MMR and Autism

[kwlyon]

I having a rather interesting, er, discussion with a couple individuals on youtube. I HATE youtube discussions as the forum is rather difficult to archive and conversations just don't flow too well. So I am going to invite them here. If they show, anyone interested can catch up on our exchange at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3MnGqe5-JI

Remember that youtube comments flow backwards so you will need to start on like the 13th page of comments and read back...another annoying trait of youtube. My user name is goobergel...you shouldn't have any trouble finding my post...there are a lot of them. But I wouldn't bother anyways as it is likely these guys won't show. We will see.

[BrendanIsCool]

N/A

[Dardedar]

Cool. Here are some links I posted yesterday on this:

Skeptical Inquirer had an excellent summary of this issue (Harriet Hall). Here is her covering the same material in a short lecture:

This article hits all of the main points and is a good resource:

http://www.skepdic.com/antivaccination.html

Here is another very good article from Skeptic magazine:

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-09-23/

[Dardedar]

No link found between vaccine mercury and autism

By Frederik Joelving – Mon Sep 13

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A new government study adds to the evidence that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative until recently found in many vaccines, does not increase children's risk of autism.

It shows kids who had been exposed as babies to high levels of the preservative -- through vaccines they received or their mothers received while pregnant -- were no more likely to develop autism, including two distinct subtypes of the condition.

"This study should reassure parents about following the recommended immunization schedule," said Dr. Frank Destefano, director of the Immunization Safety Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, and the study's senior author.

Concerns about a link between vaccines and autism were first raised more than a decade ago by British physician Andrew Wakefield.

His report, based on 12 children, has since been discredited and was retracted earlier this year by the journal that published it. In the meantime, it sparked a fierce worldwide debate among scientists and a health scare that caused many parents to shy away from recommended vaccines like the one against measles, mumps and rubella.

Outbreaks of all three diseases followed."

The rest here

[Dardedar]

And now the chickens come home to roost:

"Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, has claimed the 10th victim in California, in what health officials are calling worst outbreak in 60 years."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/20/ca ... index.html