The controversy surrounding the issue whether vaccines can cause autism in children was brought up over a decade ago. The main issue that parents of autistic children discuss, is how their children’s development was affected shortly after being vaccinated. In a nutshell, the controversy revolves around “the increase in autism, the safety of vaccines, and federal research priorities.” Cases of autistic children continue to increase, despite the fact that mercury in vaccines was removed from most vaccines around the year 2003. There are supporters of vaccines, and those who oppose vaccines because not enough research has been done. Neither side has sufficient scientific evidence to validate their claims one hundred percent, so the debate will continue until proven otherwise. (http://www.examiner.com/article/autism-advocates-nih-cdc-testify-to-congress-about-research-autism-increase).
At a Congressional hearing committee on Capitol Hill, Mark Blaxill went up against the NIH and CDC, (National Institute of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) who in turn defended their research. Blaxill was the designated speaker for Safeminds, an advocacy group with a serious message about autism. Blaxill urged governmental agencies to turn their autism research away from genetic causes and aim more towards environmental causes. “Autism is a public health crisis of historic proportions….(and) a national emergency." At this court hearing, vaccine safety, especially those that contained “thimerosal, a mercury preservative” were discussed. Also brought up was the alarming trend of multiple vaccinations given to young children over a short period of time.
Blaxill and other parents of autistic children maintain “the fact that symptoms of mercury poisoning mimic the symptoms of autism, dramatic behavioral and medical changes sometimes occur directly after the administration of vaccines” are connected with the increase in autism cases due to “increases in the U.S.vaccine schedule.”
Another proponent for more research into the use of vaccines is the well known Jenny McCarthy. As a former Playboy model and actress, she uses her personal situation of having a young autistic child as a platform to spread the word and bring awareness to the public about the dangers of vaccines. Whilst she claims that her, and her supporters are “not an antivaccine group. We are demanding safe vaccines. We want to reduce the schedule and reduce the toxins.” McCarthy also declares that current times have increased the numbers of children with “ADHD, autism (and) OCD”. Her claims mesh with other parents who have similar concerns that our society gives children from newborn up, too many vaccines. (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1888718,00.html)
In contrast to the two views above, three national health institutes joined forces in research. “(A) joint statement issued in 1999 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Family Physicians” released a statement declaring “there was “no evidence of harm” resulting from exposure to thimerosal in vaccines.” It was also mentioned “that as a precaution, thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible.” It took until the year 2003 for thimerosal to be eliminated from “most childhood vaccines.” In 2004, the Institute of Medicine, in a similar claim, to those groups above, declared “that thimerosal-containing vaccines were not causally associated with autism.” Seven years later the Institute of Medicine again backed up their claims that “(f)ew health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines.” (http://www.examiner.com/article/autism-advocates-nih-cdc-testify-to-congress-about-research-autism-increase).
From the knowledge that I gained from all the research I did on-line, it’s clear to me that not enough convincing and conclusive research has been done with regards to vaccines causing autism. The mercury-thimerosal issue seems to be the least of the problems. It’s the vast amount of vaccines and medicine we as a society are injecting into our vulnerable children, in too short a time frame. As far as I could tell, no research has been conducted in regards to proving what damage these multiple vaccines do inside our children’s bodies. Doctors order up to ten vaccines a time in young children, in a rush to get them done. Perhaps this could be the trigger to those children susceptible to autism. We should be looking into how these vaccines react together and perhaps change our vaccine schedule until further research has been done.
In my opinion, emotions set aside, I have to side with the parents of those children who developed autism after getting vaccines. The cause-effect is too powerful to ignore. How can I deny the findings of those many parents who say their child was normal, yet changed dramatically after multiple vaccines? The fact that the statistics seem to back this phenomenon is another point in favor of these parents.
Another factor to consider is that pharmaceutical companies have a lot to lose in their profit margins if their product is questioned and demand for vaccines drops. Is it a financial and political issue, where “don’t ask, don’t tell” comes into play? Although I am the last to claim full knowledge of the facts, the research done by governmental institutes seems to be minimal. They feel that they eliminated high levels of mercury, so their claims that autism is mostly genetic should hold fast. What about further research into other possible contributing factors like environmental and the effect of too much vaccine taken in too quickly?
Who knows what the right answer is – but the debate will rage on until satisfactory results of research lowers the increasing number of autistic children we have here and now. Parents have the right to question this mandatory state-regulated vaccination schedule. Are vaccinations less effective if they are spread out? Is that being researched now? That is something we all have the right to know. The government should put its citizen’s health first and foremost, and ensure the future safety of the drugs it insists on administering to its youth.
Image taken from the following website: http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&q=vaccines&gbv=2&biw=1440&bih=742&sei=v24EUd3lK6quiQLJroCADg
