(1) Vaccines do not cause autism....See also this, this, this, this, this, this and this.
[All the "this's are below. Click here to go there - bfg]
We've been vaccinating since the 1950s, so we vaccinated for many decades before autism rates went up. The spike has been most significant over the past five years, in spite of the decline in vaccination rates.
[There is no "decline in vaccination rates". "Overall, young children in the U.S. maintained high vaccination rates in 2012, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday." http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/12/science/la-sci-sn-cdc-measles-vaccines-20130912 - bfg]
[And not only that, but the number of recommended vaccines for children has increased. So you can skew the statistics because you are not comparing the same things. You could have 80% of the children in 2005 getting 100% of the recommended vaccines at that time. And five years later you've added 10 vaccines to the schedule. Now you have 95% getting all the vaccines that were recommended in 2005 but only 75% getting all of the vaccines recommended in 2010. So you can now say that the "vaccination rate has declined". - bfg]
Hmm. Doesn't seem that vaccines are the cause, does it? Maybe you know or have heard about someone who went from "normal" to autistic right after his shots. Well, autism is an early-childhood onset condition, and it happens that we vaccinate early in childhood. There are lots of children out there whose symptoms started shortly BEFORE their shots, too; they're just not organizing themselves and speaking out about their experiences.
[And how is it that they became autistic before they were affected by shots when their mother was vaccinated while pregnant, and they were vaccinated at birth? - bfg]
Anecdotal evidence, while compelling to those personally experiencing it, does not show or prove correlation (let alone causation). Medical studies do, but they have repeatedly disproven that vaccines have any relation to autism - every single legitimate, peer-reviewed study (see the links above).
[We''ve handled your links below.... - bfg]
If that weren't true, and this was, then your pediatrician wouldn't be vaccinating his or her own children - at rates even *higher* than the official recommendations. Okay okay, you still can't be convinced, and perhaps you would like to speak at the next national AAP conference on this topic, and present to them the articles you found on the internet. Well how about the point that my friend made? Her brother is autistic. She loves him just the way he is, and would much rather an autistic brother than a dead one; she takes more than a little offense when people don't vaccinate for fear of autism. I'd rather an autistic child than a dead one myself, personally. But thankfully, we don't have to choose ... because vaccines do not cause autism!
http://bostonwed-murakami.blogspot.com/2013/09/vaccination-laypersons-perspective_26.html?m=1
Posted on June 30, 2010 by ChildHealthSafety
A New Scientist article 29 June 2010 by Jim Giles states:-
"We still do not know what causes autism.“
Desperate measures: The lure of an autism cure
That is not correct. Here we set out four ways autistic conditions are caused and confirmed by statements from the current President of pharmaceutical giant Merck’s Vaccines Division, by US Government agencies, by the US Federal Court and in formally published academic journal papers.
If you read nothing else we strongly recommend you read this PDF Download – Text of May 5th 2008 email from US HRSA to Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News]. In it the US Health Resources Services Administration [HRSA] state to CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson
We have compensated cases in which children exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.” [Text added 10 April 2011]
The first known cause of autism was rubella virus. So not only is New Scientist an unreliable source of information, this cause of autism has been known since the 1960s. And rubella virus is one of the three live viruses in the MMR vaccine.
… rubella (congenital rubella syndrome) is one of the few proven causes of autism.“ Walter A. Orenstein, M.D. US as Assistant Surgeon General, Director National Immunization Program in a letter to the UK’s Chief Medical Officer 15 February 2002.
rubella virus is one of the few known causes of autism.” US Center for Disease Control. “FAQs (frequently asked questions) about MMR Vaccine & Autism” [ED 8/Apr/12: This is the web archive of the CDC page - you will need to search in or scroll down the page to see the text. As papers cited on the original page by the CDC as evidence for no link with the vaccine have been steadily discredited it seems the CDC has decided to remove the page and it seems someone has been deleting the archived versions of the page from the web archive too].
rubella can cause autism” The Pediatrician’s Role in the Diagnosis and Management of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Children – PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 5 May 2001
Journal references:
Chess, S. Autism in children with congenital rubella. J Autism Child Schizophr. 1, 33-47 (1971).
Chess S. Follow-up report on autism in congenital rubella. J Autism Child Schizophr. 1977;7:69 –81
Ziring PR. Congenital rubella: the teenage years. Pediatr Ann. 1997;6: 762–770
People who are pre-disposed to have a mitochondrial dysfunction can develop autistic conditions following vaccination. The current President of Merck’s Vaccines Division, Julie Gerberding confirmed to CBS News when she was Director of the US Centres for Disease Control that:
….. if you’re predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism.“
HOUSE CALL WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA – Unraveling the Mystery of Autism; Talking With the CDC Director; Stories of Children with Autism; Aging with Autism – Aired March 29, 2008 – 08:30 ET
Mitochondrial dysfunction is claimed to be “rare” but is not. It can apply to a minimum of 20% of cases.
