MMR AND THE SIMPLE TRUTH ABOUT AUTISM

By Dan Olmsted

Does the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine cause autism? I vote yes.

Of course, that’s just one man’s opinion – but one who’s spent the last three years listening to parents and enlightened pediatricians and combing through adverse events reports and just generally trying to think for himself.

Right below this post is yet another study seeming to exonerate the MMR. That sure sounds familiar – the CDCAAPFDAIOMETC have already given it multiple clean bills of health. And manufacturer Merck says no studies show any link to autistic regression.

On the right hand side of our home page is a collection of my Age of Autism columns for UPI. The one titled Pox – Part 1 of 7 installments --  sealed the deal for me as far as the MMR is concerned. I’m not going to repeat myself here except to say, there’s every reason to worry about the interaction among live viruses when you stick ‘em in the same shot and inject ‘em into 12-month-old kids. Especially kids whose immune systems are already shot thanks to vaccine mercury and other toxins, thanks to the selfsame CDCAAPFDAIOMETC.

When Merck decided to toss the chickenpox virus into the MMR mix, kids started developing autism in clinical trials; that wasn’t reported to the FDA before the drug was approved because, Merck said, the parents never got around to mentioning that their kids had regressed into autism. A few months after the Pox series appeared, Merck suspended production of that four-in-one vaccine, claiming they’d run low on chickenpox vaccine even as they launched a new shot for shingles that contains gobs of it.

The cluelessly credulous mainstream media did its usual thing – they essentially reprinted the press release about the “vaccine shortage.” Now they have a new study to “report,”  reaffirming the MMR’s safety and reassuring parents.

Never mind that Merck and the pharmaceutical industry are starting to show a pattern and practice that ought to make anyone stop and think before they become stenographers for the drug companies: There’s Vioxx with its $5 billion settlement and suppressed data about the heart attacks that fell just outside the study window, causing the New England Journal of Medicine to complain; and Zetia with its delayed results that showed no protection against heart attacks even as the company convinced millions of doctors and patients to switch from cholesterol-lowering drugs that actually did work; and Eli Lilly with its Zyprexa side effects and the looming possibility of a $1 billion fine and a criminal misdemeanor plea because they tried to get doctors to prescribe it for conditions for which it was not approved. Not very nice. Not very nice at all.

And never mind that the FDA has all but admitted it's so overwhelmed and underfunded it can't reasonably be expected to do its job (the one about making sure drugs, including vaccines, are safe and effective).

The tragedy is that if the people who are supposed to protect our kids had relied less on dubious data produced by “experts” with blatant conflicts of interest, and more on common sense and the evidence of their own senses, the whole autism debacle of the 1990s through today might have been averted.

In an article titled “Adverse Events,” I wrote about some of the early warnings on file with the federal government’s VAERS database.

Here’s a report from 1992, listing Feb. 21 as both "vaccination date" and "adverse event date" for a 1-year-old boy: "Patient received MMR vaccination and experienced fever, autistic behaviors, encephalitic condition, began to tune out; sound sensitivity, hand-flapping, wheel-spinning, nighttime sweats, appetite increase."

The child's diagnoses included autism, encephalopathy (brain swelling), mental retardation, personality disorder and speech disorder.

Another report: Two days after being vaccinated in August 1994 a 1-year-old girl experienced "low fever, much discomfort. Patient lay in bed and cried and moaned; three-four days post-vaccination, rash traveled over patient's body and lasted at least one week. Within six weeks of vaccination patient was observed as losing previously gained language and social skills; diagnosed autistic."

Soon after the article was published I heard from the mother who filed that report, and I wrote a follow-up story (“Case Number 88924”): “The patient so clinically summarized in that report, Mary Jo Silva realized with a start, was her 1-year-old daughter Carmen, who fell ill the same day she got the MMR -- measles-mumps-rubella -- and Hepatitis B vaccinations at age 1.”

That’s bad.  But here's the killer: A 1994 report filed by a California physician citing 10 -- yes, 10 -- children "who received vaccination and (were) diagnosed with autism and encephalopathy." That doctor reported "there are currently 10 cases of autism in children who received DPT/OPV/MMR at 15-18 months."

The real tragedy here is the dates – 1992 to 1994, just as the big wave of new mercury vaccines was crashing into America’s kids. These were but a few of the many, many missed opportunities to do what medical professionals are supposed to do – be alert and suspicious, notice something new and grab hold of it till the truth yells Uncle.

Instead, the person who took that report about 10 kids with autism who shared a specific vaccination pattern took a dismissive tone: "Dr. ... is not treating physician and does not possess any original records; unclear whether reporter [the doctor, who was identified and could have been contacted] is suggesting possible causal association."

Well, it’s pretty clear to me – doctor is suggesting causal association.

And so am I. Lest the CDC miss the point again, let's repeat it: Yes, the MMR causes autism.

