Last time I wrote about this subject, I made it too subtle. I thought that deliberately tagging both David Kirby and Jenny McCarthy, titling it "to David and Jenny, with Love", and then writing about how a woman's "mommy instinct" got her to kill an unarmed black man with no evidence of harm was a funny, but subtle way to point out that really, folks like David Kirby and Jenny McCarthy are just scientific illiterates, pointing fingers at whatever they can, even though thimerosal was removed from the childhood vaccination schedule in 2001 and rates of autism diagnosis have not slowed at all. This time, as you may have noticed, I have abandoned subtlety.
Here's the cusp of the matter. These guys scream, "You're giving mercury to my kids!!! ARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!" but when scientists stop giving vaccines with thimerosal to children, the anti-vaccination crowd goes "You're giving aluminum to my kids!!! AAARRRRRRRRRAAAARRRRRRRAGHHHH!!!!" And it doesn't matter that the aluminum is part of the chemistry that makes the vaccine work better, and it doesn't matter that their kid gets less aluminum from vaccines than they do from that hippy-dippy soy baby formula shit they put into their stomachs because Mommy's afraid of making cows cry. These guys will not be happy until the syringe is filled with water. Because for them, it will always be the fault of the vaccines. It doesn't matter what the science says, because these people don't care about science. Their argument is purely ideological, and does not belong in any discussion of scientific, medical, or political policy.
Let's take a hypothetical look at the anti-vaccination mindset. Imagine now that I live in Harlem for years, and am robbed multiple times, and every time I am I say, "It's the blacks." Now, most of my neighbors are black, it's not an entirely improbable thing that the people who are robbing me again and again are black, I'm probably saying that because I'm a racist, but you can't really be sure and I'm not necessarily wrong. So then I move to Greenpoint. And in Greenpoint, I am repeatedly robbed, day after day and every time I am, I say, "it's the Polish." Once again, most of my neighbors are Polish, so it's not entirely unreasonable to assume that when I am getting robbed multiple times every week, it's the Polish people around me that are doing it. So I move to Washington Heights, where I am robbed repeatedly and of course whenever I am, I tell people, "It's the Dominicans." But a pattern is starting to emerge and my friends point it out to me, and so I tell them "It's the minorities." And so eventually, when I move to Riverdale, surround myself with Orthodox Jews, and am repeatedly robbed day in and out, I tell people "It's the minorities." And it makes sense to me. And by sticking to these guns, I get to ignore the facts that my roommate is a crack addict and that in all my time living in New York City, I've never learned that I should lock my door.
There has been ONE doctor - ONE REAL DOCTOR - on their side. He was the guy who started it, Andrew Wakefield. And recently, it's been shown that he was full of shit. Kirby's last blog post took a crack at Brian Deer's article on Wakefield, but here's the thing. If Brian Deer is right on this thing in any way at all, then at the very least Wakefield is a crummy scientist, and given how little anything that Wakefield's done has been verified by anyone else, Brian Deer probably has his facts straight.
I don't think it's easy to be the parent of an autistic kid. Honestly, I have nothing against these parents. They're in an awful situation and I'm sorry for what happened to their kid. But to think that the solution is to boycott vaccines, to the point that we have horrible, brain altering diseases like Hib coming back, to the point where there's still fucking Polio in the world - if these anti-vaccine activists had been around fifty years ago, we'd still have Smallpox (it hadn't yet been fully taken out by 1960). Do you know how badly we got fucked by Smallpox? This shit was legendary. Incredibly infectious, 25-30 percent who got it died, the rest were scarred, often blinded, and disabled by it for the rest of their lives. Look up the history of this country during the revolutionary war, body-count given to the Brits is insignificant compared to how many of us were dying from a disease which today, we don't have to worry about, because of the advance of medicine.
Are vaccines harmless? Well, for most of us -- yes. There is a small (TINY) percentage of the population that can't have vaccines, immune-compromised kids, and a very small number of people for whom the vaccines will in fact have a detrimental effect. And by pushing forward their campaign to throw an ideological penny onto science's tracks, these parents and advocates are hurting those kids too. See, those kids... they can't have immunizations, and so the only thing keeping them from getting sick is that enough of their little friends have gotten those shots, making it statistically unlikely that the non-immunized kids will get these illnesses. Viruses don't thrive in a vacuum, it's called herd immunity, and without it those little kids - you know, the ones who's immune systems are screwed up and can't get the benefit of childhood vaccines - they'd probably be dead. In the UK, the original home of Wakefield and still a bigger part of the anti-vaccine movement than the states (don't worry! We can still catch up! USA! USA!), many of these childhood ailments are already making a comeback, and we have small spots in the states where it's happening too. Thank you, vaccine denialists, for saving our kids.
