Posted on 02/29/2008 3:28:52 AM PST by Man50D
The federal government continues to deny a link between vaccines and autism, but the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled in favor of a child alleged to have regressed into autism as a result of vaccinations.
Several of the vaccinations included the controversial mercury-based preservative thimerosal, points out the National Autism Association, which sees the ruling as confirmation of the claims of many parents.
"This case echoes the stories of thousands of children across the country," said NAA President Wendy Fournier. "With almost 5,000 similar cases pending in vaccine court, we are confident that this is just the first of many that will confirm what we have believed for so long – vaccines can and do cause children to regress into autism."
Fournier called on the Centers for Disease Control "to acknowledge that the current vaccine schedule is not safe for every child and as with the administration of any medicine, individual risks and susceptibilities must be considered for each patient."
The government's unprecedented concession – filed Nov. 9 and sealed to protect the plaintiff's identity – was obtained through individuals unrelated to the case, said David Kirby, author of "Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and The Autism Epidemic, A Medical Controversy."
The concession was made by U.S. Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, the defendant in all vaccine court cases.
A CDC panel, meanwhile, voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend flu shots for all school-age children. The move would compel private insurers to cover the costs and require the CDC to make the vaccine available to anyone who can't afford it.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Some of us have known this for years.
The insufferable Don Imus has just become even more insufferable.
Interesting. Thanks for posting. BTTT!
Since when is the opinion of a judge equitable to scientific study? Just because a judge falls for the fallacy of correlation = causation, doesn’t mean that the government is now “admitting” to anything, nor that vaccines are in any way related to autism.
Researchers into autism these days are uncovering a number of tantalizing genetic clues into the development of autism. As more such research is performed, will people stop blaming vaccines for autism? Thimerosal has been removed from vaccines, but there has been no corresponding fall in the number of cases of autism diagnosed; in fact, more cases than ever are being diagnosed. How long will it take for reason and scientific evidence to prevail?
Scientific illiteracy is a very dangerous thing.
First question that came to my mind yesterday, after the flue vaccine recommendation was made was, “Does it contain thimerosol?” Answer: Yes. However, there are a limited amount of doses made each year without thimerosol, but evidently, they are hard to come by.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/thimerosal.htm
I’m always amazed at the government’s nonchalant attitude about mercury in vaccines, amalgams, now the new light bulbs, yet I live in a part of the country that puts out a chart and tells you which locally caught fish you should/ or shouldn’t eat, and exactly how often you should eat the other types of fish you catch, all in the name of mercury toxicity.
There’s a double standard in there somewhere.
Nonsense. Not one shred of evidence links vaccination with autism, yet several carefully controlled studies show no connection. This opinion has nothing whatsoever to do with science or facts, just expediency, for whatever reason. The demonization of vaccines is analogous to the Salem Witch Trials.
Ping.
“Since when is the opinion of a judge equitable to scientific study? “
It’s not.
But here’s what the article said:
“The concession was made by U.S. Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, the defendant in all vaccine court cases.”
Apparently the Department of Health and Human Services was involved in the concession since it was done on their behalf.
There’s more to this story than the article reveals.
My Daughter is slightly Autistic.
Your greatest exposure to mercury probably comes from dental amalgam. I plan never again to accept amalgam in any new or replacement fillings. You're right; it is ridiculous to have mercury in your mouth, being released by tooth grinding and food acids, yet quibble about mercury in fish, which is otherwise so healthful.
Not so fast. The vaccine did NOT cause autism.
“Ultimately, the government concession read:
In sum, DVIC has concluded that the facts of this case meet the statutory criteria for demonstrating that the vaccinations CHILD received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder. Therefore, respondent recommends that compensation be awarded to petitioners in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 300aa-11(c)(1)(C)(ii).
In other words, Kirby’s wrong when he implies that the government conceded that vaccines cause autism, and the ever-excitable Kent Heckenlively is totally wrong when he out and out says it. All the government conceded was that it is more likely than not (remember the “50% and a feather” rule) that vaccines aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder (almost certainly genetic) that manifested itself as a regressive encephalopathy that had features of ASD. Also remember the purpose of the VICP. It is not to determine whether or not vaccines cause autism; it is to compensate families whose children were injured by vaccines, regardless of what the specific injury is.
