Debbie,

AWESOME column, GREAT advice. As a mom of a 7yr old I went thru the same fears of having my son vaccinated and knowing other parents who chose not to and even some who blamed the vaccinations on their child's problems. I chose to vaccinate my son and am very glad I did.

The diseases are much worse than the fear of the vaccinations, fortunately I followed my doctor's advice. These diseases are horrible and can easily be prevented with a vaccine.

Shame on the fear-mongers who have the stage because they are Hollywood "stars". Shame on the Oprah's who help them out.

Outstanding article. I'm the father of a 3 year old and he hasn't missed any vaccinations nor will he. He's healthy and bright and very active.

When I need advice on a car problem, I go to a mechanic. When I need medical advice, I go the the appropriate doctor/dentist/surgeon/etc. I just don't get the people that listen to a Playboy Playmate/actress/bim for important matters like this. I'm sorry that her child contracted autism, but don't just lash out at immunizations when you could be carrying the gene that causes it.

While I would not cite Jenny McCarthy to espouse this position, there are PLENTY of scientific studies that suggest that mercury contained in the Thimerosal preservative which used to be in vaccines until recently have, in fact, played some role in the rise in autism rates.

My wife and I had our first son injected with every recommended vaccine. He is now autistic. We were more selective with our next two children, and we insisted that any vaccination would have to be done with a vaccine that did not contain thimerosal.

I'm not saying that we should look to Jenny McCarthy as an appropriate expert. I'm just saying that there is a lot of scientific evidence to suggest she's right.

I happened to catch McCarthy's appearance on 'The View' and what I recall was her saying that there was no certainty to any one single cause and that autism might be attributable to several causes potentially acting in concert. She added that your physician should be consulted, and my take away was that she was not absolute for the cause of autism, just that you be aware and ask questions.

Not bad advice.

I'm a law student, not a medical expert, but I would venture to guess that there were many other factors that led to this boy's autism. We have family friends with an autistic child, and it usually works out that mothers who have kids at an older age have a much greater chance of having a child that is either autistic or retarded/suffering from Down's Syndrome.

As to McCarthy's advice to not vaccinnate kids, I would recommend you talk to public health officials who live in 3rd world hellholes that still have some of these diseases. Having vaccinations like these required is one of the things that gives us First World status. You don't see leper colonies, small pox outbreaks, etc. here in the states. The chances of an unvaccinated kid getting some illness he just shouldn't get are much greater than the kid developing autism.

A woman who peels off her clothes for money is hardly my idea of a source for medical advice! What are people thinking?

Debbie, you mentioned the University of Google - is there really such a school? I thought for sure that the first mention of it was just a joke, but then Dr. Brown also mentioned it. What/where is this place?

[DR. D: DEFINITELY A JOKE. DR. BROWN'S JOKE, WHICH I REPEATED IN THE INTRO TO HER PIECE. BUT THE WAY OUR SOCIETY IS GOING, DON'T BE SURPRISED IF IN 100 YEARS, THERE ACTUALLY IS A UNIVERSITY OF GOOGLE. SEE THE MOVIE "IDIOCRACY" AND YOU'LL SEE IT'S PROBABLY NOT SO FARFETCHED. DS]

Good for you Debbie… taking the time, and making the effort to fight ALL FORMS of idiocy, whenever you come across them. It’s amazing what people will believe, and what trend they will follow,on the advice of the “stars”.

I once rented a house from a very intelligent, chartered accountant who was a “vegan”. No meat etc., you know the drill. But he gave it all up one day because a nurse was bold enough to show him the “truth” and consequences of his beliefs.

John had given blood at a nearby clinic responding to their cry for blood and immediately found out that his donation was refused. Here is a guy… eating healthy everything, and he was told his blood was just no good!

He was floored.

The thoughtful nurse took him over their testing area and showed him some simple science. Vile of water, one drop of his vegan blood, and look… it floats on the top. Again, another vile of water, one drop non-vegan, or “normal” blood, and look it sinks to the bottom.

John’s blood didn’t cut it because it lacked a rather basic, but critical, and healthy density.

But John was smart enough to change, and he started eating meat etc. after that.

I hope the TV crowd and other simpletons hear your rebuttal and your quoting of this good doctor repeated on some national programme, (this issue actually NEEDS international attention) so that some of these “dummies” and their children may be saved from their own whimsical “ignorance” ~

Years ago, I interviewed a woman in San Antonio whose three children had taken the vaccines. The daughter was fine while the sons became autistic. I kept in touch with this woman, and she said that while she believed the vaccines caused her sons' autism, she had no explanation for why her daughter--getting the same vaccine and being blood-related to her sons--didn't have autism, nor was she able to conclude in her exhaustive research that it was the vaccine that caused her sons' problems.

