon bogus tests performed by Dr. Usman.  The father charges that his child has suffered harm as a result.  Illinois regulators are also seeking charges against Dr. Usman for, "“unprofessional, unethical and/or dishonorable conduct.”

Jeffrey Bradstreet has been lambasted by OAP Special Masters for his unethical and unsubstantiated treatment of autistic children with dangerous and unproven therapies including chelation, HBOT and potent prescription medications. Dr. Bradstreet also recommends exorcism for the "treatment" of autism.  Additionally, Dr. Bradstreet recommends stem cell therapy which is a potentially dangerous and completely untested therapy for autism.  Dr. Bradstreet even recommends unscrupulous, unregulated off-shore clinics.  Dr. Bradstreet also recommends "fecal transplants" for autistic children which is every bit as dreadful as it sounds.  Dr. Bradstreet tries to medicalise the procedure and provides instructions for laypeople, however parents' "biomed" discussion boards convey do-it-yourself "fecal transplants" based upon Dr. Bradstreet's advice that don't involve "donor" testing and amount to having a family member defecate in a bucket, mix it with some water, put the faecal slurry in a pastry bag and force the contents into the rectum of the autistic child.

Dr. Mark Geier and his son David Geier regularly present at AutismOne conferences.  Dr. Mark Geier's medical licence has been either suspended or revoked in all thirteen states he was licensed.   Additional charges against Dr. Geier are pending.  David Geier has been charged with practising medicine without a license.  The reason that the Geier's have faced these charges is for using a powerful chemical-castration drug, Lupron in larger-than-adult-doses on autistic children and then chelating them.  This practise is extremely dangerous, cruel and has no medical basis whatsoever.  The Geier's also justify their use of Lupron to insurance companies by coding for "precocious puberty" even in teenage patients.  A fuller explanation of the Geier's gruesome experimentation on autistic children can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Geier and here: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-05-21/news/chi-autism-lupron-geiers-may21_1_vaccines-and-autism-mark-geier-autism-research

Mayer Eisenstein has also had actions brought against him for insurance fraud and several civil malpractice and fraud suits; this is just one of the doctors that work for Eisenstein.   Dr. Eisenstein proudly announces his anti-vaccine stance and is in business with the Geier's injecting autistic children with Lupron and chelating them.  Dr. Eisenstein is a regular fixture of AutismOne.

Kerri Rivera was a speaker at AutismOne this year and last year and presented her "cure" of autism with Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) which is an industrial bleach.  Ms. Rivera is not a doctor and promotes the use of MMS as an enema, drink and bath to "cure" autism ( http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/bleaching-away-what-ails-you/ ).  Jenny McCarthy through AutismOne gave this woman a stage to disseminate this repulsive "treatment" to parents of autistic children who are desperate and vulnerable.  MMS has been banned in numerous countries and the FDA has issued a warning against it.

I urge you to write to ABC here and/or please sign the Change.org petition to let ABC know just who they are courting for one of their shows.   For the sake of brevity, you can link to this post to highlight Ms. McCarthy's dissemination of abusive "treatments" of special needs children.