Quack Exposed: Gayle DeLong

Gayle DeLong is a parent to two autistic girls. She was born in 1958. In May 2005, she stared to use biomedical quack cures to try to cure autism. They have done supplements, chelation, restrictive quack diets, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

DeLong earned her Ph. D in international business and finance from New York University. She also has an International Masters Degree in Business Administration from University of South Carolina. She was a teacher of international finance at Baruch College in North Carolina. She has no medical background at all.

DeLong served on the committee of SafeMind’s research committee from 2008 until 2011. She was in charge of etymology research with no credientials. She is was also a part of Children’s Health Defense. She has attended vaccine rallies and spoke out against New Jersey adding a mandated vaccine schedule at a public hearing in Trenton, NJ. She lived in Morristown, NJ with her two daughters.

Blamed Her Breast Cancer on Her Autistic Daughters

On November 7, 2014, DeLong announced she has breast cancer caused by her children being autistic. She calls it Autism induced breast cancer. She gave it an abbreviation of AIBC.

Then admits,”While I am not absolutely certain that the 1.9 centimeter lump that grew in my left breast is the result of the stress of raising two autistic children, all indications point to that direction. There is virtually no cancer in my family, I eat organically, I exercise, I’m a good weight.”

She compares autism to cancer, “Unlike autism, no one is telling me to ‘celebrate’ my cancer. No one is telling me that cancer is ‘just a different way for cells to grow.'” Autism and cancer aren’t even compatible.

There is zero science indicating that autism causes breast cancer in parents of autistic children. This is just another way to scape goat autism. This is a classic move among quacks.

Medical Research without any Medical Training

She was doing clinical research without any education or experience in the medical field. One of the studies that she published was “A Lowered Probability of Pregnancy in Females with the USA Aged 29-29 Who Received a Human Papollomavirus Vaccine Injection.” This paper was retracted from the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Science.

The journal released a statement of retraction:

“We, the editor and Publisher of Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A have retracted the following article:

Gayle DeLong,”A lowered probability of pregnancy in females in the USA aged 25-29 who received a human papillomavirus vaccine injection,” Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, Volume 81, Issue 14, Pages 661-674 DOI 10. 1080/15287394.2018.1477640

“Following review and publication of the article, we were alerted to concerns about the scientific validity of the study. As a result, we sought advice on the methodology, analysis and interpretation from a number of experts in the field.

“All of the post publication reports we received described serious flaws in the statistical analysis and interpretation of the data in this paper, and we have therefore taken the design to retract it. The author has been notified of our decision.

“We have been informed in our decision making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions.

“The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted'”

DeLong’s Reaction to the Retraction

“On October 23, 2019, I received an email stating that academic publisher Taylor & Francis and editor in Cheif Dr. Sam Knew had opened an investigation of the paper, based on ‘several public and private expression of concern about flaws in analysis’.” They gave me two weeks to respond to comments from four post publication reviewers, so I did. On December 10, 2019, I received an email from Taylor and Francis stating that despite my comments, the ‘concerns raised by the reviewers still stand’ and they were retracting the article.”

“The manner in which Taylor & Francis is handling these post publication criticisms is highly unusual. Typically, if a researcher sees a flaw in a published paper, he or she openly writes a letter to the editor, to which the author can reply. Both critique and the reply are published in the journal. “

“Suppressing studies simply because we disagree with them only stifles legitimate scientific debate.” She is arguing science when she has no training or education. Interesting.

Another study Linking Autism to Vaccines

DeLong put out another study linking autism to vaccines. Like this hasn’t been done before and proven false. DeLong correlated rates of coverage of the recommended vaccine schedule in all 50 states of the US and Washington, DC with the registers rates of autism in these states after 6 years.

DeLong uses a lot of statistics comparing vaccine rates to autism rates as a scare tactic. The scatterplot of the data shows no correlation. The correlation coefficient is 0.012, from a range of 0 to 1.

This gets skewed due to each stating having its own unique characteristics. As a result, the effect of vaccines would be diluted.

Looking at the change in the rates of vaccines from year to year and correlated with the change in the rates of autism, with each state. A change of 1 means no change, .5 means it was half, and 2 means it doubled.

In this case, the correlation coefficient is 0.034. Still in a 0-1 range. No correlation is found in this case either.

This is a bogus study and she just wanted to be right, even though she wasn’t. She, like many others, need something to blame.

Died From Cancer

On January 5, 2021, DeLong succumbed to a 7 year battle with cancer. She was a proud “martyr mom.” As much as I don’t wish death on anyone, but she cannot hurt anyone anymore, Especially her children.

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