crossposted at Our Spectrum
I usually avoid this topic because there are so many other things to talk about when it comes to autism and ASD. But, I have just seen this press release about an upcoming paper and felt it needed to be addressed.
It seems that Quebec has taken thimerosal out of all of its vaccinations over ten years ago. Based on the press release they did an intensive study of autism rates over those ten years and are now presenting their findings. What they are you can probably guess from the headline.
More on the study after the break.
Dr. Eric Fombonne, Canada Research Chair in Child Psychiatry, an internationally renowned specialist on autism and professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at McGill, is head of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Montreal Children's Hospital site of the McGill University Health Centre.
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Pubmed search for Eric Fombonne backs up the statement that he is a world leader in the scientific research of autism. At the 10th International Child Neurology Congress being held in Montreal, Dr. Fombonne reported on the best results to date that mercury does not cause autism. I will offer the caveat that this study is still not available online.
From the article:
MONTREAL - A new Quebec study casts doubt on the popular theory that mercury poisoning from childhood vaccinations can cause autism. The theory has prevailed despite several previous studies around the world that have failed to find any connection between autism and common childhood vaccines containing mercury.
This is the part that most of you reading this blog entry already know, what I hadn't known was that Quebec changed its vaccine formula 10 years ago and that children have received thimerosal-free vaccines since then. Fombonne compared autism rates among children before and after the vaccine change. I think the key argument here is as follows.
If, thimerosal causes autism or influences autism, then the rate of ASD should drop since 1996.
If, the increase in autism is due to better awareness and screens, then the rate should increase since 1996.
"My study is very clear in showing that there's no relationship between the level of exposure to thimerosol in vaccine and autism," Fombonne said in an interview.
"In fact, in my study the incidence of (autism) is higher in the years when there was no mercury."
While I normally stay out of this debate, I think it is time to step up and say that unless these studies are inherently flawed (which I doubt, it is a very prestigious journal), then the debate is over. Mercury poisoning does not cause autism. Is it a smart idea to have a known neurotoxin in vaccines, not in my book. But, the time has come for mercury parents to accept the genetics of autism.
