What Do Those Vaccine Studies Actually Say?
By Julie Obradovic
Last month at the Autism One conference, I had the opportunity to present the studies that supposedly prove vaccines and Autism are not connected. The idea for the presentation came when the website “Fourteen Studies ” went live not that long ago.
It is my personal belief this is where the debate should be focused. I also believe that if the intense and understandable emotion on both sides could be replaced with cooler heads and reason, we could authentically assess whether or not the issue has been adequately addressed. (I believe Dr. Healy called that a “Come to Jesus” moment.)
Having read all of the studies several times, I can assure you it has not. And regardless of what side of the debate you fall, that fact is indisputable. Studying 1 ingredient of dozens and 1 injection (given sometimes twice) out of a possible 35 before age 5 is certainly inadequate.
It is increasingly frustrating to read articles in newspapers, magazines, and blogs that claim otherwise, without any specific mention of the science on which they are basing their position. Rather, readers are to assume the author of such an article has done more than an internet search; that they have actually read and analyzed the very science they are using to make their argument. Furthermore, readers are to assume that said science is relevant, thorough, unbiased and accurate.
Herein lays the crux of the debate.
Is it?
What science are they referring to exactly? About what? Done where? When? By whom? How?
This phenomenon has escalated at rocket speed. I can attest that it has only been in the last year or so such sweeping general statements have been made, which may be more evidence of the emotion surrounding the controversy than anything else. Angry people say careless things.
Dismissal of a connection used to be expressed cautiously, using phrases such as, “There doesn’t appear to be a link between Thimerosal and Autism”, or “Current studies don’t support an association between the MMR and Autism”. No one ever said, “It is proven vaccines don’t cause Autism”. Until now, that is.
Given that reality, it is imperative to bring the debate front and center where it belongs: on the science.
Rather than exchange more-often-than-not-anonymous internet insults and accusations, let’s discuss what has and has not been studied. Let’s talk about conflicts of interest, and relevance, and methodology. Let’s break the studies down in a lay man’s terms and stop pretending you are only qualified to do so if you are a Harvard educated doctor or scientist.
I’m disillusioned that this particular analysis of the science has not yet been done by The New York Times or The Chicago Tribune, or any major media outlet for that matter. I’m stunned that no one at a news organization such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN or FOX has taken it upon themselves to do this easy and important homework.
It’s even more amazing that none of them have bothered to check if what the medical community, the pharmaceutical industry, and the government has found out about themselves (when they’ve had the luxury of investigating themselves) is actually true. To borrow from Dan Olmsted, this is the story of a generation. This issue will define our children for eternity, and yet, you can hear the birds chirping.
I had read the majority of the studies as they were published or retrospectively if needed, but it wasn’t until preparing for my presentation that I really learned them. That’s a substantially different task, and by no means a small one. But if I can do it…a working mother of 3…all of us can. It is now up to all of us to learn them, which brings me to the point of this article.
In order to help facilitate that process, I am going to provide my presentation in a written format right here on Age of Autism. I still believe it is up to each and every one of us to read and learn the studies ourselves (all of which are available on the Fourteen Studies website); it is hypocritical to accuse the medical or journalistic community of not having done so without having done so yourself. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help make it all a little easier to learn. I plan on doing just that.
Over the next few weeks I will be presenting a series of articles that summarize the debate. Topics to be covered will include dissecting the positions and concerns of everyone involved, a summary of what has been studied, a summary of what has not been studied, and more.
It is my sincerest hope we can use this information to continue to challenge sloppy media reports and defensive physicians, and instead focus this debate on the very thing that determines our children’s future: the science we do from here on out.
Perhaps in doing so we can stop the ridiculous waste of time spent concentrating on what this debate is NOT about.
This debate isn’t about what celebrity mom believes what (Jenny or Amanda? Or is it J-Lo now?).
It isn’t about how much fear mongering we can use to get people to comply with our wishes (we’re all going to die if you people don’t stop picking on vaccines!).
It isn’t about pitting mom against mom (your child can’t play with mine!) or parent against doctor (get out of my practice! I’m getting death threats!).
