Your Opinion Requested: What Parents Want to Know About Vaccines and Autism
Now, I may be nuts, but it seems to me that these studies don't really answer parents' burning questions. In my mind, as parents consider whether or not to vaccinate their children - or take their case to Vaccine Court - they want to know:
- Why do some children appear to suddenly develop autistic symptoms within hours of their MMR or other vaccine?
- Could children with autism be genetically predisposed to react very strongly to even trace amounts of thimerosal and/or injected viruses?
- Do children who are NOT vaccinated have a lower rate of autism than children who ARE vaccinated?
- Could a modified vaccination schedule lower the likelihood of any vaccine reaction?
Of course, I've been told that parents are simply mistaken: that the MMR and autism symptoms may appear to be cause and effect, but in fact they are just coincidental. And I've been told that the amount of mercury in thimerosal-based preservatives is now and really always was too small to be significant. And perhaps all this is perfectly true. And perhaps it isn't. And perhaps it's too hard or too expensive to design useful studies to answer parents' questions. And perhaps it isn't.
What I do know is that, despite all the studies, these questions remain unanswered. And unless and until they are answered, parents will continue to worry about a link between vaccines and autism.
What do you think? Am I seeing things clearly? Are these the questions YOU want answered? Share your thoughts!
Comments
I think your questions are completely valid. I also think that on BOTH sides of the issue, no matter how many studies are done, there will always be those who are for or against the vaccine-link. (Sigh…)
It’s tough. Resources, even though much, much better than they used to be, are incredibly limited. Research is expensive! Then put on top of that the need for services and help for individuals with autism today. Trying to effectively allocate resources to all applicable areas is challenging to say the least.
My hope is that somehow we can find enough common ground to stop battling over the limited pieces of pie and pass the plate around graciously and respectfully. Of course I’ve been hoping my dysfunctional family would do that at Thanksgiving my entire life and it hasn’t happened yet. :0)
Call me a dreamer…
In my gut, I believe that genetics plays a part, but environmental impact also contributes. In hindsight, no question my husband’s brother is an undiagnosed Autistic Adult, but he is far higher functioning than many of the children we see today. Could it be that he would have been much worse if he had to have so many vaccines and higher doses of vaccine when he was a child in the mid 1950s? I truly believe that many of our children, who are geneticially pre-disposed, have weak immune systems. That the number of vaccines and the amount of vaccines, plus environmental factors such as mercury, or living near a chemical plant – definitely contributes to the extent of the disability.
I loved eating tuna and sword fish and ate a lot of fish when I was pregnant. I was given Rhogam and Pitocin and my son had all the necessary vaccines in 1990 and 1991. By his 18th month, he had completely shut down and at age 17 he still has trouble saying full sentences. He can not write paragraphs and he will not be able to be employed.
The pharmaceutical companies have learned from the tobacco companies how to shield themselves from liability and our families will never really know the answers to why our children are as they are. But Lisa, keep asking the questions we need your voice~!
I just read the study you are refering to. The lead author is not a toxicologist, even though the U of Rochester is known for their strong toxicology department. In a previously published paper, he did not know the difference between nmol/liter and parts per billion. The paper should have been retracted since the difference between the two is a factor of 5. The new study says, and rightfully so, that ethyl mercury rapidly clears the blood. This was quickly spun to say ethyl mercury rapidly leaves the body. This is false! It is rapidly distributed to the brain where it is converted to inorganic mercury (Hg++). This form reains trapped in the brain indefinitley. What I found interesting in the paper is that the authors report that they analyzed the vaccine vials for mercury content. For some reason they did not disclose what they found. This is the question that the media never asks, how much mercury is in those multi-dose vaccine vials?
Great article Lisa! All are excellent and valid questions. Why hasn’t the vaccinated/unvaccinated study been funded? And why are there “secret” autism research meetings like the IACC meetings held last month which were closed (according to what I read unless I was mistaken)?
I do think there might be a trigger but I think it’s a pesticide, carcnigine or chemical.
Children who are not vaccinated do not have lower rates of autism this has been studied. That’s how they realized they were not connected. The largest Canadian study found the rates were the same for vaccinated children were the same for non vaccinated children.
