Wildfire Smoke and Autism

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss various ideas about what causes the condition.

A release from Tulane University:

Exposure to wildfire smoke during the final months of pregnancy may raise the risk that a child is later diagnosed with autism, according to a new study led by Tulane University researchers.

The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, analyzed more than 200,000 births in Southern California from 2006 to 2014. Researchers found that children whose mothers were exposed to wildfire smoke during the third trimester were more likely to be diagnosed with autism by age 5.

The strongest association was observed among mothers exposed to more than 10 days of wildfire smoke during the final three months of pregnancy. In that group, children had a 23% higher risk of autism diagnoses compared to those whose mothers were never exposed to smoke from wildfires during pregnancy.

The study is the first to examine the potential link of prenatal wildfire smoke exposure and autism. The findings do not establish a conclusive link between prenatal wildfire exposure and autism but add to growing evidence of the adverse impact of air pollutants on fetal neurological development.

Here is a long. growing, and probably incomplete list of other correlates, risk factors, and possible causes that have been the subject of serious studies: 

1. Inflammatory bowel disease;
2. Pesticides;
3. Air pollution and proximity to freeways;
4. Maternal thyroid issues;
5. Autoimmune disorders;
6. Induced labor;
7. Preterm birth;
8. Fever;  
9. Birth by cesarean section;
10. Anesthesia during cesarean sections;
11. Maternal and paternal obesity;
12. Maternal diabetes;
13. Maternal and paternal age;
14. Grandparental age;
15. Maternal post-traumatic stress disorder;
16. Maternal anorexia;
17. Smoking during pregnancy;
18. Cannabis use during pregnancy;
19. Antidepressant use during pregnancy;
20. Polycystic ovary syndrome;
21. Infant opioid withdrawal;
22. Zinc deficiency;
23. Sulfate deficiency;
24. Processed foods;
25. Maternal occupational exposure to solvents;
26. Congenital heart disease;
27. Insufficient placental allopregnanolone.
28. Estrogen in the womb;
29. Morning sickness;
30. Paternal family history;
31. Parental preterm birth;
32. Antiseizure meds
33. Location of forebears
34. Lithium
35. Aspartame
36. BPA
37. Brain inflammation
38. Maternal asthma
39. Infertility
40. Ultraprocessed foods
41. Household chemicals
42. Parental psychiatric disorders
43. Fluoride
44. Fatty acids in umbilical cord blood
45. Maternal inflammation during pregnancy
46. COVID-19

 

CDC Official: Losing Measles Elimination Status is "Just the Cost of Doing Business"

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

He has now hijacked the CDC website -- and the CDC itself.

Sarah Owermohle at CNN:

Ongoing measles outbreaks in multiple parts of the country are threatening the United States’ status as a nation that has eliminated the virus’ spread, but a CDC leader said Tuesday that the potential change is not a big concern.

Tuesday’s briefing was federal officials’ first on a continuing South Carolina outbreak that has totaled at least 646 cases, according to the state’s health department. There were roughly 760 cases in the West Texas outbreak last year, making it one of the largest and deadliest measles outbreaks that the US has seen in decades.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Principal Deputy Director Dr. Ralph Abraham, a former Louisiana surgeon general who ended some vaccine promotion in his state, argued at the briefing Tuesday that transmission between these states, as well as other outbreaks, has not been proved. But he also said that the US losing elimination status would not be a grave concern.

...

Asked during the briefing whether he would see that as a significant loss, Abraham said, “not really.”

“It’s just the cost of doing business with our borders,” Abraham said. “We have these communities that choose to be unvaccinated. That’s their personal freedom.”

,

Trial Lawyers and Vaccines

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

He has now hijacked the CDC website -- and the CDC itself.

Amanda Chu at Politico:

Signs of a new legal opportunity emerged earlier this month when Kennedy removed four childhood vaccines from the routine schedule – a move lawyers say could increase litigation against drugmakers. While patients can still receive the vaccines, they are no longer routinely recommended, giving the secretary a legal pathway to exclude them from the table of vaccines covered in the government-run vaccine-injury compensation program without needing congressional approval. That, in turn, would force vaccine-injured patients to sue drugmakers directly for compensation.

