Autism
Autism is mainly an issue in that it has lately taken on epidemic proportions while the cause has yet eluded identification. One source quotes the U.S. Federal Government as saying the autism rate is now one in 166.
A key point of contention is the argument put forward by some parents that childhood vaccinations seemed strongly linked to early regression in children later diagnosed with autism; the scientific community in general has firmly rejected this theory.
Related Pages
Links
Reference
- Wikipedia
- Conservapedia
dKosopediano equivalent article (as of 2008-04-04); see DailyKosSourceWatchno equivalent article (as of 2008-04-04); see search- HTYP (for practical information)
News & Views
many (all?) of these links should be moved to autism vaccination theory
- 2007-07-15 Memo warned MMR doctor of research flaw: "The memo was sent to Dr Andrew Wakefield, a researcher at the Royal Free hospital, London. It warned him that the parents of most of the children in his study, investigating alleged links between the vaccine and autism, were litigants seeking compensation from drug companies. The memo said this gave the parents 'a vested interest' in finding a link between MMR and their children’s autism."
- 2007-06-30 Science on Trial by Roy Richard Grinker
- 2007-06-29 Autism and vaccination by Thudfactor
- 2005-06-20 Deadly Immunity by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- ScienceDaily articles by Dan Olmsted:
- One in 15,000 Amish: source of the figure used above
- Absence of Evidence: more specifics about the Amish data
- The Amish Elephant: how some medical professionals respond
- The Wikipedia article on thimerosal has some more details about the controversy
Notes
An oft-cited study is Thomas Verstraeten's 2000 study which "found a significant risk for neurological developmental disorders at age 3 months, as babies received increased amounts of thimerosal, and the risk of autism rose 2.48 times greater for infants getting higher amounts of the product, compared to infants who received thimerosal-free vaccines." However, Verstraeten issued another report in 2003 contradicting this conclusion.