autism rates have not changed since thimerosal has been eliminated from vaccines in 2001, how can this be if?

Question

thimerosal supposedly causes autism?

Meechie M: I respectfully disagree withyour tance on the cause of your daughter's autism, but I am glad that you chose to have your other children vaccinated. surely the even if ther eis a link between vaccines and autism, the risk of dying from the measles without the vaccine is greater than the risk of getting autism with the vaccine.

ok you didnt specifiy if it was your son or daughter, i apologize if i got that wrong.

Answer 1

Hello, my son is almost 5 and has moderate autism, and though he was not formally diagnosed until two i knew something was special long before the vaccines. I know several parents who once they look back realized there was small symptoms long before the mmr shots. Everyone has the right to their own opinion and expressing it, but i personally do not think it is related. I f that was the case then how is it that parents who have autistic children and don't vaccinate after the first one still go on to have more autistic children. Me and my first husband split up and when i remarried i had another son and he does not have autism. I do strongly agree with the theory of it being in the paternal gene, especially when my ex had a son two years ago and was diagnosed with aspergers recently. If somehow the vaccines are the cause i myself would rather have my loving son with his special skills then worry about him dying from some disease.

Answer 2

I don't understand how anyone can believe the statement, "autism rates have not changed since thimerosal has been eliminated from vaccines in 2001". Well, I have read about 5 studies about this -- is there more? And I found them all unreliablely flawed. And I will answer how can it be -- if indeed it is true, because I am not saying it is or isn't, just that I don't believe those studies were done well. I have read that the mercury and other viruses are already in the mother now from her vaccines, and that she can now pass these along while pregnant and through breast-feeding. Plus, what about her mercury dental fillings. I had a bunch. I had several things that people are saying leads to autism. I had 13 mercury fillings, used contact lens solution with thimerosal, used Bengay with thimerosal, got a Tetanus shot in my sixth month of pregnancy. Have any of you even looked up the odds of getting measles or what it does?

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

I wish my kids and I got measles and not the numerous health problems we have. I would trade this second for it.

I have also read that some vaccines still have thimerosal in them, and maybe most. I actually called my local health department a year ago and asked. She said, yes there is still thimerosal, but its a smaller amount. Who really knows?

Answer 3

Mercury sources are only an environmental trigger, and not the root cause. Though thimerosal was "officially" removed from vaccines, there were still old lots being used in 2003 which were found to contain thimerosal. Another source is dental amalgam in the mother while pregnant.

Check out these articles. I've collected many studies tying developmental disorders to Celiac disease and other gastrointestinal disorders.

http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=124&p_catid=&sid=91hH9H1kKMYS8nL-35107170695.b2

http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/allergies/developmentaldisordersprotein7.html

Along with the metabolic problems and deficiences, many children with autism lack a protein called metallothionein, which is needed to remove heavy metals from the body.

Also worth mentioning, most vaccines are cultured in egg protein. If a child is allergic to egg protein and is too young to have been diagnosed yet, there will be a reaction. The only protection from this would normally be the digestive system, which is bypassed when injecting a vaccine directly into the bloodstream.

There is also evidence of an autoimmune response to the myelin protein contained in MMR vaccines.

http://autoimmunedisease.suite101.com/article.cfm/autoimmune_autism

As for genetics, that may cause the predispositions that make some people more susceptible than others, but my opinion is that genetics are not the major cause.

Answer 4

The main reason why autism and other auto immune disorders have not decreased as a result of the change in policy for the use of thimerosol is three-fold:
1. Infant and child Vaccinations that contain thimerosol are still being used (e.g. MMR)
2. Infant and child vaccines that contain thimerosol are legal to use until sometime in 2007
3. The flu shot contains higher levels of thimerosol than the childhood vaccinations, but since it is not classified as an "infant vaccine" (although it is recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers and babies 6 months of age) it is not "discussed".
I recently read an article that discussed this issue and what they discovered is that if you gave your child a flu vaccination each year, even without the thimerosol in infant and child vaccinations (not to mention they are usually given in doses of 3 vaccines at a time) a person would have received three times the amount of thimerosol originally injected in by infant and childhood vaccinations alone.
Also, there have been a number of new vaccinations introduced to the market and children are receiving them unlike even ten years ago (chicken pox, phemonochocal and meningitis).
Every combo vaccination contains a mercury -based preservative. In fact, I also recently was informed of a new name being used for thimerisol on pharmaceutical packaging. I can get the specific name is anyone is interested.
Brenda

Answer 5

Many vaccines still DO contain thimerosal (until last year), Please watch www.awalkonwater.com.

I am the parent of two children, a girl with autism (age 6)and a boy without. My daughter received all of her immunizations, but my son has not.

What you must realize is that as an informed parent, I have done extensive research, the one strong factor in my decision for me not to vaccinate my newborn (now 2 1/2), was the results of my daughters titers. You see, although my daughter received all of her shots on schedule, many were ineffective and she still showed lack of immunity. Keep in mind that they are not 100% effective and in many cases, they fail.

The next factor I considered was that "if" my son did have a reaction of any kind (autism,shock, seizure, death,etc) to his vaccinations, who would ultimately take the responsibility?(financial and/or otherwise). Answer: ME
Thank you President Bush for the rider on the homeland security bill in 2002.

And lastly, think of the past. Back in the 70's autism was totally unheard of. I had to have 3 shots to get enrolled into grade school. Kids were not dropping dead left and right from the mumps, measules, rubella, diptheria, hepatitis B, or chicken pox.

Enough with the gene thing already. There may be a genetic link, however, the gene pool has not changed!
I know you want to just blame my genes for this, but more research in this area does not help much. It does not help us treat it, or prevent it.

AAhh..done venting..thank you.

Answer 6

I work with children with autism, and have 2 clients who never received a single vaccine because both their parents had another child with autism and blamed the shots. Well obviously they were wrong about that. One of the children ended up getting mumps, an was hospitialized for weeks. That child's mom changed her mind and got the 3 years old all his vaccines.

Answer 7

If you look at Rett Syndrome, an ASD that is from a genetic mutation, it may prove the vaccine argument is totally wrong. RS has a regressive phase between 6-18 months with autistic symptoms. This period is when kids get a lot of shots. So, one could conclude that other ASDs work the same way, we just haven't found the genetic cause...yet. My daughter has RS, and when she first regressed the first thing I thought of was those shots.

Answer 8

Back when they stated that it did cause autism the chances were 1 in 166 now there 1 in 150 So its gone up. It was all a cop out, complete BS. But it scared people and there are lots of people not getting their kids vaccinated because of it. Nice.

Answer 9

Autism was not caused by vaccination. I feel very sorry for parents of autistic children and I understand the easy logic for blaming thimerosol but it simply is not the case.

Vaccination rates are relatively unchanged but Autism is on the rise because it is diagnosed differently then in the past and also includes many fringe disorders that are not related to autism. In addition it is now a legal requirement to report autism whereas in the past it was not. This is why there is an apparent rise in autism rates.

Little comfort to parents of autistic kids but it is fact nonetheless, believe it. Ignoring the data and latching on to uninformed public opinion is of no value.

Answer 10

I still think autism has something to do with vaccination. There is so much junk in a vaccine to just focus on the mercury I think is close minded. There are other things such as aluminum in them. Also, how do doctors know that the body is supposed to develop immunity to so many different things at the same time. I have read a lot on this subject and I have talked to several mothers who believe their childs problems are from vaccination. But of course no one believes that a mother knows her own child, they only believe in double blind studies. Why do I read that the Amish, who don't vaccinate and another religion I believe in the midwest have no autism. Oh yes, I read that is because they don't watch television!