Are Autism and Vaccines Linked?

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The NAA contend there has been a stunning increase in the rate of autism. I would ask them to back up that opinion with peer reviewed science.

What is clear is that there has been an increase in the rate of autism diagnosis. This does not, however, means there is an actual increase in the rate of autism itself. The prevailing view of peer reviewed science is that there is insufficient data to make a judgement. In 2006, Paul Shattuck, the of University of Wisconsin said in Pediatrics:

"The mean administrative prevalence of autism in US special education among children ages 6 to 11 in 1994 was only 0.6 per 1000, less than one-fifth of the lowest CDC estimate from Atlanta (based on surveillance data from 1996). Therefore, special education counts of children with autism in the early 1990s were dramatic underestimates of population prevalence and really had nowhere to go but up. This finding highlights the inappropriateness of using special education trends to make declarations about an epidemic of autism, as has been common in recent media and advocacy reports."

In fact, the NAA should be well aware of this study as they attacked Paul Shattuck at the time with claims that were clearly baseless:

"Although the article states that Dr. Shattuck has indicated he has no financial relationships relevant to the article, NAA has learned that he was a Merck Scholar Pre-doctoral Trainee from 1999-2003, and in 2003-2004 he successfully applied for $530,000 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)"

It was later established that the Merck in question was not the Pharma company but the John Merck Fund for scholars working in the field of disabilities research. Regarding the grant, Shattuck commented:

"As for the $540,000 from the CDC …it’s not entirely clear what they are talking about. I certainly don’t have a grant that big from anyone. They are probably talking about the autism surveillance grant that our center received from the CDC …a proposal which I helped prepare but am not listed as a co-investigator and am not funded from."

No apology has been publicly posted by the NAA for this attempt to smear Shattuck.

The point is clear - whilst there is no evidence for an 'epidemic of autism' (or its opposite) we cannot claim that there has been one. The simple fact is that no one has looked.