It’s actually not even entirely about vaccines and Autism, believe it or not. It’s profoundly bigger than that, frankly.
No, this entire controversy is about the following fundamental questions; questions that have been for far too long ignored. They are:
By use of a pharmaceutical product that the government mandates, endorses, and legally protects, and by means of the medical community that helps create and administer said product, have we unintentionally or recklessly swapped infectious disease for chronic disease; and if we have, at what point does the risk of one outweigh the reality of the other? Who gets to decide that and how?
And perhaps more important,
Do the very people who will be held accountable for such a swap, namely the government, the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical community, have the right to investigate themselves collectively or individually to see if they are indeed guilty; AND IF THEY DO HAVE THAT RIGHT, are the results of their investigation as they stand right now qualitatively and quantitatively enough to proclaim their innocence?
By default, those who believe vaccines are not connected with Autism based on the science so far think they do and that it is.
Quite simply, I don’t.
Let’s finally and fully examine why that could be.
Julie Obradovic is the mom of a recovered child. She is a member of NAA, a Rescue Angel, and a leader of the TACA Chicago Chapter.
Julie,
This is a great and worthwhile effort. In addition to a detailed analysis, I suggest it would also be helpful if the 1-2 major logic flaws in each of the fourteen studies could be summarized in a 2 to 3-sentence statement in layman's terms for the public. The 3-sentence rule is important to ensure a concise description for readers interested only in a summary. An example for the Verstraetten study: "This study only compared two groups of children that both received different amounts of mercury. When about 2/3rd of the eventual total data for the study was considered in Phase 1, the data showed the risk of autism in the higher-mercury group was about 2.5 times higher than in the lower-mercury group. After including the remaining 1/3rd of data from other HMO's in subsequent study phases, the study concluded that there was not enough evidence to determine whether or not mercury in vaccines is related to autism."
I think that when someone reads the above three sentences, the reader's common sense would conclude that the bulk of the evidence indicated that there was a mercury-autism correlation. The reader would have legitimate questions about how the authors could've reached their conclusion.
I think a similar 2-3 sentence for each study would be very useful to provide to the public on the "Fourteen Studies" website. Each study has one or two major "illogical" flaws that could be concisely summarized in this format. I can be reached through SafeMinds if you'd like to correspond further on this.
Great work,
Scott
Posted by: Scott Laster | June 10, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Love your work and can't wait to read more.
Posted by: dugmaze | June 08, 2009 at 11:56 PM
Julie-
Great job and can't wait for more information.
A Sodee-
Sorry that your child also has an autism diagnosis. What do you think is the cause in his/her case? Are you researching biomedical treatments?
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | June 08, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Are we so sure, like a religion, that vaccines saved lives?....show the proof..the real numbers...not the CDC ones. (the ultimate liars). Show me like www.whaleto.com has...and show me if they have ANY relationship with slowing, ameliorating or curing disease. Ooops, you can't? Pretty much...
Vaccines have no place in our society. Viruses will mutate from time to time, and if we are fed well, have a clean environment, there are no needs to surplant manmade viruses and toxins in us in a very unnatural pathway delivery system. They are rites of pasages, meant in the first place to purge out toxins. They initiate good immune responses, for life. They don't damage the immune system like vaccines do. They are the mad men medicines/initiators of damage of our time, meant for profit and furthering diseases and can damage DNA for generations (see how smallpox may have damaged chromosomes, initiating the first DOWNS cases in Europe). Show me if our kids with low imunoglobulin levels/C4B, can handle vaccines, or low metallothionein, and I will show you a kid with the ability, and ease, of getting major neurological/systemic autoimmune illneses. Vaccine induced illnesses are on the rise.
I am a total freaking anti vaccine mom, and I am proud to where the badge of honor. I see proof in my own life, that they have no place in our family, especially because, my grandchildren have no autism, all boys..so..if our family had a GREAT disposition to autism (a boy and girl with autism), then we would have seen it exptressed by now? PLUEEZ. Autism, is a modern day disease, forced on children who already have damaged pathways, cellular health, etc. It is also forced on us by propoganda lies. This is the russian roullete game of our century. Endorsed, by stupid junk science, if that.
