(Opinion) Jim Carrey's Autism Claims are Wrong

By Kev Leitch

You are seeing 7 Comments. See all 46 Comments on this Opinion.
Regarding Opinion
Jim Carrey's Autism Claims are Wrong
  • AutismRealityNB
    More Research Is Needed

    I am the father of a 13 year old boy with Autistic Disorder assessed with profound developmental delays. I have never attributed his Autistic Disorder to vaccine damage. I have moved though from unquestioning acceptance of official views that vaccines have no connection to autism to the view that more research is needed on possible vaccine autism connections.

    The views expressed by Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former NIH and American Red Cross head that Mr. Leitch disparages are an important part of the reason that I have moved toward an open minded position. Dr. Julie Gerberding recent CDC head, Dr. Duane Alexander, current head of an NIH agency, and Dr. Jon Poling the father who successfully obtained a settlement in respect of his daughters vaccine induced autism have all stated that more research should be done on these issues.

    In essence the epidemiological studies which did not find a vaccine autism connection are not specific enough to provide information concerning the effects of vaccine contents on vulnerable population subsets. The epidemiological studies have themselves been criticzed on a number of methodological grounds. No studies have ruled out the effects of thimerosal in vaccines given to pregnant mothers or of vaccine induced maternal antibodies. A check of the FDA website will show that vaccines still contain "trace" amounts of thimerosal and in some cases more than trace amounts.

    The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee has published a strategic autism research plan which makes reference to research of environmental factors inducing autism including possible vaccine issues. When more research is done the public will have more reliable information about vaccines and whether they play a part in triggering autism in some children . Those studies may indicate a vaccine autism connection or they may entirely vindicate vaccines as non factors.

    I thank Mr Carrey for speaking up on behalf of all of our children and the need for proper attention to such serious issues. He must have known that he would, once again, be subjected to the type of personal attacks that have been perpetrated against him and Ms Jenny McCarthy in the past for speaking up.

    Enough of the animosity and ideology.

    Let the research proceed.

    - AutismRealityNB April 23, 2009 2:45AM

    Reply to this Recommend (3) Icon flag

    Thank You for your Comment

    We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.

    • Blappo
      I'd settle for some evidence at all

      While I appreciate that you think more research is needed, you seem to discard the current research rather quickly on the basis of some spurious objections.

      Meanwhile, there is a dearth of useful evidence that shows a link between vaccines and autism .

      So, on one side we have a group of people who refine, change, update, and test their methods, all the while trying to address the specific (and very malleable) objections to their work. They have no interest in the outcome, and honestly, if a researcher COULD prove vaccines caused autism, they'd be famous forever, so there is actually an incentive to find a link. And there is nothing.

      While on the other side, we have a group who shows a terrifying disdain for the procedures normally used in scientific studies. Their objections shift, twist, and contort, all while they provide not one whit of useful evidence. Even more terrifying, when it is explained WHY their "evidence" doesn't hold up, they refuse to even attempt to understand or accept it, and often resort to epithets, ranting, and conspiracy claims involving "BIG PHARMA" (boogy boogy!).

      You may think you are impartial, but you aren't. Your post betrays this quite clearly.



      - BlappoUS May 1, 2009 8:48PM

      Reply to this Recommend (2) Icon flag

      Thank You for your Comment

      We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.

      • AutismNewsBeat
        Excellent comment, Blappo

        Couldn't have said it better myself. Real science is self correcting - old ideas are discarded when better evidence comes along. Can the anti-vaccine movement make that claim? When was the last time Jim Carrey or his girlfriend changed their thinking on vaccines and autism due to better evidence?

        - AutismNewsBeatUS May 2, 2009 6:19PM

        Reply to this Recommend (1) Icon flag

        Thank You for your Comment

        We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.

      • blacknkhak
        THE FACT

        The twisting and turning you are witnessing from the people making claims relating to the onset of autism relative to inoculants is more in part due to their suffering at the hands of the unwashed masses whose well intended attempts to whitewash a dangerous medical practice are leading in part to a rather scary cover up of actual medical fact and as a result leading to a great deal of emotional pain and suffering.
        The fact is, that acute disseminating encephalomyelitis is related to (and scientifically proven as such) the injection of certain inoculating substances... This is a fact which is quite easy to find and that people continue to ignore the fact of this seems suspicious even to me, someone with nothing vested in this debate.
        Next, the truth about adem is that it causes brain damage. Why anyone would need to argue about what brain damage specifically I can only conjecture has something to do with a financial pot they stand to lose if they fail to defend their precarious position.
        ADEM is a demyalating disease similar to m.s.
        and is considered to be a precursor to forms of brain disorders
        why this is difficult for people to connect to autism is getting more and more suspect in my mind.
        Further more, when something which is established as causing brain damage (in some individuals) is used and a parent notices their child acting brain damaged, why would this be a faulty observance on the part of the victim?
        Is it then true to say that the real reason the victims of this well defended and potentially very dangerous medical are unable to speak and be heard by the people they are trying to protect is because someone is uncomfortable with the idea of public exposure of a dangerous and victimizing medical error?
        Their arguments are clearly muddied by intimate loss of the health of a loved one, who can speak through rage? Yet I might offer this to you, we might do well to consider the possibility that medicine has behaved disasterously in the past and will continue to do so if allowed to run unchecked.
        Hence, let the establishment destroy our health if you prefer, but personally, I'd rather not.

        - blacknkhakUS May 13, 2009 1:25PM

        Reply to this Recommend (0) Icon flag

        Thank You for your Comment

        We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.

        • blacknkhak
          search adem autism, I did...

          Recent scientific evidences are pointing out that an infectious agent(s) may play an important role in the pathophysiology of certain neuropsychiatric disorders in children 1,11,17,19,20 . Group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (GABS), and (possibly) other microorganisms (bacteria and viruses) have been implicated as causative agents in the ethiology of at least some cases of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders in children1,8,19,20, tic disorders (including Tourette's)1,18,19,20 , Autistic Spectrum Disorders10 and Anorexia Nervosa17. Presumed pathophysiological mechanisms are likely based on neurotropic auto immune antibody injury to the neurons20.

          - blacknkhakUS May 13, 2009 2:12PM

          Reply to this Recommend (0) Icon flag

          Thank You for your Comment

          We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.

          • Blappo
            PROVIDE THE STUDIES

            "Recent scientific evidences"

            Citations or GTFO. I don't care to hear your opinion on a subject that clearly exceeds your ability to understand.

            - BlappoUS May 14, 2009 5:59PM

            Reply to this Recommend (1) Icon flag

            Thank You for your Comment

            We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.

        • Blappo
          And yet, amazingly

          You provide NO evidence.

          None.

          that says everything there is to say about you and your worthiness to discuss this subject.

          that, and the rant/admission of mental illness you sprayed all over the screen.

          - BlappoUS May 14, 2009 5:58PM

          Reply to this Recommend (1) Icon flag

          Thank You for your Comment

          We review all comments before they're posted. For more on our comment policy, please see our FAQ.