Are vaccines linked to autism?

[The Princess Bride]

I have a brother with autism, and have been doing some research recently. I came across this article, and thought I'd post it for those of you that are concerned or know someone affected by autism.

By Dan Olmsted
Published 4/18/2005 10:52 AM
LANCASTER, Pa., April 18 (UPI) -- Part 1 of 2. Where are the autistic
Amish? Here in Lancaster County, heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, there
should be well over 100 with some form of the disorder.

I have come here to find them, but so far my mission has failed, and the
very few I have identified raise some very interesting questions about some
widely held views on autism.

The mainstream scientific consensus says autism is a complex genetic
disorder, one that has been around for millennia at roughly the same
prevalence. That prevalence is now considered to be 1 in every 166 children
born in the United States.

Applying that model to Lancaster County, there ought to be 130 Amish men,
women and children here with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Well over 100, in rough terms.

Typically, half would harbor milder variants such as Asperger's Disorder
or the catch-all Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified --
PDD-NOS for short.

So let's drop those from our calculation, even though "mild" is a relative
term when it comes to autism.

That means upwards of 50 Amish people of all ages should be living in
Lancaster County with full-syndrome autism, the "classic autism" first
described in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner at Johns Hopkins
University. The full-syndrome disorder is hard to miss, characterized by
"markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and
communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and
interests," according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders.

Why bother looking for them among the Amish? Because they could hold clues
to the cause of autism.

The first half-dozen articles in this ongoing series on the roots and rise
of autism examined the initial studies and early accounts of the disorder,
first identified by Kanner among 11 U.S. children born starting in 1931.

Kanner wrote that his 1938 encounter with a child from Mississippi,
identified as Donald T., "made me aware of a behavior pattern not known to
me or anyone else theretofore." Kanner literally wrote the book on "Child
Psychiatry," published in 1934.

If Kanner was correct -- if autism was new and increasingly prevalent --
something must have happened in the 1930s to trigger those first autistic
cases. Genetic disorders do not begin suddenly or increase dramatically in
prevalence in a short period of time.

That is why it is worth looking for autistic Amish -- to test reasoning
against reality. Largely cut off for hundreds of years from American culture
and scientific progress, the Amish might have had less exposure to some new
factor triggering autism in the rest of population.

Surprising, but no one seems to have looked.

Of course, the Amish world is insular by nature; finding a small subset of
Amish is a challenge by definition. Many Amish, particularly Old Order, ride
horse-and-buggies, eschew electricity, do not attend public school, will not
pose for pictures and do not chat casually with the "English," as they
warily call the non-Amish.

Still, some Amish today interact with the outside world in many ways. Some
drive, use phones, see doctors and send out Christmas cards with family
photos. They all still refer to themselves as "Plain," but the definition of
that word varies quite a bit.

So far, from sources inside and outside the Amish community, I have
identified three Amish residents of Lancaster County who apparently have
full-syndrome autism, all of them children.

A local woman told me there is one classroom with about 30 "special-needs"
Amish children. In that classroom, there is one autistic Amish child.

Another autistic Amish child does not go to school.

The third is that woman's pre-school-age daughter.

If there were more, she said, she would know it.

What I learned about those children is the subject of the next column.

--

This ongoing series aims to be interactive with readers and will take note
of comment, criticism and suggestions. E-mail: dolmsted@...



Copyright © 2001-2005 United Press International

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By Dan Olmsted
Published 4/19/2005 9:41 AM
LEOLA, Pa., April 19 (UPI) -- Part 2 of 2. Three-year old Julia is napping when
I arrive at the spare, neat, cheerful house on Musser School Road near the town
of Leola in Lancaster County.

She is the reason I have driven through the budding countryside on this perfect
spring day, but I really do not need to meet her.

In the last column, I wrote about trying to find autistic Amish people here in
the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, and noted there should be dozens of
them -- if autism occurs at the same prevalence as the rest of the United
States.

So far, there is evidence of only three, all of them children, the oldest age 9
or 10. Julia is one of them. I found out about her through a pediatrician in
Richmond, Va., Dr. Mary Megson. I had been asking around for quite some time
about autism and the Amish, and she provided the first direct link.

