Thursday, February 12, 2009

Autism ruling a victory for real science

I am glad to see at least one good thing come out of the ordinarily twisted and corrupt U.S. justice system, with a federal court ruling that autism is not caused by childhood vaccinations.

I hope that this will put a stop to a growing problem of misinformed parents refusing to vaccinate their children, thus putting everybody at risk for diseases that previously had been conquered.

I have been writing about this issue for years, with the nanotech connection being a disconnect between scientist and "consumer" of science.

Backgrounder
The Asperger/Nano Connection
The knowledge void: Here there be monsters
Somewhere between scientist and consumer, the message is lost

Update
Debate continues on Reddit

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

was there any mention that it isn't the vaccine that is the problem, but the mercury that is in the vaccine so that the companies can save money?

and don't feed me the line that they stopped using mercury around 2000. It's not true. In 2006, I asked my doctor for the contraindication paperwork for every vaccine that I was to give my child, and EVERY ONE had mercury listed as the first ingredient, as a 'preservative'.

I know vaccines work. I also know that mercury is bad for the brain.

Anonymous said...

I agree. My fiance and I are having a child soon and I am terrified, not because of the vaccines/products themselves, but of what they put in it such a mercury and melamine. I want and am going to vaccinate my child though. I have heard that you can ask for a vaccine without mercury and that it may cost a little more. Is that true?

Anonymous said...

Mercury isn't just "bad" for the brain. It easily crosses the blood brain barrier and kills neurons in the brain. It also causes a wide range of neurological problems for children whose mothers were exposed to mercury. Even at small levels like 20 parts per million.

I could easily see how mercury in a very young child could alter the development of the brain and cause something like autism.

This was not a victory for real science. It was a victory for drug companies, their profits and their continued abuse of peoples health for profits.

I would like more information on the type of mercury and the levels that are in these vaccines, since levels cannot exceed the limit of 1ppm in fish, what is the vaccine amount?

Anonymous said...

Everyone over the age of, i don't know, 40, 50, something like that, played with mercury as a kid. my parents had it in science class and played with it as did everyone else back then. As we know, it can enter through the pores in our skin, but guess what? everyone over 40 isn't retarded. they're also all vaccinated. huh.

Anonymous said...

The first three posts are apparently completely off their rocker, or by the same person. Hilarious. Yay Science!

Anonymous said...

Immunizations are, for the most part, mercury free. There have also been studies that show that an infant is more likely to get more mercury from breast milk (if mom is breast feeding) or from fish when eating solids.
We are barely a generation away from when these diseases killed and crippled thousands. We MUST base what we do on scientific research not anecdotal information.

Unknown said...

Dont you just love it when the kangaroo courts get involved!

RT
www.anon-tools.us.tc

Anonymous said...

There is more mercury in a can of tun fish. Maybe you should be more worried about that.

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-141915.html

Unknown said...

JG

This actually IS a victory for science, in the true sense of the word. That means NO jumping to conclusions without facts. It is clear from modern research into autism that brain scans and MRIs show altered topologies and activity in the brains of these people. As mankind continues to add more unique gene configurations to the already large 6.5B strong gene pool, we are seeing more and varied unique gene configurations causing unique conditions. Vaccines and mercury are not the culprits and a real scientist would have known that long ago. For example, with all the new, but raw and untested, vaccinations in use 50 years ago why wasn't there a mass outbreak of autism in the developed world populations? Well, there wasn't. My how our education system is failing us! Now, this doesn't mean we shouldn't be vigilant about what we DO use for vaccination and injections. But jumping to these sorts of conclusions is simply uneducated.

Anonymous said...

Last anon:
Have you seen the state of the world we live in? I would argue that it did make them retarded. Consider the smallpox vaccine that was forced on them... there were huge risks of side effects.

As for modern vaccines. There is no excuse for not protecting your child in the best way you can. Up here in Canada they had only ever heard of religious abstainers because the vaccine program is free. The idea that we had researched the vaccines and had drawn up an alternative immunization schedule boggled their minds. My daughter will get all the vaccines she needs, just not all at once.

Unknown said...

What causes Alzheimer’s could it be the mercury from the vaccines, teeth filings, fish, playing with that mercury...

Anonymous said...