The science is in. Children are exposed to more new pathogens on a daily basis than the entirety of what they're given in their vaccination schedule, you get more formaldehyde into your body from the paint on your walls, and even if it was still in the childhood vaccination schedule (which it's not), the amount of mercury in thimerosal is orders of magnitude below what it would take to actually damage your brain. Vaccines do not cause autism. Measles, Mumps, and Rubella are not diseases we should let come back. Allowing these "green our vaccines" Evidence of Harm "Mercury Militia" people to have their pre-scientific crap pollute our public discourse is retarding our nation's health, and we can't stand for it anymore.
Great article!
There's no such thing as a nontoxic amount of a toxin. Vaccines have toxic ingredients in toxic amounts, plain and simple.
There are plenty of board-certified physicians who think there is a link between autism and vaccines, as an internet search would show, and if Mr. Dickerman doesn’t even know that, why is he writing on this topic and why is anyone reading it?
Nope. When you eat an almond you release cyanide. Last I heard that was a toxin. In organic chemistry class we synthesized isoamyl acetate ie essential oil of banana which in high quantities is also toxic (to breathe). There are probably way more examples that I could look up but I won't. The point is that when they say that small doses are metabolized or do not harm the body, SOMETIMES it is true so it is not plain and simple. I've been immunized and I'm not sick so perhaps for someone that has a particularly condition additives in vaccines may be toxic but don't say that they are toxic for everyone.
Have you ever heard of PKU? It's where people cannot break down phenylalanine due to a genetic defect, they accumulate phenylalanine in their system and they become mentally retarded. In all likelihood something similar may be the case with autism and environment of which vaccines could be a factor in some cases.
The studies that have been done clearly do not back up those who are concerned about vaccines causing autism. However, maybe there are other factors a work. I see many possibilities, some more likely than others.
I have often wondered whether many children are born autistic but certain enviromental factors (allergies, heavy metals, or a thousand other factors) could exacerbate the symptoms. I am not talking about "triggering" the autism. I am talking about making it worse and, as a result, more noticable.
I don't have any reason to believe this other than simple observation and consideration of the anecdotal claims. However, it would seem to explain the lack of experimental evidence of a direct link while, at the same time, explaining many of the observations people have reported. It is merely an untested hypothesis, but one that I think would benefit from proper research.
I am not trying to make sense of the babblings of the antivax crowd. I am also not laying blame on ANY specific environmental factor. Heavy metal was just an example and was not intended to show support for that concept. Also, I was not talking about heavy metal poisoning, but rather whether a substance could exacerbate pre-existing autistic symptoms (like alcohol has been known to exacerbate psoriasis).
In addition, this is not an argument about ALL cases of autism, or even a sizable percentage, just like alcohol does not exacerbate psoriasis in all cases.
What I am really doing is postulating about the reasons for the phenomenon of regression, which is described as follows:
"a small subset of children present a trajectory characterized by normal development followed by a loss of acquired skills or a failure to use the acquired skills."
This phenomenon does not agree with the traditional reasoning that a layman may not notice the autism. It describes a very noticeable decline in condition. It is reasonable to wonder whether there are environmental links to this phenomenon.
You read stuff written by people who read stuff by people who have theories and long titles and lots of degrees but they don't always know everything.
(I myself nannied for 15 years and have 30 hours in child development-so I kinda would have seen it anyways.)
Here are some of their stories:
http://uncensored.co.nz/2009/03/16/no-autism-in-unvaccinated-kids//
Seriously, if all these doctors really exist and are correct, why doesn't one of them do a real study and publish it. Instead, I see Generation Rescue spending $200,000 on a poorly executed (and biased) phone survey that ended up casting doubt on their own claims. If these claims are serious, wouldn't that money be better spent funding research that will stand up under scrutiny?