Do not fear a childhod illness, we lived through them in the fifties just fine..
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | June 08, 2009 at 01:00 PM
Sordee: You know even in the medical literature, it says that the most suspectable people to strokes are the elderly and babies. Did you have a difficult birth? Did you have any drugs during birth? Did you have anything stressful during your preganancy. Why did you not vaccinate in the first place? I know I did even after my children's injuries, All that we did not get was my son's two last whooping cough shots, and his tetanus and Hib B for his teen years. My husband reacted to a tetanus shot at age 28 passed out/seizure and then he received yet another one at age 34, now the Emory Clinic says he has a mitochondrial disorder environmental aquired. Can't get his oxygen levels in his blood up it is mostly in the 86-88 percent range. We consider it okay when it sometimes gets up to 92-96. It is suppose to say 99 to 100percent at all times. You never said if your child had regressive autism. Was your child fine and then he stopped the milestones?
Posted by: Benedetta Stilwell | June 07, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Ms. Sodee, I'd add that Dana Reeve died of lung cancer. Never smoked. There are likely many causes of autism and many "autisms." If vaccines are causing autism, we'd best find out, since vaccines are mandated and growing in number as their profitability and exemption from legal recourse for damage protects them. The media and institutional push to convice parents vaccines are safe in every dose for every child is simply too strong not to raise eyebrows as to the magnitude of the push back against calls for safety and proof of such.
Unfortunately our very sick kids have been lumped into a behavior diagnosis that marginalizes them and denies them treatment in every way.
Posted by: Stagmom | June 07, 2009 at 08:35 AM
A Sodee,
I am suggesting the role of vaccines in Autism has not been adequately researched to say that they are not a factor. The current research cannot make such a claim.
Obviously, if what you say is true, they were not a factor for your child. That doesn't negate their relationship for everyone else.
Thanks for the question.
Posted by: Julie Obradovic | June 07, 2009 at 08:26 AM
@ A Sodee,
Assuming that your questions and concerns are legitimate and that you are not just a troll, I might be able to suggest what you can look into to figure out what happened to your child.
When the autism-vaccines connection is discussed not only means the immunizations that your child has received, it also could mean the immunizations that you and your husband have received throughout your life.
Moms that are having babies in their teens, twenties, thirties and beyond are the first generations ever in the history of human kind to be bringing babies into the world while being fully vaccinated themselves.
We as parents are passing EVERYTHING into our kids, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Vaccines have saved lives; there is no question about it.
But vaccines also have toxins that can severely damage the immune system of certain people.
Remember when we were in middle school and we learned that “Matter is neither created nor destroyed, it only transforms itself”?
Well, all of those toxins become something in yours and your baby’s body, and we all know that none of that is good.
So I would suggest for you and your husband to pull out your records and check how many vaccinations you two have gotten; then check if you got a flu shot or a Rogham shot when pregnant; then check if your baby got a Hep B shot in the hospital and you were not told about it –like it happened to us- and then also check if your child had the vitamin K shot given upon his birth as well; some hospitals still give the vitamin K shot that contains high amounts of aluminum.
Some babies cannot handle one single shot, meaning one shot can be the snapping point. Or some babies received so many toxins in utero that they are also pushed over the edge even before they are born.
Another point to consider is if your child has older siblings and/or schoolmates that were vaccinated and are ‘shedding’ the toxins that your child might be absorbing.
Run a blood viral titers test and a metals test on your child, and you might be able to see some things there that could begin to explain why he has what he has.
As you can see, all ways go to Rome. Err, I mean… all ways go to the vaccine debate.
