iPods Cause Autism With Non-Existent Mercury?
from the oh-come-on dept
Rajesh writes "So you have covered iPods causing car crashes, people to be struck by lightning, and other fatalities. And now a scientist claims that iPods cause autism! From The Express in UK: "THE huge rise of autism in Britain is linked to old iPod batteries, mobile phones and other products of the electronic age, a leading scientist claimed this weekend." "If they are buried in landfill, the mercury in the batteries leaks out when it rains, and if they are burned it goes straight up into the atmosphere." Interesting! Considering all iPods are alkaline- and lithium-based batteries that do not contain lead, mercury, or cadmium (from Apple.com)." There have been plenty of stories in the past about the possible connection between mercury and autism, so that's not surprising. But the headline and the opening of that article clearly try to pin the rise in autism (which has gone on for many years) with the iPod, which has been around for less than five years. The article does mention other types of batteries as well, such as mobile phones and computers -- but it seems like a bit of a stretch to blame iPods.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
That's it, I'm tossing my iPod in the trash!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: That's it, I'm tossing my iPod in the trash!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hmmm...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: hmmm...
We can't tell... Thd only people that bought one were already addicted to pron. Everyone else bought a nano.
Sincerely,
Apple Research
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dangerous
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
thank you!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hmm, that explains it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hmm, that explains it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hmm, that explains it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Hmm, that explains it
mind you maybe we're to daft not to see the humour, either that or are too busy learning to count to eleven on our toes to bother.
btw were are you from?
i only ask cus normally people who complain this sort of thing is 'offensive' are not part of the group thats meant to be offended.
naturally i could well be wrong, but then i am british after all...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hmm, that explains it
Just out of interest what is wrong with banning items that use 3/4 quaters of the amount of energy when they are on standby as when they are turned on??? What sort of STUIPID comment is that??? Lets all waste energy by leaving items on standyby, that way, the planets natural resources will run out quicker, so then we wont have any power!!! Mind you, atleast I wont have to read comments like this again, might be a bonus. Or maybe you were trying to be funny, by adding what could only be described as a idiotic, ill thought through comment. Unfortunatly, it wasn't funny, just typical American nonesense, now get back to your trailer park, and try reading up on things before you put your brain cell into gear!!!
Not suprised president 'brains' didn't sign up to the Kyoto agreement, your all to self obcessed with eating crap whilst watching your waist lines increase (instead of watching TV because it's on standy!!)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
=P
Z
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: =P
I suspect it would be better to throw them at scientists. I am hoping that it would motivate them to actually research what they are reporting rather then making wild uninformed claims.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
buy them all
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You Lose!
I guess the best solution is to place them all in a rocket ship and launch them into the sun. (Or just bury them along with all of the nuclear waste under a couple of feet of dirt... (not literally.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hmmm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: hmmm
Yeah... they should have never outlawed lawn darts!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: hmmm
Either way, it's the truth. Sometimes the truth is bitter and readingf all these responses at times is bitter as well.
Sorry, for all looking for some sugar all I do is state the facts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: hmmm
Actually autism is more likely when both parents are highly intellegent. There has been a large number of autism cases reported in places like Silicon Valley and other tech communities.
( http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html )
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: hmmm
( http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html )
And the editors of Wired magazine obviously never took an epidemiology course before. In reality, places with good programs for autistic children tend to attract more autistic families. High tech communities tend to have good medical centers.
