"I would not claim that children are getting no mercury from vaccines" - Schechter

If you read the media accounts of the recent California epidemiological study you would reasonably conclude that ALL mercury/thimerosal was removed from California vaccines after 2001. Boyd Haley, a University of Kentucky chemist and proponent of the vaccine causes autism theory, describes that assertion as a false premise which undermines the conclusions of the California report:

Boyd Haley, a mercury researcher and leading proponent of the mercury-autism connection, maintains that the California study proves nothing because it is based on a "false premise" that children in California haven't been getting any mercury from vaccines over the past several years.

"They say that mercury was totally out of vaccines in 2001 ... and that's absolutely false," Haley declared.

Haley contends that some child vaccines still contained mercury preservative well after 2001, and that many children might have continued to receive the vaccines because California didn't actually enact a law banning them until 2006. If children were still getting mercury in vaccines after 2001, that could explain why autism rates didn't fall, Haley contends.

- Kentucky.com, Lexington Herald Leader, February 4, 2008

Dr. Robert Schechter, lead author on the report, stands by its findings but appears to acknowledge that not ALL mercury contaminants would have been removed from California vaccines after 2001:

"Autism rates increased consistently ... throughout this period, despite the exclusion of mercury from nearly all childhood vaccines," Schechter said in an interview. "Our findings are inconsistent with the idea that mercury could be the explanation for increases in autism."

As for Haley's argument that some children still might be getting some mercury from vaccines, Schechter said that could be true. But he said the general removal of thimerosal from vaccines still should have caused autism rates to fall -- if mercury were the culprit in the disease.

"I would not claim that children are getting no mercury from vaccines," Schechter said. "But the average exposure for the population has been substantially decreased over the past decade. If mercury from vaccinations was a primary cause of autism, you would expect rates to be dropping substantially."

-emphasis added, Kentucky.com

autism

Read more »

Autism Rising in California - Why?

The headlines trumpeting the recent California epidemiological autism study as the final stake through the heart of the thimerosal /vaccine theory of autism causation are premature according to some proponents of that theory. They point to the 2005 expiration dates on some of the vaccines containing larger amounts of thimerosal, thimoseral containing flu shots given to pregnant mothers, immigration to California of children who would have received vaccine shots elsewhere, the combining effects of remaining trace amounts of thimerosal with other substances contained in the vaccine etc. Opponents of the theory point out that autism rates in California continued to rise AFTER most of the thimerosal was supposed to have been removed from the vaccines. Those opposing the thimerosal autism theory have the weight of medical and scientific opinion in support based on earlier epidemiological studies from other countries. The big question which remains though is WHY is autism still rising in California?

As stated by California DPH Medical Officer Robert Schechter, MD:

""We are reassured that we found no link between routine childhood vaccination and increases in childhood autism in the data," California DPH Medical Officer Robert Schechter, MD, tells WebMD. "But the finding that there are increasing numbers of kids who need services is not reassuring. We support efforts to find preventable causes of autism."

There are those who routinely claim that autism diagnosis increases are due entirely to the 1994 definition expansion of autism, greater public awareness and the knowledge among assessing physicians and parents that an autism label may provide access to services for their child. It seems safe to assume that such factors would be significant factors in the increases, particularly the change in definition of autism. But where are the studies showing that such factors explain entirely the large increases in autism diagnoses?

If environmental factors, such as the pesticides sprayed in California fields which may have contributed to elevated numbers of autism diagnoses of families living near those fields, are also at play should we not know about those factors and modify them? If we are in fact causing autism by use of various chemicals should we not modify our practices to prevent autism?

autism

Read more »