Posted by: Erika | June 06, 2009 at 11:43 PM
Sodee; Your son was never ever vaccinated? Where you vaccinated when pregnant? I do not know your situation all I know is mine. This is what I know and you can judge it. I had a daughter that had a disease I had never heard of call Kawaskis-six weeks after her fourth DPT shot. When she was five years on and had her last DPT shot within thirty minutes she passed out, fever of 105, and had heavy breathing. Then within a few minutes she got up and went outside to play. My son had his second DPT shot only a month later and he too passed out, had a fever of 105, heavy breathing. when he went in for is third DPT shot - we were behind because I felt something was not right. At the insistance of the pediatrician he had his third. Within six hours he had a stroke! He froze, his pupils became huge,black and dead. He came out it and seized. He was walking the next day he did not, he had to relearn to walk again. In six weeks time he ran a high fever and had a grand mal seizure. It reminded me some what of Kalwaskis. In yet another six weeks he ran a high fever nad had a grand mal seizure. If you were me what would you think?
Posted by: Benedetta Stilwell | June 06, 2009 at 10:07 PM
I see that we are discussing autism and vaccines and a possible relationship between the two.
I have a question. Are you stating that as a fact that vaccines are the cause of autism?
Or even a factor?
My child has been diagnosed with autism, yet has not been immunized. Where does this factor in? In light of your research and conclusions, does this mean that his formal diagnosis becomes invalid?
I am just trying to figure it all out...
Posted by: A Sodee | June 06, 2009 at 06:50 PM
Julie,
I too appreciated your presentation at A1. Your comment that with vaccines we have swapped infectious diseases for chronic ones is right on the mark. This fact may be another reason that the vaccine madness continues. What could be more profitable to the medical (sickness) industry than chronic illness starting as early in life as possible. I too look forward in reading your upcoming posts. Keep up the great work.
Posted by: L. Stuiber | June 06, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Fantastic work!
Is it possible to see your presentation via the web? ~Barbara Majeski
Posted by: Barbara | June 06, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Right on Amy in Idaho-
We have swapped a rite of passage disease (language change "deadly"), for chronic unwellness, if not maiming and killing. They speak of outbreaks of measles or mumps, but how much of those kids glided right through it, and how much are dead or brain damaged?... PLUEEZ. Have we lost the skill of spooning CLO in our babies mouths, have we relegated our trust to people who want to make a buck of our kids, have we even LET our OB GYN's asphyxiate our kids with birth drugs/immediate cord clamping? YOU BET...whatever happened to the thinkers, the outside of the box people? Well, how can you? When fluoride which was used by the NAZI's to "quiet behavioral outbursts" is being employed on massive scales, MSG is clogging up the glutamate in our brains, and the media and government continually tell a lie long and hard enough? Who wouldn't succomb? I mean this short commercials on drugs and their side effects, have now become very long, and they include things like death, bleeding out of your anus, as pleasant? I am sure all the EMF's infiltrating our brains by cell phones, computers and TV's has also mindmelded us, to be believers in the socialisitc paridigm of being "good and faithful citizens". I for one, want off this rollercoaster, off this hypnotic trance, and trust in my instincts...which I did (or my daughters did) with my grandbabies (all boys, with no traces of autism due to not being vaccinated and or being "clean" so to speak).
Autism is genetic, my ass. This is a manmade disease.
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | June 06, 2009 at 03:19 AM
Thank you, Julie! Your presentation in Chicago was brilliant! And the fact that you and GR have done so much leg work to help us get up to speed on this extremely important issue is exciting. I came home and immediately put my 14 Studies notebook together and have started reading and learning about the multitude of flaws. I am taking copies of your handouts from A1 to an Autism-Mom-Group meeting in the a.m. to gladly distribute and encourage all of them to get-to-reading as well. I agree with you wholeheartedly---this is important work and we all need to be able to discuss these studies intelligently. I look forward to being in that place you encourage---of being able, any time someone refers to "the science" or "the studies", to confidently ask them which study they would like to discuss. (Such a polite way of saying, "BRING IT" =)). I also believe that having the knowledge of the facts will better enable me to debate the studies without so much emotion (and eye-rolling =)) involved. I'm looking forward to the rest of your posts, as I am diligently drafting a "goodbye" letter to our Pediatrician (we're moving to a holistic practice), and I sincerely want to give him as much information as I can---I still have this idealistic hope that it's going to click for him at some point. This is the type of information that I personally believe will have the best chance of reaching him (and others like him---IF they're reachable). Again, THANK YOU FOR ALL THIS WORK---you are equipping us in a major way!
