Don’t go to Chili’s tomorrow

April 6, 2014 • 12:16 pm

Reader Steve called my attention to an announcement on io9 that the restaurant chain Chili’s will, on April 9, donate 10% of all its checks to the National Autism Association (NAA). The NAA, claims io9, maintains that one of the causes of autism is vaccination.

Sure, enough, when I checked the organization’s “Causes of autism” page, I found this:

Screen shot 2014-04-06 at 11.52.39 AM

i09 discusses further the NAAs pseudoscentific claims further, but the upshot is that this organization both overtly and covertly promotes the discredited connection between vaccines and autism.

I suspect that most readers here don’t go to Chili’s or, if they live overseas, can’t go to Chili’; but just in case you were contemplating Monday dinner there, don’t go.

io9 also lists some sites where you can find the evidence against the vaccine/autism connection, and how you can, if you want to help eliminate autism, find reputable organizations that don’t promote woo:

[H]ere and here and here and here and here is some of the scientific evidence for why they don’t [why vaccines don’t cause autism].

Chili’s is, of course, free to donate its money wherever it damn well pleases – but you have a right to know where your money is going. And on April 7th, it’ll be going to an organization that has no qualms drawing connections between vaccines and autism. If you believe in science, consider getting your baby back ribs fix somewhere else on Monday. Looking for another way to donate to autism research? Consider contributing to the Autism Science Foundation or the Wendy Klag Center at Johns Hopkins.

Given that there are reputable organizations fighting autism, Chili’s appears to have made a pretty bad choice.

 

33 thoughts on “Don’t go to Chili’s tomorrow”

  1. Of course, if you’re going to call yourself the “National Autism Association”, you’re going to get contributions and support from well-meaning people who don’t have the time or inclination to delve into your policy stances. I wonder if Chili’s knows about this?

    1. If Chili’s is donating significant amounts of money to organizations they haven’t researched beyond the name, that’s even worse than the particular organization they’ve chosen to sponsor this time.

      b&

    2. In Aus we have an equally Orwellian-named org called the “Australian Vaccination Network” which spreads lies about links between vaccinations and all manner of horrible diseases including autism.

      Wish we had Chili’s here so I could not go to it.

      1. I saw a great Internet “meme” with her in it. It listed her with Jenny & Wakefield & proclaimed that they were personally responsible for the suffering of countless children. It sorta loses its affect in my description unfortunately.

        1. Yes, these two characters can take a fair chunk of the “credit” for falling vaccination rates and the inevitable rise in preventable diseases here. Absolutely shameful.

  2. I work in an Autism setting and it’s sad that unproven vaccination links are continually being pushed with hardly any evidence to support it. It doesn’t help that nutty celebs endorse this view as well.
    Until there’s concrete evidence supporting this view is disappointing especially from an organisation devoted to autism.

    1. I believe you mis-spelled “without”. Probably an auto-correct error, but you have “with hardly”.

      There is NO current, credible evidence of a link. If you have some, please correct my misapprehension. Thanks.

  3. We occasionally stop at Chili’s when we’re driving cross-country. It sure beats Toxic Hell (Taco Bell) and McD’s. This is disturbing though. Why don’t people just smarten up???!!!
    Not likely to happen…

  4. Been ages since I ate there. Much too much salt and sugar in everything. Must even salads taste like sugared salt?

    But, if they’re going to donate 10% of Monday’s take to the cause of killing children and generally endangering the public health, then they’re going to donate additional money to that and similar causes from the profits from other days.

    The only way I would have wound up at a Chili’s before today would have been if somebody wanted to “do lunch” there. Now, I’ll veto any such suggestion.

    b&

    1. I’m hoping Chili’s will come out and apologize for this mistake. I haven’t eaten there in years, but I will mention this to friends if they don’t correct the situation.

    2. Yeah, I haven’t been to a Chili’s in ages because the one that’s closest to me is in another city with a whole ton of better restaurants, so I always end up going somewhere else.

  8. It is disheartening that people believe BS much more readily than actual science and that pseudo science tends to be what media report about ad nauseam.

  9. That bloody bloody man Wakefield has done more damage to both the cause of autism and vaccinations than anyone else alive. Should be locked up and not just struck off as a doctor ….

  10. Just noticed on twitter that chilis has cancelled the event, “based on customer feedback”.

    1. Oh, that’s encouraging. It sounds as if Chili’s simply assumed that this was a mainstream organization without much controversy surrounding it. If you haven’t been following the debate, it can be easy to miss.

      I recently walked out of my local Culver’s (a hamburger chain in the Midwest) when I discovered that for the entire day ALL the restaurant’s profits were going right to a fund for a county chaplain. A Christian chaplain. No … freaking … way.

      I’m sure they didn’t miss me: the place was even more packed than usual. Churches out in force, no doubt.

  11. I haven’t been to Chili’s in years. The only thing I ever really cared for was their chicken enchilada soup, and thanks to Top Secret Recipes, I can make my own, and experiment with variations.

    1. I used to really like their Chili. I don’t know if they changed it or if they just make it different here in CA than in TX in order to cater to a different audience, but I don’t care for what I am able to get at the local Chili’s any more.

    2. John- would you be willing to share the souo recioe? They won’t send to Canuckland:-(
      Muchas gracias:-)

        1. What’s funny is I assumed your typos were just a joke I didn’t get. 🙂

  13. As someone diagnosed with autism late in life, (when I was a quinquagenarian) my first thought was what could possibly be wrong with donating a percentage of one day’s proceeds to the National Autism Association of which I had never heard. What a disappointment to learn that an organization with a name that only suggests something good is in the business of disseminating harmful disinformation. It is hard to believe that such ignorance is institutionalized in the 21st century.

    1. Exactly, it is terribly deceptive & I wouldn’t have realized it was a quack organization because it sounds completely legit.

  15. Who cares if this organization supports vaccinations or not. They are using the money to research autism and better the lives of people with it. Isn’t that what’s most important?

    1. No, because they’re not using the money to better the lives of people with autism, they’re using the money to convince people that a life saving routine medical procedure (vaccination) possesses a danger that it doesn’t actually have and are therefore making peoples’ lives worse by causing said people to catch life threatening diseases that they wouldn’t have caught if they’d been vaccinated.

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