I don't think that vaccine is a 'cause' of vaccines. I know that the disease of smallpox was horrid. But, I still refuse to vaccinate my son. To say that only one medical doctor thinks that vaccines are causal is dismissive of the hundreds of DAN doctors practicing successful treatment of autism.
Autism rates are still rising. My children have been helped so much by their doctor (medical doctor, who believes that vaccines are related to autism), my daughter has been diagnosed with a metabolic condition, and with changes in her diet, most of her autism symptoms have disappeared. My son has severe soy allergies (which caused him to have the rosiest of cheeks), he has a reaction to wheat and gluten, and dairy makes him stim and lose his ability to talk. Most (but not all) of his autism symptoms disappeared.
Something is causing autism. Those whackos are the ones on my side. Without thier help, my son would still be lying on the floor watching the wheels turn on his firetruck. Now he is riding on his firetruck, screaming with laughter. He uses it to put out imaginary fires, and rescue imaginary cats.
Although I disagree with some of the methods of the "whackos", I do support their mission. Most of them are not snake oil salesmen, at least not intentionally. They are searching for answers to a baffling condition.
I would artue that if the therapies of the DAN protocol are valid then why not study them scientifically and see what about them works or doesn't work. See if it is a real effect, a placebo effect, or just wishful thinking. There are many people spending countless hours and untold dollars waging a war on vaccines. They are combatting proven scientific procedures armed with little more than fear and hearsay. I would love to see the efforts of these misguided individuals shifted to honestly and scientifically researching their own ideas. There may well be important improvements to be made. Then, all children will benefit, rather than just a few.
"Jake is a former student of the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU. Now, he has an art degree which is thoroughly useless. You can see more of his unqualified and unpaid opinions at weeklyradio.blogspot.org " Explain to me, Jacob, why anyone should give you any credibility at all on this subject. .
I will go so far as to say this, picking one piece of your pharma talking points to discuss. When you talk about 'herd immunity' I wonder if you understand what that means? When my herd of cattle calves for the spring, for example, I get maybe 20 calves. I immunize them and if I lose 5 of them to shock, infection, whatever - then I lose some of my investment, but the rest of my herd is safe, so it was an acceptable loss. Now when you equate that to humans... how many babies are an 'acceptable loss' in your eyes in order to provide this 'herd immunity'? Which parent gets to say, "Well, yes, our child was lost, but now all the others are safe?" Parents will do anything to protect their children, and if that means protecting them from people like you, they will do it.
My son, right this minute, is in the psychiatric ward at hospital because he was a danger to himself and others. He bit himself, drawing blood; he hit his older sister in the face; he drew bloody scratches all over his arms and legs. He's 7 years old.
His autism was caused by an encepalopathy that he developed within 6 hours of his MMR and DTaP vaccines when he was 18 months old. He lost all speech, and lost the ability to walk until he was almost 3. I got my son vaccinated for the greater good, and then we have people like Jacob and the rest of the Church of the Immaculate Vaccination demonizing me because I have proof that my son's condition was caused by a vaccination. My son was a sacrifice for the rest of the herd.
You're welcome everyone.
I hope you'll get your son back. Please consult with a homeopathic doctor, they really do have great experience with vaccinosis.
Mercury and all those sorts of horrible toxic things were in vaccinations for many years. Including in your generation. In fact now they're less toxic than they were in the beginning. If this is so, and people were vaccinated for these diseases, how come everyone isn't autistic now? Since the toxins have been removed from the vaccinations and the autism rates have been going up, supposedly, then perhaps it's the lack of toxins that have made this so called epidemic of autism.
(Oh and I have Aspergers.)
The primary reason for vaccinating is to protect the person being vaccinated from greater risk. Herd immunity merely an added advantage that protects those who cannot vaccinate or are in the percentage who do not get immunity from the vaccine.
In your "example" you run a 25% loss. That is a ridiculous number that does not translate to the human vaccine debate (if it is even true for cattle). The mortality of human vaccines is miniscule. The fact is that, for the recommended childhood vaccines, in each case a specific child is much more likely to die from the possibility of contracting the disease than from receiving the vaccine (ditto for serious complications).