Posted by: Sunny | June 05, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Julie,
Your presentation last month at AOne in Chicago was amazing.
I have told everybody about it.
It was the highlight of our trip; coming back home not only with more knowledge on how to help our son but more knowledge in how to respond if we hear the "there are studies that prove...blah, blah.." again, is just wonderful.
I am looking forward to your articles and i am looking forward to seeing you presenting next year in AOne in the BALLROOM!
Posted by: Erika | June 05, 2009 at 09:57 PM
I have read all 14 studies, and I agree with your statement. I am also truly concerned about the future of our country for not producing enough curious people in the scientific community or otherwise who actually read and understand those studies they so loudly proclaim to be the truth.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | June 05, 2009 at 06:58 PM
Julie:
Every one has the responsibility to do this homework. Thank you for your leadership!
The following concepts seem apt.
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
Wikipedia—Statistical Significance (i.e. failing to find evidence that there is harm does not constitute evidence that there is no harm.)
One child every twenty minutes.
Based on the CDC estimate (announced in 2007) of the US Autism rate based on 2002 data and 14 states.
“The morality that pollution is criminal only after legal conviction is the morality that causes pollution.”
W. Eugene and Aileen Smith – Minimata
Posted by: Jim Thompson | June 05, 2009 at 06:31 PM
Vaccination makes the business relationship between pediatrians and parents/children more profitable.
Less money changes hands at well baby visits which do not include vaccination. (Also, if the doctor orders one vaccine per patient, they may end up with extra inventory.)
If you go to a bar and choose to drink water, no money changes hands. Not good for business.
The AAP may change it's attitude towards vaccine choice if doctors can get paid in some way if a parent declines a vaccine.
Posted by: Pediatrician:Vaccines as Bar:Alcohol | June 05, 2009 at 06:02 PM
Awesome! I'm looking forward to reading your future articles Julie!! :-)
Posted by: Jeanne | June 05, 2009 at 03:14 PM
Thank you. Now I'll have even more reasons to log into AoA.
This whole "science has spoken" business is absurd and misses the point of what "science" is supposed to be. Somehow this country has traded religion for science apparently ignoring the fact that they are two totally separate things. Science isn't something to be worshipped or even worse, to have faith in. Science is a method of questioning. To say "science has spoken" on an issue is to betray the very meaning of science.
Posted by: Jack | June 05, 2009 at 02:39 PM
A bit OT, but how does a future new parent learn about 14 studies other than being told by a "warrior"? Unless your google search includes the word "fourteen", most "vaccine autism studies" related google searches pull up CDC info and newspaper articles. Wouldn't it be wonderful if these 3 words would pop-up the fourteen studies website on the first google page?
Posted by: Becky H-A | June 05, 2009 at 02:34 PM
"By use of a pharmaceutical product that the government mandates, endorses, and legally protects, and by means of the medical community that helps create and administer said product, have we unintentionally or recklessly swapped infectious disease for chronic disease; and if we have, at what point does the risk of one outweigh the reality of the other? Who gets to decide that and how?"
This says it all. I'm a big picture person so this point has never been lost on me. This issue is so huge. Let's run the scenario - masses are chronically ill, increased costs to education for accommodation, lack of productivity of workers, increased numbers relying on social security/food stamps/medicaid/housing assistance, not enough 'healthy' individuals to work in occupations like military/police/fire, people who rely on public benefits don't buy new cars/appliances/big ticket items leads to poor economic growth, families taking care of family members are tapped out and no longer purchasing goods...etc., etc., etc.
This country is so physically sick and I fear we're woefully illprepared to deal with the consequences.
I look forward to reading your articles and thank you for articulating this problem in a way that allows all of us to discuss it rationally and respectfully.
Posted by: Amy in Idaho | June 05, 2009 at 01:36 PM
Thank you, Julie, for taking up the gauntlet and spotlighting the inexcusable confabulations about all those flawed studies.