I had contemplated marching dutifully through all nine of Kirby’s questions but decided that it would be an exercise in futility. The reason is that Kirby’s article is nothing more than one huge moving of the goalposts buried under his characteristic clever verbiage. Indeed, it’s evidence of just how far the mercury militia has fallen and the claims of the antivaccinationists regarding vaccines and autism have shrunk from its days less than three years ago when it was being confidently stated by David Kirby and friends that mercury in vaccines is the One True Cause of autism. Let’s remember what the full title of Kirby’s book was: Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic, a Medical Controversy, not Evidence of Harm: Vaccines Aggravating a Rare Preexisting Genetic Mitochondrial Disorder and Causing a Condition That Mimicks Autism. As for the rest of the mercury militia, J.B. Handley’s Generation Rescue used to say with utter confidence that “childhood neurological disorders such as autism, Asperger’s, ADHD/ADD, speech delay, sensory integration disorder, and many other developmental delays are all misdiagnoses for mercury poisoning.” It then shifted the goalposts to say, “We believe these neurological disorders (”NDs”) are environmental illnesses caused by an overload of heavy metals, live viruses, and bacteria.” Now he’s crowing in the comments of Age of Autism that this ruling is the “single largest bombshell in the history of the vaccine-autism fight.”
Let’s see. The court ruled that a child with a rare mitochondrial disorder may have been injured by vaccines with, among other consequences, and encephalopathy that resembles ASD, a case that’s likely to apply to a very small number of children, and J.B. Handley is gloating about how it is such a huge bombshell? Here’s a hint: The court did not rule that vaccines cause autism. As for the ever-loquacious David Kirby, if you want to get an idea of how much he has moved the goal posts and isobfuscating what is likely the true import of this ruling, you only have to check out some of his own article:”
More here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/02/incredible_shrinking_causation_claim.php
We have been told by our pediatrician that none of the current imminization vaccines contain thermosol any longer.
Some part of me still wants to see the bottle though to verify it for myself.
“Not one shred of evidence links vaccination with autism, yet several carefully controlled studies show no connection”
That’s an overly broad statement, considering this case said that the vaccine “significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder.”
Doesn’t this mean that in the future children should be screened for such disorders before being given vaccinations? Or are you saying that it’s such a small part of the population that it is insignificant?
That wouldn’t be good for people who are susceptible to injury from something like this.
My dentist won’t place an amalgam anymore, hasn’t for years. I didn’t seek out an “amalgam-free” dentist...he just told me they were tending away from the using the material. I don’t seem to have good luck with the composites either, so when I need an old filling replaced, I opt for a gold inlay. More expensive, but much longer lasting.
As to the fish situation, we do follow the guidelines, and because my husband and son catch all the fish we eat, we know exactly where it was taken (i.e. which water source.) However, I recently read an article in the newspaper about testing of fish (non native) for mercury and it was pretty eye opening.
Here are some articles from the series on fish/mercury:
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/12/Health/Tampa_artist_learns_f.shtml
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/24/Food/Reports_warn_of_mercu.shtml
http://blogs.tampabay.com/dining/2008/01/mercury-in-fish.html
And here’s the pdf file the state of Florida provides so you can gauge consumption of locally caught fish.
http://www.doh.state.fl.us/floridafishadvice/2007eng_final_fish_eating_guide.pdf
I’m sorry to hear that.
We stopped all vaccinations when our first son was very young. He got a round of shots, and an awful reaction.
My wife started doing research on the subject, and that was all it took. We’ll get vaccinations if there’s an epidemic or something, but that’s it.
