From Fox News’ Entertainment blog, CNN:

In the wake of news that she is splitting up with actor Jim Carrey, actress and autism activist Jenny McCarthy is closing her school, Teach2Talk Academy, reports Fox News.

Earlier this week, Carrey announced his split with McCarthy via a Twitter post signed with an emoticon.

“Jenny and I have just ended our 5yr relationship. I’m grateful 4 the many blessings we’ve shared and I wish her the very best! S’okay! ?;^>”

The celebrity duo had provided glamor to the autism cause as they promoted controversial anti-vaccine messages, offered hope of autism cures, and marketed McCarthy’s books on the subject. McCarthy, a one-time Playboy playmate, is the mother of a son who has been diagnosed with autism.

Earlier posts here.

The NBC Today Show marks UN-designated World Autism Awareness Day with a feature about the disorder, which affects tens of millions of people around the world. Among those highlighted are Autism Speaks founders Bob and Suzanne Wright, developmental pediatrician Cece McCarton, and parents Shelly and Jed Milstein, who have two sons with autism.

Autism Speaks reports that the rate of diagnoses now stands at approximately one in 110 children and one in 70 boys, a rate that has risen 600 percent in the past two decades. McCarton says the increase is caused in part by heightened awareness, but says researchers suspect other factors are involved.

Bob Wright says few school districts are providing appropriate therapies, and the cost of purchasing services privately is crushing the finances of many families. (Related post here.) He says fifteen states have passed measures requiring insurers to cover autism therapies, and says venture capitalists are beginning to work on therapies that might prove to be profitable.

See also:

ESPN: Curt Schilling’s wife pens book about son’s diagnosis with Asperger’s

CNN: Ten sites to check if your child has autism

CNN blog: The latest on autism research

PEB.com: Autism insurance gathers momentum

From the New York Times:

A parliamentary hold has been placed on the nomination of autism self-advocate Ari Ne’eman to the National Council on Disability amid a growing controversy about his views. President Obama’s seven other nominees to the council were confirmed by the Senate this month.

Ne’eman, 22, has a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome and is the founder of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. He has said that autism is a naturally occurring form of “neurodiversity” that should be embraced and accommodated, not cured. Critics, including the co-founder of the advocacy group Autism Speaks, say Ne’eman’s view fails to represent individuals on the autism spectrum who lack basic communication and self-care skills.

Historically, the kind of genetic research supported by many parents of children with autism, Mr. Ne’eman has said, has been used to create prenatal tests that give parents the ability to detect a fetus affected by a particular condition, like Down syndrome, so that they can choose whether to terminate the pregnancy.

“We just think it makes more sense to orient research to addressing health problems or helping people communicate rather than creating a mouse model of autism or finding a new gene,” Mr. Ne’eman has said.

Earlier posts here.

(Photo from “No Myths” PSA)

Editorial writers at the Wall Street Journal hail the recent court rulings that dismiss allegations of a link between vaccines and autism in children. An excerpt:

The rulings follow the same court’s judgment last year against claims that measles-mumps-rubella shots in combination with other thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autism. And they reinforce many comprehensive scientific studies, including one from the Institute of Medicine, that have ruled out any causal link.

Autism is a frightening diagnosis that puts enormous burdens on families, but blaming vaccines without evidence only harms other families who might be frightened enough not to immunize their children. The fate of children with autism would be far better served if the activists who have devoted their resources to lawsuits would support research to discover its true causes, and to helping those children realize their full human potential.

From the Los Angeles Times, AP/Wall Street Journal:

A special federal court ruled Friday that the vaccine additive thimerosal does not cause autism. The ruling, which came in three separate cases, follows a parallel ruling in 2009 that autism is not caused by the combination of thimerosal with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Experts said the rulings would likely be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, as the earlier ruling has been.

More than 5,300 parents have filed claims seeking damages because they believe vaccines caused autism in their children. The court, a branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, expressed sympathy for the families but concluded that they had failed to prove their case.

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof examines the question of whether chemicals in the environment may be partly to blame for the proliferation of autism diagnoses across the country. He cites an article by Philip J. Landrigan, just posted online in the peer-reviewed journal Current Opinion in Pediatrics, that says the “likelihood is high” that many environmental chemicals “have potential to cause injury to the developing brain and to produce neurodevelopmental disorders.”

An excerpt:

Frankly, these are difficult issues for journalists to write about. Evidence is technical, fragmentary and conflicting, and there’s a danger of sensationalizing risks. Publicity about fears that vaccinations cause autism – a theory that has now been discredited – perhaps had the catastrophic consequence of lowering vaccination rates in America.

On the other hand, in the case of great health dangers of modern times – mercury, lead, tobacco, asbestos – journalists were too slow to blow the whistle. In public health, we in the press have more often been lap dogs than watchdogs.

At a time when many Americans still use plastic containers to microwave food, in ways that make toxicologists blanch, we need accelerated research, regulation and consumer protection.

Company sees threat to free speech on the Internet

From Reuters/New York Times, AP/Forbes.com, CNN:

A judge in Milan has found three Google executives guilty of criminal privacy violation charges for allowing a cellphone video of the bullying of an Italian youth to be displayed on a company website in 2006.

Press reports said the video showed the boy, described as having Down syndrome or autism, being taunted by classmates while one of the teens made a mock phone call to a Down syndrome support group.

A Google spokesman said the company would appeal what it called an “astonishing” decision, and said the case posed a threat to freedom of speech on the Internet.

Prosecutors said the case was not about censorship, but about balancing freedom of expression with the rights of an individual. They said the video remained online for months even though some web users had posted comments asking that it be taken down. Google said it removed the video within hours of being notified by police.

The three defendants received six-month suspended sentences for privacy violation. They were acquitted of charges of defamation, as was a fourth executive. All had denied wrongdoing. In an earlier action in juvenile court, the four bullies were sentenced to community service.