May 25,2010
I am so sorry Dr. Wakefield has lost his license. But I still believe we are seeing medical history unfold right in front of us.
I still stand firmly behind Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues and his research.
Wakefield vows to continue vaccine-autism research – In The Parenthood – Boston.com
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I am sorry, but I do not agree at all. He admitted to using made up data not long after the study. This wasn't openly admitted until just recently. Meanwhile, there have been serious outbreaks of measles and mumps in different regions of the US, because people aren't getting their children vaccinated. I do not believe there is a link between vaccines and autism. I believe it is caused by something else.
Debbie you don't have to be sorry for not agreeing, that is what this discussion is all about.
I disagree with your statement of "serious outbreaks". Most of these outbreaks have been less than 20 people each. I personally know many children with autism and whose parents believe vaccines caused their regression. They have seen their children get a shot and then get sick and regress. I would argue that autism is the epidemic and these are the serious outbreaks – not 20 or so people getting sick of the measles. (Please realize that I am not saying these vaccines are not useful, I am saying that there is something wrong with them and they need to be fixed. Whether it is for a subset of the population or if they are just not as safe as they should be).
I know there are thousands of parents that have seen a link between autism and a vaccine shot. There are studies that show a connection (please google 14 studies for more information)and Dr. Wakefield NEVER said vaccines cause autism he said that he found vaccine strain measles (not wild measles) in the guts of the autistic children he examined. How did that get there? Why were these children (like my own son) plagued with GI issues that no other doctors would treat? Why do the Amish not have the rates of autism that the general population has, and is it a coincidence that do not vaccinate? How about those immigrants from Somalia that are seeing autism at alarming rates when the disorder is almost non-existent in their native land where most vaccines are not used? These questions have NOT been answered.
I also think that autism is very complicated and therefore may be "caused" by multiple things. Such as saying "I have cancer", well that really tells you nothing. What kind of cancer? How did you get it – genetics, exposure to toxin, etc? Autism is multilayered and there can easily be multiple causes, including but not limited to vaccines.
I said the outbreaks of measles were serious, because for the first time they saw a mutation in them. Some of the adults that caught it had either been previously vaccinated or already had the measles. The outbreaks were much larger than 20 cases.
I myself have a son on the autism spectrum. I have been a teacher, and worked with many autistic children. I do not disagree with the increasing numbers of autism. But there is a debate whether it is actually increasing, or if it is because of the ability to diagnose it better.
Dr Wakefield accepted money from a lawyer to come up with his findings. He himself admitted to making up data. Here is just one story of it-http://tallguywrites.livejournal.com/148012.html
The Amish don't have autism,because they do not test for it. Their children are not required to go to schools were it would be noticed. Somila has under 500 doctors in the whole country. Their medical system is in shambles. People are starving there, I believe autism would be the last thing noticed there. Once they come here any concerns would be picked up.
Autism needs to be studied. But having people not vaccinate their children is a dangerous road to go down.