2008 has been an exciting year as I've watched more and more information come to light about the link between autism and vaccines. Since starting our journey with autism I have done extensive research in this area and have a strong belief that vaccines played a major role in the development of Seth's autism and many, many other children. The rise in the autism epidemic from a rare disorder affecting 1 in 10,000 20 years ago to a common disorder affecting at least 1 in 150 today directly coincides with the marked increase in the number of vaccines given to the children of our nation. Seth received 36 vaccines by the age of 15 months. I know as an 150+ pound adult I would not want to receive 36 vaccines in 15 months. I have little doubt that if I were to undertake such treatment my health would be adversely affected. Can you imagine what that many vaccines could do to a 8-20 pound baby whose immune system is not strong enough to deal with that many insults?
Earlier this year it came to light that the national vaccine injury court settled a case in which they conceded that a young girl from Georgia named Hannah Poling was harmed by receiving 9 vaccines on 1 day at the age of 18 months; harm which later resulted in an autism diagnosis. The media tried to portray this case as an atypical case of autism which was brought on by a mitochondrial disorder. But scientists are finding that perhaps as many as 50% of kiddos with autism have some type of mitochondrial disorder. Our son is one of those 50% who struggles with mitochondrial/cellular energy issues. Jon Poling, the father in this case is a Johns Hopkins trained neurologist who has spoken out to clarify misinformation that the government and media have shared. He shared his views on this issue in his letter to the New York Times editor http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/opinion/l05autism.html?_r=1&ex=1365134400&en=de5eb563f987fdb1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
Hannah Poling is not a unique individual in the autism community. Many children have mitochondrial susceptibilities that mean that the number and frequency of vaccines in our current schedule will case harm. There are almost 5000 other cases before the vaccine court claiming that vaccines caused autism. Just this week the court began another series of test cases. These cases claim several different causation routes related to autism, including harm caused by thimerosal (mercury based preservative) and live virus insult (from measles component of MMR).
Do I believe that vaccines are the only environemental trigger causing autism? No! I believe that there are many toxins in our environment, including mercury emissions from coal fired power plants (we lived less than a mile from such a plant while I was pregnant with Seth and during his first 9 months of live), pesticides in our food supply, preservatives in commonly eaten packaged foods, food dyes, fire retardants in mattresses and pajamas for children, and the list goes on and on. But I do believe that vaccines are the primary and most heinous culprit causing this epidemic. The other toxins I mentioned are around us, in our environment and our bodies are able to filter some of them out while vaccines are injected directly into our little one's bodies with little hope of the body being able to combat the toxins and immunological insult.
Just this week a very well-known, mainstream doctor spoke out on concerns she has about the safety of our vaccine schedule. Bernadine Healy, former director of the NIH, spoke with CBS news and shared her growing concern about the possible link between vaccines and autism. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/12/cbsnews_investigates/main4086809.shtml?source=search_story I applaud Dr. Healy for having the courage to speak truth when so many in the medical community are clinging to outdated, flawed studies that claim there is no link. We have yet to compare vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children to see what the difference in the rate of autism is - does this not seem like a very logical means of ruling out a link if there really is none? But the government has refused to do this study, perhaps because they already know what the results will be and don't want to be held responsible for the way in which they have damaged an entire generation of children in the name of "good medicine".
Other studies that mainstream docs cling to as proof that there is not a link are fatally flawed, if not purposefully altered to support the conclusion they want to believe. For more info on these studies and the major problems with them check out http://safeminds.org/research/commentary.html. There you will find links to numerous papers that speak to the issues with these studies. The Denmark study is my favorite, since the pediatric neurologist at the Mayo Clinic who diagnosed our son told us about this study when Seth was first diagnosed, claiming it was definitive proof that there is no link. Ha!! This study is a mess and provides me no assurance that there is no link between vaccines/thimerosal and autism. At a follow-up visit with the doc I gave him a paper written by Boyd Haley, a chemist from the University of Kentucky, that detailed the flaws in this study - I'm sure this paper hit the shredder before he ever read it, but I had to give it a try.
I am hopeful that truth will come to light on this issue and passionate about sharing this information with others. Some question why I spend my time "ranting" about vaccine safety since changes now won't help my son. This is not exactly the case. If the medical community will come to terms with the true causes of autism, they will then be able to help more families treat the real underlying issues that are contributing to autism. Perhaps then I could work with my local pediatrician rather than having to drive 3 hours to a find a doctor who will help me address the medical issues my son struggles with. And ultimately I do not wish this journey upon anyone else and will do anything I can to spare my family and friends the pain that we have had to deal with. I share my concerns especially loudly with friends and family who are pregnant or have a new baby, encouraging them to do some research and come up with their own vaccines schedule that does not include 36 vaccines in 15 months. If I've spared one family from the journey of autism (and I'm fairly certain I have), then all my "ranting" is worth it, even if some people in my life think I'm a bit fanatical.
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