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Hints of a Link Between Autism and Vinyl Flooring
SpuriousLogic sends in a link from Scientific American to a study by Swedish and US researchers that reaches the surprising conclusion that there may be a link between autism and vinyl floors. "Children who live in homes with vinyl floors, which can emit chemicals called phthalates, are more likely to have autism, according to research by Swedish and US scientists published Monday. ... The scientists were surprised by their finding, calling it 'far from conclusive.' ... The researchers found four environmental factors associated with autism: vinyl flooring, the mother's smoking, family economic problems, and condensation on windows, which indicates poor ventilation. Infants or toddlers who lived in bedrooms with vinyl, or PVC, floors were twice as likely to have autism five years later... than those with wood or linoleum flooring. ... Several scientists who did not participate in the study cautioned that it has too many limitations to draw conclusions, but they suggested that new studies be designed to look for a connection between autism and indoor air pollutants."
Speaking of Obama and the current date: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE53010720090401
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is seeking to ease General Motors Corp into a "controlled" bankruptcy by persuading some creditors to agree to a plan that would divide the company into two pieces, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Citing people briefed on the matter, the Times said the plan is to push GM into a structured bankruptcy "somewhere between a prepackaged bankruptcy and court chaos," using taxpayer financing for leverage.
OK, sorry to annoy the crap out of you - not !
How about
100% of children with autism have been found to breath a common colorless, odorless, tasteless gas comprised of 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases.
More comment, continuing from above. The abstract in ScienceDirect says, "An analysis of the associations between indoor environmental variables in 2000 as well as other background factors and the ASD diagnosis indicated five statistically significant variables: (1) maternal smoking; (2) male sex; (3) economic problems in the family; (4) condensation on windows, a proxy for low ventilation rate in the home; (5) PVC flooring, especially in the parents' bedroom."
What? Male sex?
Another quote from the "scientific" paper: "... parental-reported autistic spectrum disorders..."
What is "autistic spectrum"? Can parents report autistic behavior accurately? Maybe the child is just trying to protect himself or herself from the abusive behavior of the parents. Is that autism?
To me the abstract indicates very weak investigation. More importantly, Scientific American proved itself to be untrustworthy, in my opinion.
Not an April Fools joke: "Received 11 November 2008; accepted 30 January 2009. Available online 10 February 2009."
Sensationalistic "science" news is a huge money-maker: "If you do not have a User Name and Password, click the "Register to Purchase" button below to purchase this article. Price: US $ 31.50"
Fraud? In my opinion, there is definitely some element of fraud: The headline in Scientific American: "Scientists Find 'Baffling' Link between Autism and Vinyl Flooring" Headline of the photo caption: "Is vinyl bad for baby?" Disclaimer in the body of the article: 'The scientists were surprised by their finding, calling it "far from conclusive." ' The Scientific American article emphasized one factor, when 5 were reported, including smoking by the mother. Smoking definitely puts poisons in the blood. A pregnant mother who smokes poisons her baby.
Definition of fraud: A deliberate deception used to achieve some gain.
Was whoever wrote the article or placed the article in Scientific American paid to sensationalize the story? Was someone at Slashdot paid?
doesn't mean that correlation is not important...
Yes, because of the definite link between autism, food, and being alive. 100% of autistic people eat. 100% of people who stop eating eventually die. And better yet, NO dead people have been observed to exhibit autistic behavior. Therefore dead people can't get autism, or death is a cure for autism.
Oh wait, what were you saying about important correlations?
No, they're not necessarily important, either. It's called "barking up the wrong tree", which isn't really nice when you're doing it with money and a research staff/equipment that don't belong to you.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.