Are Autism and Vaccines Linked?

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The “no causal link” study most frequently cited is from Denmark (1). Denmark banned thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, in 1992 after health authorities realized the excessive amount of mercury exposure occurring through the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines. Children from Denmark received only a third of the number of thimerosal-containing vaccines as children in the United States under a vaccine schedule that did not mirror that of the United States. The apples to oranges comparison is further muddied by the Denmark study criteria that changed mid-stream: in the years prior to the ban, the researchers only counted autistic inpatients, but in 1995, they started counting autistic outpatients as well. As outpatients exceeded inpatients by 13 to 1, one would expect a minimum increase in cases of autism by a factor of 13. This was not the case. In fact, reported rates of autism in Denmark appeared to be about 10% of the rates in the United States, yet this was never questioned.? ?

The most recent epidemiological study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2). This study concluded that there were no neuropsychological outcomes associated with the use of thimerosal. There are issues with this study, as six of the authors, including the lead author, listed major conflicts of interest with vaccine manufacturers. Also, 3,648 children were initially selected.? For no apparent reason, 1,288 children were removed from the study. In addition, children weighing less than 5.5 pounds were also dropped. These children were not excused from receiving vaccines, so why were they excused from the study? And, wouldn't these children be at even greater risk from mercury exposure? In fact, all children with preexisting neurological disorders, including autism, were not allowed in the study. In the end only 30% of the original subjects remained. Yet this didn't stop over 700 news outlets from declaring, "another major study shows autism not caused by thimerosal." In addition, even though it was not stated in the conclusion, the researchers found significant statistical associations of thimerosal to problems with speech articulation and lower verbal IQ, behavior control, attention, phonic and motor tics and stuttering. These are all great concerns for any child suffering with these neurological injuries and parents who must pay for treatments and deal with the school performance fallout these outcomes present.