Vaccines don't cause autism. Scientists can't state this quite as definitively because they're restricted to language that leaves in the minute possibility they've missed something in the data. But really, there's a lot of data out there and it's time we stop wasting resources on this one. There is a certain amount of emotional satisfaction in being able to say that vaccines, bug spray, electric lines, or used car batteries are the source of autism. But we're going to have to accept the less emotionally satisfying answers on this one. Three popular theories. Theory 1 - It must be the mercury they used as a preservative. Ethyl-mercury, aka thimerosal, was used as a preservative in some but not all vaccines for 50 years. Evidence says it is safe, but because it made parents and legislators a bit twitchy, they pulled the stuff out of vaccines. Theory 2 - It must be measles from the MMR vaccine. This is the theory of widely discredited Andrew Wakefield. Theory 3 - It must be the frequency of vaccinations. We give too many of them too soon. Too bad epidemiological evidence disagrees that this is a cause. Children who are vaccinated are no more likely to develop autism than those who are not. This Question Has Been Asked and AnsweredAlison Singer on why she quit Autism Speaks. "Dozens of credible scientific studies have exonerated vaccines as a cause of autism," "I believe we must devote limited funding to more promising avenues of autism research." "This question has been asked and answered and it's time to move on." We need to be able to say, "Yes, we are now satisfied that the earth is round." In Your Eye, Jenny McCarthySlate on the recent Omnibus finding against vaccine injury.Vaccines and Autism: Many Hypotheses, But No Correlation“When one hypothesis of how vaccines cause autism is refuted, another
invariably springs up to take its place,” said study author Paul Offit,
MD, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Fears about vaccines
are pushing down immunization rates and having a real impact on public
health, he added. Vaccine refusal is contributing to the current
increase in Haemophilus influenzae cases in Minnesota—including the death of one child—and was a factor in last year’s measles outbreak in California. |