Megson said she would give my name to this child's mother, who could call if she
chose. A few days later the phone rang. It was Stacey-jean Inion, an
Amish-Mennonite woman. She, her husband Brent and their four children live
simply, but they do drive a vehicle and have a telephone. After a few
pleasantries, I told her about my trying to find autistic Amish.

Here is what she said, verbatim:

"Unfortunately our autistic daughter -- who's doing very well, she's been
diagnosed with very, very severe autism -- is adopted from China, and so she
would have had all her vaccines in China before we got her, and then she had
most of her vaccines given to her in the United States before we got her.

"So we're probably not the pure case you're looking for."

Maybe not, but it was stunning that Julia Inion, the first autistic Amish person
I could find, turned out to be adopted -- from another country, no less. It also
was surprising that Stacey-jean launched unbidden into vaccines, because the
Amish have a religious exemption from vaccination and presumably would not have
given it much thought.

She said a minority of Amish families do, in fact, vaccinate their children
these days, partly at the urging of public health officials.

"Almost every Amish family I know has had somebody from the health department
knock on our door and try to convince us to get vaccines for our children," she
said. "The younger Amish more and more are getting vaccines. It's a minority of
children who vaccinate, but that is changing now."

Did she know of any other autistic Amish? Two more children, she said.

"One of them, we're very certain it was a vaccine reaction, even though the
government would not agree with that."

Federal health officials have said there is no association between vaccinations
and autism or learning disabilities.

"The other one I'm not sure if this child was vaccinated or not," she added.

During my visit to their home, I asked Stacey-jean to explain why she attributed
the first case to vaccines.

"There's one family that we know, their daughter had a vaccine reaction and is
now autistic. She was walking and functioning and a happy bright child, and 24
hours after she had her vaccine, her legs went limp and she had a typical
high-pitched scream. They called the doctor and the doctor said it was fine -- a
lot of high-pitched screaming goes along with it.

"She completely quit speaking," Stacey-jean said. "She completely quit making
eye contact with people. She went in her own world."

This happened, Stacey-jean said, at "something like 15 months." The child is now
about 8.

For similar reasons, Julia Inion's Chinese background is intriguing. China,
India and Indonesia are among countries moving quickly to mass-vaccination
programs. In some vaccines, they use a mercury-based preservative called
thimerosal that keeps multiple-dose vials from becoming contaminated by repeated
needle sticks.

Thimerosal was phased out of U.S. vaccines starting in 1999, after health
officials became concerned about the amount of mercury infants and children were
receiving. The officials said they simply were erring on the side of caution,
and that all evidence favors rejection of any link between Autism Spectrum
Disorders and thimerosal, or vaccines themselves.

Julia's vaccinations in China -- all given in one day at about age 15 months --
may well have contained thimerosal; the United States had stopped using it by
the time she was born, but other countries with millions to vaccinate had not.

Stacey-jean said photographs of Julia taken in China before she was vaccinated
showed a smiling alert child looking squarely at the camera. Her original
adoptive family in the United States, overwhelmed trying to cope with an
autistic child, gave Julia up for re-adoption. The Inions took her in knowing
her diagnosis of severe autism.

I tried hard -- and am still trying -- to find people who know about other
autistic Amish. Of the local health and social service agency personnel in
Lancaster, some said they dealt with Amish people with disabilities, such as
mental retardation, but none recalled seeing an autistic Amish.

Still, I could be trapped in a feedback loop: The Amish I am likeliest to know
about -- because they have the most contact with the outside world -- also are
likeliest to adopt a special-needs child such as Julia from outside the
community, and likeliest to have their children vaccinated.

Another qualifier: The Inions are converts to the Amish-Mennonite religion
(Brent is an Asian-American). They simply might not know about any number of
autistic Amish sheltered quietly with their families for decades.

It also is possible the isolated Amish gene pool might confer some kind of
immunity to autism -- which might be a useful topic for research.

Whatever the case, Stacey-jean thinks the autistic Amish are nowhere to be
found.

"It is so much more rare among our people," she said. "My husband just said last
week that so far we've never met a family that lives a healthy lifestyle and
does not vaccinate their children that has an autistic child. We haven't come
across one yet."

