Stunning New Link Between Vaccines and Autism Rates

Editor's note: We received the following information and charts from someone who wishes to maintain a low profile. This very compelling data is well worth looking at and we welcome thoughts about its significance. Below are excerpts from several e-mails she exchanged with us. The charts and notes (HERE) are dy-noh-MITE! As we've said before, smart, concerned and informed citizen-scientist-parents are the CDC's worst nightmare -- and the best hope for getting to the bottom of the epidemic of autism and related disorders. We hope this low-key stay-at-home mom continues to match her very sharp wits against the vaccine apologists. We'll keep you posted. -- Dan Olmsted
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I used the "Autism Rates by Birth Years" data from TACA Now and compared it to public records about vaccine histories.  I found that since the DTP vaccine in 1949 the ONLY time period with NO increase in autism cases is also the only time period with NO vaccines added to the CHILDHOOD schedule. The hep b was licensed during this time but it was not given to children until 1990.  Also, the Hib was reformulated for infants in 1987, but due to a shortage, it was not added to the schedule until 1990 (There was a HUGE jump in autism rates in 1990).  See for yourself.

This link also includes information about the NNii (National Network for Immunization Information) conceding that after vaccinations children's aluminum levels are above the minimal risk, but they say it's no big deal.  I disagree.  The CDC says that aluminum toxicity causes neurological delays and thin bones, and the CDC cites a study named "Thin Bones Seen in Boys with Autism."  No one else is talking about this correlation, so I'm trying to tell everyone whom I think can help.

The NNii also says that aluminum has been used in vaccines for 75 years.  I don't know what vaccine they are talking about.  In 1949 DTP was the first vaccine (on the current Childhood schedule) to contain aluminum and was licensed during the first significant increase in autism rates.  Also FYI, according to Wikipedia, mercury thermometers are not even allowed on some airliners because mercury reacts with aluminum. Many childhood vaccines contain(ed) both aluminum and mercury.  Sounds dangerous to me.
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I'm sending this to you because I just want the truth to be found about vaccines.  My cousin's son has autism, and I have one child who has strange allergic reactions the day after some vaccines, and another child who had a severe reaction to the hep B vaccine and then developed eczema 1 week later.  I'm afraid my children are at high risk of vaccine injury, and I don't want any more forced vaccination policies.

I'm a stay-at-home mom in NC with a degree in Computer Information Systems.  I didn't know anything about medicine until after my first child was born. When she turned 8 months old she started doing a myoclonic head jerk, and dystonic head postures, which could have meant a brain tumor or movement disorder.  Her neurologist didn't know what it was after the MRI, EEG, and PET scan was fine.  So I decided to educate myself, and I learned way more about medicine than I ever wanted to know.  She was finally diagnosed with stereotypical disorder (usually seen in children with autism, but she did not have any other autism symptoms).  Well, after that diagnosis I have been very leery of vaccines and autism, and have spent hundreds of hours reading about the subject. I first read about children having low glutathione levels and thin bones study on Dr. Green's website.
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(What about the idea that autism rates keep rising even though thimerosal has been phased out of some childhood vaccines?)

Here's my best response to the thimerosal argument: While definitely it's not good to inject children with mercury, I think that's only a part of the problem.  I think that thimerosal can make the aluminum even more toxic because the two metals are reactive, and if it's true that thimerosal reduces glutathione (I found this study on TACA), then children's bodies would be less capable of excreting the aluminum.

However, I personally think the biggest contributing factor to the autism symptoms is the aluminum, which has been increased over the years in proportion to the autism increases.  Another argument I had heard about thimerosal is that it had been in the vaccines since I think the 1930s.  Whether or not that is true, I don't know, but that's what prompted me to keep looking for other answers.  Then after my oldest daughter had her second allergic reaction to a vaccine I looked up the vaccine ingredients on the CDC's Vaccine Excipients table, and saw that they contain aluminum.  I remembered hearing prior to that about a possible link between Alzheimer's and aluminum.  So I was even more afraid of vaccines.   So I bought Dr. Sears' The Vaccine Book, ironically to ease my fears about vaccines, and then I learned about the high doses of aluminum in vaccines.  So I looked up aluminum on the CDC's website (where I read about the thin bones and thought, BINGO). 

