The Vaccine Court’s release of its opinion on Darwin’s 200th birthday was fortuitous, seeing as the vaccine-autism faithful have a good deal in common with religious fundamentalists. They are so invested in their ideas that they ignore or attack any evidence to the contrary, and treat gaps in the opposing evidence as further proof in their favor.

The obscenity of the “anti-vax” movement is stupefying– a campaign to reinstitute open sewers or ban refrigeration could scarcely threaten greater violence to the public health.

I have much more to say on this topic here.

People wanting a Christian perspective on why autism exists might enjoy a free podcast at http://www.mic.mypodcast.com entitled “Why is there autism? A Christian perspective” issued by Midnight In Chicago.

Many other free podcasts on autism spectrum disorders are available there also.

@anonymous – I have read Dr. Wakefield’s response. He skirts most of the big issues, such as the fact that several of the children had symptoms of autism before receiving the MMR shot. He says that he did not have that information at the time. However, as a researcher, it is his responsibility to find that information out. In any case, now that he knows this, he still refuses to modify his conclusion. He never actually denies that these children did have these symptoms prior to the vaccination.

Even if it is true that he did not know this information at the time, what is his reasoning for not modifying his original “study”?

Also, I am really frustrated that those of us who are scientifically minded and can plainly see that there is no MMR-autism link are viewed as being against people with autism. I would say we are more for them than the anti-vax crowd, since we would like to find a real cause for autism.

Finally, even if this study was completely legit, they only involved 12 patients! There are thousands of points of data showing that the MMR vaccine is safe, but the same people who don’t believe this data hand onto these 12 points of data like there was some holy shroud around them.

This doctor and many people in the autism community are speaking out about the very information in this post. Please read on and notice that everyone pro-vaccine in this posting is not dealing with austism. Please stop saying autisic children. We don’t say canceric people…they are people first, with autism. It is insulting.

http://spectrumpublications.com/spectrum-magazine-home.html

Sue, you are right. Before 1980, there was no criteria for autism, so very few people were diagnosed as such. In 1980, there were very strict criteria defined. In 1994, there criteria were changed again, and were defined much more loosely. There was a study where a group of kids who were diagnosed recently were subjected to the pre-1994 (but post-1980) criteria, and only 25% met this older criteria. If you believe this study, that means, based on the change in criteria alone, we should see a 4-fold increase in autism solely based on the changing criteria. This does not include increased screening, earlier screening, etc.

The reason the numbers did not jump suddenly in 1994 is that it takes time for doctors to adapt to the new criteria. Also, as the criteria gets circulated, people start seeing the symptoms in their kids themselves.

That is not to say that there is no actual rise in autism. It is just impossible to know what it could actually be.

Now, I don’t want to take anything away from those out there who have kids who are autistic. This is such a hard thing to deal with from day to day. However, as some have said earlier, we have spent so much time and money investigating vaccines as the cause, when this has been proven false so many times, that we are no closer in determining what could be causing autism, or what the real increase is.

I am a mother of a little boy diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum. I agree with other families that something is causing this epidemic and it could very well be environmental, i.e. pollution, chemical.
Clearly more unbiased studies need to be done, this is certainly not the way it should happen with false information.
The vaccine scare started because so many moms can trace their child’s diagnosis back to the same point…just months after the MMR and at the end of 18 months of shots.
I vaccinated my son. We have no family history of auto-immune problems or learning disabilities.
His pediatrician looked at his pointing and babbling at 1 year and SWORE ON HER MEDICAL LICENSE he would never have autism. Now he does and I didn’t see it for months because she assured me. I never looked. The medical community is far from perfect and none of you know the torment we mothers go through blaming ourselves for our choices. The shots might not be to blame, but if they are, I am the one who held him down as he got them and I am the one who will fight for the rest of my life to get his the therapies and treatments he needs.
I invite you to a week of the hell I live through daily. The looks, the stares, the whispers about me as a mom. Very few diagnoses give the public this right to criticize because our little children, who are screaming from sensory overload in Walmart don’t look disabled. They are adorable, well dressed, well fed children. Yet, they are being bombarded by overstimulation from lights and music and people. Wouldn’t you want answers?

Wow. It’s discouraging that it’s taken so long to investigate, or at least so long for it to come to light. I know autism rates have increased but I also wonder how many more children are now being diagnosed as autistic, when in the past they would not have been. I have a cousin who was dx’d as “mentally retarded” when she was four. She’s now 40 and I can’t help but think that nowadays, she would probably receive an autism dx. Unless the child has Down Syndrome (or another known cause of retardation) it seems most children do not receive the “mentally retarded” label.

So there could be other reasons the “autism” rates are increasing.

How much time and money has been spent on the anti-vax movement when it could have been spent on autism research? We don’t seem to be much further ahead in that area and that is the true disservice this movement has caused.

My son was due for his MMR shortly after the Hanna Pollard (sp?) case and the fear drove me to question my previously pro vax on schedual stance. I asked our Ped about breaking up the MMR and spacing it, and she pointed out that this would mean that our child’s immune system would never get to rest as it would constantly have to be on high alert. There is also a minute, yet very real human and mechanical error factor involved with every procedure. Simply stated, the more shots, the more the chance for mistakes, so we decided to vax on sched and reading this makes me even more happy about our decision.

My pediatrician spaces out my children’s vaccinations to prevent overwhelming their immune system. She says most of the time when she offers the same option to other parents they say “no”. They dont want to have to come back every 6 weeks or so! They want to come in only when they absolutely have to.

I apologize if I came across as overly critical. In reading Amy’s post, it is true she did not talk about autism specifically. I would like to know what kinds of things she is talking about, though.

Please understand the frustration, though. I will often hear people say things like “there are scientists out there that think babies are getting too many vaccines at once”, but don’t say who these scientists are, or what the basis of their thinking is.

So, I guess I should have just asked the question – can you let us know who these scientists are, and if you have any info on why they think this, that would be very helpful. The only scientist I have ever heard of that is against vaccines is this geologist who has no medical training or background.

My first thought was that I hope he gets charged with manslaughter for the recent measles deaths, and fined for measles outbreaks. Then I found myself thinking that if people are going to value minority medical research published in, say, Rolling Stone over thorough and scientific studies, then maybe this is just another example of Darwinish (or whatever the intelligent design cuties would have us call it).

@Amy, I am a scientist, and I too have studied this issue a great deal. The fact is there is no real argument against the fact that the benefits of all these vaccines greatly outweigh the risks. All of the evidence points to this. If you have any other data indicating the opposite, please cite it. I have done so much research, and have only found emotional fears, no actual scientific data, supporting the anti-vaccine movement.

Amy, can you list these scientists who have raised these issues? Most scientists I have met and read about have said there is no vaccine-autism link. All of the scientific evidence points to having no link. This was the only real “data” that existed, and now we know it was fabricated. Jeanne is right indicating that the argument should really be put to rest.

Please do give the names of these scientists you are talking about. Maybe there is data out there, but I have yet to see any.

Thank you such much for this post. Most of his colleagues had already written a paper stating that his conclusion was wrong. This just shows how low he actually did stoop. And yes, this is the basis for the entire anti-vax movement. It is time to finally stop this.