"Everywhere I go (outside the Amish community) I find children who are autistic,
just because I have an autistic daughter -- in the grocery store, in the park,
wherever I go. In the Amish community, I simply don't find that."

 

[Tiger Lily]

You can go further into this topic about mercury amalgams, too. I am currently having all amalgams in my teeth removed, and replaced with composites. I have three medium-sized amalgams left to be removed. It is my belief that mercury has caused my multiple heath problems, and it is my hope that someday at least some of the symptoms I have will be relieved. I have had all sorts of vacinations in my lifetime, too. I do not have autism, but this report makes me believe that the mercury in vacinations could cause autism in children. I do not know why the ADA and AMA will not admit that mercury is extremely toxic, and should never be allowed into anyone's system under any circumstances, ever. It is good to hear that American medicine has at least recognized the danger of thimerosol in the vaccines, and removed it. It would be good if other countries would do the same. I understand European dentists have stopped placing amalgams in their patients. I wish American dentists would wise up. My dentist is still in denial about it.

 

[Cool CD]

This is a link to an article on the subject. http://www.cqs.com/autism.htm

Approach it with an open mind.

 

[Mirelys]

While mercury, vaccines, etc. might exacerbate autistic symptoms, they probably do not cause it. Autism is made up of a lot of traits that are common in everyone; a person is considered autistic when a certain number of these traits show up in them.
And what about the positive traits of autism, such as hyperlexia? (Though both a blessing and a curse, I'll admit.) It's not likely that those could be caused by damage to the brain.

 

[little_lily613]

It kind of makes one think. I've seen this article through one of my yahoo groups and I am really curious if it is accurate. I am interested in hearing about any new findings they may come across in the near future.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

No, there is no verifiable link. Any studies indicating a link cannot be reproduced.

People simply see a link because around the time autism is noticable, children have generally gone through a round of shots recently. One researcher made note that if somebody did a study, they'd probably find a stronger link to 'french fries' (meaning that most of these infants and tots probably had french fries recently as well).

I worked in a country where vaccines were not available to most children and I watched helplessly as mothers grieved the loss the of their children who died from diseases you and I don't have to think twice about because we're vaccinated. Thank God for vaccines. Unfortunately, most women don't realize their value because they've spent very little to no time working in countries where vaccines are not available and haven't had to look on the dead infants and children.

 

[Flipper]

The law firm I worked at seriously looked to take Mercury/Austim cases about 3 years ago - did presentations at a nationally known local autism center, and even signed up clients and collected medical records. We ended up deciding that we couldn't prove a case and didn't take it any further.

Here's what we know about it:

Ethyl mercury, which was used as a preservative in vaccinations, has been banned in the US since 1999, and in Canada since a year or two earlier than that, I think (notice that the kids in the stories are at least 6 years old). The government started using it in the 1940s, and ironically, about 4 years after that was when the first documented cases of autism showed up. The preservative allowed multiple doses to be kept in 1 vial - thus saving lots of money. The way a child would suffer from mercury poisoning is actually genetic. There is a genetic mutation that causes a person to be more suceptable to mercury poisoning than not, and it's passed through the mother. We all had the same vaccinations, why did some get autism and some not?

Personally, I'm sold on this being a cause for SOME autism cases, however there are some major problems with saying that it is the cause of ALL autism. First of all, scientific studies go both ways - there are some very highly respected medical researchers on both sides of the issue. Further, ethyl mercury is still used as a preservative in vaccines in 3rd world countries, and they aren't showing a high occurrance of autism in places where this is studied.

Studies show that on the US West Coast, the incidence of autism in children is at a much greater percentage than the rest of the country. That doesn't make any sense when we were all getting the same vaccines. The running theory is that on the west coast, more people eat more shellfish and the heavy flesh fish, like swordfish and tuna, than the rest of the country. Fish caught in the sea, especially those kinds, have a much higher concentration of mercury than other seafood (which is why there are seafood limits with pregnant women).

The jury has been out on it the last 6 years, or more, and will continue to be out. I think if there was enough of a link proven to get the rest of the medical community on board, it would have been found by now.

