Autism Cases Rise Despite Vaccine Change

Study: Calif. Autism Cases Continue To Increase Even After Removal Of Vaccine Preservative

(AP)  Autism cases in California continued to climb even after a mercury-based vaccine preservative that some people blame for the neurological disorder was removed from routine childhood shots, a new study found.

Researchers from the state Department of Public Health found the autism rate in children rose continuously during the 12-year study period from 1995 to 2007. The preservative thimerosal hasn't been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, but is used in some flu shots.

Doctors say the latest study adds to existing evidence refuting a link between thimerosal exposure and autism risk and should reassure parents that the disorder is not caused by vaccinations. If there was a risk, they said, autism rates should have dropped between 2004 and 2007.

The findings show "no evidence of mercury poisoning in autism" since there was no decline in autism rates even after the elimination of thimerosal, said Dr. Eric Fombonne, an autism researcher at Montreal Children's Hospital who had no role in the research.

Some advocacy groups blame thimerosal for the impaired social interaction typical of autism. Nearly 5,000 claims alleging a vaccine-autism link have been lodged with the federal government, which is deciding whether victims should receive compensation from a government fund.

Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a neurologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the focus now should be on exploring the causes of autism such as possible genetic links.

"Something else must be at play and we need to know what that is if we're really serious about preventing autism," said Geschwind, who had no connection with the study.

For their study, California public health officials calculated the autism rate by analyzing a database of state-funded centers that care for people with autism and other developmental disorders.

They found the prevalence of autism in children aged 3 to 12 increased throughout the study period. For example, 0.3 per 1,000 children born in 1993 had autism at age 3 compared with 1.3 per 1,000 children born in 2003. Similar trends were found in other age groups.

"These time trends are inconsistent with the hypothesis that thimerosal exposure is a primary cause of autism in California," the researchers wrote.

Results were published in January's issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. The study did not explore why there was an increase in autism cases.

Federal statistics show about one in 150 children in the United States have autism, higher than previous estimates. Researchers say it's unclear if the increase is due to changes in how the disorder is classified or whether it's an actual spike.

Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication skills. There is no cure, but early therapy can lessen the severity.

[lloydbest1]

Reading this thread convinces me, once again, that it isn''t so much the children with autism who suffer (tho'' they do) but their parents and other loved ones. I know mine did.

[aheadofcrowd]

Well if the government, medical establishment and media say it''s so, it must be so. I think we should all just put our complete trust in them and just be satisfied with what they say. I mean really, what do they stand to lose if they were wrong about the safety of vaccines? Well, I don''t know about you, but I trust them and I think you should too.



http://www.newstarget.com/vaccines.html

[mouseker1]

Greenacre19 you''ve also bought into the vaccine myth it is not a guaranteed protection even if you do get it done. The kids that wound up in the hospital during the last measles outbreak GOT THEIR VACCINATIONS.

Gatagorra you said it so much better than I could.


Schools recieve monies from several different sources for Special Needs kids. Some fed some state. In Utah schools recieve monies from three different sources for Special Needs kids. I know this because the legislation regarding the Carson Smith Bill allows the public schools to keep monies from one of the sources while allowing the other two to be applied as vouchers to private schools.

Anyone who thinks a simply shy kid can be diagnosed as ASD hasn''t tried to have diagnosed a child who is boarderline. I have one fully autistic child and one who has nebulously been diagnosed with Anxiety disorder because she was too social. (THAT DAY) She did great that day other days she''d hide under the table even for friends and neighbors she had no problem talking to on other days.

[mouseker1]

Seandgreen did you ask who did the STATISTICAL studies you are quoting? Doctors representing the drug industry. If you tailor the criteria correctly you can say the sun doesn''t rise, it''s true it doesn''t rise, in alaska for six months! There is a book called How to Lie With Statistics I would read this before blindly accepting a statistical study done by Doctors who have a conflict of interest. Oh and by the way Dr. Verstraten who did the 2002 CDC study is now in charge of a whole division of GlaxoSmithKline. So don''t tell me there isn''t a conflict of interest. And he said that they didn''t prove there wasn''t a connection. Even the IOM who did the report on the study said in their summary that they give laboratory evidence much more weight than statistical evidence. But (SURRISE) no lab evidence was submitted. Also this part of the IOM report never made it into the news articles HMMMMM.
I would submit that you are looking at the wrong information, check out what is being done by scientists in labratories not agencies manipulating numbers if you want the truth.

