APRIL
UPDATE: MY LANGUAGE REGARDING THE POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN AUTISM AND VACCINATIONS BELOW IS A BIT TOO STRONG. THE RESEARCH IS NOT COMPLETE, AND I DON'T MEAN TO IMPLY THAT VACCINATIONS ARE EVIL OR OUTRAGEOUS. WHAT'S OUTRAGEOUS ARE ATTEMPTS TO LIMIT LAWSUITS AGAINST VACCINE-PRODUCING PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES UNDER THE BANNER OF "NATIONAL SECURITY".
It's April, National Autism Awareness Month.
Hue has been posting a lot of information, much of which will be very helpful to people who know, live with, or care for someone who's autistic.
The rate that autism appears to be increasing is shocking. No one knows why it's happening, but it appears to be very real. It seems that, before long, we'll all know someone who's autistic, and the effect on our communities will be impossible to ignore. The earlier we become educated the easier it will be.
There are other issues as well.
This is one of the big ones - Hue has written about it and he's much more level headed about it than I am. I think this is outrageous and evil.
Anyhow, regardless of your politics, take some time this month to learn more about autism. It's all around us, and it's not going away.
10 Comments:
With all due respect, the vaccine-autism connection looks awfully weak based on the limited information contained in that report. Is there a site that provides some scientific back-up to the theory of a causal connection?
At this point it's still just a correlation. I guess what's evil to me is more the idea of Congress enacting legislation to limit lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies before the research is complete.
There is a fair amount of conflicting information...
Here's one site with some of the papers:
http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism/vaccine.htm
There has not been a definitive study yet, as Hue has pointed out. There needs to be more research.
We've been vaccinating kids for a long time. Why has the increase been relatively sudden? Have vaccines changed over the years? The population is waiting longer to have kids, might there be a correlation there? Since my wife and I have/had trouble having kids, I've learned an awful lot about later in life child bearing which is to say, there's not much out there to go on.
Good points, all.
We've got a lot to learn.
These are ALL great points, and touch on some of the reasons I don't personally think (or have not been convinced) of the connection.
To say Thimerasal (sp?) is the cause of Autism, opens the doors for some doctors to do Celation (Key-Lashon) therapy. This is the act of taking metal out of the body through drugs. Celation was first used to treat people in industrial accidents of heavy metal poisoning. It's very dangerous and can have horrible side effects. I would NEVER put my son through this (i plan on blogging about it in the coming days).
Jama and Mayo have done similar studies which shows that Vaccinations do not cause autism.
Much of the anti-vaccination group site the book "Evidence of Harm" by David Kirby. I don't agree with any of it. The raw data doesn't seem to corrilate with Kirby's book.
I think there is room for more studies, but people like me could care less of how it happened, I just want to find an effective therapy to battle the disorder. My son already has autism so I really could give at shit at this point about vaccines.
All my kids had their vaccinations. My son showed the signs long before he had his shots.
I think the reason for the rise in diagnosis is based on two things:
1. The autism spectrum has been expanded in the past 10+ years.
2. Doctors are catching it earlier, knowing the early signs is key.
We are still in the infancy of the research. Even though we have come a long way from the days in which doctors blamed mothers for autism (refered to them as "refrigerator mothers"). Research is making strides, but it comes very slow - and it's very expensive.
Chrispy, thanks for posting this, and linking to my site. It means a lot to me.
Tony -
I believe there is some research that points to an increase in risk for schizophrenia after the father passes 35 years old. (I'm fucked...well, actually, I'm fine; my KIDS are fucked). You raise an interesting point about older parenting. Biologically, we were designed to bear children at ages that only make sense in Arkansas.
Hue - it's my pleasure to post and link. I know you're fighting the good fight, as are some of our friends here in New York, as family members, teachers, etc.
Dave - you're right!
We are not evolved to be having children at 35. We're evolved to be dead by then.
WHOAH!!!!! HOLD ON THERE, PARDNER!
Dave, did you just say "biologically designed"?
Yes, Chris.
Stupidly designed.
If we were intelligently designed, I would still look like I did at 22 and be able to have mindblowing sex into my 80s.
I think i got heavy metal poioning at age 16 when I bought the W.A.S.P. record.
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