Having a pre-adolescent son with a (debatable) form of autism, this news made a big impact on me; Vaccines do not cause autism. Now, I really never believed they did, but the "easy out" was tempting to take. It's typical that kids either develop or start to exhibit symptoms of autism right around the same time they're receiving standard childhood vaccinations, notably the MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) vaccine. At one time, thimerisol, which contains mercury, was a standard substance used to help stabilize vaccines and we all know that's bad for us, right? There could be a reaction to one or more of the viruses in the vaccine. Lots of things associated with the vaccine could cause autism, we don't really know, right? Wrong. We do know.
The one major study that linked the MMR vaccine with a higher incidence of autism was published in The Lancet, a major British medical journal in February of 1998, little more than a year before my son was born. This was well-known news as he was going through the initial testing and educational interventions (that are still part of his life to some degree) that occurred once it had became obvious his development was drastically delayed. Unfortunately, the study never should have been published and today was finally retracted by the journal. It was flawed ethically and dozens of other studies have not been able to duplicate it's results. The main author is now having his medical license reviewed as well and may have it revoked.
I can't say that I'm actually happy these steps have been taken. It feels much better to think you have an answer to a problem than to not have one. Vaccines were an answer for many parents of children on the autism spectrum and now that is gone from us. We're left with not knowing why our kids struggle as they do and without that 'why' it's even more difficult to come up with the 'hows' or the 'whens' like "How can my son compensate for his disabilities?" or "When will he have friends?". I do wish, however, that this pat answer hadn't been given in the first place. It provided an easy place to set our fears, our hopes, our anger, but it gave it to us falsely.
Here we are, nearly twelve years later with no answers, only statistics. My son is one of every 110 kids to be diagnosed with a form of autism in the US and I don't know why, but it wasn't caused by a vaccine.
More can be found about autism in the US at Autism Speaks http://www.autismspeaks.org/.
The one major study that linked the MMR vaccine with a higher incidence of autism was published in The Lancet, a major British medical journal in February of 1998, little more than a year before my son was born. This was well-known news as he was going through the initial testing and educational interventions (that are still part of his life to some degree) that occurred once it had became obvious his development was drastically delayed. Unfortunately, the study never should have been published and today was finally retracted by the journal. It was flawed ethically and dozens of other studies have not been able to duplicate it's results. The main author is now having his medical license reviewed as well and may have it revoked.
I can't say that I'm actually happy these steps have been taken. It feels much better to think you have an answer to a problem than to not have one. Vaccines were an answer for many parents of children on the autism spectrum and now that is gone from us. We're left with not knowing why our kids struggle as they do and without that 'why' it's even more difficult to come up with the 'hows' or the 'whens' like "How can my son compensate for his disabilities?" or "When will he have friends?". I do wish, however, that this pat answer hadn't been given in the first place. It provided an easy place to set our fears, our hopes, our anger, but it gave it to us falsely.
Here we are, nearly twelve years later with no answers, only statistics. My son is one of every 110 kids to be diagnosed with a form of autism in the US and I don't know why, but it wasn't caused by a vaccine.
More can be found about autism in the US at Autism Speaks http://www.autismspeaks.org/.
