Autism is often thought of as a public health issue. But Dr. Toby Rogers shows that the autism epidemic actually begins with what political scientists call “regulatory capture.” Carpenter and Moss (2013) define regulatory capture as “the result or process by which regulation, in law or application, is consistently or repeatedly directed away from the public interest and toward the interests of the regulated industry, by the intent and action
of the industry itself.” In his Ph.D. thesis, The Political Economy of Autism, Dr. Rogers documents the rise in autism over the last fifty years and explores the regulatory history of five classes of toxicants that increase autism risk (mercury from coal fired power plants, ingredients in plastics and fire retardants, pesticides and herbicides, EMF, and pharmaceuticals — specifically Tylenol, SSRIs, and vaccines). He shows that the regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect public health in the United States (FDA, CDC, NIH, and EPA) often have extensive financial conflicts of interest that lead them to work on behalf of corporations and against the public interest. In his conclusion, he makes the case for medical freedom and vaccine choice as essential elements in a democracy to protect against regulatory capture and the corruption in the medical industry. Dr. Rogers shared some of his research findings at the recent CHCA YOUniversity event.
You can download a free PDF of his thesis, The Political Economy of Autism, by clicking (here).