Because a judge has enough medical knowledge to make that decision. What a load of crap. If it's true, a scientific study (you know, the TRADITIONAL method) would post findings. Since this in court, this means the case is either criminal (not) or civil. If it's a civil matter, that means that someone is complaining and someone is defending. In short, someone is suing someone else. This stinks of bullshit

Anonymous said...

People *did* get hurt from 'playing' with mercury.

Everyone over 40 isn't retarded, true. Just some of you. (It's easy to tell whom by the idiocy they try to pass off as logical thinking)

People got sprayed with the herbicide Agent Orange when the gov was using it to control mosquitos. Not all of them got sick, or developed cancer. Thus, it's ok to spray people with Agent Orange. Right?

Anonymous said...

I agree that the ruling was a good one...but a "victory for real science"? So long as we as a society have to legislate and/or win lawsuits against pseudo-science (as is the case not only in the vaccination issue, but also with respect to ID), I dare say I have a hard time calling such events "victories." A real victory for real science would be public education that helps children develop the critical thinking skills to not be taken in by pseudo-science in the first place. But until our society is capable of distinguishing science from pseudo-science independently and consciously rather than juristically, I'm afraid real science is just going to have to settle for less-crushing defeats...

Anonymous said...

I know what mercury does to the body. Do YOU know what tetanus does? Do you really want your child playing outside every day if they are not vaccinated for it? How about diphtheria?
Oh, that's right. You're a batshit crazy, overprotective parent who knows everything, so you probably won't LET your kid play outside. Well, good luck with that.
I was fully vaccinated as a child, and I can say with confidence that I am not as retarded as some of the people who commented here. There is not always an ultimate right, or an ultimate wrong, solution to a problem. Sometimes you just have to take the risks and the benefits and see who outweighs whom. Parenting is no exception.
Driving is risky, but your kid has to learn to do it eventually. Sending your kid to school is risky, but they have to get an education. Fish contains mercury, but it is beneficial enough that nutritionists still recommend it for a proper diet. Vaccines contain mercury. Drinking water. Lightbulbs. Household appliances.
Hope I'm not making you more paranoid. Grow some sense.

Anonymous said...

I'm Greg,

Some comments I agree with but we need to get ourselves informed to protect your family's health.

Yes, it isn't the vaccine that is the problem. It is the other stuff they put in them to increase the shelf life. I'm glade to see there are more vaccines becoming avalible with out mercury added.

Some new vaccine are mercury free I understand. You need to ask!
Mercury and it's compounds are know nero-toxins. Infant blood brain barriers and brains developemt are more sensitive to toxin exposure that an adult.

You need to know what to ask for! Since corporations try and hide the included mercury by telling you about the product names not the elements and compounds that make them up.

Find out what 'thimerosal' is!
It has 49% compound of mercury!

for example some flu shots;
Each dose (0.5 mL) contains three strains of influenza virus. Nonmedicinal ingredients: hemagglutinin, thimerosal, gelatin, sodium phosphate-buffered, and isotonic sodium chloride solution. The vaccine may contain small amounts of formaldehyde, sucrose, and Triton X-100.

The 'thimerosal' is;
Thiomersal (INN) (C9H9HgNaO2S), or sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate, commonly known in the United States as thimerosal, is an organomercury compound (approximately 49% mercury by weight) used as an antiseptic and antifungal agent.

That is 49% mercury. If you added that amount to a fish it would be consided unsafe to eat. Why would you want to inject that into you or your infant???

As fare as not eveyone see toxic/bad effects from it, not everyone is exactly the same, not evryone is alergc to bee stings for example.

You might also find this youtube video informative. 7 1/2 min.
Robert Kennedy Exposes Thimerosal In Vaccines (Mercury)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU8aczKL-oM

Find out and ask about/if 'thimerosal' is in the vaccine 'Before injecting' it into you & your infants blood stream!

You might also find this informative, if you don't already know. http://www.fluoridealert.org/
If infants are given water with fluoride it will lower there IQ.
And that is just the start of a verey bad story.
I took the time to find out the newest good science based facts on flouride by attending the world fluoride conferance, brain and soft tissue effects, that was in Aug 2008, at UofToronto Canada.

I just though some out there might like to know.

Ben Towle said...

It'll be a REAL victory for science when we find ourselves in a society where we don't have to spend thousands of dollars and waste thousands of hours of people's time to conclude that correlation and causation are, in fact, not the same thing.