“If they remove various vaccines from the vaccine injury table, that would permit consumers to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable in instances where the company failed to warn that the vaccine causes a harm or where the company could have made the vaccine safer but didn’t,” said Aaron Siri, a trial lawyer who has worked with Kennedy.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was created by Congress in 1986 after a series of lawsuits against vaccine makers prompted many of them to pull out of the market. The no-fault program provided an immunity shield to vaccine makers while also lowering the burden of proof for people seeking compensation through the program compared to what they’d face in court.
...

The golden age of tort suits, when attorneys had asbestos and tobacco companies to go after, may be over. Tort cases have remained low over the past decade, representing only 6 percent of incoming state trial court civil caseloads in 2024, compared to 7 percent in 2014, according to the Center for Justice and Democracy’s comparison of data from the National Center for State Courts. “The arc of American civil litigation bends not toward expansion but toward contraction,” said Nora Freeman Engstrom, an expert on tort law at Stanford University.

When it comes to vaccines, personal injury lawyers who specialize in using the existing compensation system say most plaintiffs alleging they were hurt by a vaccine are likely to do worse in court. Courts will require a higher burden of proof than the compensation program and damages may be too small for a trial lawyer to be interested in pursuing a case, they said.

“The focus on vaccine injury has been dulled and blurred and politicized,” said Robert Krakow, a vaccine injury lawyer who has worked with Kennedy on past litigation, including suits against Merck over the Gardasil vaccine.

Focus on Helping Autistic People, Not Spreading Pseudoscience

 A number of posts have discussed Trump's support for discredited notions about autism 

Challenging Claims of an Autism Epidemic — Misconceptions and a Path Forward

Authors: Tara Eicher, Ph.D., John Quackenbush, Ph.D., and Ari Ne’eman, Ph.D.Published January 17, 2026DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2514250

The history of autism offers many reasons for fraught relationships between clinicians and autistic persons and their families. For decades, the psychiatric and especially psychoanalytic communities relied on psychodynamic theories of the causation of autism that blamed “refrigerator mothers.” It is thus unsurprising that a culture of distrust exists between parents of autistic children and physicians — a distrust that the president only exacerbates when he suggests that physicians are withholding information from families about environmental causes. This rhetoric, specifically the blaming of mothers who use acetaminophen during pregnancy for their children’s impairments, harkens back to past decades. Such rhetoric can cause concrete harms, encouraging expectant mothers to forgo essential treatment for fever and leading parents to turn to an exploitative alternative medicine industry peddling costly pseudoscience that frequently harms autistic people.

Autistic people and their families do deserve answers — not answers involving ill-conceived “causes” and pseudoscientific “cures,” but answers to their aspirations for improved services, medical care, and inclusion in society. Much needs to be done to shift the focus of existing autism-research investments toward issues of immediate relevance to autistic people and their families. Researchers who make this shift can help address the root causes of mistrust that make some parents of autistic people so receptive to pseudoscientific treatments and theories of causation. Unfortunately, the direction the federal government is taking on autism seems calculated to exacerbate the divide.

Research programs can be designed to maximize the benefits for autistic people and their families by studying both causes and the most effective and meaningful services and supports in an appropriate balance. Such a constructive shift will not be accomplished, however, by means of alarmist claims about autism as an epidemic, chasing of ill-supported and debunked theories of causation, and further stigmatizing autism. Instead, it will require building strong, collaborative research programs in which researchers from diverse fields join forces with autistic people and their families to generate lasting change.

Measles Update

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

He has now hijacked the CDC website -- and the CDC itself.

Erika Edwards at NBC:

The South Carolina measles outbreak is growing at an astounding speed.

“Over the last seven to nine days, we’ve had upwards of over 200 new cases. That’s doubled just in the last week,” Dr. Johnathon Elkes, an emergency medicine physician at Prisma Health in Greenville, South Carolina, said during a media briefing Friday. “We feel like we’re really kind of staring over the edge, knowing that this is about to get a lot worse.”

On Friday, the state’s health department said that 124 measles cases had been diagnosed since Tuesday, bringing the state’s total since the outbreak began last fall to 558.

