I have followed this potential link between vaccines and autism. As fitting to this sight about the influence of money on scientific results, the doctors who first reported a "link" between vaccines and autism in The Lancet were on the take of lawyers suing on behalf of families affected by autism. Now reports claim that those doctors fudged the data to produce a "link". Very large and convincing epidemiology studies since that Lancet report (which has been retracted) have repeatedly failed to find any link, especially to the use of thermisol as a preservative. A Dutch study found that the rates of autism rose well after thermisol had been removed from vaccines. The number of cases of autism have risen since better methods for diagnosing it have been developed in the last two decades. In the past, an autistic child would have been broadly labeled as mentally retarded. Now there are better ways to classify how a child is mentally challenged and there are behavior treatments that help to a limited degree. Blaming vaccines is not the answer to autism. I wonder how many thousands of children are going to die because their parents refused to get them vaccinated out of these unsubstantiated fears about autism.

Philip Dawdy responds: i should also note that last year there was a california study also showing the autism rates didn't fall in that state after mercury in vaccines was pulled.

Having not followed every jot and tittle on the vaccine theory of autism, I can only report on my on-the-ground experience. From 1974-1976 in Vermont, I had exactly one child on my preschool caseload with clear, severe, non-verbal autism.
Fast forward to 1998-2007 with a primary school-age caseload, I had five boys with clear Aspergers and two others with moderate autism. To me, a very clear difference in what was going on. My discipline at these two times - speech and language pathology. Oh, and picked up on my preschool caseload in 1995, a two year old with Aspergers. Can't forget that little tyke.

Thoughts Regarding Autism Spectrum Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Of these rare neurological dysfunctions, Autism is the most common of these passive developmental disorders. Autism is a disability caused by a brain development disorder of unknown cause, yet some suspect the cause is some sort of neurological dysfunction- possibly with a genetic predisposition.
Usually, symptoms of the disease present themselves before the toddler reaches the age of three. Before Autism was more understood, others inaccurately labeled autistics as childhood schizophrenia or as having a psychosis or mental retardation.
Out of over two dozen diagnostic criteria utilized for these disorders, eight must be present to be considered autistic, according to the DSM. As with all passive developmental disorders, the person expresses language, social, and behavioral difficulties.
Treatment includes what are called psychotropic medications that delay the progression of the disorder, as well as relieve some of the symptoms of one who is autistic. Behavioral therapy is common as a treatment regimen as well. Boys get Autism much more than girls.
Then there is the controversy between many who claim that thimerosal- a preservative containing mercury, which is a neurotoxin that was used in vaccines until 2001, was the catalyst for autism in children.
Over 5000 lawsuits have been filed because of this belief, and some have been successful for the plaintiff. Yet most agree the correlation between thimersal and autism is void of scientific merit. Furthermore, the cases of autism have not decreased since the preservative was discontinued in 2001.
Aside from Autism, the other four passive developmental disorders are known as autism spectrum disorders.
Asperger’s Syndrome is more common than autism, and the symptoms are milder, as there is minimal delay in language abilities, if at all. What is expressed with Asperger’s syndrome is mild autistic symptoms. In time, the patient may express atypical personality disorders, though.
While intelligence is within normal limits with the Asperger’s patient, social interactions and abilities preset difficulty for such a patient. As with Autism, medications and behavioral therapy are treatment regimens with one with this syndrome
Rett’s Syndrome or disorder presents with not only atypical behavior, but also suffers from restricted physical growth and movement. There is cognitive and social impairment as well. The disorder affects mostly girls, and the cause is due to a gene mutation.
Childhood Disintegrative disorder is rare, and is 10 times less common than autism. The disorder has a late onset with mild autistic symptoms. The disorder affects mostly boys, and regression is sudden and possible with this disorder. Skills lost with this disorder may be language, social, self-care, as well as play or motor skills. Decreased function or impairment with this disorder may include social skills and behavioral flaws. Central Nervous System pathology is a suspected cause of this disorder.
Finally, there are passive development disorders that are not otherwise specified. This may include atypical autism, for example. Yet as with the rest of types of these disorders, the symptoms vary in their frequency and intensity, as well as the range of abilities of these developmental disorders vary widely as well.
Medicinal treatment along with cognitive and behavioral therapy prove to be most beneficial for all the different types of Passive Development Disorders that unfortunately exist for unknown reasons, yet further research should be done to discover both the etiologies as well as more effective treatment for the Autism Spectrum.
www.autism-society.org
Dan Abshear

