Over the last decade, autism has gone from a rare and misunderstood condition to a disorder that may affect as many as 1.5 million Americans. Without a clear explanation in sight, parents and doctors have worked tirelessly to pinpoint the cause of autism, but the answer remains elusive. Are vaccines the missing link?
There are many studies that indicate vaccines are linked to autism.? Unfortunately, studies that are often cited by government officials and agencies as proving that there is no autism-vaccine link continue to contain substantial design flaws, overreaching interpretations of findings and are often conducted by individuals with conflicts of interest with the vaccine industry and public health officials whose livelihood depends on vaccine promotion. The 2003 Congressional Report, Mercury in Medicine – Taking Unnecessary Risks, after a three year investigation, noted the following:
i) “To date, studies conducted or funded by the CDC that purportedly dispute any correlation between autism and vaccine injury have been of poor design, under-powered, and fatally flawed. The CDC’s rush to support and promote such research is reflective of a philosophical conflict in looking fairly at emerging theories and clinical data related to adverse reactions from vaccinations.”
The most recent study demonstrating the link was conducted by the University of Pittsburgh. The study’s findings were released in May and showed that infant monkeys given vaccines officially recommended by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) exhibited autism-like symptoms. Unvaccinated animals showed no such adverse outcomes.
The vaccines given were those recommended for U.S. infants in the 1990s, including several with the mercury preservative thimerosal and the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine. Rates of autism spectrum disorder among children born in the 1990s surged dramatically, from about 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 150 children. The University of Pittsburgh presented these study results at the most recent International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in London.
Like the many studies that support a link, this research underscores the critical need for additional investigation into the role of vaccines in autism.
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