And this was said when Gerberding was then head of the US Centres for Disease Control – budget US$11 billion. It followed from award winning author and journalist David Kirby breaking the story of the Hannah Poling case, secretly settled by the US Government. It was after this story broke that it started to be acknowledged that autism has an “environmental” cause and is not solely an “internal” condition [ie not determined solely by genetics]: AUTISM – US Court Decisions and Other Recent Developments – It’s Not Just MMR
[Gerberding went from the US agency charged with promoting vaccines [CDC] directly to become vaccine maker Merck’s Director of Vaccines Division: Dr. Julie Gerberding Named President of Merck Vaccines – 21 Dec 2009 –Merck & Co., Inc.
Autistic conditions can result from encephalopathy following vaccination. The US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) confirmed to CBS News that of 1322 cases of vaccine injury compensation settled out of court by the US Government in secret settlements:-
We have compensated cases in which children exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.” [PDF Download - Text of email from US HRSA to Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News]
CBS News Exclusive: Leading Dr.: Vaccines-Autism Worth Study Former Head Of NIH Says Government Too Quick To Dismiss Possible Link – WASHINGTON, May 12, 2008
Vaccine Case: An Exception Or A Precedent? – First Family To Have Autism-Related Case “Conceded” Is Just One Of Thousands – CBS News By Sharyl Attkisson WASHINGTON, March 6, 2008
Measles and mumps are two of the three live viruses in the MMR vaccine.Exposure to live measles or mumps viruses can cause encephalitis:-
measles and mumps can cause significant disability, including encephalitis“
The Pediatrician’s Role in the Diagnosis and Management of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in Children – PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 5 May 2001
So there is direct evidence that live measles, mumps or rubella viruses separately can cause encephalitis leading to autism.
More troubling is that this has been known for a long time. So the risks of giving very young children a vaccine containing three live viruses all at once were known. These two World Health Organisation papers published nearly 40 years ago set out the hazards:
Virus-associated immunopathology : animal models and implications for human disease”:
1. Effects of viruses on the immune system, immune-complex diseases, and antibody-mediated immunologic injury Bulletin of The World Health Organisation. 1972; 47(2): 257-264.
2. Cell-mediated immunity, autoimmune diseases, genetics, and implications for clinical research Bulletin of the World Health Organisation. 1972; 47(2): 265-274.
Autistic conditions can result from acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) following MMR vaccination as held by the US Federal Court in the case of Bailey Banks. In his conclusion, US Federal Court Special Master Abell ruled that Petitioners had proven that the MMR had directly caused a brain inflammation illness called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) which, in turn, had caused the autism spectrum disorder PDD-NOS in the child:
The Court found that Bailey’s ADEM was both caused-in-fact and proximately caused by his vaccination. It is well-understood that the vaccination at issue can cause ADEM, and the Court found, based upon a full reading and hearing of the pertinent facts in this case, that it did actually cause the ADEM. Furthermore, Bailey’s ADEM was severe enough to cause lasting, residual damage, and retarded his developmental progress, which fits under the generalized heading of Pervasive Developmental Delay, or PDD [an autism spectrum disorder]. The Court found that Bailey would not have suffered this delay but for the administration of the MMR vaccine, and that this chain of causation was… a proximate sequence of cause and effect leading inexorably from vaccination to Pervasive Developmental Delay.
[Banks v. HHS (Case 02-0738V, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 254, July 20, 2007)].
And what does not cause autism?
Autism is not “caused” by “genes”
Dr Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. the 16th and current Director of the US$30.5 billion budget National Institutes of Health [nominated by President Obama: NIH News Release 17th August 2009 ] stated in evidence to US House of Representatives Committee May 2006 when Director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute:
“Recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool as those changes take much more time to occur. They must be due to changes in the environment, including diet and physical activity, which may produce disease in genetically predisposed persons.“
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. evidence to US House of Representatives Committee May 2006
Collins controls the US $30.5 billion annual medical research budget and is a leading medical doctor and geneticist who led the Human Genome Project.
Autistic conditions affect 1 in 100 US children. They affect 1 in 64 British children [1 in 40 are boys] according to a Cambridge University study.
ESTIMATING AUTISM SPECTRUM PREVALENCE IN THE POPULATION: A SCHOOL BASED STUDY FROM THE UK
Conclusions: The prevalence estimate of known cases of ASC, using different methods of ascertainment converges around 1%. The ratio of known to unknown cases means that for every three known cases there are another two unknown cases. This has implications for planning diagnostic, social and health services.”
