Wednesday 4 June 2014

MIlk causes autism?

Give me a break! Please!
I have just caught up with this piece of nonsense from PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - and I feel more than a little angry with them.
I do not condone animal cruelty but PETA goes too far in demanding that everyone turns to a vegan diet and ceases using all animal products or clothing. Their zeal is akin to the zeal of religious fundamentalists.
PETA has done great harm to the lives of many of the poorest people in the world who depend on animals for their livelihood. Alternatives to animal dependent living do not come as easily as PETA would have people to believe.
But PETA has gone too far now - much too far. We had, indeed still have, the nonsense from those who would have us believe that vaccination causes autism. All that was based on one discredited study but it still gets repeated and repeated. There are people, many otherwise well educated and intelligent people, who believe it. Even after they have been shown further evidence to discredit their belief they go on believing it. Like a belief in a "flat earth" nothing is going to change their beliefs. They will put the lives of their children - and others - at risk by failing to vaccinate their children.
Now it is likely that people will deny their children dairy products in the belief that they are "saving them from getting autism". They will not be concerned that they may be subjecting their children to other health issues.
It is entirely understandable that the parents of a child with autism will look for an external reason for their child's behaviour. If they can lay the blame for the child's problems somewhere else their own feelings of guilt will be lessened. They can join the club of parents who were not informed or were ill-advised. It will, so they think, "not be (their) fault". That it is not their fault anyway is something they can ignore because they have something else to blame, something else at which to direct their anger and frustration and disappointment.
But the problem is that doing this causes problems for other people. It allows organisations like PETA to do great harm. The idea that milk causes autism makes no logical sense at all - we might as well say that autism causes milk. The two ideas are equally ridiculous.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good grief!

Many years ago I can remember seeing a list of foods which cause cancer. I had a quick look through the list and decided I could die of cancer, or starve or die of thirst if I avoided the foods on the list! They probably all cause autism too, but lack of calcium in dairy products will cause a lot of problems too!