I have seen some who oppose vaccines claim it is like Russian roulette. They are right, but not in the way they think. Parents who refuse to immunize are taking chances with the lives of their own children, who are far more likely to die or be crippled by the disease than the vaccine.
http://www.rense.com/general85/cant.htm
"I have not seen autism with the Amish," said Dr. Frank Noonan, a family practitioner in Lancaster County, Pa., who has treated thousands of Amish for a quarter-century. "You'll find all the other stuff, but we don't find the autism. We're right in the heart of Amish country and seeing none, and that's just the way it is."
"In Chicago, Homefirst Medical Services treats thousands of never-vaccinated children whose parents received exemptions through Illinois' relatively permissive immunization policy. Homefirst's medical director, Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, told us he is not aware of any cases of autism in never-vaccinated children; the national rate is 1 in 175, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We have a fairly large practice," Eisenstein told us. "We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines. "We do have enough of a sample," Eisenstein said. "The numbers are too large to not see it. We would absolutely know. We're all family doctors. If I have a child with autism come in, there's no communication. It's frightening. You can't touch them. It's not something that anyone would miss."
FOr as we all no, autistic cases need to be medically diagnosed. And as we also know, nobody consults psychologists on a regular basis like the Amish do.
In fact, many Amish do vaccinate, by one estimate as many as 70% in the area that Olmstead "studied". Some doctors also indicate that there is autism evident in the population, although Olmstead still disputes that. First he claimed that there is almost no autism at all. Then when a clinic that treats autism among the Amish surfaced he changed his story and claimed that it was only unexplained autism that doesn't occur. Of course, he has no proof of this other than his own inverviews (which have already been shown to be unreliable).
So we have the opinion of the CDC which is based on scientific investigation up against the opinion of a journalist whose claims are based on anecdotal evidence that has been shown to be unreliable.
Facts, please. Some vaccines had the full complement of thimerosal as late as 2006. Currently, a two year old receiving the full, recommended schedule gets about 71 micrograms of mercury.
As for this statement on smallpox "...body-count given to the Brits is insignificant compared to how many of us were dying from a disease which today, we don't have to worry about, because of the advance of medicine". No one's being vaccinated for small pox these days. Know why? Virtually no risk. So you're trading up 1/38 British male infants for your fear of smallpox? Find another disease plaguing modern industrialized countries at that rate, please. Otherwise, the risk-benefit ratio of continuing the current system unreviewed -- in terms of the risk of "modern diseases" maiming children at the rate that autism and other vaccine-induced autoimmune diseases do-- would justify running a red light and mowing down pedestrians in a crosswalk because of the risk that the guy behind you isn't going to stop.
Trade up your own kids for your disease-mongering fears. Vaccines need to be cleaned up, safety analyses need to be performed to identify the at-risk-of-vaccine-injury population and that never-done vaxed/never vaxed study needs to be, at last, done. That's all Kirby and McCarthy have asked for, plus compensation for the children already injured. What radicals.
Seriously though, just how much of autism do you think is caused by vaccines? All of it? One case in 100? Give us a number so we can do a proper risk assesment, if you wish to be accurate
"The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.
And an official of the World Health Organization’s European operation said the body is closely monitoring the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter International’s research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria."
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html
If you were paying attention, you will see that live virus (flu H3N2) material for laboratory use only was also contaminated with flu H5N1. This was an error and potentially might have led to the viruses undergoing some form of genetic recombination, altering virulence or altering transmissability.
....In other news, antivaccinationists misrepresent and misinterpret science stuff that is unrelated to vaccines in order to make vaccines look bad..... What's new in that?
Also, I too have read the claims that Amish children do not vaccinate. However, I have also crosschecked and seen claims that the Amish DO in fact vaccinate, although at a lower rate. In Lancaster County, PA, for example, the report is that the Amish have a 70% vaccination rate. There are also indications that autism does exist in the Amish community.
By the way, most of the information I have found on both sides of this issue is anecdotal and certainly does not rise to the level of scientific study. One such "study" I read appears to be by a journalist, Dan Olmstead, who interviewed Amish people and doctors in Lancaster, PA and concluded that there was virtually no autism there. In the same "study" he claimed that a minority of Amish families vaccinate in that area, a direct contradiction of statements by health care professionals in that area. That he supposedly found no cases of autism also contradicts statements from medical professionals in the area.
It is also important to remember that the Amish are genetically isolated from the general population and live vastly different lifestyles than the general population. There could be hundreds of environmental and genetic vectors at work that add or subtract from the incidence of autism in the Amish population.