--

Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism

Comments

[MAria]

Mikeey....*sigh*. It seems to go: shot then fever then rash then loss of most developed skills AND/OR personality. Do you really think all of these parents are making things up?? If your children didn't suffer the ill effects, then you are one of the many families who go unharmed by vaccines. Your children are vaccinated, I assume, so you have nothing to worry about. My little one had all of her shots until I happened to read about regressive autism. It is NOT worth the risk to me. If she gets measles -slim chance thanks to people like you- the risk of encephelytis is not very high. I would hate to know that I took her in to get her shots one day and that she was completely different the next. I AM taking advantage of herd immunity and I understand that. Until a safer vaccine is produced, I truly don't feel comfortable injecting live viruses into my toddler. She has shown ZERO signs of ill effects after her previous injection visits, but after much RESEARCH I have decided that she will not recieve anymore. That one in so many who suffer 'changes in consciousness and behavior' due to the MMR (as indicated on Merck's website http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/m/mmr_ii/mmr_ii_ppi.pdf) are becoming greater and greater as the population grows and as time goes on. I worked for the CDC and I know that their current measure of success is the epidemics they prevent. That is fine, but it was designed when so many people suffered from and spread infectious diseases. Modern medicine was the answer to a huge problem. Now, in our current society, when drugs are almost too prevalent, we are starting to see the adverse effects of MANY of them. It is the new epidemic and it is most horrifying when it affects our children as the parents ultimately make the decision to vaccinate or not. As I have said before, the answer is safer vaccinations, period. If you were cheated out of your childs beautiful personality, you might feel quite differently. Oh and did everyone get the part I JUST mentioned where Merck, the manufacturer of the vaccine, warns about changes in consiousness and behavior??? Here it is again: http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/m/mmr_ii/mmr_ii_ppi.pdf

[MAria]

I am NOT having my little one vaccinated. I am not a conspiracy theorist and I have somewhat of a background in research. I will say that it's not about money for Merck (I used to work for the CDC), it is about public health. Merck actually looses money on vaccinations every year by providing so many of them for free. They make their money on other harmful, heavily-advertised drugs. It is just that the CDC and Merck are focused on keeping the majority of the public from certain illnesses and could care less if one child looses his or her personality or potential to a vaccine. As parents, OUR main focus is keeping OUR children safe. If that means keeping the CDC from its goal then so be it. The problem isn't the parents who decide against vaccines.... the problem is the safety of vaccines themselves. If the CDC is truly worried about a measles epidemic, then they will push for safer vaccines. My little bunny is so perfect and wonderful and I happened to start researching this because of a video suggested by Netflix. I am so happy that people take the time to put this information out there. You have really given me the chance to make an informed decision. PS It IS the vaccine that hurts the child. Mercury poisoning has very different characteristics than autism...just didn't want people to start thinking vaccines are safe once the mercury is out.

[Alex Gauger]

Utterly false and misinformed. Anecdotal evidence is THE weakest form of evidence possible. I go to bed every night and the sun comes up in the morning, that doesn't mean that my sleeping caused the sun to come up.
This contrived controversy about vaccines and autism is well beyond beating a dead horse. There is greater scientific proof that vaccines have no link to autism than there is proof that HIV is linked to AIDS. Huge sums of money have been poured into major study after study, systematically refuting all the claims that anti-vaccine activists make. Most recently the claim that MMR associated encephalopathy precipitates autism has been debunked.
Please do your research and look at reputable sources, it is easy to find some fringe quack doctor who believes something that is completely unfounded, but there are simply too many bright people who have been long at work on this issue to say that the consensus is wrong because of some anecdotal evidence. Children are dying because of the decisions not to get vaccinated and we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg, vaccinating your child saves lives. Instead of reading about this issue on a clearly biased website please take it up with your pediatrician, as they have no interest other than protecting your child and the population in general.

[Tina]

My child had the mmr & varicella vaccines at the same time. His speech began to gradually regress, by the time he was 20 months he stopped speaking altogether. He had reactions to other vaccines also, however, we did not link it together until later. We do not do boosters, instead we get titers. It is interesting which ones are very high. He has also had 5 cases of 'wild' chicken pox. He has was considered atypical autistic, then PDD. Now, he has improved to asperger's, central auditory processing disorder, dyslexia, and sensory integration disorder. I absolutely believe in a neuroimmunologic response to vaccines. We have lived it.

[crystal schutte]

my son had 7 shots at the age of 2 and yes one of them was the mmr shot. the nurse nor the doctor had documented his shots that day so he had to go repeat the same shots approx. 4 weeks later. my son is now 4 and has autism, mental retardation, and conduct disorder and major tantrums and learning disabilities.

[Benedetta]

Well Hell, Marshall your comment made.

I agree let let us just not accept any anecdotal data evidence because stats are so much better telling us what is happening in the real world.

Yeap, let's just ignore any anecdotal evidence till the cows come home, or when everybody in America is sick with all kinds of stuff that is really anecdotally related.

Oh, but wait a minute, wait ---- stats are starting to catch up with anecdotal ain't it. What 1 in 10,000 to now a big whoppie 1 out of 100.

[Danielle]

I agree with one person near the top said that we do what we think is the best for our children. And really that's all you can do untill they put some more facts out there. I waited till my daughter was 3 to get her MMR and the only reason i got it was because right before that she got a bad rash that they thought was measles but come to find out it wasnt but it still scared me cause i was the one who decided to wait on the shot.and if it was measles it would of been my fault so matter what you do there is always something else you have to worry about. for my next kid i think i would still wait though untill they put for information out there about austim.

[student]

I am university student studying to be a clinical psychologist. My education revolves around learning how to provide sound, reliable research. I would urge everyone out there to look up online scientific journals (i.e. a webpage that is NOT covered in advertisements) before drawing such drastic conclusions about this issue.

[Marshall]

I know this post won't make it to your comment section, but It's not helpful to base opinion, let alone implied advice about vaccination, on anecdotal data. There is no study, including the now retracted Wakefield study, showing any connection between vaccination and autism.

[Cynthia Cournoyer]

Linda,
What if the timing wasn't the problem, but the vaccine is the problem?