Friday, March 7, 2008

Autism and Vaccines

The debate concerning vaccines and the explosive increase in autism and autism spectrum disorders has flared up recently due to a court decision that vaccines aggravated a child's medical condition and resulted in autism.

Both sides are passionate about their views. One side because they believe the vaccines are directly responsible for a degeneration in their child's brain development. The opposing side because it will mean big bucks by means of multiple lawsuits if they are found to be covering up for incompetent medical decisions.

As a teacher and the grandmother of a child currently being evaluated for an autism spectrum disorder I side with those who believe these vaccines have played a significant role in compromising a whole generation of children. It's not just the thimerosol, the mercury based preservative used in the vaccines until recently; it's injecting multiple live vaccines into the bodies of infants and young children.

There are guidelines about the proper timing of introducing certain foods into a child's system. No honey before a child is 1 year old, no peanut products before the child is 2 years old. To give them these foods before the above stated ages increases their risk of an allergic reaction. Yet, the medical profession blithely pumps toxins into a newborn baby's body without batting an eye. How much sense does this make? (The oh-so-obvious answer is none.)

A recent article posted on ABC News stated:

"Major health authorities, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization, have all studied and rejected possible links between autism and vaccines."

So, to summarize, government funded studies show no link between autism and government mandated vaccines. To quote Gomer Pyle, "Sur-prise, sur-prise, sur-prise!"

The powers that be would also have us believe that they removed the thimerosol from vaccines in 2002 out of the goodness of their hearts. More likely it was to cover the wideness of their butts.

The truth about autism is a mystery. Much of the working of the brain is an unknown. But I think we're about to see some of the questions answered. Thanks to the persistence of family members who recognized the correlation between the administration of vaccines and the presentation of autistic behavior in their child. Thanks to doctors and child development experts who are willing to swim upstream and lend their voices to opposing a flawed system that is supposed to protect our children not leave them vulnerable.

No one suggests that our children should not be protected against diseases that could be life-threatening. But to treat them with vaccines that could potentially cause damage to their brains is not an acceptable trade off.

Dee

1 comment:

Dee and "D" said...

You've posted a thoughtful and well-presented argument, Dee. I have often wondered if piggy-backing vaccinations was a wise thing to do to the infants and toddlers. For one it makes it more difficult to trace problems to a specific vaccine.
I do believe that a condition as complex as autism probably has multiple triggers and/or underlying factors that effect its development.
Here are two links that I've come across, today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/47666.php
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article628411.ece

This entire vaccine/autism debate is one of the most significant reasons I oppose the campaign to inoculate young girls with Guardasil. We have no idea of the long term affects of this vaccine. And guess what? You can avoid the human papiloma virus by Not Having Sex. I guess that is too advanced a topic.
"D"