It is estimated to cost the UK £28 billion per annum [roughly US $42 billion]:["Economic Consequences of Autism in the UK" - London School of Economics - Study by team led by Professor Martin Knapp [Executive Summary]
Number of antigens in early childhood vaccines and neuropsychological outcomes at age 7–10 years
Conclusions We did not find any adverse associations between antigens received through vaccines in the first two years of life and neuropsychological outcomes in later childhood. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2FJcOssK83yeVdsX1RyTE1yTzg/edit?pli=1
The Danish Study...
http://www.safeminds.org/research/library/20021107.pdf
Mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine and the incidence of autism recorded by general practitioners: a time trend analysis
Because the incidence of autism among 2 to 5 year olds increased markedly among boys born in each year separately from 1988 to 1993 while MMR vaccine coverage was over 95% for successive annual birth cohorts, the data provide evidence that no correlation exists between the prevalence of MMR vaccination and the rapid increase in the risk of autism over time. The explanation for the marked increase in risk of the diagnosis of autism in the past decade remains uncertain.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC26561/
Q&A with Dr. Paul Offit
In Do You Believe in Magic?, medical expert Paul A. Offit, M.D., offers a scathing exposé of the alternative medicine industry, revealing how even though some popular therapies are remarkably helpful due to the placebo response, many of them are ineffective, expensive, and even deadly.
15 Things You Need to Know About Vaccines
http://www.realsimple.com/health/preventative-health/vaccines-00100000084158/index.html
Note that the question is whether to pay Mark Geier as a consultant. This was in 2011, after it was established that he was not an expert and would not be compensated for work as an expert. This didn’t stop attorneys tried to keep him on the payroll as a “consultant”.
http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2013/10/20/looking-back-at-two-decades-of-geier/
The Danish study once corrected for leaving data out, actually shows a connection between Thimerosal and autism. Thimerosal is one ingredient of vaccines. Even if Thimerisal was proven not to cause autism when used as a vaccine ingredient, that does not prove that vaccines with many other ingredients do not cause autism. The "antigen" study is another study that doesn't prove safety. The rest of her links are not scientific studies. See also autism There is more on that page about the "antigen" study and the "Danish" study. - bfg
Poul Thorsen - Makes US "Top Ten Most Wanted" ListThe "Danish Study" has been used as the foundation of the vaccine industry's claim that "there is no relationship between vaccines and Autism." But, its author, Danish researcher Poul Thorsen, last year, was indicted for fraud over the study, and an arrest warrant was issued. Thorsen is now in hiding. -
See more at: http://www.bolenreport.com/Mark%20Geier/poulson.htm#sthash.cLVbXtf3.dpuf
SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) exposes communications between Centers for Disease Control (CDC) personnel and vaccine researchers revealing U.S. officials apparently colluded in covering-up the decline in Denmark's autism rates following the removal of mercury from vaccines.
Documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that CDC officials were aware of Danish data indicating a connection between removing Thimerosal (49.55% mercury) and a decline in autism rates. Despite this knowledge, these officials allowed a 2003 article to be published in Pediatrics that excluded this information, misrepresented the decline as an increase, and led to the mistaken conclusion that Thimerosal in vaccines does not cause autism.
In Denmark, Thimerosal, a controversial mercury compound used as a preservative in certain vaccines, was removed from all Danish vaccines in 1992. The well-publicized Danish study published in Pediatrics 2003 claimed that autism rates actually increased after Thimerosal was phased out. This study subsequently became a cornerstone for the notion that mercury does not cause autism. However, one of the FOIA documents obtained from CDC clearly indicates that this study omitted large amounts of data showing autism rates actually dropping after mercury was removed from Danish vaccines.
One coauthor, from Aarhus University, Denmark, was aware of the omission and alerted CDC officials in a 2002 email, stating "Attached I send you the short and long manuscript about Thimerosal and autism in Denmark … I need to tell you that the figures do not include the latest data from 2001 … but the incidence and prevalence are still decreasing in 2001" (emphasis added).
We know the article's lead author was aware of the missing autism data
because he stated in an email reply, "I am not currently at the university
but I will contact you and
Nevertheless, in the final draft version of the publication submitted to Pediatrics, the data from 2001 showing a decline in autism was not mentioned. Ignoring this omission, the CDC continued to endorse the article and, in a December 10, 2002recommendation letter to the editor of Pediatrics, encouraged expedited review and publication of the article. The misleading Danish article was published by Pediatrics in 2003.
Dr. Poul Thorsen, one of the co-authors and "scientist in residence" at the CDC 2000-2002, subsequently was terminated by Aarhus University and indicted in Atlanta for embezzlement this year in relation to his $11 million grant from the CDC.
CoMeD has demanded that the CDC launch an immediate investigation of the CDC officials involved based on scientific fraud. CoMeD is also calling for the full retraction of the deceptive article which appeared in Pediatrics.
"This type of malfeasance should not be tolerated by those who are entrusted with our children's health and well-being," statedLisa Sykes, President of CoMeD.
SOURCE Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs (CoMeD)
