Right now I am sitting with the news that RFK Jr's pick for studying and finding the cause of "autism"**, an individual called David Geier, has administered lupron to autistic children, following a theory that some autistic traits are caused by "hyperandrogenicity". Lupron is a dangerous and experimental puberty blocker, now banned in many states for its use in "gender-affirming" therapy in underaged children.
(Apologies for messy links - they would not work in any shortened way)
Anyway, this appointment appears destined to end in a meltdown where the issues of contention could lead in many directions. Those who have argued against puberty blockers for gender affirmation will hardly be in favour of Geier's appointment. And those who are inclined to oppose Geier's appointment because - RFK Jr is a dangerous anti-vaxxer, and so is Geier, will find it difficult to explain why prescribing lupron to underage children is suddenly dangerous if you are autistic, but not if you suffer gender dysphoria (and what about underage children who are both?)
In other words, whether intentionally or not, this is by way of becoming a very large. and difficult to disentangle, flustercluck! Also not conducive to the introduction of a scientific approach to the problem.
**as if "autism" is a single, well-defined "thing" for which a single cause exists, but the potential futility of this effort is not what this post is about.
Lupron
Midwestern doctor discusses the problems with lupron, and similar drugs, here: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/hormone-blockers-are-very-dangerous
The Geier Lupron connection is attested here: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=bdd4fc2a71542335b57edbcd77b387d3484cb514
and here: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/40365110/Treatment_of_Elevated_Male_Hormones_in_A20151125-7614-3lxma3-libre.pdf?1448468052=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DTreatment_of_Elevated_Male_Hormones_in_A.pdf&Expires=1745352640&Signature=XInuSSkeBEoh0IbcN3Wx6-jkdT0ttbZmzfwJPAjljj1P77ztpGvQb6Dg6~ZHE52-rv~GabOp~tEJN5zbPOPu9J-BpNZPjAxOem-ZfU-xerPSN8Thur4eKpOnY~IwQ~7xg6Go-qdbpvZTT7gve4JVoKA3lYkGYyyClDU8EB17rPdpXUm5hyrDvapGEprwAGRMXgNVk3Bw5M~ygOq2wkWidhMpP0tm00eXnh7d5xRhPrr~5kyrz-Xfcn~9wBjqM1ue0P9BipWtYc3piutmVk3qIEj6edpvh1S1BgyJk8N7pimpbY-JGCaRW4NGbNrklqcpl9oBV0YAoa1PoiAhBk8vUg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
(Apologies for messy links - they would not work in any shortened way)
Anyway, this appointment appears destined to end in a meltdown where the issues of contention could lead in many directions. Those who have argued against puberty blockers for gender affirmation will hardly be in favour of Geier's appointment. And those who are inclined to oppose Geier's appointment because - RFK Jr is a dangerous anti-vaxxer, and so is Geier, will find it difficult to explain why prescribing lupron to underage children is suddenly dangerous if you are autistic, but not if you suffer gender dysphoria (and what about underage children who are both?)
In other words, whether intentionally or not, this is by way of becoming a very large. and difficult to disentangle, flustercluck! Also not conducive to the introduction of a scientific approach to the problem.
**as if "autism" is a single, well-defined "thing" for which a single cause exists, but the
potential futility of this effort is not what this post is about.