Vaccines and Autism

[iacas]

I know where I stand. Just looking to see what other people think.

Your vote will not be made public here. If you choose to comment, well, that's your choice.

[wubskis]

Yeah, no.

[NormH3]

never looked into it.

[SQ Bimmer]

I do not think Vaccines increased or decreased the frequency of autistic children. I haven't done any full-blown research on the subject though. Been too busy trying to improve my golf game through repetitive, obsessive, and self destructive behavior while muttering words and sounds that don't make sense to my playing partners! Oh wait... uhh.

[rangerat]

This is a topic I have done some reading on. From what I have read I do not see where there is any good scientific evidence at all! There are many resources available on this. I frequent the James Randi Educational Foundation web site www.randi.org . There are some good articles on this site related to this topic.

iacas, what IS your thought on this?

[iacas]

An article I found interesting: http://wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/ .

[sean_miller]

I voted "True". My opinion swing from "possibly" to "probably" to "I doubt it", but I just like to vote "true" in case it is.

[popey]

I have yet to find any convincing evidence to prove that there is a link. This all came about by a journalist wrongly reporting an article which then caused a big fuss about nothing. It happens all the time and journalists should have a responsibility into what they publish as it just scares the public into believing things that are not true. A good website is http://www.badscience.net/ which explores the myths behind articles!

The trials that do suggest the link are very poor in quality and have no academic weight to them.

[GaijinGolfer]

The notion that autism is caused by vaccines is 100% FALSE. One of my girlfriend's brother has autism and according to her mother, he was different from the day he was born.
There has never been any evidence that would suggest that vaccines cause autism. Its a genetic disorder, not a side-effect of vaccines. To be honest though, no one is really 100% sure what causes autism.

[allin]

These kind of debates start because so many people lack a basic understanding of scientific method, logic, cause and effect and statistics. If my child was diagnosed with Autism and they first exhibited symptoms shortly after a vaccination it must have been caused by the vaccination. Despite the many other potential causes, or even potential triggers that could cause the expression of a disorder they seize on the first thing they identify, out of a need to explain what has happened, find someone or something to blame or even greed. There is some evidence to suggest that this disorder is caused by a failure in the, the biological function which controls the exression of genetic traits. Much as stress at the proper time, say between 12 and 16 can lead to mental illness in one twin but the other not exposed to the same stressor never develops the mental disorder. Both had the biological dna which made the disorder possible, but only one was exposed to the trigger at the proper time. A person lacking in understanding coudl easily conclude that the triggering stressor caused what is really a biological disorder. Usuallly there are multiple possible triggers.

[misty_mountainhop]

Good God almighty....and I'm an atheist! One (badly written) scientific publication and people become idiots. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, people still think vaccinations can cause autism.

Don't know about elsewhere but people in the U.K. would rather their children get measles with all the complications that are definitely associated with such a virus than have what is an essentially safe vaccine.

As I see it there are two or three problems with this sort of fairy tale:

1) Bad science
2) Idiot media
3) An anti-science, flat Earth populace

Can you guess which way I voted?

[Supermanwoot]

As a health care provider, this is false. The cause of autism is supposedly genetic, the debate is whether the mutations are inherited or induced by environmental stimuli as well as things such as vaccines. However there is no good evidence to support this and not using vaccines is a great way to put yourself or your child at risk for a life threating illness.

Why does autism affect males more than females? Surely if females and males both receive vaccinations they should be at approximately equal risk. It seems highly improbable that vaccines, even if playing a small role, should be blamed any more than the geographic location of the child during development.

[Valleygolfer]

This thread is moot because they've found a reasonable vaccine.

Vaccines are not necessarily reasonable. Plus if the medical profession decides that you need this as a precaution, it's one more barely tested substance to be injected into your body. There are already links to autism because of vaccines. Ebola is a non issue but now is a possible source of high revenue for the medical industry.

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

This thread is moot because they've found a reasonable vaccine.

Vaccines are not necessarily reasonable. Plus if the medical profession decides that you need this as a precaution, it's one more barely tested substance to be injected into your body. There are already links to autism because of vaccines. Ebola is a non issue but now is a possible source of high revenue for the medical industry.

While I agree with you on overuse created by the Pharma industry with lesser infections, the "autism" link to vaccines was pure fraud.  Remember small pox and polio, two stunningly horrific diseases, were wiped out because of vaccines.  I do think the Ebola vaccine could help in the specific areas in Africa, but will not be necessary elsewhere.

[iacas]

Vaccines are not necessarily reasonable. Plus if the medical profession decides that you need this as a precaution, it's one more barely tested substance to be injected into your body. There are already links to autism because of vaccines. Ebola is a non issue but now is a possible source of high revenue for the medical industry.

Complete fabrication. Entirely untrue.

[Valleygolfer]

Complete fabrication. Entirely untrue.

Really? So the children that develope autism or autistic behavior after receiving vaccines doesn't create a link? Or do you just believe that the the "science" behind the testing is so trustable?

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

Complete fabrication. Entirely untrue.

Really? So the children that develope autism or autistic behavior after receiving vaccines doesn't create a link? Or do you just believe that the the "science" behind the testing is so trustable?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/policy/25autism.html?_r=0

He was a fraud and fabricated his "evidence".

[billchao]

[URL=http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/]http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/[/URL] [URL=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/policy/25autism.html?_r=0]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/policy/25autism.html?_r=0[/URL] He was a fraud and fabricated his "evidence".

Yes, @Valleygolfer , please don't spread this fraud. It's bad enough there are people out there who still believe it.