Parents push U.S. government to take on controversial autism research

CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press CHICAGO — Pressured by desperate parents, government researchers are pushing to test an unproven treatment on autistic children, a move some scientists see as an unethical experiment in voodoo medicine. The treatment removes heavy metals from the body and is based on the fringe theory that mercury in vaccines triggers autism — a theory never proved and rejected by mainstream science. Mercury hasn't been in childhood vaccines since 2001. But many parents of autistic children are believers, and the head of the National Institute of Mental Health supports testing it on children provided the tests are safe. “So many moms have said, ‘It's saved my kids,”' institute director Dr. Thomas Insel said. For now, the proposed study, not widely known outside the community of autism research and... [read full story]