It is not the mercury, but rather the heavy schedule of vaccines in such a short time. In the first Gulf War many soldiers were getting ill with many symptoms and no underlining causes known as the Gulf War Syndrome. Today there is a theory that before the soldiers deployed to Iraq, they were givened a series of vaccines (including the ones they had but could not recall in the past) in one day, and now it is plausible that the vaccines side affects could have interacted and a certain percentage of troops would get ill from it. I think a similar theory can be applied to infant/toddlers who would get a heavy schedule of vaccines before they attend kindergarten, and it is possible that the combination of side affects can cause a whole litany of disorders that in the past were rare. The best way to test this theory is to have one group of kids undergo a vaccine regiment used twenty years ago versus the vaccine regiment used today and compare the results. Trying to study one vaccine and its links to autism is alot different from studying if a combination of vaccines and its side affects is linked to ausism. The quickest way to test the theory is to change the vaccine requirements for one group of children versus another group to see if there is any effects on the autism rate between the two groups.
Meanwhile, the unholy alliance between drug companies and the fedguv continues unabated.
As an aside, we've had a massive flu outbreak in this town, with schools reporting up to HALF their students out sick. Ditto many businesses. I overheard some gentlemen talking at a fast-food restaurant about their recent days off of work because of being sick, and the gist was that these guys had all gotten the flu vaccine, but got sick anyway. My elderly grandmother always got her flu shot, and still always got the flu. The only guaranteed benefit is to the coffers of the manufacturer, IMHO.
Cool. Now you have a pimp tooth!
I don’t think the current ones do, but with this new recommendation to have all kids get flu vaccines, I don’t think they’ll be able to say that anymore.
My son is 19 now. We had all the vaccinations when he was a child, but that was years ago, and they seem to give more now.
As a teenager he’s traveled out of the country quite a bit, and he’s gotten lots of other vaccines he needed like Typhoid, Hep A, etc. We even lived out of the country for awhile and he had to take a tuberculosis vaccine in order to go to school that they don’t even give in this country.
But I signed a waiver so he didn’t have to take the Hep B. I took a Hep B, years ago and within a year I had been diagnosed with MS. Some studies a few years ago seemed to link MS to Hep B vaccine, but it was never proven, and I don’t think Hep B causes MS, but could perhaps be a trigger to exacerbate things. So since there can be a familial tendency toward MS, we’ve just opted out of any requirements to take that particular vaccine and it hasn’t caused a problem. They didn’t require it for college, and he’s in grad school now, and they didn’t require it.
I’m for vaccines, as my pediatrician told me when my son was small (many people weren’t getting DPTs because of pertussis scare)...a kid can die from pertussis and the risk of them having a reaction to the vaccine is very slim. One of my good friends had polio as a child and always wore braces, used crutches, because her parents were afraid of the polio vaccine. IMHO, you just have to balance the info you have against the risk, but sometimes it’s hard to get the info or access the risk.
Children get a lot of vaccines before and during the period that autism sets in, so correlation is very hard to determine on a time scale. Unless the actual biology can be demonstrated, I don't think there is any proof, just assertion.
If eliminating vaccines were so dangerous, there would be no harm done, but I'm not wild about going back to the child mortality rates of 1910.
As for the autism epidemic, I also have my doubts. Its hard to track inconsistent data. Autism wasn't even tracked until recently and over the last 20 years, the criteria for what constitutes autism has been expanded many times. That scenario will always produce the impression of growing numbers. Its like finding money in your sofa. The money was there before you found it, you just weren't aware of it.
My point isn't that vaccines shouldn't be looked at, they should, but rather that real science needs to be used, and not just John Edwards type logic.
LOL, yeah, if I open my mouth wide you could see them. Fortunately they’re all in the molars...none in the front, but if I need one in a front tooth, maybe I’ll put a diamond in it (just kidding.)