 

[moralwarrior]

The law firm I worked at seriously looked to take Mercury/Austim cases about 3 years ago - did presentations at a nationally known local autism center, and even signed up clients and collected medical records. We ended up deciding that we couldn't prove a case and didn't take it any further.

Here's what we know about it:

Ethyl mercury, which was used as a preservative in vaccinations, has been banned in the US since 1999, and in Canada since a year or two earlier than that, I think (notice that the kids in the stories are at least 6 years old). The government started using it in the 1940s, and ironically, about 4 years after that was when the first documented cases of autism showed up. The preservative allowed multiple doses to be kept in 1 vial - thus saving lots of money. The way a child would suffer from mercury poisoning is actually genetic. There is a genetic mutation that causes a person to be more suceptable to mercury poisoning than not, and it's passed through the mother. We all had the same vaccinations, why did some get autism and some not?

Personally, I'm sold on this being a cause for SOME autism cases, however there are some major problems with saying that it is the cause of ALL autism. First of all, scientific studies go both ways - there are some very highly respected medical researchers on both sides of the issue. Further, ethyl mercury is still used as a preservative in vaccines in 3rd world countries, and they aren't showing a high occurrance of autism in places where this is studied.

Studies show that on the US West Coast, the incidence of autism in children is at a much greater percentage than the rest of the country. That doesn't make any sense when we were all getting the same vaccines. The running theory is that on the west coast, more people eat more shellfish and the heavy flesh fish, like swordfish and tuna, than the rest of the country. Fish caught in the sea, especially those kinds, have a much higher concentration of mercury than other seafood (which is why there are seafood limits with pregnant women).

The jury has been out on it the last 6 years, or more, and will continue to be out. I think if there was enough of a link proven to get the rest of the medical community on board, it would have been found by now.

Just some problems here. Thimerosal was introduced in the 1930s. Vaccinations for children increased from 12 shots prior to 1989 to 24 shots in 1989. Autism rates have increased from 1 in 2500 children to 1 in 166 children, that 15-fold the increase. That didn't happen from genetics alone. There are environmental factors involved here. Anyone who says anything different simply isn't looking at the facts. The problem lies in identifying what those environmental factors really are.

Infants injected with all their required shots by age 6 months have 187x the EPA recommended amount of mercury in their systems. According to autism rates in the general population, the average Amish community should have approximately 130 children with autism. The Amish are often used as a control group as they DON"T immunize their children. The number of autistic children found in an Amish community usually equal 4-7 instead of the 130 found in the general population. You want to explain to me why that is using your genetics theory.

There are doctors on both sides of this argument. This isn't going away because there is evidence that some type of environmental factor in causing autism. The problem lies in isolating that factor and identifying it.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

My question is, are the Amish eating less french fries than most American kids.

My gut reaction is yes. Let's blame McDonalds.

 

[Flipper]

Just some problems here. Thimerosal was introduced in the 1930s. Vaccinations for children increased from 12 shots prior to 1989 to 24 shots in 1989. Autism rates have increased from 1 in 2500 children to 1 in 166 children, that 15-fold the increase. That didn't happen from genetics alone. There are environmental factors involved here. Anyone who says anything different simply isn't looking at the facts. The problem lies in identifying what those environmental factors really are.

Infants injected with all their required shots by age 6 months have 187x the EPA recommended amount of mercury in their systems. According to autism rates in the general population, the average Amish community should have approximately 130 children with autism. The Amish are often used as a control group as they DON"T immunize their children. The number of autistic children found in an Amish community usually equal 4-7 instead of the 130 found in the general population. You want to explain to me why that is using your genetics theory.

There are doctors on both sides of this argument. This isn't going away because there is evidence that some type of environmental factor in causing autism. The problem lies in isolating that factor and identifying it.

Do Amish also eat shellfish or swordfish, or any fish caught in the ocean where it has high levels of mercury. Not all kids just got mercury through Thimerosol. A friend of mine has a 4 year old already displaying autistic symptoms. They were able to prove that thimerosol, even in little amounts, wasn't in any of his vaccines. However, his mom ate a lot of swordfish while pregnant, and swordfish is notorious for having large amounts of mercury.