I also read the Wikipedia entry on aluminum and found out that you shouldn't mix it with mercury, and this article also stated that aluminum damages the blood brain barrier.  That could explain why adding the live virus measles vaccine to the aluminum-containing DTP vaccine would cause problems.  Without the blood-brain barrier there would be no protection against the live measles virus which can cause brain damage.  (Side note: Wild measles virus can cause brain damage called SSPE, a type of chronic encephalitis in 1 out of 100,000 people (HERE.) So if vaccines weaken the blood brain barrier and cause autism in 1 out of 150 kids, wouldn't we be better off without the vaccine?)

One more response to that argument (about thimerosal being removed and autism rates still rising) is that thimerosal has NOT been removed from the childhood vaccines.  According to the CDC's excipients table, many still contain "trace" amounts of thimerosal, and the flu shot, on the recommended schedule for children as young as 6 months, still contains the full amount.  If autism is caused by aluminum, then perhaps children wouldn't need much exposure to the thimerosal, just enough to weaken their glutathione reserves. ... I haven't studied thimerosal very closely since I started my quest for answers just a few years ago.

(Side note on thimerosal: My daughter, who had the movement disorder, was born in 2005 and received the vaccines that supposedly have the lower, safe "trace amounts" of thimerosal.  I've read that thimerosal has been proven to cause tics, but I don't remember where I saw that.  She's 3 and a half now, and hasn't received any of those vaccines for a while, and she's outgrown the movement disorder.  Coincidence, or proof?  I don't know.)
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But, even if there was no thimerosal in vaccines, babies have an underdeveloped kidney function and therefore have a higher aluminum toxicity risk. My child's pediatrician had told me a while ago to be careful about table salt before 1 yr of age because babies' kidneys might not be able to process it well.  I also found an old article by the AAP that reported finding an "underdeveloped kidney function" in infants.  If that's true, and we have to watch table salt, why are Aluminum Salts injected into babies at 1 day, 2 months, 4, and 6 months years of age?  Why would their kidneys be able to process aluminum salt if they can't handle table salt???

Also, the limits of aluminum in IV fluids resulted in part due to the neurological delays seen in premature babies.  One of my daughters was born 3 weeks early, and the nurses still offered to vaccinate her with the 250 mcg Hep B vaccine.   Do they really give this vaccine to preemies?  When you look at the chart, you'll see that the most dramatic increase occurred when they started giving babies the Hep B and Hib vaccines.  Now babies are given 13 aluminum-containing vaccines by 6 months of age compared to only 3 back in 1983.  Here's a good chart about current vaccines, and the 1983 schedule: (HERE)
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So yes I think thimerosal is dangerous, but only one part of the problem. I believe autism is also caused by aluminum toxicity (which I think could be exacerbated by mercury). If I'm right about the aluminum, you would expect to see autism rates continue to rise since the number of aluminum-containing vaccines continues to increase. The Wikipedia link about aluminum: (HERE)

This link also says, "Furthermore, aluminum increases estrogen-related gene expression in human breast cancer cells grown in the laboratory. [39] These salts' estrogen-like effects have led to their classification as a metalloestrogen."  I don't really understand what a metalloestrogen is, but the definition on Wikipedia is, a hormonally active agent.  Could this help explain why one gender would be affected more frequently?  That's not something I know anything about, but it seems like it'd be worth looking into.

