Letter:
MMR dilemma The Independent - United
Kingdom; Feb 21, 2002
BY ADRIAN STEPHENSON
Sir: The debate on MMR and autism continues. Government health experts
grow ever more strident with exhortations to use the only official anti-measles
vaccine; concerned parents are neither reassured about, nor encouraged to
inoculate with MMR; equally, it is clear that
measles itself can cause devastating side-effects in certain people.
Recent research by Dr
Vijendra Singh shows a correlation between measles antibodies, abnormal nerve
structure in the brain, and autism. Unless further research is performed both
on the cause of this finding (whether the virus responsible is
"wild", or from vaccine), and on alternative methods for the
prevention or treatment of measles, the situation will only get worse. It would
seem that there is a possibility that, for a small proportion of vulnerable
children, autism might be triggered either by MMR,
or by the single vaccine, or by exposure to wild measles strains.
Where does this leave a
parent, such as myself, with an older, autistic child and a younger, as yet
unvaccinated child? Between a rock and a hard place, that's where.
ADRIAN STEPHENSON
Chinnor, Oxfordshire
All Material Subject to Copyright
ALL
INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR
GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE
KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU
ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"