Zariel wrote:
Quote:
I just found out I wasn't vaccinated until I was five. I'm still autistic, and even showed signs of autism before that.
That's good for me to know. I never believed the vaccine theory, because I believe if the mercury in the vaccines were that toxic it would be detectable in the blood or some other tissue test.
The mercury thing is just one of many anti-vax objections. First it was the MMR, then when it was demonstrted that AS was detectable well before the MMR is typically given, they turned to Thimerosal. When that was removed and the AS rate remained unchanged, they then started claiming that it was caused by "too many vaccinations at the same time". Now that AS can be detected as early as 14 months in some cases, I'm waiting to see what kind of nonsense the anti-vaxxers are going to claim next.
There's not a single shred of scientific support for vaccines causing autism; and a whole lot of evidence that it doesn't. The most recent research shows that autism is most definitely genetic. Twin studies show a 60% correlation for clear AS, and a 92% correlation for related neurological conditions. There's also a 3:1 ratio of male to female AS, which effectively invalidates the vaccine eitiology right there.
Part of the problem with determining the genetic basis for AS is that, unlike many developmental disorders, it's not linked to one specific gene or group. The ratio would seem to indicate that it's a sex-linked trait, but that's also been discounted. So far, AS appears to be the result of a complex interaction between several different genes, in different locations; with the various different AS disorders being influenced by a somewhat different combination of genes. There is an indication that there are epigenetic (environmental) triggers as well; but the current understanding is that these would have to be pre-natal, or very early post-natal, and are probably viral.