A spokesperson for the South Carolina Health Department said in an email that “eight people, including adults and children, required hospitalization for complications of the disease since the start of the outbreak.” It was unclear how many people are currently hospitalized.

During the Friday briefing, Prisma Health pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Robin LaCroix estimated that 200 people are now “actively infected.”

Melanie Zanona and Brennan Leach at NBC:

President Donald Trump encouraged Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., to primary Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., for his U.S. Senate seat in a post on Truth Social Saturday evening.

"Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!" Trump wrote.

...

NBC News previously reported that the White House has assured Letlow that its support would be there if she chooses to jump into the race. But White House officials didn’t want to get involved too early in the primary for fear of alienating Cassidy, who chairs a key committee and has provided some pivotal votes for the GOP last year — including to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Cassidy voted to impeach Trump for "incitement of insurrection" and has also been critical of Kennedy. However, Cassidy has not brought Kennedy in for an oversight hearing before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee since May, despite the secretary's promise to appear before the Committee "on a quarterly basis" if requested.

Cassidy invited Kennedy for a hearing to review changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, but the Senator continues to tell NBC News that there is no date set for that hearing to take place.

Lit Review Debunks Trump's Claim about Tylenol and Autism

 A number of posts have discussed Trump's support for discredited notions about autism The Sept 22 White House news conference was a firehose of lies. The next month, he posted an unfounded warning about Tylenol.  RFK then tiptoed away from the idea that it definitely causes autism.  A BMJ lit review debunked the idea.  A Lancet review has now done likewise.

O. Rose Broderick at STAT:

Acetaminophen use during pregnancy is not likely to raise the risk of having a child with autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability, according to a new study published Friday.

Researchers across Europe reexamined evidence from multiple studies investigating the link between these conditions and the use of paracetamol — called acetaminophen in the United States — and found that these purported associations fell apart after controlling for confounding factors.

Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has long been a frontline medication for relieving pain or fever in people who are pregnant. The scientific literature shows that this practice shouldn’t change, said co-author Asma Khalil, obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine professor at St. George’s Hospital, University of London.

“The message really is clear,” said Khalil. “Paracetamol remains a safe option during pregnancy when taken as guided — for the duration that’s needed, with a correct dose.”

Independent health experts praised the study’s methods and conclusions, which diverge sharply from the recommendations offered by President Trump and top health officials in September, when they said that acetaminophen should be used only if absolutely needed during pregnancy and launched a nationwide public information campaign to inform doctors and families of the purported risk. Their announcement came as part of their bid to find the cause of autism, which decades of research has already linked to primarily genetic factors.

The findings of this new study, published in The Lancet, are unlikely to change these recommendations. Health and Human Services officials said the study did not refute claims from other researchers.

 

FDA Deletes Warning About Bogus Autism Treatments

In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The conventional wisdom is that any kind of treatment is likely to be less effective as the child gets older, so parents of autistic children usually believe that they are working against the clock. They will not be satisfied with the ambiguities surrounding ABA, nor will they want to wait for some future research finding that might slightly increase its effectiveness. They want results now. Because there are no scientifically-validated drugs for the core symptoms of autism, they look outside the boundaries of mainstream medicine and FDA approval. Studies have found that anywhere from 28 to 54 percent of autistic children receive “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), and these numbers probably understate CAM usage.

A lot of people in RFK Jr's MAHA orbit are making a lot of money from supplements. 

Beth Mole at ArsTechnica:

For years, the Food and Drug Administration provided an informational webpage for parents warning them of the dangers of bogus autism treatments, some promoted by anti-vaccine activists and “wellness” companies. The page cited specifics scams and the “significant health risks” they pose.

But, under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who has numerous ties to the wellness industry—that FDA information webpage is now gone. It was quietly deleted at the end of last year, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to Ars Technica.

The defunct webpage, titled “Be Aware of Potentially Dangerous Products and Therapies that Claim to Treat Autism,” provided parents and other consumers with an overview of the problem. It began with a short description of autism and some evidence-based, FDA-approved medications that can help manage autism symptoms. Then, the regulatory agency provided a list of some false claims and unproven, potentially dangerous treatments it had been working to combat. “Some of these so-called therapies carry significant health risks,” the FDA wrote.

