BMJ  2006;333:205 (22 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7560.205-a

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Autism, Brain and Environment

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

From holding therapy to secretin, from facilitated communication to swimming with dolphins, the world of autism has long attracted promoters of miracle cures, and desperate parents and their children have suffered the consequences. The current vogue in the United States is for a range of "biomedical" investigations and treatments, including exclusion diets, courses of anti-fungals and antibiotics, and chelation therapy. Just like purveyors of earlier, long discredited, cures, advocates of these methods can readily provide moving testimonies for their benefits. But there is no coherent scientific rationale for these treatments and little evidence of their efficacy. There are, however, serious concerns about safety: last summer an autistic boy from the United Kingdom died while receiving chelation therapy in the United States.

Figure 1
Richard Lathe

Jessica Kingsley, £15.99, pp 288ISBN-10: 1 84310 438 5

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Richard Lathe, author of Autism, Brain and Environment, claims that the recent increase in the . . . [Full text of this article]

Michael Fitzpatrick, general practitioner

London fitz@easynet.co.uk,


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Author reply to Fitzpatrick on Autism, Brain and Environment
Richard Lathe
bmj.com, 1 Aug 2006 [Full text]
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