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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