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Vaccine Debate Not Over
By Richard | November 11, 2008
Autism Speaks: Don’t Rule Out Vaccines
Is the vaccine-autism debate over? Not according to the co-founder of the largest, most mainstream, most influential autism organization in the world.
In an article published in the Daily Telegraph of the UK, Autism Speaks co-founder Bob Wright, former head of NBC and grandfather to an autistic child, is quoted rather extensively on the vaccine controversy.
Mr. Wright is essentially saying the same thing as I have been saying for quite some time: This debate is not over, and it is incumbent upon our government to study the long-term effects of our national vaccine schedule on (genetically) susceptible individuals.
Here is what he said:
There is no question but that autism is partly genetic and partly environmental, but we don’t know whether environmental factors account for 30, 50 or 60 per cent of cases … we ought to be able to zero in on some of the environmental factors in early childhood. Vaccines are one of the variables.
The last vaccine (my grandson) Christian had before he regressed was MMR - that’s why my daughter concentrates on that. I don’t know whether his autism is linked: it was certainly coincidental, what we don’t know is if it was causal. Nor do we know whether the thimerosal (the mercury-based preservative used in vaccines) is a factor, although mercury is clearly poisonous.
Governments want to run from that issue but they should become more aggressively involved. They have to follow children through to see if there are any effects. When we spend so much money on vaccines, we should be spending money tracking each year group.
Topics: In The News, Vaccines |