Peer-reviewed study after peer-reviewed study has found no link between vaccines and autism. However, talk to ten yuppie or hippie parents, and, chances are, you will find one or two doubters who may even go so far as to deny these vaccines to their young children. It's hard to believe that there are actually people out there who expose their children to the risk of serious disease simply because they've "heard something" about vaccines being the cause of autism.
As it turns out, much of the misinformation out there comes from a single source. One father/son team has done more to cast doubt on the safety of vaccines than, perhaps, anyone else. Slate's Medical Examiner has a chilling article about the "work" of these two men in "getting the word out" about the "dangers" of Thimerosal, an ingredient in some older vaccines. Even more disturbing than the misinformation campaign is the "treatment" these two ghouls have dreamed up.
As anyone working in a school will tell you, Autism is a very real, yet mysterious problem. Little is known about its real causes, and this lack of knowledge can lead to all sorts of wild speculation. However, people with Autism spectrum disorders have a hard enough time coping with life without some yahoos coming along to muddy the scientific waters and provide false hope in the form of fake treatments.
2 comments:
This is such a frightening article and just highlights some of the crazy things people will do because they're just cynical and educated enough to know that the medical community doesn't have all the answers but not enough to realize that these people who are preying on their sad situation have no proof whatsoever of the effectiveness of their "cure".
Can't remember my facts exactly, so pardon any inacuarcies, but both the UK and Finland did large epidemiology studies to see if there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. One of them found a stronger link between autism and the ownership of a teddy bear than between autism and the MMR vaccine. So it's obvious - we just need to ban teddy bears, right?
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