Comments

[Lisa]

Since these comments are being monitored, the author will probably choose not to post what I am about to write, but I'll try anyways. I am guess that none of you are statisticians? Well, I am. I am not a doctor, so I do not have the knowledge to comment on any medically related discussions. But, I can comment on the correlation/causation issue. Many admit that correlation does not mean causation, but then they say that there is still some relationship. Yes, that is true, but the relationship is COMPLETELY meaningless if it can actually be explained by something most often called a "lurking variable" or "confounder". For example, there is a strong positive correlation between shoe size and reading level among elementary school children. Do either of these CAUSE the other? NO! The lurking variable, or confounder, is age. For the most part, the children get better at reading as they get older. Their shoe size also happens to get larger as they get older.
Without to an randomized controlled experiment (which is probably not ethical), it is nearly impossible to make any sort of causal inference. Most certainly, OTHER factors have changed in the world in the past 100 years that could just as well explain the increase in prevalence of autism. What about environmental factors? Or, more consumption of processed food? What if autism happens to develop around the same time that vaccines are typically given?
Just wanted to give a statisticians perspective.

[CM]

To Alyric,

The chart uses percentages so the differences between the time periods are insignificant. However, if you'd like, you can cut the graph in half, and just look at the last portion (starting with 1986) where all the time periods are 4 years long. Admittedly, the last time period only includes 3 years, but that's because I didn't have the data I needed for 2005.

Also, how do our opponents explain that, after all the other increases, there would be no increase in the 2002-2004 time period when no vaccines were added (except for the flu vaccine at the END of 2004), especially while at the same time claiming that autism is being overly diagnosed? They can't have it both ways. On the other hand, if they're right that autism is being overly diagnosed that would only strengthen the vaccines-autism correlation and if we're right that autism is being correctly diagnosed, the correlation still stands.

Since 2004, more vaccines have been added to the schedule and the autism rate is increasing again.

And finally, as for the whole "correlation does not prove causation" defense, WE KNOW THAT. However, correlations can indicate a possible connection. And when you combine this correlation with the firsthand accounts of so many parents and the CDC and FDA studies cited on the blog, you have a highly plausible theory that even Bernadine Healy concedes to be possible.

[bek]

For Julie in MN:
Go to youtube.com and watch Ensuring mercury-free vaccines hearing in MN part 1 and part 2. You are not alone in your thoughts that a flu shot administered during pregnancy can be harmful to the fetus (and Mom). My opinion is, even if you make it law that no pregnant woman or child receive flu shot that contains thimerosal, the alternative is laden with aluminum and all kinds of other gook. There's many opportunities to get involved in your state. Best of luck to you.

[Julie]

Today I'm seeing in the news the recommendation that pregnant women should get flu shots because infants from birth to 6 months can not. I had a flu shot during the pregnancy of my son, but not with my daughter (she was in utero during the "non-flu" time of year). My son, who was born in 2002 has just been diagnosed with ASD. My daughter who was born in 2001, is "normal". Is there a connection??? I'm really starting to believe that there is. Not assigning one thing as a cause, but a combination of several...and all to do with vaccinations. Did anyone else see that Palin took a stand today on the Special Education issue? It's point 3 in her VP agenda. Yay! We need a big voice in Washington. Where does Obama stand on this issue?
Julie
A concerned, frustrated, and needing a voice Mom of ASD in Minnesota

[Where's my hypocrite repellant?]

Alyric, you are such an f-ing hypocrite! Your vaccine gods, the CDC, the FDA, the IOM and everyone that you worship and sacrifice babies to have done the EXACT SAME THING (Verstaeten data, anyone?). But, when they do it, it's evidence.

God, you people make me sick!

[alyric]

The poor thing. Somebody ought to tell her that you are not supposed to divide graphs up into a decade here and a couple of years there. Oh well. that's on a par with the rest, I suppose.

[JoAnn]

Sodium Fluoride is a flux (cleans off metal surfaces)for Aluminum. Sodium Fluoride is a by-product of the Aluminum industry. My sister gave my nephew fluoride pills starting at 6 months of age because there was no fluoride in the well water. My nephew received fluoride pills till he was three years of age. Three days after she stopped giving him the pills he started speaking.
Not only city water can contain fluoride, various fruit juices and soft drinks can contain fluoride because of the water used for production. If aluminum is the problem, fluoride can be making the problem worse.

