Genetics and hope for defeating autism

Finding that there are genetic causes for autism is not a way of "blaming the victim or the victim's parents", any more than the discovery of genetic factors in breast or colon cancer constitutes blaming the victims of those diseases. What research into the genetics of autism offers is a potential means of early diagnosis and treatment of affected children, plus the hope that this disease can be prevented by new therapies in the future.

Falsely blaming vaccines for autism is not only detrimental to the fight to prevent and treat autism - it places all children at risk from harmful diseases that are largely prevented by vaccination.

"Autism never appeared until mercury was introduced to society!"

Many disorders were not fully recognized until relatively recent times. That doesn't mean we should blame them on vaccines, TV broadcasts, cellphones or whatever it is fashionable to demonize.
Societies have been exposed to mercury for many centuries (for instance, through mining or manufacturing, as in making hats). The symptoms of mercury toxicity are not those of autism.

Thimerosal was gone from virtually all vaccines by 2002 (even flu vaccine is now available without thimerosal). If thimerosal was the cause of autism, autism rates should have plummeted in recent years. The evidence is clear that they haven't. There is no justification for blaming autism on vaccination.


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