Singer resigns from Autism Speaks
Alison Tepper Singer has resigned from Autism Speaks over the question of vaccines and autism. Singer apparently accepts the scientific consensus that there is no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism, unlike her ex-employer, Bob Wright.
The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) was meeting this week to vote on a draft of the Strategic Plan for Autism Research. It contained two proposals for further research into vaccines. Alone among the six public members of IACC, Singer voted with the federal members of the committee to remove these proposals from the plan so they could be examined by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee.
The decision was condemned by Autism Speaks in a press release because the proposal to refer these proposals back was not communicated to the public members prior to the meeting. According to Wright because of this “last minute deviation” the plan “is tainted and cannot be supported by the autism community.” This is curious because the press release also tells us that:
Autism Speaks Executive Vice President Alison Tepper Singer was the sole public member to cast a vote in support. The evening prior to the vote, Singer submitted her resignation to Autism Speaks – which was accepted – based on her intention to vote on certain Strategic Plan vaccine safety matters in a way that diverged from Autism Speaks’ position on this issue.
So Singer knew about the proposal the night before and presumably so did Autism Speaks when she told them why she was resigning. So what is Autism Speaks up to? I have written previously about the tension within Autism Speaks between Wright’s agenda and the way he runs Autism Speaks like a private corporation and the scientific agenda he is funding. I think that this latest posturing by Wright over the alleged “last minute deviation” is an attempt to express his support for the vaccine hypothesis. But by dressing it up in procedural rhetoric he is also attempting to keep his scientists onside.
Will any scientists follow Singer and resign from Autism Speaks? And where will she lead? Obama is planning a massive injection of funds into scientific research as part of his recovery plan. If the life sciences get their share it will be interesting to observe the changing landscape as private funding is squeezed by the recession (how many celebrity donors were burned by Madoff for example?) while Obama introduces a New Deal for publicly funded science.
Singer has shown herself to be more than capable in her role at Autism Speaks. She has made mistakes in the past, most notorious being her comments in the film Autism Everyday. But her espousal of scientific evidence may lead to advancement within the Obama administration. Such a prospect may reinforce the commitment to scientific principle among more of the staff at Autism Speaks and prompt more resignations.
Sullivan has posted the full text of Singer’s own press release and the one from Autism Speaks with a commentary on Left Brain Right Brain