Kennersgirl I totally agree with what you are saying, I am keeping an open mind. The problem I have with all the denial by the medical establishment that vaccines might be involved is that no true studies will be done to give us a difinitive answer so we can either truly cross it off the list or accept it and tailor treatments that will work.

[mouseker1]

pcal5 I''m truly horrified at what happened to your daughter, I have three questions for you. Did she sustain any brain damage when she was hit so badly? Was she given any thimerosal contining shots like tetnus at the ER/doctors afterward? It sounds like she was diagnosed during a period of time when the refridgerator mother theory was prevelant. Is it possible that since some of her behaviors so closely mimicked Autism and given the prevalent theory at the time, that she was misdiagnosed? Did she make eye contact? Did she exhibit repetetive behaviors? You said that you obeyed her and pampered her to help her. So does this means she was able to communicate her wants to you? Inability to communicate is one of the three main areas of impairment for autistic kids. My sons sole means of communication (before therapy) was a tempertantrum for anything from a diaper change to a glass of milk. I had to guess what he wanted. He never pointed never spoke never even looked at what he wanted. So how did you know?

[mouseker1]

Anabellee2 you asked if infants were given vaccines in utero the answer is YES many pregnant women get mercury laden flu shots (mercury passes the placental barrier) so yes some kids will be autistic at birth. Are you seriously quoting the Japan Statistical study? Talk about flawed projects.

Mythoughtstar please read this article http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14496. I have no doubt mercury causes autism I know this family. My son went to the same school. I helped fight for this legislation. The question is, is all autism caused by mercury. This I don''t know there could be more than one cause or a couple of factors creating the Perfect Storm which would be Autism. Not enough envioronmental research has been done. Saying that mercury causes autism is NOT the same as saying autism is caused by mercury.

No one denies that genetic are a huge factor in autism, however genetics do not move this fast. It takes GENERATIONS not thirty years to reach the numbers we are seeing now.

[mouseker1]

To understand the Thimerosal issue there are some things to know. Thimerosal was used twice on vaccines once during processing and once during packaging. They were packaged with ten doses per vial the thimerosal was to prevent the other nine from being contaminated after the first dose was removed breaching the seal. ONLY the packaging thimerosal was removed when they started putting only one dose in a vial. It is still used during processing. No comprehensive trial has been done to test and see if there is residual mercury from the processing. So we don''t really know if they still contain mercury or not. Thimerosal has been in vaccines since the 1930''s. However they would only get 4 or 5 shots, not all containing thimerosal, live vaccines don''t have thimerosal. It wasn''t until we started overvaccinating in the 80''s that the numbers of autistic kids skyrocketed.

There never was a recall on thimerosal containing vaccines. So the vials that had been sent out that were labelled as being good until 2006 were still in use until 2006. Then you add the average age 3-4 years when a child is diagnosed as autistic then you get the years 2009-2010. THAT is when we will start seeing the numbers go down, maybe. Depending on if we can get it out of the flu shots too.

[mouseker1]

This article is so much hogwash. The the misinformation posted so far has me astounded.

THERE NEVER WAS THIMEROSAL IN THE MMR!!!!
The MMR is a live virus the Thimerosal would denature it (kill it). The MMR controversy is a seperate one in that there has been live VACCINE STRAIN measles virus found in the digestive tract lining and cerebro-spinal fluid of a significant number of autistic kids many of whom have done well after targeting this as the cause of their autism. It is intertwined with the thimerosal controversy because it is given at the same time as shots containing thimerosal which acts on the tissues to make them more suceptible to penetration by the measles virus.
Thimerosal is still in the flu shots!!!

[gatogorra]

The "impulse to blame" soundbite is outdated. Even Paul Offit gave up the poor-poor-pitiful-deluded-Omnibus-parents-who-need-someone-to-blame rap. Those ranks then tried the "clouded by hardship" and the "carried away by fervor" campaigns, but when it became apparent that the environmental injury community wasn''t being shamed into silence by the approach, it was on to new vistas.

Rule one of discrediting the testimony or point of view of a group of people is to alter perception of character. If personifying individuals as "crazy sad" doesn''t work to undercut testimony, then try "crazy dangerous".

If anyone was paying attention, Offit''s whiney NEMJ article set off the new trend: to regard environmental injury parents as potentially dangerous, causing the CDC to have to "beef up security" (yes, he wrote "beef up"). Of course nothing''s happened to substantiate Offit''s assertions and environmental injury parents don''t seem very threatening with their pastel cell phones and medium-heeled mom shoes and the only thing in the snack bags are snacks. But ooh, they might be gluten-free. Hey, that''s an attack on the wheat industry!