The list included chelation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, treatments that those in the anti-vaccine and wellness spheres have championed

Measles 2026

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

CDC:

As of January 13, 2026, 171 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 171 measles cases were reported by 9 jurisdictions: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. A total of 0 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

CIDRAP:

South Carolina health officials yesterday said the state now has 434 measles cases after 124 new cases have been confirmed.

There are currently 409 South Carolinians in quarantine and 17 in isolation, with some quarantines extending to February 6. Mobile vaccine units will be active this week, and officials urge local residents to get vaccinated.

“Vaccination now can avoid long quarantines at home for those exposed to the measles virus. Vaccination within 72 hours of exposure can prevent measles infections,” the state’s department of public health said in its update.

Almost all cases come from the Upstate region in an outbreak centered in Spartanburg County that began in October and has involved exposures at several schools and churches. Spartanburg County is home to several charter schools with a significant number of students with religious exemptions from routine vaccinations.

In South Carolina, religious exemption from vaccination requires a notarized form but not a doctor’s note. One of the schools involved in the initial weeks of the outbreak, Global Academy of South Carolina, had only a 17% vaccination rate during the 2024-25 school year.

Of the 434 measles patients tracked in the past six months, 378 are unvaccinated and 47 have unknown vaccination status. Only six patients have been fully vaccinated, and three have been partially vaccinated. Two-thirds of all measles case-patients in South Carolina are between the ages of 5 and 17 (287 cases).

Masked ICE Agents Manhandle Autistic Woman

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.  When cops encounter autistic people, they may not respond in the same way as NT people, and things can get out of hand. Among other things, they may misinterpret autistic behavior as aggressive or defiant. Training could help.

From the Autism Society of Minnesota:

On Tuesday, January 13, Minnesota Public Radio shared a story on its social media page showing video of a woman in visible distress as she was pulled from her car, cut from her seatbelt, tackled forcefully, and carried to an unmarked vehicle by four masked ICE agents in South Minneapolis. As she was carried — suspended above the ground by her arms and legs — she can be heard clearly stating: “I am autistic and have a brain injury,” “I am disabled, trying to go to the doctor up there,” “It takes me a second to understand,” and “I am disabled and need accommodations.”

In separate social media videos posted by others, the woman is ultimately identified by name, and civilian reports confirm that she was detained and released by approximately 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. She is confirmed to be a U.S. citizen.

Context from multiple posts and videos indicates that the woman, who is autistic and was driving alone, turned onto a street in South Minneapolis as part of her usual route to her doctor’s office. Based on her statements, it is presumed that she encountered an area heavily occupied by ICE activity but did not deviate from her route. She was subsequently approached by officers who accused her of obstructing their activity with her vehicle.

In addition to widespread concern regarding the tactics demonstrated by ICE agents in this and other known incidents in Minnesota, the Autism Society of Minnesota is deeply troubled by the heightened vulnerability of citizens with autism and other invisible disabilities amid the ongoing tension between community members and ICE.

It is well documented and nationally recognized that autistic individuals, as a direct function of their diagnosis, may experience significant difficulty during interactions with law enforcement due to differences in communication, processing speed, tolerance for the unexpected, and sensory overload—independent of intelligence or intent.

Autistic people are often known to adhere to established routines or plans, despite apparent disruptions, and require additional time to process verbal instructions, particularly when under stress. Some autistic people lose the ability to plan speech or movement when overwhelmed, frightened, or confused. Autistic people are often encouraged by authorities to disclose their disability to law enforcement or emergency responders, who may misinterpret their behavior as defiance.

The woman depicted in the MPR story exhibits numerous indicators of the real and well-documented vulnerabilities that autistic individuals may experience during law enforcement encounters. These vulnerabilities are so widely recognized that the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board requires all licensed peace officers in the state to complete four hours of training focused on recognizing and appropriately supporting autistic individuals to improve safety and community outcomes. Officers must recertify every three years to maintain their licensure.

