Autism Science Foundation
| Abbreviation | ASF |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 24, 2009 |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) non-profit organization |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Allison Singer | |
|
Revenue (2013)
|
$556,634 |
| Expenses (2013) | $669,159 |
|
Employees (2013)
|
6 |
|
Volunteers (2013)
|
50 |
| Mission | To fund scientists conducting cutting-edge autism research to discover the causes of autism and to develop better treatments; to provide information about autism to the public; and to work to increase awareness of the needs of individuals with autism and their families. |
| Website | www |
The Autism Science Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit organization that supports research into autism, but opposes more research into the disproven and fraudulent "link" between autism and vaccinations. The organization was founded in April 2009 by Alison Tepper Singer, a former senior executive of Autism Speaks and a member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), and Karen Margulis London, co-founder of the National Alliance for Autism Research. Both Singer and London are parents of children with autism.
Autism Science Foundation was created as a split from Autism Speaks, which assigns a high priority to research into whether immunization is associated with autism risk, and this high priority has raised concerns among parents and researchers.
Alison Singer, a senior executive of Autism Speaks, resigned in January 2009 rather than vote for committing money to new research studies into vaccination and autism. The U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, of which Singer was a member, voted against committing the research funds; this was contrary to the Autism Speaks policy on vaccine safety research. Singer said:
She said that numerous scientific studies have disproved the link first suggested more than a decade ago and that Autism Speaks needs to "move on." Later that year, along with NAAR's cofounder Karen London, Singer launched the ASF as a nonprofit organization supporting autism research premised on the principles that autism has a strong genetic component, that vaccines do not cause autism, and that evidence-based early diagnosis and intervention are critical.
Eric London resigned from Autism Speaks's Scientific Affairs Committee in June 2009, saying that arguments that "there might be rare cases of 'biologically-plausible' vaccine involvement ... are misleading and disingenuous", and that Autism Speaks was "adversely impacting" autism research. London is a founding member of the ASF's Scientific Advisory Board.
On January 5, 2011, Brian Deer published the first part of his British Medical Journal series on Andrew Wakefield's "elaborate fraud" and his role in the dubious MMR vaccine controversy. On January 7, 2011, Alison Singer was interviewed by Kiran Chetry on CNN's American Morning. Singer discussed the repercussions of Deer's report, stating, "...we can finally put the question of autism and vaccines behind us."
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Wikipedia