But the truth doesn''t matter here. What matters is that everyone get in line with their popular culture concepts and pre-conditioned responses. Out with pity, in with tremulous anxiety and paranoia. Got it?

[kennergirl]

If the increase of autism started in the 70''s then you should also consider what other medications, additives etc was introduced at the same time. Most children get vaccines so sure that would be on the list but since the 70s more children are in daycare, wear disposable diapers etc. These are just things that are involving the child not the home as a whole. Microwave ovens could be on the list too. Fact is that it''s an idea but by no means a smoking gun. A lot of children are forgoing immunizations because fear of autism. Whether they are making the right choice or not is yet to be seen. My son has a mild case of PDD-NOS. He wasn''t beaten or traumatized. He got his regular shots like my other two children did and they experienced no problems at all. For all I know living by the airport might have caused his PDD-NOS. It''s not the only disorder to have skyrocketed over the last 20 years.

[greenacre19]

Has any study been made with regards to possible connection between autism and the birth control pills? There must be some connection seeing as some decades back when there was no birth control pills autism was unheard of.

[gatogorra]

The 700% increase in autism since the 1990''s can''t be explained by child abuse. Prior to this date, societies which experienced mass atrocity- where infants saw parents and siblings hacked to death, were raped, beaten, abandoned until near death or raised by siblings who were forced into prostitution- have not produced increased rates of autism. Not until those societies were vaccinated on the modern schedule at least.
So the sensible thing to ask is, what changed before the rates spiked? Not a 700% increase in child trauma- not in the US. What you get from societies which sanction systematic child abuse are sometimes psychotic fascists, as researchers at Nuremberg discovered. But, again, you don%u2019t get autism.
Federici and associates discovered what they called %u201Cpost-institutional autism%u201D among Romanian orphans, but the symptom overlap with autism as we know it doesn%u2019t hold up. The orphans%u2019 chemical exposures are also unknown. Intensive drugging is common in institutions, as is turning out to be true in modern Czech orphanages. Psychiatric drugs can cause autistic-like behaviors in children.
What does it prove? Possibly that the brain is somewhat finite in its expression of injury, but there are still very notable differences between "post-institutional autism", psychiatric drug-induced "stereotypies" and the autism being seen since thimerosal was first used in the 1930''s as an agricultural antifungal and especially since the 1990''s.

[susieq_13]

I agree with aheadofcrowd...vaccines are not always a good thing in my opinion. My 16 yr old daughter has the mind of a one month old baby due to her very first set of immunizations.

[aheadofcrowd]

Vaccine articles that are must reads! Educate yourself before you potentially harm your child.



http://www.newstarget.com/autism.html


http://www.newstarget.com/vaccines.html

[pollroller1]

Well pccal5 when you put it that way, I can see where you are coming from.

[pcal5]

To pollrollert: Am not blaming Bush for autism. Am blaming our selfish greedy society for stress which is a major factor in autism, a society which Bush and company have played a major role in shaping over the last ten years in which autism and other stress related condistions have increased.

[maurine91]

We continue to hear that the thimerosal/autism theory is resolved. How many more lies are we going to hear about this nonsense as the government, CDC, pharmaceutical companies continue to put out false information? First, as your report stated this morning-thimerosal was not out of vaccines in 2001. In 1999 -only a recommendation was made for its removal. It took years and was still in many vaccines through 2005(even vials sitting on shelves good until 2006 existed and were used in doctor''s offices.) If cases went up in Calif.---the flu vaccine (90% of them) has 25 micrograms of thimerosal and is recommended for pregnant women and babies. In utero---injected with meercury-devastating to the developing fetus. STOP believing these false reports put out by our government and stop protecting those responsible for poisoning our children. The media, journalism has turned into a mouth piece for big money in this country.

[pollroller1]

pcal5 I agree with what you are saying about stress, but to blame the President? Come on.

[pcal5]

Indeed there''s a study out today that clearly links heart attacks and anxiety/stress. Fear kills you one way or the other. And who are we afraid of, most terrified of, other than our boss''s at work and losing our jobs. They make it that way for getting maximal production out of us. And you are telling me that this stress does not affect the way that parents deal with their kids? And that this stress is no part of the "stress" that is a factor in autism? Logic. Use your heads and not your hearts in the argument.

[pollroller1]

I don''t care much for Bush, but to say he is the cause of autism, is kinda over the top don''t you think?