The interaction observed and recorded between the woman and ICE agents in the MPR story demonstrates no apparent acknowledgment of, or competency in, responding to a disclosed disability or de-escalating an interaction involving a vulnerable individual. Federal immigration agents are not held to, trained in, or motivated by the standards Minnesota expects of law enforcement officers interacting with disabled community members.

The Autism Society of Minnesota is deeply concerned for all autistic individuals, who are statistically estimated to be 7–12 times more likely to encounter law enforcement due to disability-related processing differences. We advise autistic adults and families to exercise extreme caution in areas of ICE activity throughout Minnesota, regardless of any intent to exercise First Amendment rights.

Finally, we call upon our city and state leaders to consider this specific risk — among many others — as ICE continues to perpetuate harm through a range of deeply concerning interactions with diverse members of our community. Our community deserves safety and access to systems informed by best practices.

More States Reject RFK Jr's Vaccine Lunacy

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

He has now hijacked the CDC website -- and the CDC itself.

Liz Szabo at CIDRAP:

A growing number of states are pushing back against sweeping changes to the US childhood vaccine schedule.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an overhaul of the immunization schedule January 5, paring the number of universally recommended immunizations from 17 to 11.

Since then, at least 17 states have announced that they won’t follow new CDC vaccine schedule: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Instead, these states say they plan to follow vaccine guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which continues to recommend immunization plans approved by the CDC prior to the Trump administration.

 ...

Late last week, the AAP and more than 200 health groups sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers “to conduct swift and robust oversight regarding the abrupt changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule.”

Autism Barbie

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss depictions of ASD in popular culture.  In 2022, Mattel, Inc announced  the introduction of Bruno, the first autistic character in the iconic Thomas & Friends franchise.

A release from Mattel:

Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) unveiled today its first-ever autistic Barbie doll created with guidance from the autistic community to represent common ways autistic people may experience, process, and communicate about the world around them. This doll invites more children to see themselves represented in Barbie.

Developed for more than 18 months in partnership with ASAN, a non-profit disability rights organization run by and for autistic people that advocates for the rights of the autistic community, this doll joins the Barbie Fashionistas collection, which features the most diverse range of skin tones, hair textures, body types, and various medical conditions and disabilities.

“Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see and the possibilities they imagine, and we’re proud to introduce our first autistic Barbie as part of that ongoing work,” said Jamie Cygielman, Global Head of Dolls, Mattel. “The doll, designed with guidance from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, helps to expand what inclusion looks like in the toy aisle and beyond because every child deserves to see themselves in Barbie."

In close collaboration with ASAN, the Barbie design team made intentional design choices for the autistic Barbie doll to authentically reflect some experiences individuals on the autism spectrum may relate to. The autistic Barbie doll features and accessories include: Body: The autistic Barbie doll features elbow and wrist articulation, enabling stimming, hand flapping, and other hand gestures that some members of the autistic community use to process sensory information or express excitement.Eye Gaze: The doll is designed with an eye gaze shifted slightly to the side, which reflects how some members of the autistic community may avoid direct eye contact.Accessories: Each doll comes with a pink finger clip fidget spinner, noise-cancelling headphones and a tablet.Fidget Spinner: The doll holds a pink finger clip fidget spinner that actually spins, offering a sensory outlet that can help reduce stress and improve focus.

Headphones: Pink noise-cancelling headphones rest on top of the doll’s head as a helpful and fashionable accessory that reduces sensory overload by blocking out background noise.
Tablet: A pink tablet showing symbol-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication apps (AAC) on its screen serves as a tool to help with everyday communication. Sensory-Sensitive Fashions: The doll wears a loose-fitting, purple pinstripe A-line dress with short sleeves and a flowy skirt that provides less fabric-to-skin contact. Purple shoes complete the outfit, with flat soles to promote stability and ease of movement.