But perhaps you realise that for many of the posters here it "always has to be the vaccines", despite reams of evidence to the contrary.
Tomorow they could crack the genetic mystery of autism, a vast epidemiological study could be published by totally unbiased/independent researchers showing no link between vaccines and autism, and people would still squeal "It's the vaccines!"
I can't say vaccines caused this to happen inside him- only that his sudden regression happened right when he got some. I can say he is riddled with various metals at toxic levels.
I know that there is aluminum in Soy. I did have him on soy milk, but because the cows milk made him sick-not because I worry about cows! Now he is on rice milk. He is actually doing well because I have taken out almost anything that could put metals in to him and have worked very hard(as has he!) to clean him out. I have spent thousands of hours studying with my husband where all the metals came from. I know that all of it didn't come from vaccines,but I ask you to admit that some probably did!
I also know that diseases are dangerous and I will give him some more when he is older and stronger. I still vax my other kids- more slowly.
My point is that I am not an illiterate irrational mom relying on gut instincts. My husband is a biologist, sir.
Do you know any of these parents you ridicule, have you seen what they do- asked them how they know what they know? Spend some time watching their kids work, struggle and suffer and then have this smug attitude. I dare you to.
I'm sure your son is trying very hard, as I'm sure you are. I have nothing against either of you. I simply disagree that your son became autistic due to heavy metals.
There is no doubt in my mind that you have struggled and worked hard to help your son, and I don't believe for an instant that you should have had to. It's unfair that your son has this ailment, no question. My argument is that the science does not agree that heavy metals gave him his condition.
Once again, I thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my article, and I'm sorry you felt offended by it. I do not agree with you that heavy metals are the cause of autism. However, as a man who believes firmly in the scientific method and in scientific evidence, I am willing to be shown evidence against my stance. So far, the consensus scientific opinion has not produced that evidence.
I wish both you and your son the best.
Jacob Dickerman
I am not a scientist, I am a parent who was told my child was full of metals and that the symtoms of autism fit heavy metal poisins. I then worked very hard to eliminate them and he has improved. I just want those facts respected and researched.
I have three children with autism, three autistic children. What difference does it make where the descriptor is? It doesn't lessen their value, it doesn't make them any less children. It makes no sense to take your energy and direct it at this. Most of the anti-vaccination crowd is angry, furious, hostile, bitter. I'm saying this from my experience for the last 19 years as a parent to autistic children and as someone with a master's degree in psychology: that anger, that rage, doesn't help you or your child cope with the challenges of autism. I don't know the cause of your child's difficulties, and I don't know if these difficulties rise beyond autism but you have my empathy for your challenges, and your rage is one of your challenges you need to face.
"Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) has been reported after vaccination with Gardasil. GBS is a RARE disorder that causes muscle weakness. It occurs in 1-2 out of every 100,000 people in their teens. A number of infections can cause GBS. There has been no indication that Gardasil increases the rate of GBS in girls and women above the rate expected in the general population, whether or not they were vaccinated. "
As of December 31, 2008, there have been 32 U.S. reports of death among females who have received the vaccine. There was no common pattern to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine.
so lets see 52 cases reported of deaths who MAY be related to the vaccine but has yet to be soundly proven out of 23 million ppl who were vacinated up to 2008
They don't work as well as you have been told!
How dare yousay youare going to deport me and my kids for doing what is best for them!
If you are vaxed what risk is a person with the disease to you!
My son can't handle the vaccines! I still vax the rest of us -although more slowly.
What you propose is hateful and totalitarian!
However, regarding your statements, there are no claims that vaccines are 100% effective. In fact, the mumps part of MMR is reported at 90% effective after two doses.
This highlights the risk of not vaccinating. Failure to vaccinate puts the general population at greater risk to a disease. If a disease is denied an adequate number of susceptible hosts, then the spread is halted and it dies out in an area. However, the disease can spread if there are sufficient number of unvaccinated individuals in an area, creating danger to those for whom the vaccine did not work (and those who could not take the vaccine for medical reasons, like your son).
Like Mr. Dickerson states in his blog, this is a real danger that these diseases may return as serious public health risks in the US. If that happens, innocent people will die because misinformed and poorly informed people want their "freedom".
If you were really working from informed opinion you would know this and not make statements like "If you are vaxed what risk is a person with the disease to you! "