Debunking an Autism Theory

[Guest guest]

Here is an article in the NY Times about new research. I am not

trying to be contrary but if the kids did not get autism until after

the vaccines, the how did they become autistic? It would not seem to

be from vaccines. Any good explanations?

 

GB

 

Debunking an Autism Theory

 

 

Published: September 9, 2008

 

Ten years ago, a clinical research paper triggered widespread and

persistent fears that a combined vaccine that prevents measles, mumps

and rubella — the so-called MMR vaccine — causes autism in young

children. That theory has been soundly refuted by a variety of other

research over the years, and now a new study that tried to replicate

the original study has provided further evidence that it was a false

alarm.

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Related

Measles Cases Grow in Number, and Officials Blame Parents' Fear of

Autism (August 22, 2008)

 

The initial paper, published in The Lancet, the prestigious British

medical journal, drew an inferential link between the vaccine, the

gastrointestinal problems found in many autistic children and autism.

In later papers, researchers theorized that the measles part of the

vaccine caused inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract that

allowed toxins to enter the body and damage the central nervous

system, causing autism.

 

Now, a team of researchers from Columbia University, Massachusetts

General Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

has tried and failed to replicate the earlier findings.

 

These researchers studied a group of 38 children with

gastrointestinal problems, of whom 25 were autistic and 13 were not.

All had received the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. The

scientists found no evidence that it had caused harm. Only 5 of the

25 autistic children had been vaccinated before they developed

gastrointestinal problems — and subsequently autism. Genetic tests

found remnants of the measles virus in only two children, one of whom

was autistic, the other not.

 

The new study adds weight to a growing body of epidemiological

studies and reviews that have debunked the notion that childhood

vaccines cause autism. The Institute of Medicine of the National

Academy of Sciences, the C.D.C. and the World Health Organization

have found no evidence of a causal link between vaccines and autism.

 

Meanwhile, the original paper's publisher — The Lancet — complained

in 2004 that the lead author had concealed a conflict of interest.

Ten of his co-authors retracted the paper's implication that the

vaccine might be linked to autism. Three of the authors are now

defending themselves before a fitness-to-practice panel in London on

charges related to their autism research.

 

Sadly, even after all of this, many parents of autistic children

still blame the vaccine. The big losers in this debate are the

children who are not being vaccinated because of parental fears and

are at risk of contracting serious — sometimes fatal — diseases.