So little (good) research, so much time (lost)
Autism and mercury, literature search
Autism and vaccinations, literature search
MMR or autism and gastrointestinal or inflammatory symptoms, literature search
The CDC
has been adamantly opposed to considering the possibility that vaccines may play
a role in the causation of autism. Recently, at meetings in Brick, New Jersey,
Dr. Jacqueline Bertrand, representing the CDC, stated that vaccines have nothing
to do with the cluster of autistic children that had been widely reported in
Brick. When she was asked from the floor whether any of the children had had
blood samples drawn to determine their immune status and to find whether there
was evidence of vaccine damage, she said "No." How could she possibly
conclude that the vaccines were not implicated? Closed minds do not conduct
meaningful research.
Autism 2001: The Silent Epidemic
Although 2001 was filled with news of the MMR vaccine controversy, discussion of the enormity of the autism explosion and its impact has been minimal. In the UK, the Government spent more money and enormously more time defending the MMR vaccine and destroying its critics than actually researching the causes and the increasing incidence of autism.
A Finnish study looking at the incidence of autism in the northern provinces, revealed a fourfold increase between 1979 and 1994 with a present incidence rate of 1 in 483 among 5 to 7-year-olds (European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, volume 9, p 162). Also, in this study, a clear increase in the number of children with IQ of 70+ was reported. (This finding has often been reported with regressive or late-onset autism.) Interestingly, this particular Finnish study went almost unnoticed, while other Finnish studies (of dubious epidemiological relevance) were highly publicized because they supported the MMR vaccine’s “safety”.
Autism,
MMR and 60 Minutes: Another Pediatrician’s Perspective
The authorities like to repeat that Wakefield’s findings have not been duplicated by other researchers. This may be true for the case of children with autism but only because no one has tried to. Indeed after seeing the onslaught of attacks on Dr. Wakefield because of his research, it is unlikely that anyone would want to.