Do Amish usually marry outside of their community? Sometimes, but not often. They might not have the genetic link to mercury sensitivity to begin with.

Here's the problem I see. Autism is a syndrome, not a disease. That means a kid can have a certain number of accepted symptoms, and they are labled autistic. Not all kids have the same symptoms.

Because mercury can be chelated naturally, and not many kids were tested for mercury poisoning before thimerosol was taken off the market, I can't see how we have any way of knowing which process was affected by mercury specifically. I'm guessing that future technology will show that mercury affected certain symptoms, but not all of them.

I don't know a lot about the effects of mercury poisoning specifically, but I know a lot about lead poisoning, and my understanding is that some of the damage can be similar. Lead affects the portion of the brain that controlls learning and comprehension. What happens is that a child progresses to a certain point where the damage has occured, and just stops progressing, regresses, or, slows the learning progress greatly. You can't prove lead poisoning in a child unless they were tested when they were poisoned because the body naturally chelates it - it could be years before the effects show up. If the child is lucky enough to be caught when the poisoning started, the parents can be taught to watch for the signs, so intervention can start once the signs are seen.

There's been a lot of work done to figure out exactly how lead affects children - work going back to the late 1800s. I don't think the same amount of research has been done to that extent with mercury, but it will, and then we will have a better idea what specific damage can be caused by it. I'm guessing that some symptoms of autism could then be linked, especially in children that seemed to be just fine for the first few years of life, and then all of a sudden regressed. Those stories freak me out more than anything because that is just like how lead poisoning works, not that I'm saying they had lead poisoning instead (though it could be possible), but that lead and mercury are both heavy metals, and supposedly do similar damage.

Sorry I'm rambling. I hope I made a little sense.

 

[moralwarrior]

My question is, are the Amish eating less french fries than most American kids.

My gut reaction is yes. Let's blame McDonalds.

Since I have a child who was just screened for autism, I don't appreciate your comments. Not all parents feed their kids (even in the general population) french fries.

 

[moralwarrior]

While I agree that mercury can be chelated naturally, the infant's system can't handle the large amount of mercury loads that are currently in vaccination shots. I just had a baby in April, 2003 and he received mercury-laded shots in the hospital and at his dr. I am not on welfare but have good insurance. Mercury-laden shots are still on the market being given to people every day.


I agree that the mother who ate the swordfish while pregnant could have contributed to her child's condition unknowingly. I have seen comparisons in charts between mercury poisoning and autistic characteristics and seen side by side, they are very frightenly similar. All good points. I don't know for sure that shots are causing the increase in autism. But there is enough evidence to make me doubt the words of doctors who have a financial interest and bias. Something is causing the increase in autism cases and it isn't genetics!

 

[Flipper]

I never said genetics were to blame, mercury is - but genetics can make the mercury poisoning stronger. Of course it has a higher incidence in babies - I never said different. What I was saying is how many moms have their babies tested for heavy metal poisoning? It's hard to prove when the type of damage is something that is usually seen later in life.

Thimerosol was banned in the US in 1999 - how can your child have vaccines laced with mercury in 2003? Do you have toxicology proof?

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I am also a mother of a child with autism and have studied this link extensively and, unless they've discovered something new, do not believe there is a valid link between vaccines and autism. I think it is wishful thinking, coincidence and nothing more. I have also worked in a third world country and watched children die of diseases that, thank God, we have easy access to.

As a scientist, I am well aware of what makes a study valid and there have been no valid studies linking autism and vaccines.

And since there are children who have not been vaccinated who have autism just as there are children who have not had french fries who have been vaccinated, I guess you can just pick and choose what to believe. Fact remains, we don't know.

Personally, I'm more interested in the possible ultrasound link or the possible oxygen-during-labor link.

 

[Flipper]

I know heavy metal poisoning can cause many of the symptoms of autism, but mercury in that manner? I don't think we will ever know for sure.

A friend of mine with two autistic sons thinks the pitosin drip could have been the culprit.

I'm sure another possible culprit will come up later.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I've been told the pitocin thing as well.

