Has anybody checked to see if autism existed before vaccinations?
The increase in the incidence of autism directly correlates with the increase in the number of vaccinations added to the schedule (But, of course, correlation does not mean causation).
It did, but the diagnosis criteria was expanded years ago and more cases have been diagnosed since. This does not explain all the increases, but it does explain some.
It did. The word autism was first used in the early 1900's, and the classification/diagnosis began in the 1930'-40's. I believe wide-spread vaccination began at least a decade after that. Also, autism most likely existed for centuries; it just wasn't labeled that.
That's a good point because at one point heavy metals were widely used with no precautions. The "Mad Hatter" for example. If you do a google search, you'll get links and most of them describe symptoms and conditions caused by mercury poisoning and none of it fits with autism. If mercury were the cause, I would think that there would have been a tremendous amount of autism noticed then.