Autism Case Forces The Governments Hand

This happens to be personal for me as well as the millions around the world who vaccinated their children with the new and improved childhood vaccine shot developed, packaged and sold to countries in the the late-nineties. China, a country that barely new what the term autism was, saw it jump to record levels after receiving the vaccine.

Here in America, the autism rate in young children diagnosed after living normally before vaccination has gone through the roof. Yet time and time again Government officials site study after study that are no doubt conducted by the same folks who brought you the Iraqi war, that conclude that the vaccine does not cause autism.

This is another one of those things that is open and shut but remains closed. Until now. A slight chance to get the foot in the door and open this up wide comes from a case in the Government conceded that the vaccination "most Likely" caused her to develop autism.

(---AP/CNN--- Government health officials have conceded that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl, and that she should be paid from a federal vaccine-injury fund.

Thousands of families are seeking compensation for disabilities they attribute to vaccines and a preservative.

Medical and legal experts say the narrow wording and circumstances probably make the case an exception -- not a precedent for thousands of other pending claims.

The government "has not conceded that vaccines cause autism," said Linda Renzi, the lawyer representing federal officials, who have consistently maintained that childhood shots are safe.

However, parents and advocates for autistic children see the case as a victory that may help certain others.

There are over 5000 families suing (or trying to sue) for compensation for the damage done to young lives a family welfare. This is an extremely costly battle to wage for those who have had their children unwittingly exposed to lethal doses of mercury. The health care system and education system is not equipped to adequately help these families. Sadly, the majority of marriages do not make it through the trying times.

Interestingly enough. John McCain has recently gone on record saying that there is "there's strong evidence" autism is connected to the preservative.

Read

Comments

[tomko]

Sorry, there's just no scientific link between autism and vaccine shots. It's horrible that autism cases continue to rise and increased research needs to be done to figure out why. But the element in the vaccine (Thimerol) that some suggest causes autism has been removed from the vaccines yet the cases continue to rise. And numerous studies have shown no causality and any mercury still in shots is so minute and leaves the childs system so quickly (quicker than eating a piece of tuna) that, again, it's hard to show a link. It's an emotional issue, but just because a politician like John Mccain mentions a possible connection (he's not a scientist and will say anything to pander to an audience that will vote for him) is hardly good justification for such scientific illiteracy.

Two articles on the debate:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/science/25autism.html?_r=1&st=cse&sq=autism&scp=1&oref=slogin

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/health/08autism.html?sq=autism&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=3&adxnnlx=1204834328-qxqZSuWkHj0j5ZgNhScdNQ

[Mpaper]

Tomko, appreciate your chime in, but when you are dealing with it and see it first hand, as I am, and you watch a child go from a perfectly healthy happy child to autistic very soon after receiving the vaccine shots, then you begin to speak to the "very large" community of parents who watched their children go from "normal" to autistic, after the shots, it's not hard to put two and two together. No amount of white coat studies published will change my mind nor the minds of any parent, family member or close friend dealing with it. This is why so many, including "celebrities" not that their word means more (but through their children, more attention is being paid), are voicing loudly about the vaccination shots. Do you seriously think that so many people in the last ten years are going through this and pointing to the very same cause and effect for nothing? Answer me this, since the forties, how many studies were published saying smoking was "not" harmful and did "not" cause cancer? In the grand scheme, smoking being bad is a brand new discover. How many studies have been published that said Ritalin wasn't harmful to a child's development? How many studies about a whole host of things have been published and hard fought over things that have later been proven to be harmful, but in the interim an obscene amount of money was made? This chorus of parents isn't for no reason nor is it misguided. By the way, I can point you to dozens of studies that prove the shots are the cause. Studies mean nothing, deal with it first hand and then make a judgment.

The mention of John McCain in my post was only to note that a politician is speaking about it. I don't care who it is, if comedian Rush Limbaugh started speaking about it (on the right side) I would be happy. But hey, thanks for reading the post and wanting to debate it.

[tomko]

I can't imagine what it's like to deal with autism first hand and didn't know that you were doing so. It must be horrible--my best thoughts go out to you.

Nonetheless, I am a believer in science, studies and I don't support anecdotal evidence. The smoking studies were largely funded by tobacco companies and the ritilan studies by big pharm. From what little I know, the autism studies have been objective, extensive, longitudinal, and from several different countries. None show a link. You say some do--they need to be considered. But there's a big difference between correlation and causality. There are more cell phones now than ever but no one is saying that they cause autism. And what about the children who develop autism who don't get shots and those that don't get it and do get shots. It's a complicated world of possible causes and effects.

I'm not a scientist nor a parent nor do I spend time with autistic kids and their parents. I'm just a skeptic who's not yet willing to embrace the shots/autism connection. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to buy you a beer. No hard feelings, just healthy argument (I hope...)

[Mpaper]

Nope, no hard feelings at all.