Childhood vaccines, toxins, genes and now television watching? An as yet unpublished Cornell University study reports a connection between television viewing and autism. The alarming rise in autism rates is one of the biggest mysteries of modern medicine, but it’s irresponsible to blame one factor without hard scientific proof. I have a friend who is absolutely convinced that her children (who have some learning delays) could not be autistic because they have never been vaccinated. Is she seriously looking at the research or dipping into denial looking for a reason that whatever is occurring in her young son couldn’t possibly be the worst case scenario. Obviously, as a producer of children’s media I take these studies very seriously. I read the data and look for links that are plausible and backed by scientific research. But when I read something like this, I believe it creates more anxiety in parents that are already convinced the world is conspiring against them and unless they do everything perfectly (no sugar, no tv, no antibiotics) they are putting their children at risk. I think that’s irresponsible. There are probably many routes to the disorder, involving diverse combinations of genes and noxious environmental influences. Could Teletubbies be one of them? Conceivably, but more likely the trouble starts way before TV watching begins.
Posted on October 22nd, 2006 by Sam
Filed under: Uncategorized
you wrote…
“But when I read something like this, I believe it creates more anxiety in parents that are already convinced the world is conspiring against them and unless they do everything perfectly (no sugar, no tv, no antibiotics) they are putting their children at risk. ”
Yes, it is much better to avoid causing anxiety in parents that try and understand the causes of autism.
I agree. We have too much anxiety about just about every other aspect of child rearing that the more we can turn into understanding and moving forward the better.
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