It’s Not the Vaccines
March 20, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Media, Vaccines
This is my position on the vaccine-autism issue, as written in Newsweek:
Chew believes that vaccines had nothing to do with her son’s condition and she worries that all the vaccine attention detracts from the more-urgent needs of people with autism, who require intensive behavioral interventions and social services—the kind of help her son has received.
That’s what I believe.
For further proof about how concerns (to understate the matter) about a link between vaccines or something in vaccines and autism continue to receive too much attention in the public eye, see David Kirby’s op-ed today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in which he calls on the government, “leading health officials,” the CDC—the usual suspects in Kirby’s book—to “release all relevant documents leading to the Poling concessions.” Just as he did in his Evidence of Harm – Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy, Kirby strives to make it seem that, when it comes to autism, we should be talking about vaccines, mercury, government cover-ups, controversy, whodunit and who-did-what.
Rather, that is, than talk about the actual and the “more-urgent needs” of autistic persons today; of families with autistic children who (ok, fine) would like to know what caused their child to become autistic. But, who would like to know even more how to pay for therapies? How to find a school program that will actually teach their child and that their child will actually like? How to know that staff who support an adult in a group home or in a job actually know what to do? How to help a child learn to shape his lips and tongue to imitate the initial /ch/ sound, so he can say his name?
Autism News Beat says it straight and simple:
David Kirby is not a science writer, and his technical grasp of the vaccines and autism story is shaky at best.
There are plenty of media sources that have gotten the story about autism and vaccines correct and who note that scientific evidence on this issue is firmly against a link; Autism News Beat gives a good rundown of these and one hopes that more people—scientists, parents, journalists, and more—will speak out about this issue and slowly, slowly, see it drift to the wayside. Education imbued with understanding, acceptance, and compassion, and love, helped us pull my son through some tremendously difficult times; times when I thought we might have to institutionalize Charlie.
I wrote this after reading Kirby’s first post on the case of Hannah Poling and it is how I feel I can do my best by Charlie:
I do try to learn as much as I can. I try to understand as much as I can about autism; about IDEA; about employment and housing options for disabled adults and how in the world these might get funded. I try to understand how the medications Charlie takes work and how to implement the teaching/speech therapy/sensory/relaxing techniques countless of Charlie’s teachers and therapists have taught me. I try to understand autism science and autism pseudoscience. One thing I learn and am reminded of regularly is you don’t need certain answers—-about what might cause autism, about the biology of autism—to be able to help your child on the road to a good life.
Education imbued with understanding, acceptance, and compassion, and love is my formula for helping my son—-not sniffing out imagined government cover-ups and pointing fingers to blame.
Jeff Stimpson
Jill Cornfield
It makes sense that Southerners lapse into denseness but the problem is that most southerners are fools so they never have a reason to emerge from their lapse.
Wow. Can you provide a link to the controlled study that demonstrates that most (and by that, I assume you mean >50%) Southerners are fools? I apologize for being so dense. Bless your heart.
Did you chelate your child, too?
Pass the sherry.
“most southerners are fools so they never have a reason to emerge from their lapse”
Unkind and untrue.
Chuck…Chuck (shakes head).
Well, I am southern Chinese so maybe the above-noted lapses occur in me…. ahem.
I’m sure there must be a study by a Southern scientist who determine who Southerners really are. Then measure how dense they truly became around fools and how Southerners determine who is a fool. There was probably a statistically significant correlation between when Southerners lapsed into denseness and when they chelated there children. I do hope that you don’t lapse often.
Statistics are a funny thing:
If you parked 10 miles from your home, and walked home, then the statistics would change an all of your accident would happen outside a 10 mile radius
Realizing that the original comment was satirical, but that it had certain inferences. So is the case with this reply.
I only chelate often. Can’t drink too much EDTA, you know.
If someone is only aware of temporal evidence of a link between vaccines and autism, then I would question if they had actually looked for that evidence.
A few well placed internet searches will reveal several publications on autism in general and links between all kinds of causes. There are a zillion book on the topic. The only way I can imagine that someone thinks that there is only a temporal correlation is because they haven’t looked very hard.
