Do Vaccines Cause Autism?

Imagine this, you have had your first child. You want to protect your child at all costs. Your child is young and innocent and you want them to be protected from all illnesses. The doctor asks if you want your child to be vaccinated. You do a search about the risks from getting vaccinated and you learn that it supposedly can cause autism. Even though you know that you want your child to live a healthy life Imagine this, you have had your first child. You want to protect your child at all costs. Your child is young and innocent and you want them to be protected from all illnesses. The doctor asks if you want your child to be vaccinated. You do a search about the risks from getting vaccinated and you learn that it supposedly can cause autism. Even though you know that you want your child to live a healthy life, you don’t want to possibly give them autism. The question still remains, do vaccines cause autism?

Thimerosal is arguably the most debated ingredient that is contained in vaccines. Thimerosal is a “mercury-based preservative” and is used in order to “prevent contamination of multidose vials” (“Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism”). Anti-vaccinators argue that the mercury contained in the preservative is the culprit for causing autism to

170). Thimerosal was first introduced in the 1930’s and is a preservative that eliminated the bacterial contamination in vaccines, but could possibly sit in the brain and cause neurological damage (Mooney, 2009, p. 60). Before 1989, American preschoolers had to only receive three vaccines; for polio, diphtheria-pertussis, and MMR. In 1999 the FDA and CDC decided that vaccine users should reduce or even get rid of the amount of thimerosal used in vaccines. The CDC also recommended that newborns should wait to get the Hepatitis B vaccination until a thimerosal free vaccination became available (Miller & Reynolds, 2009, p. 170). According to head of the chemistry department at University of Kentucky, Dr. Boyd Haley, “‘You couldn’t even construct a study that shows thimerosal is safe, it’s just too darn toxic. If you inject thimerosal into an animal, its brain will sicken. If you apply it to living tissues, the cells die. Knowing these things, it would be shocking if one inject it into an infant without causing damage’” (Kennedy, 2005, p. 59). With the being said, vaccine manufacturers began working to find a way to make a thimerosal-free vaccination, and eventually they made one. Then a decade later, children were receiving a total of 22 vaccinations by the time they started first grade. As the number of vaccines that children needed went up, the autism rate stayed

In the journal of “Vaccines and Autism” author Bernard Rimland looks at the possible role of vaccines in autism. Rimland provides crucial data in understanding autism, the possible role of vaccines in autism, and the risks of vaccines in certain children. Rimland states before his article that, “There is no consensus about biological determents of autism” (708). This being said, in his journal he points out various reasons how vaccines could lead to autism. Vaccines help immunize people against certain diseases, but are they causing others? Rimland explores this question by talking about the absence of antibodies and vitamin A, vaccines containing mercury preservatives, and MMR vaccines.

In a CNN article published just last winter, statistics regarding autism gave advocate groups against vaccines something to think about. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent, states in the article, “They [researchers] reasoned that if mercury exposure in vaccines was a major cause of autism, the number of affected kids should have dropped after thimerosal was removed.” However, after manufacturers halted the major use of thimerosal in vaccines in 1999, the researchers’ theory did not prove to be correct. In fact, from 2004 to 2007, the rate of autism in California raised from 3 per 1,000 children to 4 per 1,000 children. Doesn’t this show skeptic Americans anything? If we actually continued to be cynical about the situation and stopped using thimerosal as a preservative, what would make our vaccines safe to use? Hope?

Countless deem that the definite reason for autism is not the dead or live virus found in vaccines but the derivatives’ within them. “Exposure to thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that is used in vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations, has been hypothesized to be associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)” (Price, et al., 2010). This continues to remain merely speculation. The Centers for Disease Control research analysis’ do not corroborate toxicity of these preservatives. Mercury produces verified detrimental effects on children when absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. Vaccinations are not absorbed in the GI tract and are instead absorbed in the muscles or subcutaneous tissues, depending on the route of injection.

Autism is not an immune-mediated disease. There is no evidence of immune activation or inflammatory lesions in people with autism. No studies have compared the incidence of autism in vaccinated, unvaccinated, or alternatively vaccinated children. Twenty epidemiologic studies have shown that neither thimerosal or MMR vaccine causes autism. There have been studies in many countries by different people who have tried multiple statistical methods. A meta-analysis of ten studies involving more than 1.2 million children reaffirms that vaccines don’t cause autism. Immunization was associated with decreased risk that children would develop autism, a possibility that’s strongest with the measles-mumps-rubella

But there was studies by the Institute of Medicine, where they gave children eight different vaccines and there were no reports of autism (CDC 1). It is a rare exception if there is some illness caused by the vaccinations. Someone might argue that the ingredients that the vaccine is made of might be the slight chance their child develops autism, but there is also no link. The Institute of Medicine studied thimerosal that is use to prevent contamination of multidose vials of vaccinations. They concluded that the evidence rejects any evidence that the ingredient causes ASD, measles, mumps, or rubella in children. (CDC 1). As a precaution, thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccinations except for some flu

Throughout research done on the possible link between vaccines and autism, there have been three hypotheses: (1) the combination MMR vaccine causes autism by damaging the intestinal lining, which allows the entrance of encephalopathic proteins; (2) thimerosal, an ethylmercury-containing preservative

In a study by Brent Taylor and his coworkers, they had studied the mystery debate link as to whether or not MMR vaccines have a link towards the development of autism. Taylor and his coworkers had examined around 498 children who were developed with autism. As Taylor examined the children, he had discovered two great findings. The first being that there was “no difference in the age of diagnosis of autism was found in vaccinated and unvaccinated children” (Taylor), and second being “symptoms of autism did not occur within 2, 4, 6 months of receiving the MMR vaccine”

The purpose of this research is to find whether there is an actual link between childhood vaccines (MMR) and autism. The research also aimed to dispute the notion that MMR vaccines caused autism.

In the article, “Vaccines Cause Autism,” Michael Snyder, an attorney and writer, attempts to convince parents of young children that autism is directly linked to childhood vaccinations. He claims that numerous toxins, including thimerosal, are present in vaccines that are forced into the bloodstream, later causing neurological and brain damage to children. He says that autism has risen by 78 percent over the past decade, and that 1/88 children in the US have an autistic disorder. Snyder believes that most autistic individuals start out completely normal, and that the vaccinations they are given are harming them. He blames the pharmaceutical companies for being too

These components can cause autism on their own or possibly when combined with exposure to environmental factors that have not yet been classified. A small number of cases can be linked to genetic disorders such as Fragile X, Tuberous Sclerosis, and Angelman’s Syndrome. In an article on Health &Wellness- Tree.com many families link vaccines with autism and this has been an intense debate for almost a decade. On one side are the families of autistic children, many of whom are convinced that the link between autism and vaccines is real. On the other side researchers who have conducted numerous medical studies, some involving thousands of children, have found NO evidence linked to autism and vaccines. There are suggestions that the reason several parents blame immunizations is that it is the one common factor among children corresponds with the age in which the children receive their immunization for Measles Mumps and Rubella. (Health &Wellness 1) “The autism linked to vaccine side of the argument does have a smoking gun to point to: thimerosal. Thimerosal was an ingredient in childhood vaccines until 1999, when pharmaceutical companies bowed to public pressure

According to a statement made the Federal Drug and Food Administration, thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound that since the 1930s and has been widely used as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products. These said drug products include vaccines, and many have speculated that the organic compound may be influential in causing autism. Due to the concern and controversy over the topic, pharmaceutical companies made the decision to extremely

In their informational article “Thimerosal in Vaccines”, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzes