Dear The Hans India,
We are writing in response to your article, “Stem cell therapy breathes life into 12 year old autistic girl” (June 8, 2016), and would like to sincerely thank you for bringing our attention towards the use of stem cell therapy to alleviate some of the symptoms of autism. It is indeed good to know that Vanshika is doing well. With the global prevalence of autism estimated at 1% of the world population as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it becomes increasingly important that we discriminate between effective treatments validated by scientific support and “therapies” and “cures” that overlook science. Reports such as yours claim that stem cell therapy causes marked improvement in children with autism; however, this is not corroborated by peer-reviewed published research.
In your article you mention that stem cell therapy is a “unique but proven therapy” that turned out to be a “life-saviour” for Vanshika. Additionally, Dr. Nandini Gokulchandran at NeuroGen Institute stated that “stem cell therapy works best on autism cases,” and that it promotes “healthy development.” What we find concerning is that these claims are not supported by sound scientific evidence, and certainly a single case which promotes stem cell therapy as a tool for autism intervention is problematic because no existing evidence substantiates this. Disseminating non-evidence-based treatments in such a positive light in the media is extremely misleading as families looking for treatment options may contact this information, and develop false hopes that providing stem cell therapy for their child will produce the same outcomes in them as Vanshika.
Your article mentions an improvement in eye contact. We applaud you for reporting on an objective change as one of the aims of the therapy, which serves to reiterate the importance of measurable treatment outcomes. However, we caution calling the improvement a “miracle that ignited their life,” as using that type of language can be harmful to the dissemination of accurate information and may cause families to delay effective treatment. We would like to point out that there are no Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) or United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved stem cell treatments for autism. Responsible journalism would encourage readers to exercise caution when making crucial decisions about autism treatment based on such reports. We would encourage you visit the Association for Science in Autism Treatment website at www.asatonline.org to learn more about the scientific support behind various autism treatments.
With over 400 different interventions being advertised as “cures” or “miracles,” families are faced everyday with the dilemma of whether to try a particular intervention. Media reports such as this may play a huge role in influencing their decision. Sifting through reports of therapies that lack scientific evidence can cause families to put off effective intervention and children with autism deserve access to proven, evidence-based treatment as early as possible. Time and money spent on non-evidence-based interventions depletes available resources for treatments proven to be effective and this can result in an unfortunate situation for families already learning to navigate a different reality. Such news stories should be treated as anecdotal reports and serve to encourage further research and discussion.
The attempt to increase public awareness about effective treatments for autism cannot be done without accurate media representations. We truly believe that members of the media are our best allies in the fight against misinformation and ineffective treatments. In order to support accuracy in the media, ASAT has developed resources for media professionals which can be accessed on our website – https://asatonline.org/for-media-professionals/.
Thank you once again, we hope that your article will generate further research regarding whether or not stem cell therapy can play an effective role in the treatment of autism.
Sincerely,
Maithri Sivaraman M.Sc., BCBA and Elizabeth Callahan, MA, BCBA
Association for Science in Autism Treatment
