night_tools wrote:Perhaps the number of reported cases of autism is increasing because doctors are more aware of autism now and are more likely to diagnose it.

connor wrote:My mother works with lots of autistic children and is a proponent of this theory.

RFK Jr. chimes in.

the globe article, 7/05 wrote:MOUNTING EVIDENCE suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays, and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United States.

Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations (polio, measles-mumps-rubella, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis). In the early 1990s, public health officials dramatically increased the number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.

Mandroid2.0 wrote:It could be the mercury in the water and the subsequent aquaculture affected by the toxin levels as well, Bob.

You may wish to attempt looking there (at the simple explanation) first.

Oh, right. You are clocker bob...

There is no evidence that a controversial mercury-based vaccine preservative causes autism, concludes an eagerly anticipated scientific review that says it's time to lay vaccine suspicions to rest and find the real culprit.

Tuesday's conclusion by the prestigious Institute of Medicine was a blow to parents of autistic children who blame vaccination for the brain disorder and are pushing for more research of the issue.

But the Institute of Medicine's panel of prominent scientists pointed to five large studies, here and in Denmark, Sweden and Britain that tracked thousands of children since 2001 and found no association between autism and thimerosal.

While high doses of mercury can cause neurologic damage, there's no evidence that this type of damage causes the symptoms specific to autism -- and no laboratory or animal research that proves how the much smaller amounts in thimerosal could do so, either, the IOM concluded.

Mark Van Deel wrote:

night_tools wrote:Perhaps the number of reported cases of autism is increasing because doctors are more aware of autism now and are more likely to diagnose it.

When this is factored in, it explains most of the increase.

One 1998 study which examined the prevalence of autism in children born in Sweden from 1975 to 1984 found no difference in the prevalence of autistic children born before the introduction of the MMR vaccine in Sweden and those born after the vaccine was introduced.[25] Another 2002 study examined all children born in Denmark from January 1991 through December 1998.[26] There were a total of 537,303 children in the study; 440,655 of the children were vaccinated with MMR and 96,648 were not. The researchers did not find a higher risk of autism in the vaccinated than in the unvaccinated group of children.

connor wrote:My mother works with lots of autistic children and is a proponent of this theory.

RFK Jr. chimes in.

clocker bob wrote:Maybe you could discuss this without bringing some prior prejudice to the table- you might be surprised how friendly I can be when I don't run into, "oh, it's Bob, the 9/11 guy" in every thread, including threads about autism.