Between my high risk pregnancy, umbilical cord not being fully attached, placental strokes and hemmorhages, 25-plus ultrasounds, his lack of oxyegen during labor, pitocin, emergency c-section and week-plus long stay in the NICU for undetermined infection, I'd say we have much to work with. Vaccines isn't even a consideration in our case.

 

[moralwarrior]

I haven't heard about a connection to pitocin. My first child's labor used pitocin and was of a more serious matter. After 35 hours of labor, a c-section was performed. He has no autism issues (he's 12 now). This is my third child. Pitocin was used but it was a normal c-section with no complications. No issues with oxygen or anything else. Matter of fact, I was released from the hospital within 36 hours. He is 26 months and exhibiting some signs of autism.


My girlfriend had a baby three months after I had my third child. Pitocin was used in her case and her child has no autistic symptoms. He is now 23 months. Pitocin is widely used so if there is a possible connection there, shouldn't doctors be running studies on that possibility?

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I haven't heard about a connection to pitocin. My first child's labor used pitocin and was of a more serious matter. After 35 hours of labor, a c-section was performed. He has no autism issues (he's 12 now). This is my third child. Pitocin was used but it was a normal c-section with no complications. No issues with oxygen or anything else. Matter of fact, I was released from the hospital within 36 hours. He is 26 months and exhibiting some signs of autism.


My girlfriend had a baby three months after I had my third child. Pitocin was used in her case and her child has no autistic symptoms. He is now 23 months. Pitocin is widely used so if there is a possible connection there, shouldn't doctors be running studies on that possibility?

They are. We know so little about medical science and it is constantly evolving. For example, several of us have discoved a medical reason many women are pushed unnecessarily into D&C's for miscarriages. The link has never been studied and because it has never been studied, many doctors are hesitant to take it seriously but we have some top researchers beginning to take interest and asking a lot of questions and seeing the results we've shared with them. We expect a study will be done within the next few years and the number of unnecessary D&C's will drop drastically.

Back to the post, however, I do see some fallacies in your arguments especially if you are somebody who believes the vaccine/autism link thing.

example: My girlfriend had a baby a few months after my son. He had vaccinations a few months after my son and has no autistic symptoms. In fact, I could name thousands of people I've met/know who have had vaccines and do not have autism...let's see...my sister, her husband, their children, my brother, his wife, their son, my other brother, my aunt, her ex-husband, her former husband, her two children, her granddaughter, my best friend, her husband, their three children, my son's first-grade teacher, my son's swim coach, her two children...I could go on but is it necessary? Every single one of them has been vaccinated and none of them have autism.

Now, if we're talking the pitocin and/or vaccine thing, let's imagine for a moment a drunk driver. Let's suppose Uncle Harry is a drunk. He drives home from the bar one night, and makes it there with no issues 'cept for some swerving. Same thing the next night and the next and the next. In fact, he's been driving drunk for years. However, one night last week, he hits a biker on the road and kills him. You could say that plenty of people drive drunk and have never killed anybody so it couldn't be the alcohol. However, we know with some certainty the alcohol impaired his driving and was most likely the primary cause. Doesn't mean if you drive drunk, you'll kill somebody every time. In fact, the chances are fairly low but deadly enough to warrant punishing drunk drivers. If studies show vaccines and autism are linked (and the studies are reproducable...but none have been yet), then you have a valid argument and could say that vaccines or pitocin are the likely cause but without any proof, there is just no case. Doesn't mean the proof will not be there one day but with the vaccine thing being so carefully examined and getting nowhere, I'd be much more inclined to believe it is another cause and, again, french fries would probably be more likely (until that is studied just as extensively).

 

[Flipper]

A friend of mine had a son with autistic symptoms. Then she had a daughter who is just fine. The son died when he was 6.

Last year, she had another son, and he's already displaying the same symptoms as her first son (he even looks like their first son, which is freaky enough as it is).

Back to the first son, at around the same time, friends of theirs in the neighborhood had two sons, and they came up with autistic symptoms. There were a couple of other families in the same neighborhood who had children with autism. I don't think an environmental connection was ever proven, but that was weird. Further, the moms all put their heads together and determined the one thing they had in common was the pitosin. They did an internet search, found info on a possible link, and quickly became sold on the idea.

Now, my friends moved two towns away before she got pregnant with the second son, and he still has symptoms, so I don't know.

I just find it all kind of fascinating - and I feel for those kids.

 

[moralwarrior]

They are. We know so little about medical science and it is constantly evolving. For example, several of us have discoved a medical reason many women are pushed unnecessarily into D&C's for miscarriages. The link has never been studied and because it has never been studied, many doctors are hesitant to take it seriously but we have some top researchers beginning to take interest and asking a lot of questions and seeing the results we've shared with them. We expect a study will be done within the next few years and the number of unnecessary D&C's will drop drastically.

Back to the post, however, I do see some fallacies in your arguments especially if you are somebody who believes the vaccine/autism link thing.

example: My girlfriend had a baby a few months after my son. He had vaccinations a few months after my son and has no autistic symptoms. In fact, I could name thousands of people I've met/know who have had vaccines and do not have autism...let's see...my sister, her husband, their children, my brother, his wife, their son, my other brother, my aunt, her ex-husband, her former husband, her two children, her granddaughter, my best friend, her husband, their three children, my son's first-grade teacher, my son's swim coach, her two children...I could go on but is it necessary? Every single one of them has been vaccinated and none of them have autism.

Now, if we're talking the pitocin and/or vaccine thing, let's imagine for a moment a drunk driver. Let's suppose Uncle Harry is a drunk. He drives home from the bar one night, and makes it there with no issues 'cept for some swerving. Same thing the next night and the next and the next. In fact, he's been driving drunk for years. However, one night last week, he hits a biker on the road and kills him. You could say that plenty of people drive drunk and have never killed anybody so it couldn't be the alcohol. However, we know with some certainty the alcohol impaired his driving and was most likely the primary cause. Doesn't mean if you drive drunk, you'll kill somebody every time. In fact, the chances are fairly low but deadly enough to warrant punishing drunk drivers. If studies show vaccines and autism are linked (and the studies are reproducable...but none have been yet), then you have a valid argument and could say that vaccines or pitocin are the likely cause but without any proof, there is just no case. Doesn't mean the proof will not be there one day but with the vaccine thing being so carefully examined and getting nowhere, I'd be much more inclined to believe it is another cause and, again, french fries would probably be more likely (until that is studied just as extensively).

I'm not saying that I have all the answers. I'm saying that, as a parent, I am concerned that some doctors fully believe in the autism/vaccinations link and don't give mercury shots and other doctors totally disagree and give mercury shots. One is right and one is wrong - what if my kids are seeing the ones who are wrong? That is what has happened. My girlfriend and I see doctors in the same office but different doctors. Her doctor hasn't given mercury shots for years yet my doctor is still giving them.

I have taken my son to speech therapy for over 5 months and the speech therapist totally supports the autism/vaccination link. I do know that there is some environmental factor that is increasing autism cases. I don't know for sure what that factor is but it is more than genetics. You don't have to be a doctor or scientist to realize that. Going from 1 in 2,500 to 1 in 166 is epidemic! Your reasoning that all these people in your lives that have had shots and don't have autism isn't going far with me. This is my third child and the first two had shots and don't have autism so the genetic link isn't working for me either. There has been no incidents of autism in our families (mine or my husband) within the last three generations so why does my baby now have it?

I'm just not very trusting of doctors nowadays so when they say that they have looked at that possibility and disproved it - sorry but I'm not a believer. If doctors are so aware of the dangers of mercury why is it still on the market in any shots (it is still the flu shot - I couldn't give my kid a flu shot because of that and he has asthma so he was in a risk category)? I have seen articles by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others where they have copies of memos by the CDC and the medical community where evidence isn't available to the public, where they specifically tell people that they can't find a link between autism/vaccinations because of the importance of vaccinations. I don't think this subject would keep coming up if there was no evidence at all to support the autism/vaccination link. The people doing the studies have financial links to the companies that make these vaccinations. This makes me suspicious.

Like I said, I don't have all the answers but my questions haven't been satisfactorily answered either by the medical community. Until they can answer those questions, no more shots for my child.