You have forgotten to even mention the guru of tha vaccine/autism conspiracy; Robert Kennedy Jr.

This vaccine/autism bit is old old news that has been discredited HUNDREDS of times by authorities from all over the world.

But, there will always be those who think they have proven something based on the ancient Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy: Latin for "after this, therefore because of this"

Actually, most, if not all, of the "studies" that discredit the link between rising autism rates and thimerosal are paid for by the vaccination industry.

Companies like Eli Lilly have a lot of money wrapped up in ensuring that an entire generation of children don't come after them for causing their autistic condition. For example, did you know that when the Homeland Security Bill was passed in '02, a last minute addition to the bill gave Eli Lilly blanket immunity from civil suits for Thimerosal? The midnight inclusion of the immunity provision in the Bill was so humiliating that Bill Frist had to see to its removal.

I would guess that Jenny's son's autism was caused by overuse of silicone. Anyone with half a brain knows that when taking any medicine one has to balance the risks against the benefits. Is Jenny turning into a Scientologist, or what?

Oh dear--the conspiracy nuts are back..

Why let the facts about thimerosal get in the way? And then, there's the other side that blames autism on the bugs in the vaccine, not the thimerosal.

And, of course, there were studies on Amish kids, most of whom never got vaccinated--and their autism rates are about the same...

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm#t1

Hopefully, the fact that a bim like Jenny picks up on all this crap will finally discredit it even more.

I work with a guy who has TWO Autistic kids. He thinks the vaccination thing is nonsense. Great job Debbie.

Sorry to those parents of autistic kids, but the fact is that there are MANY diseases with no proven etiology.

My advice is to concentrate on getting your kid healthy, and forget about etiology, as it is unknown at this time.

Even lung cancer, for which smoking is overwhelmingly the cause, still claims plenty of victims who have never smoked, so to try to hang your hat on a "pop" etiology for autism is pointless.

Sadly, this will not stop parents of kids who were born long after thimerosal was even used in a particular vaccine, to claim etiology.

The earlier example of a non-existent Hep-C vaccine cited is typical, also.

I'm participating in a genetic link to austism study with the University of Utah. They began back in the 1980's (I don't remember much, as I was around 6 or 7 years old). They're trying to find out if autism is genetic, and what happens with certain treatments over a 20 year span.

Some of my family has autism, dating back before vaccines were discovered. I was deemed to have a learning disability early in life, and was subjected to multiple mind-altering and other kinds of drugs since I was 8 years old. When I was 22, I was re-diagonosed with Severe PTSD - easily treated with therapy. It took a lot of folks a lot of money to screw me up. My mother was the driving force behind the medicating, mostly through her own guibility with so-called "experts" hired by the school district. She has repented of this recently.

I've been rehabilitating for the last 7 years; as the medications left me severely underweight, mentally and emotionally ravished, and under educated.

Debbie gives a great point of view. Search for real experts, and not just some skank with no credability.

Debbie, the vaccine/autism group is a big bunch of loser morons, greedy lawyers, and greedy loser morons who want a payout for autism, real and imagined. Perhaps you could compare them to the man made global warming crowd, who want to impose a new global totalitarian order to cure a crisis they concocted. Also since you are so pretty why do we get so few pictures of you?

Hourman, what is the "vaccination industry?" Eli Lilly makes loads upon loads of pharmaceutical drugs, not just vaccines, so I'd hardly call it a "vaccination industry." It, like all others, are diversified beyond that of vaccines.

Beyond that, Eli Lilly may in fact have attempted what you've stated (I don't feel like researching it), but that's a highly common occurance in federal legislation. There's always a big corporation with deep pockets, and lobbyists by the truck load that get congress to add on legislation to protect them from this or that, or to assist them in keeping/gaining profit. It in no way is proof that vaccinations cause autism.

I certainly understand your desire for it to be so -Elvis conspiracists believe he's still alive because they yearn so deeply for it to be true that they can't take the truth that's staring them right in the face.

Anytime someone of authority in the scientific world comes out against AGW, or 9-11 conspiracies, the opposing side instantaneously accusing them of being gotten to, or paid off by the government or evil corporation that stands to lose if their side is believed.

Without getting into any sort of shouting match, I'd like to know what truth is "staring [me] right in the face" that I'm unwilling to take. I just pointed out that a lot of the studies which discredit the link between Thimerosal and autism are sponsored by the industry which produces the product.

I'm so NOT trying to get into a shouting match, I meant pure respectful dialogue in my reply to you. I hope you read it with that intent.

I didn't mean to imply that there was truth that you refused to accept. I just meant to say that you might be believing in something untrue, because you want it to be true so badly.

On with the discussion, who finances the studies that prove that there is in fact, a link?

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