Janice Hopkins Tanne
A Danish study of more than half a million children showed no link between measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism.
In a commentary accompanying the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2002;347:1477-82)
Lead author Dr Kreesten Meldgaard Madsen, an epidemiologist and expert on infectious diseases at the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre in Aarhus, told the BMJ that the study showed that the risk of autism was similar in children who were vaccinated and children who were not.
The study reviewed records of 537303 children born in Denmark between January 1991 and December 1998, representing almost 100% of children born in that period. Of these children 440655 had been vaccinated. Records were retrieved from three sources: the unique identification number assigned to each child at birth; MMR vaccination data reported to the National Board of Health by general practitioners, who give all MMR vaccinations and are reimbursed for their reports; and diagnoses of autism recorded in the Danish Psychiatric Central Registry. Only specialists in child psychiatry diagnose autism and related conditions.
The study considered the children's sex, weight and gestational age at birth, and age at diagnosis of autism or of a related disorder; the socioeconomic status of the parents; and the mother's education.
The authors found that "There was no increase in the risk of autistic disorder or other autistic-spectrum disorders among vaccinated children as compared with unvaccinated children (adjusted relative risk of autistic disorder, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.68 to 1.24; adjusted relative risk of other autistic-spectrum disorders, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.65 to 1.07)."
In addition, the authors found no association between the development of autistic disorder and the age at vaccination, the interval since vaccination, or the calendar period at the time of vaccination.
Children were vaccinated at 15 to 17 months, and catch up vaccination was given to older children when the vaccine was introduced in 1987. Almost all children were vaccinated before the age of 3 years. The mean age at diagnosis for autism was 4 years, 3 months, and for autistic spectrum disorders 5 years, 3 months.
Although MMR vaccination was introduced in Denmark in 1987, the rise in autism began only in the mid-1990s. "If it [MMR vaccination] caused autism, we would see a greater risk [soon] after its introduction," Dr Madsen said, but the study did not show that. Autism is increasing, perhaps because of better diagnosis, but there is no link to MMR vaccination, he said.
The retrospective nature of the study may be its strength, Dr Madsen told the BMJ. Recall bias, such as when parents whose children are given a diagnosis of autism recall events that occurred around the time of the diagnosis, was absent. In this study, data on vaccination were recorded separately from data on diagnosis.
MMR vaccination protects children against disease, Dr Madsen said. "Measles kills one in 3000 children, even in developed countries. It causes encephalitis in one in 2000 and pneumonia in one in 20. People tend to forget."A new study shows a direct relationship between mercury in children's vaccines and autism, contradicting government claims there is no proven relationship between the two.
Published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, the data show since mercury was removed from childhood vaccines, the reported rates of autism and other neurological disorders in children not only stopped increasing but actually dropped sharply – by as much as 35 percent.
Using the government's own databases, independent researchers analyzed reports of childhood neurological disorders, including autism, before and after removal of mercury-based preservatives.
According to a statement from the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, or AAPS, the numbers from California show that reported autism rates hit a high of 800 in May 2003. If that trend had continued, the reports would have risen to more than 1,000 by the beginning of 2006. But the number actually went down to 620, a real decrease of 22 percent, and a decrease from the projection of 35 percent.
Stated the AAPS: "This analysis directly contradicts 2004 recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, which examined vaccine safety data from the National Immunization Program of the CDC. While not willing to either rule out or to corroborate a relationship between mercury and autism, the IOM soft-pedaled its findings and decided no more studies were needed."
As more and more vaccines were added to the mandatory schedule of vaccines for children, the dose of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal rose, so that the cumulative dose injected into babies exceeded the toxic threshold set by many government agencies, the physicians' group explained.
Up until about 1989, pre-school children got only three vaccines – polio, DPT and MMR. By 1999, the CDC recommended a total of 22 vaccines to be given before children reach the first grade, including Hepatitis B, which is given to newborns within the first 24 hours of birth. Many of these vaccines contained mercury. In the 1990s, approximately 40 million children were injected with mercury-containing vaccines.