Nonsense. Not one shred of evidence links vaccination with autism, yet several carefully controlled studies show no connection. This opinion has nothing whatsoever to do with science or facts, just expediency, for whatever reason. The demonization of vaccines is analogous to the Salem Witch Trials.——
Pharmboy, you are dead wrong. I have posted here extensively on this point. Your “carefully controlled studies” are nothing more than tick sheets. It’s dry work with no connection to any underlying wet work (tissue samples, blood samples, etc.) Your “carefully controlled studies” are of the same ilk as the ones on estrogen therapy. They make highly specious inferences from highly flawed data. I wouldn’t even call it data - they are concepts that are assigned values. What is the sense of calling a train=1, a wheel=2, a track=3 when there is no connection established between them in a study? They are treated as separate categories without regard to what goes on beneath the surface. Pure trash as far as I’m concerned.
The judge had the opportunity to hear both sides and the point here is that the plaintiffs had a TRUCKLOAD of research that goes back nearly 200 years showing the various toxicities of mercury. The biological issues are clearly, obviously, plainly on the side of the plaintiffs.
How hard is this. Oh, I know, Pharmboy, mercury is GOOD for you. That’s right. Sprinkle it on your cereal, shampoor your hair with it, flavor you wine with it. Go ahead.
PUHLEEEZE. AND there is no expediency here. This has been dragging on for over 10 years.
No one in the CDC wants to take a closer look at why autism is virtually non existent in the Amish population which does not vaccinate. Apparently, neither do you.
Anyway, mercury is just one of many causes of autism. It is not NOT a cause, it is a cause. Study the toxicology of mercury. Consult PubMed, ToxNet and other biomedical databases and I trust you will find you have been rather superficial on this subject.
Well, at least he doesn’t have to worry about mercury contamination. Of course, he might be mugged for his teeth (looks like he has letters etched on them.)
Epidemic occur because people are not inoculated, putting others at risk. What if your child is in the first wave of those to get the mumps or polio, instead of someone else's child?
I'm sorry but I call BS on this statement. You are not going to tell me that all of a sudden a generation of children are going to be afflicted with autism because of genetics. There is something in the environment or chemicals in our food supply. I think if its one of the two but they will never tell us anyway.
My niece was a smiling verbal baby, she crawled and walked and then all of a sudden hit a brick wall. She is a triplet and the difference between her and her siblings was profound. She was diagnosed at 18 months, she has had teachers working with her 7 days a week since and now at 4 she is just starting to speak words. I can sit at this computer and think of 5 close friends who have an autistic child in their family. The numbers are too great for this to be genetic.
Sampleman, it’s obvious you haven’t read up on the subject either. To remind you and Pharmboy, for openers, the so-called FDA Office of Vaccine Safety NEVER BOTHERED TO CALCULATE THE CUMULATIVE, REPEAT, CUMULATIVE, MERCURY LOAD imposed on children with the growing number of government mandated vaccines.
The Office went completely unconcious on this. It took angry parents pounding on the door to wake them from their stupor (some “safety” watchdogs) and for them to realize that under their “watch” they had allowed the amount of mercury injected into infants to be several times that allowed for a 180 pound man. PLUS, the FDA “approved” levels for injection were far greater than the EPA mercury limit for environmental exposure.
Perhaps the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing?
You two represent the worst in conservatism - Mental laziness combined with knee jerk assumptions derived from liberals attacking corporations.
This is the problem: In the interests of public health, worse than bad decisons were made by cooperating groups of vaccine manufacturers and government officials (yes, they also do lunch and get to know each other. It happens) that led to causing autism in an untold number of children. The cost to the government and corporations for compensating what is now over 1 million autistic children and young adults is just a very huge number no one wants to contemplate.
Having followed this issue for some time, I am squarely on the side of the plaintiffs. It pains me because I admire companies like Merck, but a screw up is a screw up and trying to avoid it is simply unconscionable. That their hidden motto is also “Getting caught is just the cost of doing business” is very disillusioning for me. But that’s lawyers for you.
So, it is only with satisfaction as we watch the Gates of Hell slowly open on the CDC. They had ample opportunity to do right on this matter and they simply ducked and dodged as long as they could. Gettin’ a little hot there in Atlanta?
