Study Linking Wi-Fi and Autism Debunked
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Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 12/4/2007
A purported connection between wireless technology and autism has been discredited by technology blog Ars Technica.
Issued in mid-November, an ominous press release entitled "Link Between Wireless Technology and Autism Unveiled in New Scientific Report" has caused widespread alarm. Supposedly sponsored by the Australasian Journal of Clinical Environmental Medicine, the report has been debunked and facts contained in the release are being questioned across the blogosphere.
First, with no apparent record of this journal on the Internet, at least one columnist at ZDNet.com claims it just doesn't exist. The actual reference cited in the release is for the “J.Aust.Coll.Nutr. & Env. Med.,” which does appear to be an Australian-based organization, the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine. But the group’s Web site states the journal’s page is still under construction. Then there’s the fact that the mailing address for the college, which claims to be in its 25th year, is a post office box.
The researchers cited in the release, Dr. George Carlo and Tamara Mariea, also don’t appear to have scientific expertise in the area of autism. Carlo, not a medical doctor but a PhD, is known for his interest in studying the effects of cell phones, but his own group, the Safe Wireless Initiative, appears to make no mention of the new “groundbreaking scientific study,” as described by the release on its Web site Safewireless.org. In fact, a search for the phrase “autism” on the site does not bring up any results.
Mariea runs Internal Balance (www.internalbalance.com), a nutritional center based in Nashville, TN, according to her Web site, which states she’s a certified clinical nutritionist. She does claim she’s the director of clinical protocol development for the Safe Wireless Initiative—but this is Carlo’s organization. In fact her own legal disclaimer states that her “counsel given is restricted to the correction of nutritional deficiencies, and is in no way intended to diagnose or treat a disease or medical disorder.”
“Sensational-sounding reports like this shouldn't be given any credibility without performing any Internet searches on any of the principles involved,” wrote John Timmer, the reporter who initially questioned the report in technology blog Ars Technica. “It's a message some of those who have simply relayed the press release would have done well to have heeded,” he concluded.