You’ll find very logical and very educated people reporting findings on both sides. There really is a lot of research on both sides.
I really questions someones objectivity on complicated topics when they start saying their argument is completely logical and everyone else is sucked into media hype. It’s an arrogant and prideful approach.
vaccines and encephalopathy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?term=%22autism%20vaccines%20encephalopathy%22
vaccines and autism in general:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?term=%22autism%20vaccines%22
autism and yeast:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?term=%22autism%20yeast%22
autism and genetics:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?term=autism%20genetic
autism in general:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?term=%22autism%22
Charlie was born in Missouri, diagnosed in Minnesota, spent the better part of his life in New Jersey (the northern part)—-I have to say he’s from various places, just as there may well be more than one single cause of autism (considering Thorton’s links).
I couldn’t find the autism/yeast article. Even so, that is one of my favorite theories. I mean I know there is a definite correlation between autism and urinary tract infections.
Which came first though? Either yeast infections causes autism, or autistic children tend to do naughty things with their fingers!
Unfortunately, we can’t discuss these things or even think about them, due to matters of decorum. It makes me mad how so-called scientists automatically ignore the obvious.
Dear Thorton:
If you refer to me, I never said that. Any of it.
It is completely appropriate to include consequential effects such as death in an automobile accident while going to or from a vaccination as a side effect of that vaccination. From a public health viewpoint such connections are important and completely appropriate. It makes no sense to save 10 lives with an intervention that costs 100.
It is my understanding that exactly such thinking went into the decisions to incorporate more antigens into each vaccine. With fewer vaccinations needed, there would be fewer trips to the Dr’s office, fewer opportunities for missed vaccines, fewer automobile accidents along the way.
Of course the accident can’t be blamed on the manufacturer of the vaccine, and a lawsuit asserting blame and demanding damages would be thrown out. But maybe that is the point.
Is the goal to end up with healthy children or to win lawsuits?
We’ve never had any trouble with yeast around here, but then…our children have been having acidophilus practically since birth.
And saying that there is “a lot of research on both sides” doesn’t mean that the final conclusions of that research are equally positive on both sides in favor of the respective hypotheses.
Sometimes I think the word “research” is the most overused and under-understood word in too many discussions—-as I tell my students, just looking on the web is not enough.
Hi Emily -
“It serves to keep up the social graces when we’re dealing with fools.”
Now the same person who has called me stupid, boring, agenda driven, ignorant, insincere, and a fool is in also in the business of keeping up with social graces? R O F L. Either you had a horrible teacher, or you didn’t learn very well.
Keep digging. You are making my point that you cannot defend your point with logic or valid information better than I could.
- pD
Hi Emily -
“We Southerners lapse into an intentional denseness sometimes. ”
You went out of your way to ask me what my comment was about; thus, we can conclude it was not an intentional lapse into denseness. You were legitamately unable to discern my meaning. The hilarious part is that you couldn’t even keep that straight; you make the assertion that your denseness was intentional, when all available evidence points to the opposite.
I am also from the South.
- pD
intentional denseness fallacy going on here…..
Some have commented that giving so many vaccines so frequently is not a good idea for some kids. There doesn’t seem to be much refutation of this here. Though, no one has said what the consequences of this might be.
If we’re willing to accept that some kids might have adverse affects to many frequent vaccines then might we be willing to accept that for some kids even a small number, or even one, vaccine could have ill affects?
We know that some kids can actually die from vaccines (it’s one of the risks we sign knowledge of when we agree to administer vaccines to our kids). Can we really say that we understand every side-affect of vaccinations in all cases?
I just wanted people to know that my son showed signs of autism BEFORE he received the vaccinations. I did not know then what it was and I did not know of any vaccine controversy. My son is now 10 and I focus on what can I do for him today that will also help him tomorrow.
We knew early about the vaccine controversy, and also knew that my son was different from the time he was a baby. And we focus, too, on what we can do for him today with a view towards tomorrow—thank you.