Oh dear.
Firstly, I already explained the mistake about calling Dr Novella a neurosurgeon. Does that mean he is unqualified to speak? And what makes Dr Seneff more qualified, if you don't mind me asking?
Now you attack one of my linked sources "time spent practicing medicine". How much time does Dr Seneff spend diagnosing autism in children?
You started off this thread linking to a much debunked Dr Seneff report (I have read it previously, I read it again yesterday just after I posted a counter-link for the sake of balance and to benefit the critical analysis of other readers).
Let us start at the beginning.
Dr Seneff is called a "Senior Research Scientist at MIT". What is the MIT? The MIT stands for the Masachussetts Institute of Technology. So, where does Dr Seneff work in this technical organisation? Dr Seneff works in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Now, I don't know about you, but if I suspected my child had autism the last place I'd take them to is a Technical College that no schools of medicine.
http://web.mit.edu/facts/academic.html
Back to Dr Seneff. She is a clever lady, and she has three degrees. A Bachelor of Science in Biophysics. She followed that up with a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. She also has a doctor's degree in Computer Science.
She obtained all three degrees from the MIT, a very well respected place of learning in the US with an impressive alumni. She is still at the MIT, researching computational modelling and methods for improving communication between humans and computers.
So, let us be ABSOLUTELY clear. Dr Seneff has no qualifications or expertise in autism, epidemiology, or any other relevant scientific discipline. I doubt that she has the required skills to talk on the subject in anything other than layman's terms. Does that bar her from talking about the subject? In my opinion, no it does not. However, you are quite happy to discount the thoughts of a neurologist for flimsier reasons than the ones I could use to discount Dr Seneff.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/20...yone-autistic/
An interesting article - and one that shows there is actually a similar correlation between the sales of organic food and autism. I appreciate you started this thread because you were interested in the rise in autism - but have discounted an alternate theory. In fact, you were able to produce solid (sic) evidence that you hadn't come across anyone with autism in the 60s. Do you know what? I have two kids - one now 18, and one 6, and they don't know anyone with autism either! We can't offer that as anything other than an observation. I could claim that the water in the Valleys is purer than the water in Splott and that is why you are seeing more cases of autism than my kids are. Of course, I am not making that claim - I am merely illustrating just how illogical it would be to draw any conclusions from the fact that you didn't know anyone with autism in the 60s, and my kids haven't come across anyone with autism in the 21st century. You do realise that autism is a hidden disability, though.
http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-...cts-stats.aspx
Interestingly autism affects five times more males than females. I wonder why that is? If it was linked to Glyphosate, surely you would expect to see a similar number of boys and girls suffering?
In another swipe at my arguments (and I apologise for their brevity, I was busy with a number of things yesterday and I intended only to post a counter view to balance the thread). In another swipe at my arguments, you pour scorn on a link that says that the rise is due to different methods of measuring autism (despite the fact that you claim it is a factor) and, in a wonderful and chivalrous way, you stand up for the overstretched staff struggling to cope with the rise in autism.
However, I can be chivalrous too. These claims are dangerous. Shall I tell you why? An old work colleague of mine beats himself very often because his son has autism. He blames himself because he allowed his child to have the MMR vaccine. Can you remember when parents stopped vaccinating their kids for MMR because of the spurious claims made by Andrew Wakefield? This had two direct effects. Firstly, there was an increase in Measles cases. Secondly, parents who had already vaccinated their children (subsequently autism sufferers) blamed themselves for their child's illness.
http://www.webmd.com/children/vaccin...tbreak-study#1
It continues to this day, despite the claims now being widely accepted as being nothing more than a correlation and not a causation. Just as we can show there is a correlation between organic food sales and autism - why isn't Dr Seneff investigating that one, do you think?
Have you heard about golden rice? Golden rice is a GMO food that could help to save some of the 670,000 children that die from Vitamin A deficiency every year. If you have heard of the Golden Rice project, maybe you could explain why it has been held back?
What you have done here, in my opinion and I apologise if I am wrong, but you have provided the conclusion of your argument as the premise of the argument. You are assuming the conclusion.
Despite your claims, I have read your articles and articles like them over the years. I have read the counter arguments too - and it is on that basis that I have formed the stance that I am taking now. The claims being made by Dr Seneff are the sorts of claims that psuedo-scientists use to hold back progress on issues such as the Golden Rice project. The claims made by Dr Wakefield in 1998 led (in part) to measles changing from being an eradicated disease in the year 2000 to there being 667 cases in 2014.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-persp...sles-pertussis
Also, the claims made by Dr Wakefield have led to a generation of parents blaming themselves for allowing their children to get the MMR vaccine.
Now, Dr Seneff's (she who specialises in AI and not in medicine, and certainly doesn't deal with autism in children) claims are likely to have some parents blaming themselves for the food they gave their children. And all because the media (both mainstream and alternate) are unable to distinguish between correlations and causation. I appreciate you are "interested in why there is a rise" - many people are. However, I suspect you started this thread with your mind already made up.
Oh, one final thing - Dr Novella has just one degree. It is a medical degree. He specialises in neurology. He is currently an assistant professor at Yale University. Unlike MIT, Yale has a school of medicine, and that is where Dr Novella resides. He is also a clinical neurologist at the same institute. I don't know whether or not he has diagnosed autism in anyone, you seem very certain he hasn't and, in the absence of any links, I will take your word for it.
Dr Seneff seemed so sure that the link to autism was through vaccination a while back, she now thinks it's caused by the GMO food process. She is entitled to change her mind but, on balance, I think this is one subject she should have passed up on.