"Can Vaccines cause autism?" NO, but when I scan the internet these are the kinds of idiotic scar mongering headlines I see all over the web, I'm always thinking there is some new study supporting this idea. You see these headlines in newspapers and magazines and on TV. And these are the headlines for articles that are going to CORRECT this false notion that there is some connection when there is NOT! There are articles that will eventually, after scaring you, tell you the facts. Regretfully few people remember the article and just remember the headline. This nonsense, this cheap thrill garbage reporting has to stop once and for all! People are failing to get their kids vaccinated, and as a result children and adults are dying of diseases that are preventable. It has to stop!
Let's make this clear: There is no research connecting vaccines to autism.
Although signs of autism often begin to appear around the same time that children are vaccinated, it is just a coincidence, not a cause. We give kids vaccines at the time when their language centres are developing, and then, looking back, think one caused the other. Well research has looked at that over and over again, and it just ain't so. See the many research articles listed below.
The truth is vaccines are extremely important for providing protection against illnesses and many long-term side effects of illnesses for everyone, not just children, but adults. Especially adults with compromised immune systems. For example, natural exposure to polio could cause lifelong paralysis. The mumps can cause hearing loss and meningitis and measles can sometimes be fatal. Vaccinations can prevent these types of illnesses and the disease-related side effects from occurring. People are dying, right now, because they made the choice not to be vaccinated. And others are dying because they were infected by one of those people. Am I making this up? check out the epidemics happening in California and the West Coast.
Back to these articles published in local papers and on the web using these misleading scar tactic headlines. one reader wrote: "I do wish those working to counter the misinformation and propaganda spread by the anti-vaxxers would stop using the question to headline their positive efforts. There is not a question involved here. There is only vaccine which does prevent disease and does not cause autism and on the other hand there are these wildly irresponsible scaremongerers who have made names for themselves and put entire populations of children at risk. These two things are not equal. Please stop the pretence of giving them equal consideration in a rational argument."
One of these recent articles was published by a hospital! Why? To get reader's attention. A lot of us thing these kinds of articles do more damage than good because the short headlines continue to reinforce misinformation. And there is a lot of misinformation out there. Too much.
For those that prefer research over hype and emotion, here are some useful references:
California study: "The DDS data do not support the hypothesis that exposure to thimerosal during childhood is a primary cause of autism." Click here:
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/1/19
Independent testing of Wakefield's MMR/autism hypothesis - test failed to support Wakefield's conclusions. Has links to several other supporting studies: Click here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904145218.htm
Italian study looking at kids who received different levels of thimerosal, comparing their brain development 10 years later. Click here:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/475
Danish study of 440,000 kids who got MMR and 97,000 who didn't. No significant different in autism and ASD rates. Click here:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa021134#t=abstract
Japanese study to see if switching from MMR to single-dose vaccines affected autism rates. It didn't. Click here:
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/Vaccines/noMMR.html
Montreal study of 27,000 children actually found somewhat LOWER rates of developmental disorders in the children exposed to thimerosal. Click here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818529
2010 Detailed study of 250 ASD kids versus 750 controls. No relationship between ethyl mercury exposure and ASD: Click here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837594
Comprehensive list of science-based resources on vaccines and autism: Click here:
http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/vaccines-and-autism/
But now there is even more damaging information coming forward about the non-relationship between vaccines and autism. Here is what was published by NPR this week: (For an excellent analysis of the article and the research it's based upon I would click here and read the review in Science-Based Medicine: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9552
Here is the NPR report: Click here.
Now I know there are still those who think the research is ...well...lies. That big pharma is making these things up to make a profit, and doctors are poisoning their patients to make money. (Actually, most doctors and hospital provide vaccines at a financial loss!). One of their heros is Dr. Wakefield. They believe there is a giant conspiracy on the part of the government, medical licensing boards, medical journals, medical associations and corporations to hide the truth that Dr. Wakefield has to tell. This NPR story clearly points out what was really going on. Why the articles Wakefield published falsely claiming a connection between vaccines and autism were withdrawn, and why his medical license was taken away. Here is some of what the report says:
"The first study to link a childhood vaccine to autism was based on doctored information about the children involved, according to a new report on the widely discredited research.
