Cranks and con men have been able to make a good living battening on the fears and misconceptions of the parents of autistic children. In addition to those offering chemical castration of children, there are practitioners doing potentially dangerous chelation therapy to remove mercury or other heavy metals that are alleged to cause autism, and laboratories offering bogus tests for disease.
You have to wonder why it took the state of Maryland so long to crack down on Mark Geier - his “treatments” have been going on for years.
Apart from direct threats to kids’ health, the Geiers are known for conducting flimsy “research” into autism out of their home, and serving as “expert” witnesses in lawsuits.
*"(Mark Geier) and his son live and work in a two-story house in suburban Maryland. Past the kitchen and down the stairs is a room with cast-off, unplugged laboratory equipment, wall-to-wall carpeting and faux wood paneling that Dr. Geier calls “a world-class lab - every bit as good as anything at N.I.H.”
Dr. Geier has been examining issues of vaccine safety since at least 1971, when he was a lab assistant at the National Institutes of Health, or N.I.H. His résumé lists scores of publications, many of which suggest that vaccines cause injury or disease.
He has also testified in more than 90 vaccine cases, he said, although a judge in a vaccine case in 2003 ruled that Dr. Geier was “a professional witness in areas for which he has no training, expertise and experience.”
In other cases, judges have called Dr. Geier’s testimony “intellectually dishonest,” “not reliable” and “wholly unqualified.”*
It will come as no surprise that some continue to rally to the Geiers’ support (just as they have for disgraced researcher Andrew Wakefield), viewing him as a persecuted martyr.
More good commentary here.
