A 2006 paper reported that autism rates have started to decline, according to a California reporting system and a nationwide one. The declines, you will see if you look, are very clear. They started soon after mercury began to be removed from childhood vaccines. Richard Herrnstein, the psychologist, coined a useful phrase: to praise with faint damn. I thought of it when I read comments (here and here) criticizing this study because of the journal it is in.
According to the Sacramento Bee,
Experts said, however, that they don’t know what’s causing the numbers to fall off.
“Perhaps whatever caused (the number of cases) to go up … is no longer present,” said Dr. Robert Hendren, executive director of the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, which researches neurodevelopmental disorders.
No kidding.