[BARBARA]

come on you guys, dont you think they know whats going on? i beleave its an experiment. and our children are the gunny pigs.its the goverment for pete sake. they know everything. they dont have to do reaserach because they already know whats going on.watch the science channel. for the next generation they want to clone super human beings.you will be able to pickyour ginder.also what you want him to be inteligent of. such as Science, Math, whatever.i was watching the science channel one sunday. and they had a Autistic savant all hooked up with wires to his chest and head. experminting on his abilities. while they were talking about these human beings with super abilities for the futhure to come. it all hit me that day. why all these poor little boys are being made so sick. believe it or not. that is whats really happening.

[Roland]

Great article and comments, thanks bunches!

I always wondered why the focus is primarily on the MMR vaccine and on thimerosal, when it aluminium is known to be at least equally harmful.

The MMR vaccines currently used over here in Germany (allegedly) don't contain thimerosal, aluminium or any other anorganic components at all (unlike the vaccines given earlier in infancy). Still they need to contain adjuvants to provoke "antibody response" (read: destroy cells). Some contain sorbitol and mannitol (which are known to be toxic), but the one from MSD (Triplovax) only contains amino acids, gelatine, peptides and such (apart from the animal cells used to culture the "viruses") - sure, plenty of organic stuff which does not belong inside a human body, but none of which is extremely toxic on its own. And anorganic stuff like aluminium is still much harder to eliminate from the body. Just wonder what kind of harm that kind of vaccine is able to provoke and why.

I also suspect that growing EMF values in the environment have a significant effect on the autism rates, along with environmental toxins and the vaccines.

[Allison]

Garbo- I've been told that Malic Acid naturally chelates aluminum among other things...

Calcium/thyroid mom. Great post. I am on the vitamin K 2 board and I have read Natasa's paper many times and tried to get others too as well.http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/
Unfortunately what I meant is "WHERE ARE THE SCIENTISTS/BIOLOGISTS, ect????" Why are none of them looking at this??? I thought of the thalidomide thing myself because I have another child who was born with a rare bowed left tibia and a son who regressed after vaccines. When I heard about thalidomide causing these things I checked, noone in my family had ever take it but maybe the mechanism at play was the same as thimerosal. I happened to look up the effects of thalidomide on calcium homeostasis and it certainly looked extremely similar to what thimerosal does to calcium homeostasis. I know parents are finding this, and I think it's great how science oriented we have had to become I would LOVE someone with a medical research degree to look at the calcium homeostasis and calcitonin connections and find some answers!! I'm going to throw this out there hoping maybe some esteemed Doc will read it. Could we start testing ASD children for their levels of calcitonin, rather than just thyroid levels, but calcitonin specific?? is this even possible?

[Nicole]

Very interesting article. Whenever we do a chelation challenge, my son's aluminum levels are off the charts. Some family members ask me why he he so high in aluminum and I never really know how to answer other than "he was injured by vaccines". This definitely gives some more info on the aluminum connection.
Nicole

[ElizaCassandra]

From "across the pond":-

As an "older mum" I remember my late mother using aluminium saucepans until maybe twenty-five years ago when she replaced them with stainless steel. I also remember her occasionally cleaning those aluminium saucepans by boiling up a stick of rhubarb (its slightly acidic nature removed stains). I wonder if the formerly widespread use of aluminium saucepans has contributed in any way to the incidence of Alzheimer's? Is there a scientific person out there who could enlighten me?

[Louis Conte]

Dr. Russell Blaylock has been pointing out problems with aluminum for a while now. This post further supports his views. What is put forth here is extraordinary and needs to get out there beyond our community. Congress! We are poisoning our kids and when are you going to hold heaings on this issue?

