[asa] Research Reaffirms: No Vaccine-Autism Link

ABC News reported the following (
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4099059&page=1)

A new study (http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/65/1/19) may be
> the latest nail in the coffin of a theory that draws a link between the
> mercury-containing vaccine additive thimerosal and autism.
>
> The research is the latest to contradict concerns over childhood
> vaccinations as a possible cause of autism -- concerns that have gained
> publicity in the past decade as the number of children diagnosed with the
> disorder climbs steadily in the United States.
>
>
> Because vaccinations are mandatory for all children at a certain age, some
> parents and doctors believe that the mercury once found in many childhood
> vaccines may contribute to the development of autism. However, so far a
> number of large scientific studies have shown no association between
> thimerosal and autism.
>
> And the most recent research to nullify this association, published Monday
> in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, reveals that the prevalence
> of autism for children ages 3 to 12 continued to increase in California even
> after 2001 -- when all but trace levels of mercury had been removed from
> most childhood vaccines.
>
> "If thimerosal exposure is a primary cause of autism, then the prevalence
> of autism would be predicted to decrease, as young children's exposure to
> thimerosal has sharply decreased to its lowest levels in decades," noted
> lead study investigator Robert Schechter in the commentary section of the
> research.

You'd think that we can move on with study after study after study
re-affirming this (or as the ABC piece hopefully put it as the nail in the
coffin). Nope.

See here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS175978+07-Jan-2008+PRN20080107

> NAA again asks the CDC and NIH to study the toxic body burden of children
>
> NIXA, Mo., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Autism
> Association
> (NAA) is pointing out flaws in a study out today claiming that the
> mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal has never had a role in
> causing
> autism. Stating that findings from the California Department of Health
> have
> overlooked a number of confounding factors, NAA believes the authors used
> data
> too narrowly to make such sweeping conclusions.
>
> "This study presents a greatly over-simplified explanation of a very
> complex
> problem," according to NAA board chair Claire Bothwell. "Rising numbers do
> not confirm that thimerosal never had a role. We now know that many
> autistic
> children suffer from heavy metal toxicity, but body burden testing for
> mercury
> and other toxins has never occurred, despite numerous requests to the CDC
> and
> NIH from parents."
>
> Charging that number-crunching can't clear injected mercury from having
> neurologically injured susceptible infants and young children, NAA is
> posing
> the following questions to the authors of the study and government health
> agencies:
>
> -- Why do so many children regress into autism after receiving vaccines,
> subsequently have symptoms of heavy metal toxicity, then get better when
> mercury is removed through chelation?
>

Autism does not present with the same symptoms as heavy metal toxicity. The
symptoms for ethyl mercury poisoning are: Signs of acute exposure progress
from paresthesias and ataxia to generalized weakness, visual and hearing
impairment, and tremor and muscle spasticity to coma and death. The symptoms
of the Minamot Bay disaster in Iraq showed these neurological symptoms:
Typically, infants appeared normal at birth, but psychomotor retardation,
blindness, deafness, and seizures developed throughout time. These are not
the symptoms of autism. Chelation far from curing children from autism
places them at great risk from dying from the procedure.

-- How can mercury and other toxic metals be removed from the bodies of our
> children more safely and efficiently?
>

The body eliminates organic mercury for you. In general, organic mercury
compounds are lipid soluble, and 90% to 100% is absorbed from the
gastrointestinal tract. The mean half-life for methylmercury (which is
similar to ethylmercury) in blood is 40 to 50 days (range: 20-70 days) for
adults. Ninety percent of methylmercury is excreted through bile in feces.
Because these compounds are metabolized the reference dose is measured in
µg/kg/d (note the per day component).

There is no chelating agent approved by the FDA that is effective for
methylmercury or ethylmercury poisoning. Chelation has been used in cases of
severe intoxication. Compared with other forms of mercury, organic mercury
is significantly more resistant to removal from the body. Moreover,
chelation therapy for organic mercury intoxication can be harmful; the agent
dimercaprol appears to increase brain mercury concentrations and is
contraindicated in the treatment of organic mercury poisoning.

-- What biological abnormalities exist that cause some individuals to be
> unable to detoxify heavy metals?
>
> NAA also cited confounding factors associated with the study, which
> included
> the failure to address synergistic effects of mercury, aluminum and other
> toxic ingredients. "Thimerosal isn't completely gone from vaccines. It is
> still present in trace amounts. Since no safe level of neurotoxins such as
> mercury and aluminum have been established, trace amounts cannot be
> cleared of
> having caused injury, especially in susceptible children," according to
> NAA
> board member Scott Bono.
>

This is a simply a lie. The reference doses established by federal agencies
were between 0.1 and 0.4 µg/kg/d. Assuming that the toxicity of ethylmercury
is similar to that of methylmercury, the exposure from a single vaccination
could potentially exceed federal guidelines for that day and, with routine
immunization, a cumulative dose of up to 75 µg of mercury by 3 months of age
and 187.5 µg by 6 months of age could have been received. As a precautionary
measure, the Academy, along with the American Academy of Family Physicians,
the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the US Public Health
Service issued a joint recommendation that thimerosal be removed from
vaccines as quickly as possible. Currently, all vaccines in the recommended
childhood immunization schedule do not contain thimerosal as a preservative.
The study referenced above took this into account and found that when
thimerosal levels went down autism rates went up in California. Last year a
similar study was done in Canada where the use of thimerosal was removed for
a longer period of time. No connection was found there either. [Primary
medical source: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: Technical Report: Mercury
in the Environment: Implications for Pediatricians.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/108/1/197]

Why do I care about this? My son is autistic. I did some fund raising for
NAAR which got integrated into Autism Speaks which is now primarily an
anti-vax organization. They used to spend their efforts looking into the
genetic causes and pathways of the disease. My manager who is an evangelical
and home schools is proud that he doesn't vaccinate. The fact that he
infected his family AND HIS NEIGHBORHOOD with whooping cough doesn't seem to
bother him. Because of the uproar the removal of thimerosal has greatly
increased the cost of vaccines. Diseases that were once mostly conquered now
are making comebacks in Great Britain and Africa, largely due to
hysteria-based opposition to vaccines.

The following seem to go together YEC/anti-GW/anti-vaccination/homeopathy.
They all share a hostility to evidence-based, peer-reviewed science. They
posit an atheistic conspiracy which persecutes Christians. But, where is the
persecution here? What about the people who are dying and/or have
significant reductions in the quality of life because of these hobby horses?
What about the time wasted on this instead of finding true treatments and
cure for autism? Is that not persecution, also?

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Received on Tue Jan 8 12:41:54 2008