A Conspicuous Absence of Scientific Leadership: The Illusory Epidemic of Autism

Abstract

On the presidential campaign trail in 2007, Hillary Clinton decreed, We have an epidemic, and it is time that we recognized the seriousness of it.” On congressional letterhead that June, Congressman Dan Burton, former Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, proclaimed, We are literally in the midst of a nationwide epidemic.” On posh Nantucket Island that August, Suzanne Wright, wife of former GE vice chairman and NBC CEO, Bob Wright, declared, “It’s a health crisis... an epidemic that has to be stopped.”

If you’re a scientist working for private industry, it helps to invent something useful. But if you’re a scientist trying to get funding from the government, you’re better off telling the world how horrible things are. And once people are scared, they pay attention. They may even demand the government give you more money to solve the problem.¹