Sorry, but you can’t hide an autistic child. The umbrella that autism falls under may have gotten bigger but, like I said I can think of 5 close friends who have profoundly autistic children and I am sure there are people on this board who can say the same. Think about growing up, going to friends and families homes. Do you remember kids that couldn’t speak a word, children that hummed non-stop or looked right through you and could not play? I don’t.
I’m with you. I would never have the flu shot. You can see our age group and we never get the flu. My MIL always got the flu shots and always got sick.
I’ve increased my Vit D to at least 2000 mg a day and I’m leaving it that way. I also take lots of Ester C.
Because judges and lawyers are SO good at science. Just ask John Edwards. /sarc
Hacklehead, nice try. The only real point you made was that the underlying mitochondrial disorder MIGHT be genetic. Well, we need to contact some of those mitochondrial disorder research societies and see what they think.
Before that though, rest assured that the old Genes v. Environment argument is getting muddied by more academics. This because we were first “taught” by Watson and Crick the the Central Dogma Theory: DNA -> RNA -> Protein. In other words, biological information flowed in only one direction, from DNA through RNA to protein formation. A lot of people, to varying degrees, are still stuck in that way of thinking which has since been proven to be wrong wrong wrong. So now, it is accepted that DNA functions can be altered by “environmental” influences (as an aside, chemical “mutagens” were used almost from day one of the discovery of DNA to study gene expression). Therefore, it is possible that any number or combination of industrial chemicals and God knows whatelse floating around in our bodies can interfere with DNA function.
That can, of course, include your argument. A genetic pre-condition, in her mitochondria in this case, being triggered by mercury binding to key parts of the cellular machinery. My point is that, in principle, if these compounds can bind to DNA, they can bind to anything in the body.
There’s a lot to be said for defensive measures. Immune systems already weakened by poor diet and little rest are highly susceptible when these things start making the rounds every year. Vitamins and lots of good-old-fashioned hand-washing go a long way towards keeping one healthy.
try this:
Combo Kids’ Vaccine Linked to Convulsions
Friday, February 29, 2008 9:01 AM
Article Font Size
Children suffered higher rates of fever-related convulsions when they got a Merck & Co. combination vaccine instead of two separate shots, according to a new study presented Wednesday.
The results prompted a federal advisory panel on vaccines to water down their preference for the combo vaccine ProQuad, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella as well as chickenpox.
In the study of children ages 12 months through 23 months, the rate of seizures was twice as high in toddlers who got ProQuad, compared with those who got one shot for chickenpox and one for the three other diseases.
The risk translates to about one extra case of convulsion for every 2,000 doses of ProQuad given said Dr. Nicola Klein, who lead the federally funded study. She presented the data at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The study focused on children who develop fevers and then go into convulsions — an occurrence that frightens parents but usually has no lingering consequences. There were no deaths in the new study.
ProQuad was licensed in 2005. It’s been in extremely short supply since last year, when Merck suspended production because of manufacturing problems. The company expects to resume ProQuad production next year.
The panel had previously taken a position that they preferred doctors give children as few needlesticks as possible, and that ProQuad is preferable to giving separate shots.
It voted Wednesday to amend that, to say they’re no longer voicing a preference for ProQuad over the separate shots.
“Safety, shortages, delivery issues — lots of reasons not to state such a strong preference,” said member panel Patsy Stinchfield, an infectious disease expert at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.
Merck officials said their own research, though preliminary, also showed a doubling of the risk in children within five to 12 days of vaccination. However, the occurrence was low — about 5 cases in 10,000, Merck officials said.
They said there was five times more chickenpox antigen, the key ingredient, in the ProQuad shot than in the stand-alone chickenpox shot. But they said it’s not clear that would explain the difference in seizure rates.
For some reason, the difference disappears when comparing rates for 30 days, Merck officials added.
Klein’s research checked seizure rates only at seven to 10 days after vaccination, and looked at about 43,000 kids who got ProQuad and 315,000 who got the two other shots together. It found fever-related seizures occurred at a rate of 9 per 10,000 children vaccinated with ProQuad, compared with 4 per 10,000 for those who got separate shots.