The conclusions of the 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues was renounced by 10 of its 13 authors and later retracted by the medical journal Lancet, where it was published. Still, the suggestion the MMR shot was connected to autism spooked parents worldwide and immunization rates for measles, mumps and rubella have never fully recovered.
A new examination found, by comparing the reported diagnoses in the paper to hospital records, that Wakefield and colleagues altered facts about patients in their study."
Let's make this clear, the study shows some of the children ALREADY had signs and symptoms of autism or neurological disorders BEFORE they were vaccinated, that Wakefield knew this and that he used the information anyway.
"The analysis, by British journalist Brian Deer, found that despite the claim in Wakefield's paper that the 12 children studied were normal until they had the MMR shot, five had previously documented developmental problems. Deer also found that all the cases were somehow misrepresented when he compared data from medical records and the children's parents."
"In an accompanying editorial, BMJ editor Fiona Godlee and colleagues called Wakefield's study "an elaborate fraud." They said Wakefield's work in other journals should be examined to see if it should be retracted. Last May, Wakefield was stripped of his right to practice medicine in Britain. Many other published studies have shown no connection between the MMR vaccination and autism. But measles has surged since Wakefield's paper was published and there are sporadic outbreaks in Europe and the U.S. In 2008, measles was deemed endemic in England and Wales."
Yes, surges of measles.... and whooping cough and other preventable diseases.
Why did Wakefield do this? Some think that it may have something to do with the fact he prepared the report while being paid by a law firm that wanted to sue vaccine makers and they needed proof...and that he was connected to a proposed alternative vaccine. Hmmmm.... Yes, big pharma and corporations ARE at the heart of this, but not the way people think. They wanted to make money convincing people that vaccines were dangerous. And regretfully, that part of this plot seemed to work out.
A final note: again this week one of my articles supporting the idea that parents get their children vaccinated against deadly childhood diseases upset someone and they made a phone call and made threatening statements. This has happened before, sometimes at 3 a.m. I really don't understand this behaviour. These are people who seem to believe in vast and complicated conspiracy theories, they are convinced the government and big business are poisoning their children. But I'm not the only one who is threatened because we try to spread science and data. Dr. Paul Offit (who wrote "Autism's False Prophets") can't even go to a book signing because he and his family have been threatened and book stores fear violence (read this article in the NYTimes: click here). And then there are parents who often report top me that they too are harrassed and often bullied because they make some public statement about medicine, vaccines and science. Click here for one report from Canada: http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Vaccine+book+brings+hidden+support+Author/1301769/story.html?id=1301769 At some point we all have to take a stand for science and modernity before we slip into another dark ages.
We can start by being careful with how we title articles. Autism is something that is destroying individuals, families, schools ....and we still don't have any idea what causes it or how to prevent it. Our skills for treating it are improving, but minimal. We need to stop wasting time and money on false accusations, phoney data and conspiracy theories and start focusing on science.
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My web page lists a number of resources you can make use of yourself in dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger's, as well as many other social-cognitive deficits and learning disabilities. Please visit it at www.socialcognitivetherapy.com, or one of my other sites at: Psychology Today, AAMFT, PSYRIS or my professional site or www.adhdhelp.ca.
Autism assessment and treatment services are offered for individuals, couples, families, children, adolescents and adults in the Burnaby, Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster and Maple Ridge areas of the lower mainland. This includes neuro-developmental assessments, psycho-education assessments, autism assessments as well as behavioural and cognitive behaviour therapy. I also provide diagnostic assessments for autism and Asperger's Disorder in my Burnaby office.
Dr. Jim Roche
Registered Psychologist, British Columbia 01610
778.998-7975
www.relatedminds.com
www.socialcognitivetherapy.com
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