The rate of autism skyrocketed between 1989 and 2003. Currently, there are more than a half million children in the U.S. who have autism.
In 1999, on the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics and U.S. Public Health Service, thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines as a "precautionary" measure. There was no admission of any causal link between thimerosal and autism.
The authors of the new report, David A. Geier, B.A. and Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D., believe consumers should still be concerned about mercury, as it is still added to some of the most commonly used vaccines, such as those for flu.
States the report: "Despite its removal from many childhood vaccines, thimerosal is still routinely added to some formulations of influenza vaccine administered to U.S. infants, as well as to several other vaccines (e.g. tetanus-diphtheria and monovalent tetanus) administered to older children and adults. In 2004, the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences retreated from the stated 1999 goal of the AAP and the PHS to remove thimerosal from U.S. vaccines as soon as possible. … As a result, assessing the safety of [thimerosal-containing vaccines] is a matter of significant importance."
Bibliography of Thimerosal, Immune and Gastrointestinal Studies that NAA feels are relevant.
May 2005
Evidence of Collusion
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee Sponsored Workshop on Thimerosal Vaccines
Day One, Day Two
and
Scientific Review of Vaccine Safety Datalink Information
The Simpsonwood Documents
Safe Mind’s Assessment
The Simpsonwood Documents (selected quotes)
Thimerosal
Comparison of Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to
Methylmercury or Vaccines Containing Thimerosal
This NIH-funded study, conducted by Dr. Thomas Burbacher, a University of Washington researcher, found that Thimerosal, best known for its use as an ethylmercury-based preservative in infant vaccines and pregnancy shots, is actually more toxic to the brain than methylmercury (MeHg).
Comparison of organic and inorganic mercury distribution in suckling rat
Published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology
Thimerosal Neurotoxicity is Associated with Glutathione Depletion: Protection with Glutathione Precursors
Jill James, et al - November 2004
A published study showing genetically susceptible mice will develop autistic symptoms when exposed to thimerosal.
Neurotoxic effects of postnatal thimerosal are mouse strain dependent.
Biochemical and molecular basis of thimerosal-induced apoptosis in T cells: a major role of mitochondrial pathway
Apoptosis in T Cells by Thimerosal 3/03
Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase-3 activation, membrane damage, and cell death in cultured human neurons and fibroblasts.
Baskin Thimerosal Study 6/03
Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopment Outcomes
Boyd Haley Affidavit 9/03
This study presents the first epidemiologic evidence, based upon tens of millions of doses of vaccine administered in the United States, that associates increasing Thimerosal from vaccines with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Neurodevelopmental Disorders after TCV's - Geiers
Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal
Deth and Waley Molecular Psychiatry 2004
This analysis describes the concerns which Safe Minds has over a recently published study in The Lancet by Michael Pichichero et al.(1) in which blood measurements were taken of infants after administration of vaccines containing thimerosal. The article and accompanying commentary contain several sweeping statements about thimerosal safety:
Safe Minds Assessment of the Pichichero Thimerosal Study
Eli Lilly - Thimerosal Material Safety Data Sheet
Revised in June, 1991
Immunoadsorption is increasingly used to treat antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases.To prevent microbial growth during storage, reusable protein A gel columns are primed with ethyl mercury thiosalicylate (thiomersal,0.1% solution) and rinsed with phosphate buffer before use. In this study,we tested the hypothesis of systemic mercury exposure in protein A immunoadsorption
Thimerosal Exposure in Immuno adsorption Austria 1-04
Effect of thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines, on intracellular Ca(2+) concentration of rat cerebellar neurons
Toxicology 1-04
Danish Thimerosal-Autism Study in Pediatrics: Misleading and Uninformative on Autism-Mercury Link by Mark Blaxill (NOTE: This is a refutation of the study you posted)
Danish Thimerosal Autism Study
Failure of inactivated influenza A vaccine to protect healthy children aged 6 to 24 months - Is the CDC recommending exposure to thimerosal for an ineffective vaccine?
