Posted on 12/16/2005 7:19:57 AM PST by agsloss
The Age of Autism: Question of the year By DAN OLMSTED UPI Senior Editor
This was the year Big Media pitted parents against experts over whether vaccines cause autism -- and decided the experts are right. But they may have forgotten to ask an embarrassingly obvious question.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
My mother told me the same thing. Even 30 years ago, when many people just vaccinated their kids and didn't think about the consequences, she made them spread everything out. She wouldn't even let them give us the MMR. She wanted a separate shot for each.
Just checking in this AM and saw this one, might interest you. Haven't clicked the link yet.
Anecdotal evidence (not connected with autism): I've known several children to get very sickly right after vaccinations, who were very healthy before. Just anecdotal, but enough to make me concerned about the whole thing many years ago.
Cy - when you get a chance, you might want to pick crystal wind's brain. She's a recent signup but I've known her on other forums, and she knows quite a bit about what's in vaccinations, natural health, and so on.
I wish I had been more informed when we had kids many years ago. Information, and then making informed decisions is the key.
A really good book, even though some years old (the author, a great guy, died a while ago) is (the name escapes me now....darn) but the author is Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, could be spelled wrong. He was a regular medical doctor, a pediatrician, taught at some hospital in Chicago, a regular AMA doc, but had many, many insights and criticisms based on knowledge, about the standard AMA line.
I think the book is "How to Raise Healthy Children In Spite of Your Doctor". I'll have to look up a copy. Anyway, he recommended only tetanus vaccinations.
I was thinking exactly this. Kids w/ disorders along the autistic spectrum always seem to have mathematician dads, PhD's--there are a LOT of kids w/ Aspergers, sensory integration disorder, etc., where I live, near the Livermore Lab--their dads are all brilliant labbies. . .
I'm very pro-vaccine. I made sure all my infants got all their vaccines ASAP. Especially since I live in CA w/ all the unvaxed, illegal immigrants bringing in whooping cough, Hepatitis (my pediatrician told me that if any kids eat in ANY restaurant in CA they should definitely get the recommended Hep A vaccine. . .)
My understanding is that the highest rate of Aspergers is in Silicon Valley.
I have heard that too. I know that there is a study about that link (mathematical/intelligence) being done by at least one pharmaceutical company. My husband met a woman who is helping with it.
Those silicon chips have a ton of toxic substances associated with their production. BTW, I have two autistic kids, and I'm no mathematician (English major).
The rate off autism has gone down in CA since thimerosal was removed. Trace amounts of the substance remain in all vaccines, and we still do not know how much is safe. A recent NIH study found thimerosal to be much more toxic than "regular" mercury.
But are you smart?
Autism is very clearly described in the DSM IV. California and Great Britain have been using this definition since the early 80's, yet the autism rates have gone up at the same rate throughout the US and GB at the same time--from the mid 90's. Therefore, "greater awareness" is not the answer to the explosion. (were they really missing 99.5% of the cases?)
Smart enough to recognize that when my son stops talking for two years after his first set of shots (we held off for a year on any shots because he has an older autistic brother), the shots might have something to do with it.
I believe that there is a genetic component to this, but that vaccines can trigger the autistic symptoms. Immunizations are a medical procedure, and we should be able to refuse them without being bullied by pediatricians, schools officials and the county health department. If you are worried about these benign childhood diseases, you can go ahead and get the shots yourself. If they work as well as advertised, you will have no worry of getting the chicken pox.
"Autism, particularly the milder forms like Aspergers, is associated with intelligence. I think it's obvious why the unvaccinated have less autism."
Coffee spewed onto keyboard!
That would depend on whether the diagnosis is regarded as a qualification for services or as a death sentence. When I went to school on this (before the 80s) the textbooks defined only the most severe cases as autism. Our teachers told us that the books were wrong, and that there was a spectrum of symptoms.
Several decades ago I was a family counselor. I had at least one psychiatrist ask me what diagnosis would qualify my client for treatment.
No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study.
BACKGROUND: A causal relationship between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and occurrence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been claimed, based on an increase in ASD in the USA and the UK after introduction of the MMR vaccine. However, the possibility that this increase is coincidental has not been eliminated. The unique circumstances of a Japanese MMR vaccination program provide an opportunity for comparison of ASD incidence before and after termination of the program. METHODS: This study examined cumulative incidence of ASD up to age seven for children born from 1988 to 1996 in Kohoku Ward (population approximately 300,000), Yokohama, Japan. ASD cases included all cases of pervasive developmental disorders according to ICD-10 guidelines. RESULTS: The MMR vaccination rate in the city of Yokohama declined significantly in the birth cohorts of years 1988 through 1992, and not a single vaccination was administered in 1993 or thereafter. In contrast, cumulative incidence of ASD up to age seven increased significantly in the birth cohorts of years 1988 through 1996 and most notably rose dramatically beginning with the birth cohort of 1993. CONCLUSIONS: The significance of this finding is that MMR vaccination is most unlikely to be a main cause of ASD, that it cannot explain the rise over time in the incidence of ASD, and that withdrawal of MMR in countries where it is still being used cannot be expected to lead to a reduction in the incidence of ASD.
I don't think these diseases are all that benign. Infants die from whopping cough. . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.