Investigative reporter Dan Olmstead looks into the controversial theory linking autism to childhood vaccinations. A maverick minority of scientists and a larger percentage of parents blame thimerosal--which is 49.6 percent ethyl mercury by weight--for the rising autism rate, up tenfold in 20 years to one in 150 8-year-old U.S. children. Some parents say they watched their children become physically ill and regress into autism soon after they got shots that contained the chemical--a link public-health officials dispute, stating there's a difference between anectdotal evidence and causation. (Baltimore City Paper)
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Enrique Gili is a freelance writer covering Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS), issues for regional magazines in the Southland and beyond. I live in Ocean Beach, San Diego the coolest beach town around.
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Mercury Rising
Category: Health
Posted on: March 1, 2007 11:19 AM, by EJGili
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Several nations that have banned thimerosal from vaccines are continuing to have an increase in autism rates. That is, children that have never had mercury in their vaccines are getting autism at ever increasing rates. Doesn't that sound like proof that it's time to put this fairy tale to bed?
It's frustrating to read: "Some parents say they watched their children become physically ill and regress into autism soon after they got shots that contained the chemical--a link public-health officials dispute, stating there's a difference between anectdotal evidence and causation."
If experts and parents disagreed about the existence of quarks, no one would listen to the parents. But apparently, having a child makes one a qualified epidemiologist.
Posted by: factician | March 2, 2007 04:50 PM