Thursday, March 13, 2008

Vaccine Against Stupidity

If only it were possible.

In today's addition, it's parents who swear that vaccines cause autism. A recent decision by the federal government to payoff a family claiming vaccines caused their child's autism has been the center of recent controversy. A doctor has written a good piece in Salon about the case, the nonsense and the consequences:

Despite the charges, multiple studies have demonstrated no connection between thimerosal [mercury] (or anything else about vaccines) and autism. In the past nine months alone, at least three studies have shown that thimerosal has no relationship to autism or any other neurological disorders. One study, published in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, looked at autism rates in California after the removal of thimerosal. Not only did the rates not go down, they continued to rise. For these reasons, the government and most doctors stand by the belief that vaccines are effective and safe.
So why did the government pay these people off? Good question. As is often pointed out, the amount of mercury being spewed into the air by coal fired generating plants makes vaccine dosages look miniscule by comparison, but parents aren't freaking out about that. Just another hysteria being generated by ignorance and perpetuated by a stupid media.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

My son will probably recieve the diagnosis of autism in just a week, now that he's gone through the testing. I don't believe it is vaccines, I believe it is environmental. There's dioxin in breast milk now. Public water supplies are filled with pharmasuticals. We've done this to ourselves over time.

Greyhair said...

I'm sorry to hear of your situation. I hope your son's autism is mild, i.e Asperger's.

Indeed, it's a challenge which is why I understand people are struggling to find causes. But there's a lot of snake oil out there and it's important to follow experts in the field in the diagnosis and treatment.