Klein is co-director of Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Oakland, Calif., one of seven sites in the study. Her work was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
ProQuad costs $124 per dose, about the same as the two other shots combined.
© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
the child develops autism; or
fails to thrive in a public school; or
falls prey to either a fellow student or teacher as a victim of violence;
then, return them to the parents to deal with the aftermath.
The government runs everything else so well, why not just take care of the child -- be that village, for real!
What right to these parents have to make these calls for their children?
Seriously, what if you have a child who a mother who has a gut feeling that her child would be susceptible to vaccine damage - should she violate her conscious? Would your opinion change if that mother had an older child who went over the autistic cliff after the MMR, despite the "Dutch study" which they claim disproves the Mercury-Autism connection (at least doctors snugly quote that one now, without telling you what the "Dutch study" is)? Yet, the court now sees a aggravating potential in the mix now?
I challenge you to talk to an expert in the field, (which I did), who stated plainly that it was o.k. that some children will be injured or killed in the pursuit of the global eradication of disease.
Let that sink in for a minute.
Then, when the rotovirus (projectile vomiting-causing gastro ailment) vaccine caused a greater number of blocked intestines in infants than the studies suggested (which kills the child), they pulled the vaccine - the expert claiming that this shows how fast they move when a problem is seen. Yeah, I'm sure the parents of the dead infants see that as acceptable and fine.
Finally, don't start down the road of "refusing to vaccinate equals neglect." Life is risky, but freedom makes it worth living, despite the risks. Heck, as long as the child is in the womb, I can burn him or her with saline, chop her apart, and that's fine -- but the government steps into the picture if that child makes it out alive? Let's at least be consistent on this folks.
My son was finally diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. It took 14 years of research on my part to finally figure it out. Everyone wants to treat ‘symptoms’ but never search for the cause.
Sure you can. How many autistic children were there in 1950? You can't tell me because the statistics don't exist.
Think about growing up, going to friends and families homes. Do you remember kids that couldn’t speak a word, children that hummed non-stop or looked right through you and could not play? I don’t.
Growing up I knew more kids with Down Syndrome than I've ever known since. Has Down's gone away? But generally speaking, the occurrence of everything appears to grow more common as you age. First, the occurrences simply build on one another so they add up. Second, your horizon expands greatly, as you know far more people. Third, you understand far more than a child. Before I was 20 I knew of no one that had lost a child, now I have a long list, yet statistically in my demographic child mortality has not increased.
However, to answer your question, I knew several children (and adults) growing up that in retrospect were almost certainly suffering from some level of autism. It was either not known or not acknowledged. One man that I knew quite well was in his forties and could do no more than simple farm chores. He had been dismissed from the military due to his mental inabilities and had a long list of failed employment, yet his parents fought any notion that he was so impaired.
Autism might be on the rise, but I haven't seen any scientific proof yet.
Sorry about the MS. I have a few close family friends that have been affected, I hope you’re doing well.
I agree about balancing the info and risk. We’ve actually been having the doctor break up the vaccines over more numerous visits. It costs us more in doctors bills but I’m willing to spend every bit of that and a lot more to make sure we do everything possible to protect our kids.
It just never made sense to me for them to be injected with so much all at once.
Assuming that the presence of mercury caused the increase in autism, how do you explain that it continues to go up years after the mercury was removed from all infant and child vaccines?
This is like the argument that the increase in asthma is due to increased air pollution, when in fact air pollution has gone DOWN in the past 30 years and asthma cases continue to increase.
You hit on one of the problems with making these comparisons. There used to be, sadly, a stigma attached to having children who were not perfect. People would hide the fact.
Now there is extra money and help to be had if you can get your child diagnosed as having an illness, and instead of a stigma, you get extra help and care.