Most of those children do have symptoms beforehand even if they regress. My child may or may not have pdd-nos or aspergers. It also might be dyspraxia or a dyspraxia and mild autism. My husband noticed things since he’s in the medical field that were so subtle and before she got immunizations that I only would have the noticed regression. She did regress about the time most children get their shots.
She most likely did not have mercury since that’s mostly only used in adult vaccines now.
The immunization can just make parents aware of the symptoms but doesn’t cause or the autism. Autism behavior worsens when children are not feeling well. The child was most likely always autistic but not feeling well just brought out the behavior. It’s the same reason the gut diet works for some children and not for others. Children with communication problems exhibit pain through their behavior. It’s why many autistic children tantrum in the mall the lights or sound or someone’s perfume might hurt them causing a sensory based anxiety attack.
She does smile and look people in the eyes so she’s hard to diagnose but has mild sensory seeking issues
and language and listening comprehension difficulties. She has problems remembering words.
From what I’ve seen, this study does not show that vaccines don’t cause autism, although it is reported that way. It shows that the mercury doesn’t stay in the blood for more than a month. Therefore, what? Nothing. It is entirely deceptive.
Actually, I wasn’t really blogging here about a particular study – more about studies in general, and how little they do to help parents make intelligent choices for their children.
In general, I agree, the studies all say SOMEthing – but none of them seem to say anything that actually changes perspectives. It’s frustrating!
So… what questions would YOU want to see answered by future studies?
Lisa (autism guide)
those are great questions and what leaves us still undecided is not one of these studies yells out “eureka! by golly this is IT” and that ‘IT’ being the it for all.
Dear readers,
I have presented evidence that autism results from maternal transmission of brain damaging viruses. The viruses evade elimination by the immune system through the deletion (or mutation) of the few critical components normally targeted by anti-viral lymphocytes. I have used the term “stealth adapted” for such viruses. Additional information on stealth adapted viruses causing autism is available at http://www.s3support.com
Fortunately, the body is not solely dependent upon the immune system for its anti-viral defenses. It can also utilize an alternative cellular energy (ACE) pathway to help overcome the cell damaging effects of both stealth adapted and conventional viruses.
A simple protocol has been devised that expedites the healing of skin lesions caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) and herpes zoster virus (HZV).
The protocol is now ready for testing on patients infected with stealth adapted viruses. Interested parents of children with autism may wish to contact me via e-mail at s3support@mail.com Kind regards, W. John Martin, MD, PhD. Institute of Progressive Medicine (formerly Center for Complex Infectious Diseases).
I can’t see how it’s arguable that ANY amount of Mercury injected into any human in any form can be seen as harmless. Where’s the bright idea behind that line of reasoning? While Mercury may not “cause” Autism, it’s a viable argument that it COULD be a catalyst, a trigger in development. Not everyone has the same immune system.
The combination of that possibility and the damage that is known to be caused neurologically from high fevers (which many children suffer from after routine inoculations) is something I believe is worthy of speculation, as far as cause and effect is concerned.
John presents an intriguing view, as do others in many forms, fetal exposure to excessive testosterone is another interesting vein. Pesticide exposure yet another. And, of course, genetics either impacted by or reacting to these issues.
I look forward to the final outcome as far as all research is concerned. I’m keeping my eyes and mind wide open. There are obviously so many factors and combinations thereof other than these to examine to exhaustion.
I have never felt that vaccines have anything to do with Autism. I have a friend who did not get her sons vaccinated at all- and one has Autism, and the other doesnt. I personally wish they would put some of this research money and time into what will help those who live with Autism now. To me it doesnt matter why my son has it, as much as it would matter how can I help him now- I would rather have that money for more programs in schools, or more education for physicians and educators.
Chemist’s comments were fascinating. Lisa, you have crystallized the questions about vaccines very well. The other issue with vaccines is that there are so many. In the environmental arena, the Federal government is required to consider “cumulative effects”. Why is so little scrutiny given to the idea that kids receive dozens and dozens of different vaccinations – all bombarding their immune system in an unnatural way. They also have additives designed to elicit a strong immune response. There seems to be a lot of time and effort put into “debunking” thimerisol – which, for the reasons you point out, remains un-debunked (is that a word?). And they utterly ignore all the OTHER stuff in vaccines AND they ignore cumulative effects.
My son developed PDD-NOS symptoms at 18-mos., a day after his 18-month shot series. Went from talking (”Hi Dada”) to not talking, no eye contact, etc. etc.
