Advocates Blast Hiring ‘Quack’ for Autism Study
The Autism Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) is blasting HHS and secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for hiring “known conspiracy theorist and quack David Geier to run a planned study which will investigate the thoroughly disproven idea of a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.” In a statement, ASAN says that Geier and his father, Mark Geier, “have a scandalous past of subjecting autistic children to unproven medical treatments for their own financial gain.”
The statement says that hiring Geier is a clear indication that the Trump administration plans to rig the upcoming study and claim that it proves vaccines cause autism. “This will set public health back decades at a time when vaccine hesitancy and infectious disease are both spreading at an alarming rate,” it says. “This plan will harm autistic people and the health of all Americans. We urge members of Congress to demand accountability from HHS for this dangerous and destructive decision.”
The statement reviews Geier’s history under the headings Fake Studies and Fake Cures. In discussing Real Consequences, it says the news of Geier’s study “comes at a time when measles is spreading across the country, uptake of Covid vaccines is low, and avian flu threatens to become a pandemic. If vaccine levels continue to drop, we could see the resurgence of yet more infectious diseases. This could cause hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and serious injuries, and force disabled and immunocompromised people out of public life.”
ASAN notes that the Trump administration is cutting research funding, including for studies on autism. It says that millions of dollars to help autistic students find careers in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] were cut, as was research, for which ASAN was a partner, on making autism diagnosis practices better.
“This administration is not interested in expanding autism research to address the most critical quality-of-life issues facing autistic people,” the organization concludes. “Instead, they choose to spend taxpayer money paying a con artist to rig a vaccine ‘study.’ In hiring David Geier, the Trump administration has abandoned its responsibility to safeguard public health and promote science. This move toward conspiracy theories and junk science puts all our lives at risk. We deserve better from our government.”