Advanced Pediatrics Statement on Autism
Spring, 2009
What is Autism?
The word autism derives from the root auto meaning self. At its heart autism is a problem with a person’s ability to relate or connect to other people, rendering that person turned towards their self. Of all human brain functions, namely walking, talking, using our hands, and socializing, the ability to socialize is by far the most complicated and challenging. To connect and relate to another person effectively, you must be able to read that other person’s mood and interests. When does another person want to say hello, or be with you, or avoid you, or get angry with you, or be glad to see you? To connect to others and relate effectively, a person must be able to answer all of these and many other such questions.
Do Vaccines Cause Autism?
Before answering this question, we would like to repeat that our approach to investigating the facts is based on the best scientific methods possible. We try to only review data that has not been sponsored by parties that have an interest in the answer, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, or groups that advocate answers prior to the study.
Advanced Pediatrics is proud of its policy to allow no drug companies to offer our practice any items of any value. We refuse all mailed goods such as pens and pads, and deny access to our office by any drug company representatives. We have adopted this policy to make sure that any advice we offer families is based solely on the facts and not influenced by and gifts.
With that in mind, we now present our view of the facts as of early March, 2008.
The scientific literature is quite clear that vaccines do not cause autism. Neither the vaccine or mercury in the vaccines appear to play any role in causing autism.
The most striking proof of this conclusion comes from Denmark. Nearly 20% of families in Denmark do not immunize their children at all, and so in this country a massive study on this question could be conducted. The study enrolled half a million children and studied them for seven years. The study ended up looking at the chance of two groups of children developing autism:
1. 100,000 children who got no vaccines of any type
2. 400,000 children who got all their vaccines. Some of these children had thimerosol in their vaccine, some did not.
The findings were dramatic. The chance of a child developing autism was the same in both groups. If a child got no vaccines at all, they had the same chance of developing autism as those who got vaccine, with or without thimerosol.
These chances of developing autism, of course, went up over the 7 years of the study, and the other striking finding was that the rise in the odds of developing autism went up at the same rate whether you got any vaccine at all or not.
This study proves that if we stopped immunizing children altogether, the chance of developing autism would continue to rise without any change. If your newborn or child is not immunized, the chance of developing autism will not change!
What Does Cause Autism?
We are convinced that a most frightening and disturbing epidemic of autism is afflicting our children and community. We are sad and angry that essentially no serious efforts have been launched by the United States or United Nations to find out why. As a result of this failure to investigate, as of today we have no idea what causes autism, only that vaccines do not.
Our view is that two parties are primarily responsible for the failure to find the cause, and that it is the antagonism of these two parties that has created this paralysis. One group are the advocacy groups that have already made up their mind about the cause: vaccines. The other group are those scientists who respond to the false claim about vaccines causing autism by denying that an epidemic is upon us. Together these groups have opposed serious investigation into the cause of the autism epidemic. The vaccine advocacy groups oppose finding the cause because they think they know the cause already and fear investigation might undermine their position. The scientists who counter these groups by denying an epidemic oppose investigation into the cause because they think it would be a waste of resource to investigate an epidemic that does not exist.
Our Conclusions
Our position at Advanced Pediatrics is:
1. There is an autism epidemic, that it may be the most frightening risk parents of newborns face today.
2. We are dismayed that our nation and world has not yet found the cause, but are convinced there is (are) a cause (or causes) to this tragedy.
3. Immunizations clearly are not the cause. Stopping the use of immunizations has been dramatically proven to have no effect on the rising risk of autism.
4. We would like to see our community devote its time, energy, and resource to finding the cause(s) of autism and to stop being distracted by pretending we know the answer to this horrible malady. Pretending that vaccines cause it or that there is no epidemic stops us from finding the real cause(s) and lets the epidemic rage on.
5. We follow every newborn and infant carefully to make sure social development is normal and look for early signs of autism in every child born.
6. We are happy to talk to families about the autism epidemic, about their worries and concerns, and about their infants and children.
7. When autism strikes we are prepared and happy to work very closely with families to help their children develop as normally as possible.
Please feel free to meet with us, call us, and ask any questions about this deeply troubling problem.
At its heart, autism is a disorder of this ability to read other people’s moods and intents, leaving the affected person with autism isolated with limited or no social skills or experiences.
Is Autism on the Rise?
Our current reading of the medical literature strongly suggests that the answer is yes.
This is not yet a settled or fully proven fact, but the trends at this time appear quite striking. Some experts cite incidence figures that state prior to 1990 the chance of a child developing autism was 1 in 2000 and now it is 1 in 160. If these figures hold up under further scrutiny, then a true epidemic is indeed taking place.
Three striking features of this most disturbing rise in the incidence of autism should be noted:
- The rise in incidence appears to have begun rather sharply around 1990.
- The rise is worldwide, being reported in Japan, Denmark, across the US, and England.
- The social and mental functioning of children affected varies widely from child to child. All have some abnormality of social ability, but the severity of this difficulty varies quite a bit as do the chances of other cognitive troubles.
*Disclaimer*
The comments contained in this electronic source of information do not constitute and are not designed to imply that they constitute any form of individual medical advice. The information provided is purely for informational purposes only and not relevant to any person's particular medical condition or situation. If you have any medical concerns about yourself or your family please contact your physician immediately. In order to provide our patients the best uninfluenced information that science has to offer,we do not accept samples of drugs, advertising tchotchkes, money, food, or any item from outside vendors.
