For those of you watching developments in the autism-vaccination connection, another study was released this week to support the growing body of evidence that vaccines do not contribute to autism. This time the publication is of an Italian study of the whooping cough vaccine published by Tozzi et al. and funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data indicate that the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, used in vaccines, doesn't pose a risk to children. Although the conclusions of the paper were that the few links appear to be due to chance, it was admitted that they may warrant further investigation, in the interest, I suppose, of applying the precautionary principle, despite the growing mountain of data that seems to fall terribly short of conclusively supporting a relationship, according to some.
Apparently there is enough evidence to convince even those with a vested interest in the topic. Disability News online reported two weeks ago that the, now former, president of Autism Speaks, Alison Singer, has stepped down because she doesn't support the way funding is allocated to vaccine research over research into other potential causes of autism (environmental) or better treatments for the disorder.
Source:
Tozzi, A. et al. 2009. Neurophychological performance 10 years after immunization in infancy with Thimerosal-containing vaccines. Pediatrics 123(2):475-482. doi: 10.1542/peds.2008-0795.
Comments
Out of 1704 kids who completed the screening for the study, only one case of autism was reported. Let’s see, 1:1704. Isn’t the rate of autism in the U.S. 1:150. What are the Italians doing right? Or is this just more statistical manipulation being carried out by people (CDC, the study sponsor) trying to exonerate themselves for the damage done by thimerosal.
When I discuss this issue now with medical/public health personnel I cut right to the chase.
“This is what your profession is defending. You inject newborns and infants with levels of mercury hundreds of times higher than EPA hazardous waste levels. The type of mercury you use is more toxic than methylmercury (sometimes I have to explain why). By using direct injection, you are providing instant access to the bloodstream and thus all target organs. Even you must agree, babies are more vulnerable to mercury damage.” End of discussion.
Your “mountain of data” is missing one simple study. Vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children. Once I see that study I will be satisfied. Your summary of the Italian study fails to report that both control groups were given vaccines with mercury. Just one group was given more than the other. To conclude that thimerosal, used in vaccines, doesn’t pose a risk to children is a huge leap in logic.
Allison Singer lunches with vaccine seller Paul Offit — on Autism Speaks’ dime — and voila! immediately after leaving AS her PR is done by pharma-funded vaccine promoters Every Child By Two. It’s the American way….
Contributors to About.com limit seem to their study investigations to rephrasing and opinionizing. No awareness that the lack of a NO-Thimerosal cohort is like doing a study comparing 2-pack-a-day smokers to 1 pack-a-day smokers.
Ultimately these farmed-out CDC stat miners mean nothing when children’s lab tests come back high in mercury.
Last year a leading toxicologist compared epidemiology to the use of blunt instruments in surgery. The study was intended to avoid finding a correlation, so it did its job and our lazy media is quite happy to play parrot.
Jane, that study was done by the Brits following the Wakefield paper, and it found no statistical rates different for vaccinated vs un-vaccinated children with Autism. A great source to read about the controversy, and the many, many studies that have been done around the world, is Wikipedia. Judge for yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy
Dr. Phillips,
Please read the following link that provide explanation about the fraudulent Italian Study http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/cdc-fraud-tax-dollars-and-italian-vaccine-mercury-study/
It shows that the CDC knew that unlike in the USA, the level of mercury injected in Italy with the vaccines was too low and that the results will show no effect of vaccines. The link includes an email between Dr Thomas Verstraeten and Dr Robert Chen of the US CDC and Dr Elizabeth Miller of the UK’s Public Health Laboratory Service.
So please, next time, before writting something about vaccines, read more than one article. You have a Ph.D., you should have known better.
Sadine Tebbal, Ph.D.
Dear Anti-Vaccine Parents,
Let’s cut to the chase here. You and I both know that there is absolutely no scientific evidence that vaccines cause autism. We both know that there is plenty of evidence that they don’t. We also both know that the diseases vaccines prevent can and do kill.
The difference between us is that you’re so terrified of autism that you believe an infinitessimal risk of your child getting it is much worse than a higher risk of your child dying, whereas I am an Aspie woman who is perfectly happy being an Aspie. Talk to some self-advocates and get over it.
Dear EKSwitaj,
There is plenty of evidence vaccines cause autism. So much that not only the US Federal Court agrees and has decided cases to that effect but also the US Department of Health and Human Services agrees and has been conceding in secret [ie. not fighting] some cases – like the case of Hannah Poling.
“the diseases vaccines prevent can and do kill” LOL:-
US Measles Declined Without Vaccines
http://tinyurl.com/bzfu7j
Measles – The Official UK Statistics
http://tinyurl.com/bkwtdr
“By 2007 the chance of anyone in England and Wales dying of measles if no one were vaccinated was less than 1 in 55 million (see graph)
The chance of being struck by lightning is 30 to 60 times higher: Tornado & Storm Research Organisation”
“Dear Anti-Vaccine Parents” – get a life – parents are concerned about their children’s health safety. Which planet are you from.