Before we knew the dangers of mercury, there was tons of mercury in everyday items. Children in the 40s were likely exposed to a lot more mercury than was in the shots given in the 80s and 90s. So if mercury was the cause, you'd expect that for a time autism rates should have fallen once we took Mercury out of our general environment, before rising again as vaccinations increased. Then it should have been falling again since we largely removed mercury from our vaccines, while it should be increasing in countries where they still allow mercury. Oh wait, actually, there should not have been an "increase". When vaccines with mercury became mandatory, there should have been a single step increase in the autism rate, and then it should have been constant again at the new higher rate. If we are giving EVERY child vaccines, it would make no sense that over each year, MORE children would have bad reactions to those same vaccines.
Speaking of knee-jerk reactions, you're in a full blown attack. I said that I'm all for looking into the vaccines, but I want it done scientifically. Until you find a biological connection, all you have is correlation, and that's not proof. Now if the correlation is very high, then I'll even listen to that, but I haven't seen that yet. Kids get vaccinations at regular intervals throughout the first three years, so 25% of kids will first show signs of autism directly after or within three months of a vaccination. Plant the idea in a parents head, and that number will easily rise to 50%. That shows correlation, not causation.
If vaccines aren't as safe as they should be, then by all means change them, but make sure that its a real safety concern.
There is nothing knee-jerk about expecting scientific method in science.
This is the problem: In the interests of public health, worse than bad decisions were made by cooperating groups of vaccine manufacturers and government officials (yes, they also do lunch and get to know each other. It happens) that led to causing autism in an untold number of children.
Speaking of mental laziness, where is the supporting scientific evidence for that claim? First, is mercury exposure shown to cause autism?
I know children with autism too. Its sad. I feel for their parents. I'm all for preventing it if possible. But I would point you back to science.
Show me some actual proof and I'll get on your bandwagon.
If correlation is all that people want to look at, then they might want to explore the factor of older mothers. The correlation there is MUCH higher than in vaccines.
That’s what my Daughter may have. I say may for a reason, but it would take forever for me to type to say the reason.
Best wishes and I will pray for you and your Family.
So, if Autism was caused by thimerosal, we should have seen the rate of autism in children drop between 2001 and 2002, back to the rate it was before vaccinations started.
That would be at least some good circumstantial evidence.
The numbers from California show that reported autism rates hit a high of 800 in May 2003. If that trend had continued, the reports would have skyrocketed to more than 1000 by the beginning of 2006. But in fact, the Geiers report that the number actually went down to only 620, a real decrease of 22%, and a decrease from the projections of 35%.A couple of problems with this. 800 was a peak, not the average. And a 22% drop doesn't get you anywhere near the number from before.
Meanwhile, this article suggests what I said in a previous post: Increase in Autism Rate not Surprising:
Somers also noted that today autism is readily identifiable as a neurological disorder and, while no parent wants their child to have medical problems, autism is a more "comfortable" diagnosis because it carries fewer stigmas than a diagnosis of other disorders such as mental retardation or emotional disability.There's no stigma, and there's money to be made in diagnosing the problem. Sure ways to increase the numbers.Somers hopes that the findings of the study will lead to more funding to care for autistic children.
Mom ping?
Oh, and here's a very recent study reference, which actually looked at the ethyl mercury impact on the body (as compared to methyl mercury from fish which was known to be problematic. Study: Mercury in vaccines disappears quickly (Jan 30, 2008):
CHICAGO - Mercury from vaccines seems to disappear rapidly from the blood, returning to pre-vaccination levels in one month, according to a small study of children in Argentina.
...
Scientists assumed the health risks from ethyl mercury were similar to methyl mercury from eating fish. And in 1999, the federal government and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines to lower exposure to mercury from all sources. The decision was based on what was known about methyl mercury exposure.The new findings suggest that methyl mercury and ethyl mercury are very different and that the removal of thimerosal from vaccines may have been over-cautious.
...
He said thimerosal vaccines are cheaper to produce and therefore more accessible to much of the world.
...
The amount found in the blood was about one-tenth of that predicted in that the late 1990s and the length of time it stays in the blood is one-tenth of that predicted," Pichichero said.
Older mothers (and fathers). That's genetics.
Thanks for the ping and information in post #35. Thanks to all contributors to this thread. Very interesting topic.
And what if my child becomes autistic?
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