And bravo, Holly M., for scheduling that November appointment. When people like Liz Birt and Dr. Alan Clark fall, a hundred more need to rise up in their place.
Posted by: nhokkanen | June 05, 2009 at 01:20 PM
Wow, Julie - what tremendous work. I look forward to reading your series of articles. Thank you so much.
It is just sickening how often we hear that the vaccine-autism link has been disproven, that vaccines have been proven safe, that parents are desperate, irrational, biased, uneducated, and ignorant, that all vaccine reactions are just a coincidence, and that anyone who truly understands science and medicine agrees that vaccines do not cause autism.
This has become a mantra that is constantly repeated and, as you pointed out, most of those who should be looking deeper do not. Your work on this will surely have an impact, like waves from a rock thrown in a pond -- especially if we all work to spread those waves in any way we can.
Posted by: Twyla | June 05, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Julie, Thanks for tackling this. I see every day how journalists spout conventional wisdom about "proof" that vaccines don't cause autism, about the latest gene studies that basically cancel each other out but are heralded as breakthrough. As you say the failure of these reporters to educate themselves and THINK FOR THEMSELVES is at the heart of this. Perhaps your effort, and that of Generation Rescue which cleverly created the fourteen studies site, will break through the noise. It's easy to be cynical, but it's more important to keep trying. -- dan
Posted by: dan olmsted | June 05, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Julie, glad to see you're not letting up. Your presentation last month was superb. I'm thrilled to see you sharing it with those who couldn't be in Chicago for the A1 conference. Can't wait to read them all.
Harry
Posted by: Harry H. | June 05, 2009 at 08:43 AM
When I was 21 I was in a huge communicable disease class with around 200 nurses. Dr. Otero spent every lecture preaching as opposed to teaching about the importance of everyone getting their vaccines. He said,"Vaccines causes no problems, they just don't." I beleived everything he said untill that momemt. But that statment,"They just don't." it bothered me, and I have not forgotten it for the past 30 years. Why did he not go into studies, and actually biological pathways. We all were not future nurses- some of us were microbiologists, future doctors, research biologists,molecular biologist. Who is responsible for the curriculum taught in the schools? These are the guys with the real power.
Posted by: Benedetta Stilwell | June 05, 2009 at 08:38 AM
Summer reading at its best. I just saw a seminar scheduled for November given by our local hospital about vaccines and autism. After reading this, I just decided, I'll study and go. I just pulled the flyer out of the trash.
Posted by: Holly M. | June 05, 2009 at 06:51 AM
Julie Your presentation was one of the best. I still feel you should have been the pre key note speaker. This is ammunition that will power the real change.
Posted by: Tanners Dad | June 05, 2009 at 06:46 AM
Dear Julie
First , I would like to state , that your action to develop a review of those 14 studies , is trully a appropriate response to what , I can only discribe as propaganda by the pharmaceutical industry .
I also had the opportunity of reading some of the studies , like yourself I came to the conclusion that for the most part , they incoporate major flaws in methodology or introduce biases data .
Sadly , I heard about your presentation at the 2009 Autism one conference at the last minutes .
Because I could have supplied more detail information on papers by Dr.Fombonne from Juin 2006 to Mai 2007.
In the case of these studies :
Pervasive developmental disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada Fombonne E, Zakarian R, Bennett A, Meng L, McLean-Heywood Publish in Pediatrics 2006 Jul; 118(1): e139-50
No Evidence of Persisting Measles Virus in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells From Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder “ by Yasmin D’Souza, MSca, Eric Fombonne, MDb and Brian J. Ward, MDCMa, Publish in Pediatrics 2006 october
Mercury levels in children with PDD’s and their levels in mothers: case control study Eric Fombonne, Rita Zakarian, Mary Tsonis, Eric Dewailly, IMFAR 2007 /PS1.65
It is important to note , that these studies where used in testimony at the Obnibus Hearing.
If you are interested in receiving this information , please free to contact me
Pierre Morin
Posted by: Pierre Morin | June 05, 2009 at 05:54 AM