Flu Vaccine
Failure of inactivated influenza A vaccine to protect healthy children aged 6-24 months
Published in Pediatrics International
Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccine during Pregnancy in Preventing Hospitalizations and Outpatient Visits for Respiratory Illness in Pregnant Women and Their Infants
Published in the American Journal of Perinatology
MMR
Commentary: MMR and Autism in Perspective: the Denmark Story
An Investigation of the Association Between MMR Vaccination and Autism in Denmark 8/04
This study is the latest in a series that examines the relationship between persistent measles virus infection and regressive autism.
Detection of Measles Virus Genomic RNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Children with Regressive Autism: a Report of Three Cases.
Elevated Levels of Measles Antibodies in Children with Autism
Singh Elevated MV Antibody Titers 2003
Assessment of the Denmark MMR-Autism Study
Denmark MMR Study Assessment
Vaccine Safety Datalink
Generation Zero Full Analysis with Charts - Safe Minds 2004
Thomas Verstraeten’s First Analyses of the Link Between
Vaccine Mercury Exposure and the Risk of Diagnosis of
Selected Neuro-Developmental Disorders Based on Data from
the Vaccine Safety Datalink: November-December 1999
Generation Zero Synopsis - Safe Minds 2004
Verstraeten - It Just Won't Go Away
Vaccine Safety Datalink Study, Feb. 2000 (Generation 1)
Author, Thomas Verstraten. CDC study examining the link between thimerosal containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Vaccine Safety Datalink Study, June. 2000 (Generation 2)
The latest variation of Verstraeten's study which was discussed at Simpsonwood.
A CDC official who helped write the study accepted the critics charge that it contained many children too young to be diagnosed as autistic. “This is true, said scientist Frank DeStefano”
Missing the Mercury Menace, National Journal 1/04
Analysis and critique of the CDC’s handling of the Thimerosal exposure assessment based on vaccine safety datalink (VSD) information
VSD SafeMinds Critique
Aluminum
Aluminum in Vaccines
The Workshop on Aluminum in Vaccines, Puerto Rico, May 11, and 12, 2000
The full transcripts of a U.S. government-sponsored scientific meeting on aluminum and vaccines. The meeting raised concerns that aluminum may trigger adverse reactions. These are two large PDF files.
Part One - Part Two
Political Action
Letter to the Office of Special Counsel
Requesting an investigation of the FDA and CDC
Institute of Medicine
Statement of Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D., Member of Congress
Before the Institute of Medicine on February 9, 2004
Media Reports
RFK Jr. on Thimerosal in Vaccines
Uncut Interview with Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News
Click on CBS News RAW under Multimedia on the right side of the page.
Mercury Rising
A CBS News Report by Sharyl Atkisson
Toxic Tipping Point
by Andrea Rock, MotherJones.com March/April 2004
The Not-So-Crackpot Autism Theory
Sunday's Magazine section, New York Times. By Arthur Allen. Nov. 11, 2002
Mercury Poisoning
Summary Comparison of Characteristics of Autism & Mercury Poisoning
Comparing autism versus mercury poisoning
Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning
How Mercury Causes Brain Neuron Degeneration
Click here to view video from the University of Calgary.
A Case-Control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
Bradstreet Study 7/03
The Toxicology of Mercury — Current Exposures and Clinical Manifestations
Thomas W. Clarkson, Ph.D., Laszlo Magos, M.D., and Gary J. Myers, M.D.
New England Journal of Medicine, October 2003
Reduced Levels of Mercury in First Baby Haircuts of Autistic Children
First Baby Haircuts
A Report Prepared by the Staff of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness Committee on Government Reform United States House of Representatives
Mercury in Medicine 5/03
Autism Epidemic
The following is taken from the official State statistics produced by the Department of Education in the United States, for numbers of children aged 6-21 served by IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities Discrimination Act) who have autism. It compares the increase over the ten years between 1992-93 and 2003-04:
Autism Increase Rates in US by State
American Academy of Pediatrics
Autism A.L.A.R.M.