“As proud members of the autistic community, our ASAN team was thrilled to help create the first-ever autistic Barbie doll. It is so important for young autistic people to see authentic, joyful representations of themselves, and that’s exactly what this doll is. Partnering with Barbie allowed us to share insights and guidance throughout the design process to ensure the doll fully represents and celebrates the autistic community, including the tools that help us be independent. We’re honored to see this milestone come to life, and we will keep pushing for more representation like this that supports our community in dreaming big and living proud.” - Colin Killick, Executive Director, Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)

As part of the doll launch, Barbie is teaming up with advocates for the autistic community, including mother-daughter duo Precious and Mikko Mirage, autism advocate and creative entrepreneur Madison Marilla, and autistic fashion designer and visual artist Aarushi Pratap, to celebrate their lived experiences and lifestyles. The Barbie team filmed a unique video with them to capture and honor their personal experience with autism and delighted reactions to seeing the autistic Barbie doll for the first time. The video is available to view on the Mattel YouTube channel.

“Dolls have always brought me comfort, stability, and joy. I’ve been collecting Barbie dolls since I was four years old, and now this autistic Barbie will be one of my favorites,” said Madison Marilla, Autism Advocate and Creative Entrepreneur. “My good friend said these words to me, let yourself out and don't hold yourself in, and it taught me how to educate people about autism. This autistic Barbie makes me feel truly seen and heard. I hope all the kids I’ve mentored feel the same when they see her, and I hope people who aren’t autistic feel educated and gain a better understanding of autism when they see this doll.”

Consistent with the Fashionistas dolls representing individuals with type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome and blindness, the autistic Barbie doll was named and created with the community’s guidance to allow more children to see themselves in Barbie. This doll, along with the entire Fashionistas collection boasts over 175+ looks, can help children better understand the world around them by encouraging doll play outside of a child’s own lived experience. It’s yet another step in making the Barbie brand a more inclusive reflection of the children who play with it.

Building on the importance of feeling understood and connected through play, beginning in 2020, Barbie set out to research the short- and long-term benefits of doll play through a multi-year study with researchers at Cardiff University, finding that playing with dolls activates parts of children’s brains involved in empathy and social processing skills. In recent years, the study has continued to build on these findings, suggesting that doll play could help develop social skills for all children, including those who display neurodivergent traits commonly associated with autism.

To celebrate the launch, Barbie will donate more than 1,000 autistic Barbie dolls to leading pediatric hospitals that provide specialized services for children on the autism spectrum, including Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), and Rady Children’s Hospital Orange County. This donation is intended to bring moments of joy, comfort, and representation to the community, reinforcing the power of play to foster connection and confidence.

The autistic Barbie doll is now available on Mattel Shop and from major retailers.

WHO Committee Reaffirms It One More Time: VACCINES DON'T CAUSE AUTISM

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread.    Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.  A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.

He has now hijacked the CDC website -- and the CDC itself.

A release from the World Health Organization:

New analysis from a WHO global expert committee on vaccine safety has found that, based on available evidence, no causal link exists between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The conclusion reaffirms WHO’s position that childhood vaccines do not cause autism.

The Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), established in 1999, brings together international experts to provide independent and authoritative scientific advice to WHO on global vaccine safety related priorities.

The latest analysis, discussed by the Committee on 27 November 2025, focused first on the relationship between thiomersal-containing vaccines and ASD, and the association between vaccines in general and ASD. Evidence based on 31 primary research studies, published between January 2010 and August 2025, including data from multiple countries, strongly supports the positive safety profile of vaccines used during childhood and pregnancy, and confirms the absence of a causal link with ASD.

The Committee also assessed the review of potential health risks associated with vaccines with aluminum adjuvants, drawing on studies conducted from 1999 through March 2023. In addition, it reviewed a recent large cohort study analyzing nationwide registry data of children born in Denmark between 1997 and 2018. In summary, the available high-quality evidence shows no association between the trace amounts of aluminum used in some vaccines and ASD, supporting the ongoing use of vaccines with aluminum adjuvants.

Following its review, GACVS reaffirms its previous conclusions from 2002, 2004 and 2012: vaccines, including those with thiomersal and/or aluminum, do not cause autism.

WHO advises all national authorities to rely on the latest science and ensure vaccine policies are grounded in the strongest available evidence. Global childhood immunization efforts represent one of the greatest achievements in improving lives, livelihoods and the prosperity of societies. During the past 50 years, childhood immunization has saved at least 154 million lives.