More: No link whatsoever between vaccines and autism

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He then postulates an explanation that I happen to agree with:

In other words, it’s all about obtaining compensation for nonexistent “vaccine injury” and “biomedical treatments” for this injury. Never mind that these “treatments” are neither scientifically plausible nor have convincing evidence in the form of well-designed clinical trials to support their efficacy in ameliorating the cognitive delays observed in autistic children. Unfortunately, parents who love their autistic children and desperately want to do something to “make them better” are fertile ground for the blandishments of proponents of these implausible and unproven “therapies.” Some of these treatments, such as chelation therapy, which, it is claimed, will remove the mercury that, according to proponents of the thimerosal hypothesis, is the root cause of autism, have developed into veritable cottage industries that prey on desperate parents. It has even progressed to the point where the Geiers can convince some parents that most autistic children exhibit signs of “precocious puberty” and that the elevated testosterone in such children forms “sheets” that bind mercury and prevent it from being chelated properly. As hard as it is to believe, they then use that claim as a justification for using powerful anti-androgenic drugs such as Lupron on autistic children to treat their autism.

Vaccination is arguably the most effective single public health intervention ever developed. As recently as 50 years ago, for example, our parents and grandparents lived in deathly fear of diseases like polio, which is virtually a thing of the past. Because they are preventative in nature and administered to a very large population of healthy people, vaccines have a very high hurdle to jump as far as safety is concerned, because when an intervention is performed on millions of otherwise healthy people, even a low rate of complications can result in large numbers of injured people. Modern vaccines have achieved that level of safety. Are they completely safe? Nothing in medicine is absolutely, 100% safe. In comparison to the risk of the diseases they prevent and by any reasonable standard, the risks due modern vaccines are extremely low. Moreover, the claims of proponents of an increasingly untenable hypothesis to the contrary, there is no convincing evidence that thimerosal-containing vaccines, or vaccines in general, have anything to do with the etiology of autism. Whatever tiny risk there may be from childhood vaccines, autism and ASDs are not among them. Indeed, even before this study by Schechter and Grether, under the onslaught of studies that all fail to find a link between thimerosal and autism, even David Kirby and those more zealous than him were starting to back away from the hypothesis, invoking hand-waving and vague “environmental toxins” or even going so far as to blame mercury from pollution wafting over from China or, even more ludicrously, mercury from the cremation of bodies with mercury amalgam dental fillings. Meanwhile, in the wake of this study, Mark Blaxill is retreating to saying that “the epidemiological analysis doesn’t prove that thimerosal exposure cannot cause individual cases of autism” and blaming vaccines in general for autism (while also not being able to wait for the embargo to try to put his spin on the matter, by the way).

This study is clearly but one more nail in the coffin of this dying hypothesis. Unfortunately, like Jason in the Friday the 13th movies, the hypothesis that mercury in vaccines is a major cause of autism just refuses to die, no matter how many studies fail to find even a wisp of a link between the two. Just when you think it’s finally, really dead, it has an unpleasant way of being resurrected. That’s why it is not difficult to predict that the usual suspects will refuse to believe it, just as they have refused to believe the studies preceding it.

Mercury-vaccine link to autism disproven: study
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new study provides more proof that childhood vaccines with mercury as a preservative -- no longer on the market -- did not cause autism, researchers reported on Monday.

The findings came from a look at children diagnosed with autism in California from 1995 to 2007. It found that the number of autism cases continued to rise through that period even though the preservative thimerosal -- nearly half of which is made of ethylmercury -- was removed from most vaccines in 2001.

The data "do not show any recent decrease in autism in California despite the exclusion of more than trace levels of thimerosal from nearly all childhood vaccines (and) do not support the hypothesis that that exposure (to it) during childhood is a primary cause of autism," the study concluded.

Do you mean no link between Thimerosal and autism? There are other problems with vaccines (stealth viruses, mycoplasma, aluminum) that I think may result in autism.

And doctors are now telling us keeping babies out of the dirt, and bathing them regularly results in them having asthma and allergies. I hope, no one will advocate not washing one's hands based on that??

I do have things I'd like to say about the ingredients in a lot of standard products used in kids' baths though... plenty are known to make eczema and asthma bad. Switch to a natural one with no SLS, parabens, glycols, or petro-chemicals and see the change in your skin, it's amazing

I stopped washing my hands as much ever since I read about that a few months ago. Some researchers believe chicken pox, measles, and other infections may improve the immune system to prevent asthma and allergies and feel that vaccines, which prevent a full immune response to these infections, may result in asthma, allergies, and other chronic health problems.

zendell wrote:



OK in all seriousness, washing your hands is the number ONE defense against, e. coli from intestinal sources, norovirus, and the flu bug.... And you don't have to take any shots or drugs... just wash your hands.

LeKiwi wrote:



Actually I'll break ranks with the Dad Cartel and tell a secret.... about 80% of us just strip the kids cloths off, rub some bacon fat on them and have the dog lick 'em clean.... it's fast, efficient and the dogs and kids love it.

zendell wrote:



OK in all seriousness, washing your hands is the number ONE defense against, e. coli from intestinal sources, norovirus, and the flu bug.... And you don't have to take any shots or drugs... just wash your hands.

I stopped washing my hands as much ever since I read about that a few months ago. Some researchers believe chicken pox, measles, and other infections may improve the immune system to prevent asthma and allergies and feel that vaccines, which prevent a full immune response to these infections, may result in asthma, allergies, and other chronic health problems.

I'm not keen on the measles vaccine and my kids won't be getting it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say getting it will improve a child's immunity.