Taking out a preservative like thimerosal is actually easy to do because they can just replace it with other stuff (usually more aluminum). Folks, without aluminum, vaccines just don't work because it is the aluminum that hyper-activates the immune response.

The vaccine program is in big trouble. In fact we need to stop calling it the vacine pogram and start calling it the neuro-toxin distribution program.

[Calcium and the thyroid/ parathyroid]

"I think one of the main reason Thyroid dysfuntion in families may be a predisposition to this dysfunction is that the thyroid produces calcitonin responsible for gathering excess calcium and bringing it back to the bone. Why the heck is no one looking at this??? Or is someone? I'd like to know. -Allison Chapman"

Allison, it is not true no one is looking at this. Some moms have put together research on calcium.

Here is one from a mom -
http://www.autismcalciumchannelopathy.com/

I also put together some information relating calcium metabolism to the thyroid/ parathyroid glands a while ago. Here it is below (long):

Particular to the immune system dysfunction, there are a lot of families with problems with impaired calcium metabolism. There are several manifestations of it:

1. The oxalate problem. Some kids have the oxalate problem or very severe oxalate problems. So the Vitamin K group (or the fat soluble vitamin group) is attempting to rid the body of the excess oxalates by a regimen involving Vitamins A, D, E and K among a few other things. It is said that the Trying_low_oxalates group deals with this by putting everyone on a low oxalate diet. For details on why merely restricting oxalates in the diet will not work, go to the Vitamin K group and check out the files to read about it. I have not read them all but this is the gist of what I have understood.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/VitaminK/?yguid=126780293

2. Another is low calcium and high phosphorous.

3. My son has what looks like average calcium (I consider it low since I barely have to supplement it) and low magnesium (I give a lot more magnesium and he still seems deficient).

4. There may be others.

Now these errors in calcium metabolism are just downstream symptoms of a problem that occurs higher up. What is doing it? There are multiple entities responsible for calcium metabolism in the body. See one link here, it talks about lizards but the calcium based arguments would be sound.

http://www.anapsid.org/mbd2.html

Contributors to errors in calcium metabolism

A) The parathyroid hormone is secreted from the parathyroid gland which acts to increase the concentration of calcium in the blood in 3 ways. Go to this link below to read about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parathyroid_hormone

1. Release of calcium from the bones

2. Reabsorption of calcium from distal tubules (in the kidneys which is partly responsible for the regulation of potassium, sodium, calcium, and pH)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distal_tubule

3. Enhancing the absorption of calcium in the intestine by increasing the production of vitamin D and upregulating the enzyme responsible for 1-alpha hydroxylation of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, converting vitamin D to its active form (1,25-dihydroxy vitamin )which effects the actual absorption of calcium by the intestine.

B) When the concentration of calcium increases, the Calcitonin which is secreted by the thyroid gland works to inhibit and lower the PTH (parathyroid hormone)

C) Vitamin D plays a role.

D) And the intestines, kidney, liver, bone play a role too.

In severe cases where there is a lot of imbalance it can lead to Metabolic Bone Diseases. See this link again.

http://www.anapsid.org/mbd2.html

Some of these are
1. Osteoporosis
2. Osteomalacia
3. Rickets
4. Secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism.

My son has manifestations of osteomalacea or rickets. I have seen this in another child, the bones around the elbows seem to jut out, even the legs coming towards the ankles have this bowed shape. It's very subtle, like the kind a mom will notice.

Why did this happen?

I think the problem comes from something causing the PTH (parathyroid hormone) OR the PTH and the Calcitonin to get out of whack. When the PTH gets out of whack it can do so in different ways.

1. When there is the syndrome of high PTH in the blood it is called hyperparathyroidism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperparathyroidism

When it comes from the parathyroid it is called Primary hyperparathyroidism, when its from outside of that its called Secondary hyperparathyroidism. There are other rarer forms of this as well. The link above will explain all that.