ON THE TAKE

The money on offer to Dr Wakefield was 50 000 pounds.

Money given by the hospital to those in the study was 500 000 pounds.

So who was on the take?

Autism is caused by mercury. Cost of reparation 6 million people at 2 million dollars a time is 12 TRILLION dollars.

I think the USA treasury is CLEARLY on the take.

You get one dime when you can defend against a corrupt USA government. Talk about a one sided battle.

And as for that mercury that the judges say is in some formulations of flu. It's in 17 vaccines so that is the special masters lying or being given bad information but is ignorance acceptable in law especially if you are a special master.

I smell CORRUPTION. CORRUPTION and more CORRUPTION of the due process of law.

http://whitterer-autism.blogspot.com/2007_05_02_archive.html

A story from an autism blog .
LINK

"One day, we went to the beach at Santa Cruz. I had carefully assembled a large pic-nic in advance, to cater to everyone's foibles. At that time my son had a reasonable vocabulary but rarely spoke. When he did speak his only topic was Thomas the Tank Engine. He was also hyperlexic, but was in the process of losing that skill.

Nonna has many skills. One of her more annoying ones, is her affinity with wild life. From insects [translation = bugs] to elephants and everything in-between, Nonna is their champion. They are drawn to her by some invisible thread. Dr. Doolittle is as nought beside this woman.

Hence, when everyone had abandoned the pic-nic fare, since it is impossible to nail children down in sand, Nonna began to throw the left overs into the sky for the seagulls benefit. Within seconds we were a scene from Hitchcock. Spouse sighed and clucked, as he tried to chase the birds away. I turned my attentions to the criminal modeling inappropriate behaviour to my children, "now listen! Nonna is very naughty to feed the birds." [translation = "flying vermin"] Nonna pulled a face, as well she might, in league with her grandchildren in a common conspiracy. She pulled him close for a snuggle, but he wriggled free to protest..........

"No! Nonna is not naughty. Nonna is good and kind!"
We all turned to look at him. It was the longest voluntary sentence he had ever uttered."

This just underscores the importance of well-designed trials over anecdotal data. Anecdotes are just the beginning of clinical research as hypotheses in need of testing in the form of larger studies. Here you have a situation where many mothers noticed a correlation between MMR vaccines and autism in their children, but further studies that accounted for the inevitable biases of individual reports found that there was no genuine correlation. This is not to discount anecdotal data, but to say that it is the beginning and not the end of the matter.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence, especially from epidemiological studies, that thimersol does not cause autism. Nobody has yet determined what does, but it's a waste of time for these groups to keep beating a dead horse instead of working with the investigation of what really is causing it and how best to treat it.

Which brings me to a study I know you'll love:

Olanzapine in the treatment of behavioral problems associated with autism: an open-label trial in Kuwait. Fido A, Al-Saad S., Med Princ Pract. 2008;17(5):415-8. Epub 2008 Aug 6.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18685284?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

I'll send you a PDF if you like.

Have you followed the saga of Ben Goldacre, who is being sued because he dared to expose one woman's bad radio reporting of the non-link between autism and vaccines?

http://www.badscience.net/2009/02/lbc-mmr-jeni-barnett-an-early-day-motion-the-times-and-er-a-bit-of-stephen-fry/

The vaccine groups *are* the dominant media force on this issue, and science the underdog.