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Letter from Mary Cutler in response to CAN's statement re: NEJM Danish MMR/autism study:

I was very disappointed to read Portia Iversen's response to the Danish study.  I read it and believe there are a number of unanswered questions that need to be addressed before accepting this study as proof that there's no connection between MMR and Autism.  Some of these questions are:

1) What is the vaccination schedule in Denmark, is it the same as the US or do they space out/give vaccines at older ages; are there vaccines our kids get that they do not receive in Denmark; is there thimerosal in those vaccines?   Since it is entirely possible that the MMR in itself does not cause autism, but that it is the final insult to a body already damaged from prior vaccines, illnesses etc. This information is highly relevant.

2) If I read the study correctly, they chose children born from 1991 through 1998 but only looked at an autism diagnosis through Dec. 31, 1999.  Since autism isn't usually diagnosed until a child is around 3-4 years old, that would mean there is not valid data in the study for children born in 1996 , 1997 and 1998.  And that would skew the results of the study.

4) Also where's the control data, such as the rate of autism in children prior to the introduction to the MMR?

5) Every single one of these "refuting reports" is someone looking at data and also skewing the info.  Not one of these people trying to refute the results are looking at or doing what Dr. Wakefield did - examining actual children, not data, and finding the measles virus (almost always the vaccine strain) in the intestines

I hope you are considering these factors when you make comments to the general public.

Mary Cutler
 

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