A good first step might be to return to teaching basic stats/probability, rhetoric and basic formal logic in elementary and high schools.

Anonymous said...

I am all for the use of the scientific method and when it comes to the use of mercury, it should be assumed that the use of mercury is dangerous until scientifically proven otherwise, not the other way around.

Anonymous said...

What business does a court have ruling that autism is or is not caused by childhood vaccinations?

Anonymous said...

just because someone has autism doesn't mean that they're retarded.. many autistic people go on to lead very normal lives.

Anonymous said...

If a federal judge rules on something, then it must be true.

I'm so glad we have God's own arbiters of truth on the US payroll.

Anonymous said...

"Court rulings" by there very nature, are not "real science". I think the title of this article should be "Courts Side with Busines". As has already been said in the comments, this is about vaccines, not mercury. If you would like to know about how much mercury you should give your child intraveinously, please check the EPAs website. Of course, they also did not include the findings from the Harvard Study (that the EPA paid for) that show mercury even more hazardous than the EPA is willing to admit. As of 2005.

Knowledge is power.
Fear and anger is the illusion of power.

hacksoncode said...

It's all fine and good to worry about mercury. But how about actually doing some research.

Vaccines approved for children no longer contain *any* mercury (with the exception of some flu vaccines, if you're worried, use FluMist).

Thimerosal was removed 8 years ago.

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

Now go ahead and get a life.

Anonymous said...

Quote:
"People got sprayed with the herbicide Agent Orange when the gov was using it to control mosquitos. Not all of them got sick, or developed cancer. Thus, it's ok to spray people with Agent Orange. Right?"

Agent Orange is a defoliant, you throwback. You even call it an herbicide. It wasn't used to control mosquitos. It was used to defoliate dense jungles in Viet Nam.

Anonymous said...

Last week it was revealed that the physician who started this all FAKED his data, which was based on a sample size of TWELVE...the autism/vaccine/thimerasol connection was a hoax from the very beginning.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683671.ece

Anonymous said...

First, there are vaccines with mercury (via Thimerosal) in them still, according to the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf

However, according to studies done by JAMA, the amounts still present have no biological effect, though I haven't read those studies and can't comment on their methodology.

Second, Mercury in vaccines is not the only possible issue with vaccines. I suggest everyone read up through the CDC website in the actual scientific papers. You will find the following:

(1) all vaccines have possible side effects, some minor, some serious.

(2) those side effects differ depending on the vaccine, the child's age, and presumably a huge number of other factors.

(3) there exists no study that shows that having the antibody prevents getting the disease. Though common sense dictates that having the antibody gives you some percentage of efficacy. There are studies where outbreaks of diseases have occurred where the vaccination rates for those diseases were nearly 100%; vaccinated people do sometimes get the disease they are vaccinated against.

(4) The real question is with each specific vaccine whether the risks posed by side effects outweigh statistically the risks of getting the disease. Additionally, it would be nice to know how those two numbers are affected by other factors, most notably childrens' pre-vaccine health and their age.

Read the scientific papers, do the math and think for yourself.

Anonymous said...

ONE: this is a "court" ruling, which means it was made by a judge, not a scientist, so I don't really know how this is a victory for science, i don't even see what science has to do with it at all.

TWO: Like your first sentence states, this is a typically twisted and corrupt system, what makes you all believe it now? I understand it's comforting to hear that everything's okay, and that the vaccine you've been pumping your kids isn't poison after all, but ask yourselves, seriously, what exactly is it about this ruling that makes you believe it?

There are still people who will make the mercury claims, and until it's not on the ingredients list (uuuhhhhh.......), I wouldn't just believe some federal judge, especially because its the federal government (through pharma lobbyists) who are doing it, of course they're going to deny it.

Anonymous said...

I would be more interested in someone researching any causality between the introduction of vaccination (most specifically MMR) and the rise in cancer in those individuals 25 - 30 years later. SOMETHING triggered a massive rise in cancers of all types across a broad spectrum of the population so it is most probably an environmental change or a population wide intervention. There are too many micro environmental variables to reasonably expect a uniform outcome across large populations - so what is another factor which has a limited, homogenous source that has been applied to large populations across in all geographical and ethnic populations???

Heidi said...

Not for nothing but the phrase "Mad as a hatter" came from the fact that there was mercury in hat bands back when men wore hats all the time. The Mercury would seep into the brain from the hat and people would go crazy.