I received a ton of shots before deploying to the middle east and I felt awful for several days; including memory loss, etc. How can we not expect some neurological effects on 0-2 year olds?
Finally, I suspect that Autism will turn out to be an epigenetic phenomenon. Epigenetics has to do with whether certain genes are activated or inactivated. That’s what makes a muscle cell different from a skin cell, even though they contain the same DNA. Certain genes are inactivated. Well, environmental exposures — sometimes a generation or two removed — can affect your epigenetics. They have found survivors of the Irish potato famine had grandchildren that lived longer or shorter lives, depending on the age of the grandparent at the time of the famine. Weird! Point is, maybe it was the mercury our grandparents got that created the problem in our epigenome two generations later. Or perhaps some other environmental phenomenon.
Epigenetics would certainly explain why the “signal-to-noise” ratio is so low in all of these vaccine studies — because it was your granddad’s vaccine that made your son / daughter susceptible? Just a thought.
Thanks Lisa!!!
-Bob
Yada, yada, yada! How ’bout some common sense here? Before my children were born, I asked a friend who was a nurse for a vaccine insert label. “Formaldehyde, aluminum, thimerosol (49.6% ethyl mercury), ethylene glycol (anti-freeze), msg, squalene, carbolic acid, neomycin, streptomyin, etc., etc.” Why would anyone in their right mind allow such a neurotoxic, carcinogenic, potentially lethal plethora of heavy metals into their brand new baby? Not me. Coming from a medical background, and talking w/7 doctors who chose not to vaccinate their own children, nor recommend them to their patients (w/the ‘health’ dept. breathing down their necks), and two treating vaccine-damaged children, I said ‘no thanks.’ My sister-in-law, a pharmaceutical rep at the time, now pharmacist, said the drug cos’ motto is: ‘womb to tomb, a customer for life.’ Even she, of all people, didn’t buy the rap for vaccines. A dear friend’s 4 mos. old daughter had her 2nd set of shots at 4 mos. and within 24 hrs. suffered a severe reaction, w/the doctor saying, “Oh shit, a vaccine reaction”, as if he’d seen one before. After her daughter died a month and a half later, the doctor wrote it up as SIDS, explaining that he was worried about his reputation and liability. An autopsy determined her daughter had 172x the ’safe’ level of mercury in her body. 80-85% of SIDS cases are vaccine reactions. SIDS is a business remember and there are vested interests in maintaining it. Check out Dr. Hugh Fudenberg for his research into vaccine dangers as well as Harrison Coulter, medical historian, for his take on encephalitis (brain inflammation) and social violence and educational failure. Fascinating!
Where are the statistics on non-vaccinated children? This is anecdotal, on a large scale, but look at the numbers.
Unvaccinated Amish never see Autism:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/science/autism_none_for_unvaccinated_amish.htm
For the mom in New Mexico. According to biologists, thimerosal induces DNA breaks,membrane damage, caspase-3 activation, and cell death in cultured human neurons and fibroblasts.(society of toxicology)by David S. Baskin, Hop Ngo, and Vladimir V. Didenko, Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine. Now, my opinion and respons to your friend that never vaccinated her child that now has Autism. If a drug addict shoots drugs during her pregnancy, there is a high possibility that the child can be brain damage or cause the death of the child. This also happens when mothers are vaccinated during there pregnancy. My sister in-law was vaccinated during her pregnancy. Her son was also vaccinated and without her consent. Oh! And by the way she never ate fish, since she was a child she disliked seafood.
Now in July 1999 DHHS,NIAID and vaccine manufacurers admitted that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure and to reduce exposure to mercury from all sources.And the assumption that the health risks from methyl and ethyl mercury were the same.
We are not asking for no vaccines, but for safe vaccines. These are our children, not lab rats. Mothers are to defend their children not put them in harms way. So we ask, that the government remove the ethyl-mercury from the vaccines and the methyl-mercury from polluting industries.
The same way is mandatory in some states to test for lead in children,the same should be done with mercury. Test children for high level of mercury. New York State won’t test them for mercury. And to those who believe that money should not be put into the prevention, but into the cure, you are backward. There are cures and proven by natural medicine, but not everyone have the money for it. My final words; look around you, and see how many more are getting Autism, Cancer, Asthma and Parkinson.