Thank you everyone for your comments especially those who have, again, enlightened me on the controversy over this study and accusations of fraudulant data (I haven’t investigated this yet).
In my blog, I aim to report new data/studies, in a broad spectrum of fields, and can’t possibly be on top of everything, or an expert in every field. I realize
there is a huge controversy over this issue, and thank my readers, who ARE
the experts in various fields, for helping me out with their comments.
I try to keep my wording neutral so that I’m not making a statement one way
or the other as to whether I personally believe the data or not, i just
report on what the authors said, so people interested in the topic can be
aware of what’s come out.
References are provided so people can read further and draw their own conclusions and do their own research.
One more thing in my own defense, for those who think I should “know better”…I learned after the last blog on this topic that I need to be careful how I word things, in particular the title. Those of you who write scientific literature will notice my title was that the paper “fails to support link” as opposed to “disproves link”. You cannot argue the study did not support a link, no matter what faults there may be with the study. Language such as “the data indicate” is used to leave open the possibility that the conclusions are wrong and/or the findings are due to chance etc.
The scientists even admitted, as I said in my blog, that the cases of autism that WERE found warranted further investigation. Yes, they’re covering their respective behinds, but that’s what scientists do. No one study makes any claims of proving or disproving anything, we only contribute to (or in my case report) the accumulation of data and try to make sense of it the best we can.
In the case of drug studies, particularly with children, we are sometimes stuck with the best pool of test subjects we can find. Short of putting a bunch of babes in cages and innoculating them with varying concentrations of mercury in a controlled study, perhaps these researchers you are so critical of, are doing the best they can with what they’ve got and trying to make some sort of sense of it statistically.
Theresa, I have given you some slack because you covered all based, but I still have a problem with one of your conclusive statements:
“The data indicate that the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, used in vaccines, doesn’t pose a risk to children.”
This is a very misleading statement since the study data
1. found a significant difference between the groups
2. did not included a control group that was not exposed to thimeresol
3. did not study the higher doses that would be needed to make a statement that thimeresal doesn’t pose a risk to children, a statement that could be interpreted to imply that thimeresol is safe at any dose. As a substance that must be handled as a hazardous material, we know this is not the case.
I would conclude this way –
A voluntary subset of 70% an Italian group exposed to low amounts of thimeresol proved that an incremental dose of just 75mg is sufficient to produce a statistically significant measurement of injury in girls resulting in language and motor impairment 10 years after the exposure.
Focusing merely on severe injuries such as classic autism distracts from the more central questions of thimeresol safety.
I encourage you to correct your statement.
There may be a link between the mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup and autism. There have not been any studies on the link between the two but there was a study done on the amount of mercury found in HFCS. The study was released on January 26, 2009. The FDA has known about the issue since 2005. Since we eat a ton of HFCS in the US, it would be something to look into.
Matt, by that standard you don’t have a right to speak for your children either. But I guess logic doesn’t have anything to do with this, does it?
truly don’t understand all the engery and focus spent on attacking vaccines when most parents of severely autistic kids or adults (as seen on you tube under kgaccount or when you type: autism self injury) are just trying to survive the day. What good is it to continue ruminating about vaccines? If you don’t believe them, fine, don’t get them for your children, but spend the engery you have on HELPING your children instead of going nuts over vaccinations
As the parent of a severely Autistic 13 year old boy, I don’t NEED the “experts” to tell me WHY my son is Autistic. Having raised this child on my own (again, with no help from “the experts”) I will say that if that in itself does not qualify me as an expert, I don’t know what else possibly could!! The lady who says she is an “Aspie” woman; do you have kidsd?? It’s not about “going nuts over vaccinatiions”, its about protecting future generations from mistakes made in the here and now! Unfortunately, as long as this sickly world continues to revolve around MONEY and GREED, these situations will never be resolved…unless of course you have BILLIONS of dollars to buy your way in and force confessions from huge pharmacy corporations…hahaha. And you say “get over it”?! Tell that to my son when all the other kids in his school are laughing their butts off, solely at HIS expense!! Tell that to my 14 year old daughter when her brother is beating the snot out of her!! Help?? It would take me DAYS to list all of the things that I have tried in this boys short 13 years to HELP him! I don’t believe vaccines hurt my son, I KNOW vaccines hurt my son! I only wish that any ONE of these “experts” could have been here to witness for themselves everything that has happened these last 13 years; better yet, spend ONE DAMN DAY in MY shoes, then tell me there was no link, or say something REALLY wise like, “get over it!!!