Teresa Christine Binstock (born February 12, 1944) is an independent researcher based in Colorado. Binstock is best known for her controversial hypotheses about causes of autism, including her suggestions that vaccines may be connected. Binstock also has connections to Denise Magner/Kiira Triea (1951–2012), former owner and author of the transkids.us hoax site.
Background
Binstock says she has a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics as well as minors in physics, chemistry, creative writing, literature, and philosophy. The school and year have not been specified. Binstock says she was accepted into 3 graduate departments, changed direction, then went into making a living at art. She says she conducted 8 years of Independent Research at University of Colorado Health Science Center (UCHSC) and The Children’s Hospital in Denver, where her mentors were psychiatrist Gordon Farley, MD and pediatrician Randi Hagerman, MD, a Fragile X syndrome specialist.
Binstock has stated she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome by UCHSC post-doc fellow Cynthia Naseem Ahmed Smith, M.D., “who presented me and two other Aspies at a Grand Rounds at USHSC in 1997.” [7] Binstock frequently publishes on the topic of autism and Asperger’s.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
Binstock is founder of the Institute for Molecular Introspections.
Sex development and gender
In 1998 Binstock co-authored a paper with Triea and Heike Bödeker (aka Heike Spreitzer).[1] Though she was cited as a co-author initially,[2] in later versions of the article, Binstock’s name was dropped from author list.[3]
Binstock has also published on the etiology of gender identity and sexual orientation, proposing a variant of the “gay germ” hypothesis (a viral cause) for the latter.[4] In 2000, Kiira Triea wrote:
A biologist named Teresa Binstock actually has found what may be the actual biological reason for transsexuality or a very strong piece of the puzzle. The TS people I’ve told of her work seem uninterested though perhaps because it seems not to have any “essentialist” appeal.[5]
Binstock has been cited by those who propose a genetic cause for transsexualism as well.[6] The Council for Responsible Genetics has cited Binstock’s paper [4] in their Genetic Determinism and Sexual Orientation bibliography. They monitor abuses of genetics via Gene Watch.
Though Binstock has not publicly acknowledged she is transgender, there is evidence that she is. One book describes her thus:
Teresa, in her mid-fifties, looked something like an aging mountain woman. Six feet tall and dressed in sensible shoes and a full-length skirt, her long gray-blond hair was braided into pigtails.[17]
To my knowledge, Binstock has not claimed to be intersex, though some of her writings support the model that gender variance is related to intersex.
Above: Teresa C. Binstock (second from left).
Contact information
Teresa Binstock
Researcher in Developmental and Behavioral Neuroanatomy
Institute for Molecular Introspections
Box 1788, Estes Park CO 80517aspergerian@yahoo.com
Teresa.Binstock@UCHSC.edu
imi2dnvr@smokies.amnix.com
binstock@essex.uchsc.edu
binstock@peakpeak.com
Notes
1. Bödeker, Heike; Kiira Triea; Teresa Binstock (October 1, 1998). Native vs. White Sex Cosmologies: Sex and Gender Variability vs. Variance in Inter- vs. Intracultural Perspective. Yumtzilob.
2. For a citation with Binstock’s name included, see Gerds, Heike (2004). Living Beyond the Gender Trap: Concepts of Gender and Sexual Expression Envisioned by Marge Piercy, Cherríe Moraga and Leslie Feinberg. Shaker, ISBN 9783832233594. Note, p. 247.
3. See version with Binstock’s name removed. http://web.archive.org/web/20040718154038/http://www.2tough.com/~kiira/cisae/yumtzilob.html
4. Binstock, T (2001). An immune hypothesis of sexual orientation. Medical Hypotheses. 2001 Nov;57(5):583-90. Elsevier. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11735315
5. Triea, Kiira (February 21, 2000). Re: TS/IS dynamics. alt.support.srs http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.srs/msg/c54ec7212a024037?hl=en&dmode=source
6. Turner, W.J., M.D (February 3, 2004). The Genetic Origin of Asexuality, Homosexuality, Transvestism, and Transsexuality. (PDF) GID Journal. gendercare.com/download/PHP/download.php?fname=./GIDJournal2-3-2004.pdf
7. Binstock, Teresa. Email to Andrea James, 18 January 2009.
8. Diamond, Milton; Teresa Binstock; James V. Kohl (1996). From fertilization to adult sexual behavior. Hormones and Behavior. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9047261
9. Bolte, Ellen R (1998). Autism and Clostridium Tetani: An Hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses, vol. 51, 1998,
pages 133-144. Binstock served as science editor.
10.Binstock TC (May 11, 1997). Changing the autism paradigm: a critique of Kemper & Bauman’s speculations regarding in-utero timing” Bit.listserv.autism, (posts 13491, 13493, 13494, 13495, and 13496). See Autism Research Monographs, http://www.jorsm.com/binstock
11. Bernard S, Enayati A, Roger H, Binstock T, Redwood L. The role of mercury in the pathogenesis of autism. Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7 Suppl 2:S42-3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142947
12. Bernard S, Enayati A, Redwood L, Roger H, Binstock T. Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning. Med Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):462-71. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339848
13. Binstock T (2001). Intra-monocyte pathogens delineate autism subgroups. Med Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):523-31. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339860
14. Binstock, T (2001). Anterior insular cortex: linking intestinal pathology and brain function in autism-spectrum subgroups. Medical Hypotheses. 2001 Dec;57(6):714-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11918432
15. Binstock, TC (1995). Fragile X and the Amygdala: Cognitive, Interpersonal, Emotional, and Neuroendocrine Considerations. Developmental Brain Dysfunction. Karger.
16. McCandless, Jaquelyn; Teresa Binstock; Jack Zimmerman (2002). Children with starving brains: A Medical Treatment Guide for Autism Specrum. Bramble Books. Binstock worked as science editor on the book.
17. Kirby, David (2006). Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. Macmillan, ISBN 9780312326456.