Sudden spikes in the reported incidence of other diseases have happened many times before, whenever new requirements to report the condition were instituted, a change in diagnostic guidelines occurred, or more reliable lab tests became available. This happened twice to the incidence of Lyme Disease, when the disease received a reporting requirement in the early 90s, then a reliable lab test became available in 1997. There is no "Lyme Disease holocaust", despite the claims of activists.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: hmmm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Mike Harty
I feel free to attack you, however, on the grounds that you believe autistics are simply stupid and/or the result of stupid people having children.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Mike Harty
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Mike Harty
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ipod=kleenex, coke, band-aid
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MacBook!?!?! No it's the MS Money CD's!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
not even close
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The scientist(s) came across data that MIGHT support the mecury (and other stuff they listed) MIGHT cause autism, so they did their little research and found that hey, it might but funds were getting low. They published this report and said 'ipod' and 'cellphone' was the cause because they know how people get all worked up about that (cellphone causing deaths, Ipods causing deaths, we've all read it here before) and in hopes, people would donate money to their research.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ignorance
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ignorance
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ignorance
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mike Harty
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ipods
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Perhaps mercury does cause autism, I don't know. But as far as I know, most batteries in cell phones and other "consumer electronics" are lithium ion.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
look up thimerosal
it is the cause of the spike in autism in the US. not sure how things are done overseas
weve been pumping infants and children with autism causing mercury for decades, even more so in the early 90s, before the 1930s before they started using thimerosal there was so no autism, if it occured at all it was so uncommon they didnt have a name for it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: look up thimerosal
That hasn't stopped a multi-billion dollar industry from developing, telling parents of autistics what they want to hear about "vast industrial conspiracies" or whatever.
We have pretty strong evidence for the genetic basis of autism. There are also some promising leads linking the use of beta-adregernic (anti-asthma, labor postponing) drugs in expecting mothers to an increased risk of autism.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another attempt to piggyback on the success of the
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So owning one isn't bad, just don't throw it away
I do think it is important to recycle your LiIon batteries. At least they didn't talk about the actual hazard of these things exploding in people's faces.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Retards and IPODS
It might be the chicken and the egg thing. Which came first the IPOD or the retard? Sometimes it is just too hard to tell.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Retards and IPODS
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Retards and IPODS
That is hilareous!
I haven't had a good laugh from these feedbacks in some time.
Funny! Ipoders DO LOOK RETARDED!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
idiots
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ipods
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
iPod Disposal
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Dammit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Causation
It's great to see how statistics are being misused. That course last year really did open my eyes to the bullshit :P
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Autism? Ha ha ha. Yeah - about as funny as World W
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ignorance
BTW those that say its just genes - not known. So again you're not speaking in facts, just theories and studies. We still know very little about the brain and considering that it is widely accepted that is it a neurological disorder, we need to fully understand the brain to fully understand autism.
As an Aspie myself, it's not all gloom and doom. There are also many positives, but of course you wouldn't know that if you don't know what you're talking about. Which is what it seems like by most of the comments here.
So I suggest before you go throwing your gadgets away, actually find out about Autism.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Thimerosol/Autism link
And to whoever called the whole anti-immunization movement a "multi-billion dollar industry" is totally off their rocker. Vaccinations are a huge profit-maker for drug companies. Parents who do not vaccinate (or, more commonly, delay vaccination) just take their $$ away from Big Pharma; they don't put it elsewhere. How does not vaccinating equal a multi-billion dollar business? More like, it takes a good potshot at one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Doubt the Autism fact
Autism does not have to mean bad. Children with Autism can still go to school and do things as us typical people but just in a different way. In face most of my clients are happy, wouldn't you want to be happy for the majority of the day? Don't always look at a disability as negative!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Reply to look up thimerosal
This comment right here is not directing just towards you but to the rest of the comments above. You people need to learn the facts on Autism before you start critizing it. You have NO idea until you have researched it, lived/dealt with it, seen the emotional sides of it etc. You know just don't say anything at all if you can't say something nice!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
iPod Battery
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
COMMENT OF TRUTH
sincerely,
Anonymous
PS: THE COMMENT OF TRUTH: if you knew that this is a non-conspiracy theory, NEVER EVER post it before you HAVE THE RIGHT, PRECISE EVIDENCE!!! Just a quick reminder, ipods make ya crazy like, for example, it gives you aneurism, I believe, depending on what kind of music you listen to and what videos you look at!!
And another thing, autism came first before ipods were released! Are you that retarded or are you just the type of person who posts lies to the media and to the internet, or you just don't get it at all? if ya don't get it, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism and find out. Maybe this would've made you think that the article that you posted didn't exist but YOU JUST DID BECAUSE YOU DONT THINK BEFORE YOU ACT! BESIDES, THIS ARTICLE IS JUST BIASED SHIT!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ADHD and autism
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: ADHD and autism
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sister of an autistic
[ link to this | view in chronology ]