2. When there is low PTH in the blood it is called hypoparathyroidism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoparathyroidism

This results in hypocalcemia which seems to be what my son has, resulting in seizures. Apparently you can be deficient in magnesium even without it showing up as a magnesium deficiency!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocalcemia

As an offshoot of this you can have pseudohypoparathyroidism which is resistance to the PTH. Symptoms of this are:

1. Low serum calcium or hypocalcaemia 2. Elevated PTH 3. High phosphate or hyperphosphatemia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudohypoparathyroidism

Since almost all the kids on the spectrum are presenting with these calcium issues in some way, shape, or form it would seem as though there is a common tipping mechanism for all these kids. Something is causing the kids to display similar behaviors and similar kind of results on labs - with variations of course. This seems to be a problem with the parathyroid gland (and maybe the thyroid as well). The manifestation of the problem differs as the kids are coming from different genetic predispositions.

I don't think it would take a huge stretch of anyone's imagination to figure out why sensitive organs such as the thyroid/ parathyroid should begin to malfunction in the human body. I wonder what "trace" amounts of mercury in the human body, or aluminum for that matter might do to them. I wonder if there is research out there linking the thyroid/ parathyroid to heavy metals.

[doodle]

Maybe this is just too dark... but Allison, on page 4 of the MSDS is says to "Keep out of reach of children."

Does any doctor ever read these things? It might be a good idea once and a while to, I don't know, brush up on procedures for handling toxic compounds. OSHA cares, you can guarentee it. Too bad OSHA can't get in on this and investigate doctors for illegal handling of toxic materials. I know if I broght some mercury into work and exposed it to people in some fashion the whole place would shut down in a heartbeat so OSHA would not find out.

[curt Linderman sr]

Dr. Ayoub is one of those that has been looking at aluminum extensively. I am also one of those that believes that mercury is just scratching the surface of what is wrong with our kids. We also have to look at the other toxins that are affecting our kids, especially BT corn/ cotton/ etc etc ,pesticides and GM foods. as the toxins increase, the vaccines will easily be able to overwhelm far more children. We're simply over toxifying our kids (and ourselves for that matter) / can anyone say Alzheimers?

[Carolyn Coughlin]

Thank you. One other issue: Tylenol depletes glutathione also. When they said to stop giving children aspirin, we started giving them tyelenol. I was told to give my infant son tylenol prior to his shots so that they wouldn't hurt as much . . . . so was every Mom I know. Therefore since chances are he already is a low glutathione producer (see Jill James mouse research on this) then it got made even worse. This is heartbreaking.

So much of this is good intentions causing tragic results. . .

[Garbo]

Wow! So impressed by the post and all these studies! Wondering if anyone's come across studies of chelating agents for aluminum. Is there a standard treatment protocol for aluminum detox?

[Rachel]

"Pediatricians are walking, talking disasters and if you want your child to have a modicum of a chance at life, you need to stay away from them. Run a mile in the other direction and do not, I repeat do not, let them get anywhere near your child with anything resembling a needle. They will maim your child for life with the vaccines that nobody has really safety tested for, and then when your child has autism they will act perplexed, say its a huge mystery, and send you off to get educational therapies. Which, by the way I might add, do nothing to detox the neurotoxins and pathogens in your child's body."

This was certainly our experience when my son received two vaccines containing mercury (the flu shot and the DTaP) at his 15 mos "well baby" visit after the head nurses had assured me that "mercury was out of the shots" (this was Dec. of 2003). And I especially agree with the part of this quote where once your child develops autism they look helpless and perplexed and can offer nothing but a referral to a speech therapit! Fortunately, our current pediatric practice is slowly coming around, in part because of the undeniable and dramatic changes they have seen in my son after biomedical treatments (especially those related to diet and healing the gut).

[dan olmsted]

I agree with kim about the knowledge base and sophistication of our readers. as i said in a post sometime back, we are sort of like pogo -- we have met the experts, and they are us!