More Autism Studies
Oxidative Stress in Autism - November/December 2004
Woody R. McGinnis, MD
What’s Going On? The Question of Time Trends in Autism
Mark Blaxill, MBA - October 2004
Reduced violent behavior following biochemical therapy
William J. Walsh, Journal of Physiology & Behavior, June 2004
To investigate whether changes over time in the criteria used to diagnose CDER status 1 autism account for a significant proportion of the increased number of cases of autism.
Epidemiology of Autism in CA
Survey of novel recent findings
FDA - Developmental neurotoxicology of therapeutics
Statement by Martha R. Herbert, M.D., Ph.D.
Large Heads in Autism 7/03
Statements like this are very common in anti-vaccine literature, the intent apparently being to suggest that vaccines are not needed. Improved socioeconomic conditions have undoubtedly had an indirect impact on disease. Better nutrition, not to mention the development of antibiotics and other treatments, have increased survival rates among the sick; less crowded living conditions have reduced disease transmission; and lower birth rates have decreased the number of susceptible household contacts. But looking at the actual incidence of disease over the years can leave little doubt of the significant direct impact vaccines have had, even in modern times. Here, for example, is a graph showing the reported incidence of measles from 1950 to the present.
There were periodic peaks and valleys throughout the years, but the real, permanent drop in case of measles in the U.S. coincided with the licensure and wide use of measles vaccine beginning in 1963. Graphs for most other vaccine-preventable diseases show a similar pattern. Are we expected to believe that better sanitation caused incidence of each disease to drop, just at the time a vaccine for that disease was introduced?
*The incidence rate of hepatitis B has not dropped so dramatically yet because the infants we began vaccinating in 1991 will not be at high risk for the disease until they are at least teenagers. We therefore expect about a 15 year lag between the start of universal infant vaccination and a significant drop in disease incidence.
Hib vaccine is another good example, because Hib disease was prevalent until just a few years ago, when conjugate vaccines that can be used for infants were finally developed. (The polysaccharide vaccine previously available could not be used for infants, in whom most cases of the disease were occurring.) Since sanitation is not better now than it was in 1990, it is hard to attribute the virtual disappearance of Haemophilus influenzae disease in children in recent years (from an estimated 20,000 cases a year to 1,419 cases in 1993, and dropping) to anything other than the vaccine.
Varicella can also be used to illustrate the point, since modern sanitation has obviously not prevented nearly 4 million cases each year in the United States. If diseases were disappearing, we should expect varicella to be disappearing along with the rest of them. But nearly all children in the United States get the disease today, just as they did 20 years ago or 80 years ago. Based on experience with the varicella vaccine in studies before licensure, we can expect the incidence of varicella to drop significantly now that a vaccine has been licensed for the United States. Active surveillance in a number of countries and cities demonstrate a 76-86% decrease in varicella cases from 1995-2001.
Finally, we can look at the experiences of several developed countries after they let their immunization levels drop. Three countries - Great Britain, Sweden, and Japan - cut back the use of pertussis vaccine because of fear about the vaccine. The effect was dramatic and immediate. In Great Britain, a drop in pertussis vaccination in 1974 was followed by an epidemic of more than 100,000 cases of pertussis and 36 deaths by 1978. In Japan, around the same time, a drop in vaccination rates from 70% to 20%-40% led to a jump in pertussis from 393 cases and no deaths in 1974 to 13,000 cases and 41 deaths in 1979. In Sweden, the annual incidence rate of pertussis per 100,000 children 0-6 years of age increased from 700 cases in 1981 to 3,200 in 1985. It seems clear from these experiences that not only would diseases not be disappearing without vaccines, but if we were to stop vaccinating, they would come back.
Of more immediate interest is the major epidemic of diphtheria which occurred in the former Soviet Union from 1989 to 1994, where low primary immunization rates for children and the lack of booster vaccinations for adults have resulted in an increase from 839 cases in 1989 to nearly 50,000 cases and 1,700 deaths in 1994. There have already been at least 20 imported cases in Europe and two cases in U.S. citizens working in the former Soviet Union.
source : CDC