Study provides evidence for effect of expanded diagnostic criteria on rates of autism

 Posted by on September 29, 2012  1 Response »
Sep 292012
 
Study provides evidence for effect of expanded diagnostic criteria on rates of autism

Many people are very concerned with the apparent “explosion” of autism rates. Back in the 80s and 90s, autism prevalence was very low at about 4/10,000. More recent estimates from the CDC currently stand at 1/88, a significant change. As the pattern-seeking animals that we are, many people have made a connection between the apparent rise in autism rates and an expansion of the childhood vaccination schedule, drawing an immature, and scientifically unsupported, conclusion that vaccines must have cause the increase in autism rates. Alternative explanations have been put forth, the most plausible one being the “casting of a wider ———->FULL ARTICLE

There isn’t a single study on the cumulative effects of……

 Posted by on February 23, 2012  17 Responses »
Feb 232012
 

Recently a new study came out which suggested that changes to the brains of autistic children might be detectable as early as 6 months of age. Steve Novella has covered this particular study at his Neurologica blog so there is no need to repeat what he said there. Predictably, the anti-vaccination crowd has come out restating their belief that vaccinations are still to blame. Now, to be fair nothing in this study proves that vaccines cannot cause, or have any effect on, autism. All it says is that it may be possible to notice differences in the brain as early ———->FULL ARTICLE

South Korean Autism Study: did autism rates triple overnight?

 Posted by on May 14, 2011  8 Responses »
May 142011
 

One of the points that anti-vaccine proponents keep bringing up is how autism prevalence has been going up over the past few decades. They notice how autism diagnoses have gone up and correlate that with an expanded vaccine schedule, then finally make the leap to imply it was the vaccines that caused autism. When we say that an expanded definition and expanded surveillance is what has in big part resulted in the increase, they laugh it off. That is not possible, they say; the increase must be a real increase of actual cases. Recently, a new study came out of ———->FULL ARTICLE

Mom: I know for a fact that my son’s autism was not caused by vaccines

 Posted by on January 28, 2011  1 Response »
Jan 282011
 

Jenny McCarthy is always talking about all the parents that know vaccines caused their children’s autism. She said on Larry King Live that parent’s anecdotes are scientific evidence. Well, Jenny allow me to present you with some more “scientific evidence”. Yes, there are parents of autistic children who have lifted themselves above the “must blame something/someone” phase, have educated themselves and have accepted the fact that we don’t yet know what causes autism. There are many more parents like the one below who do not think vaccines had anything to do with their children’s autism, but the incentive to speak out is ———->FULL ARTICLE

The “No vaccinated vs unnvaccinated study” gambit

 Posted by on January 19, 2011  7 Responses »
Jan 192011
 

If there is one thing the anti-vaccination crowd does really well it is moving the goal post. They know that vaccines cause autism and demand science prove their certainty right. Something in vaccines causes autism they think, and they won’t stop demanding more and more studies of whatever they can think off. It’s win-win for them; they’re not running out of imagination anytime soon. The typical anti-vaccination rant is provided by Age of Autism’s own J.B. Handley in a post titled 2004 and the Birth of the Hungry Lie, “Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism” in which libelous claims of “lying” are ———->FULL ARTICLE

If "mommy knows best" than Jenny McCarthy is wrong

 Posted by on October 25, 2010  15 Responses »
Oct 252010
 

- Not that this will settle anything, because science fact is not decided by arguments from popularity, but I think it is important to point this out. Many in the anti-vaccine community appeal to a “mommy knows best” argument, in which they will tell a very emotional story about how a mother saw their child fade away right after getting a vaccine. McCarthy herself has told her son’s story many times, telling us how she, to paraphrase, saw his soul fade away right after the vaccine. The implication is that mothers of autistic children know that their children’s autism is caused ———->FULL ARTICLE

Mercury in vaccines not linked to autism, new study finds

 Posted by on September 13, 2010  No Responses »
Sep 132010
 

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT MSNBC.COM NEW YORK — 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 ———->FULL ARTICLE

No link between vaccines and autism, appeals court rules

 Posted by on August 31, 2010  1 Response »
Aug 312010
 

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT MSNBC WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a ruling that vaccines are not to blame for autism. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision last year by a special vaccine court, which concluded there’s little if any evidence to support claims of a vaccine-autism link. Scientist years ago reached that conclusion, but more than 5,500 families sought compensation through the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Friday’s ruling came in the case of Michelle Cedillo of Yuma, Ariz., who is disabled with autism, inflammatory bowel disease and other ———->FULL ARTICLE