[troutman]

Scientists retract study suggesting vaccine, autism link

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2004/03...ion040303.html

The majority of researchers who wrote a study that fuelled fears a childhood vaccination was possibly linked to autism have renounced that interpretation.

Ten of the study's 13 authors have signed a retraction to the journal The Lancet, which published the paper in 1998.

Wakefield and another investigator, Peter Harvey, did not sign the retraction. Team member John Linnell could not be contacted by the 10 who signed.

Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, said the journal hopes to publish responses from Wakefield and Harvey shortly.

On Feb. 23, the journal's editors posted an online statement saying Wakefield was being paid by lawyers for parents who allege their children were harmed by the immunization.

Horton said if editors had known of the conflict of interest at the time, the journal would not have published the study.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/347/19/1477

This study provides strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism.

http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/div...c.jsp?id=75752

Conclusions
The following studies all support the fact that autism occurs during development of the nervous system early in the womb:

• The genetics of autism
• The timing of the first symptoms of autism (home-movie studies)
• The relationship between autism and the receipt of the MMR vaccine
• Structural abnormalities of the nervous system of children with autism
• Thalidomide and natural rubella infection

Unfortunately, for current and future parents of children with autism, the controversy surrounding vaccines has caused attention and resources to focus away from a number of promising leads.


http://www.immunize.cpha.ca/english/...se/res-mmr.htm

http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPr...mu/autism.html

No Evidence of Link
Some parents of children with autism believe that there is a link between measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. However, there is no sensible reason to believe that any vaccine can cause autism or any kind of behavioral disorder. Typically, symptoms of autism are first noted by parents as their child begins to have difficulty with delays in speaking after age one. MMR vaccine is first given to children at 12-15 months of age. Since this is also an age when autism commonly becomes apparent, it is not surprising that autism follows MMR immunization in some cases. However, by far the most logical explanation is coincidence, not cause-and-effect.

The Bottom Line

There are no proven data to suggest that measles vaccine will increase the risk of developing autism or any other behavioral disorder [28]. The known benefits vastly exceed any unknown risks. The CDC continues to recommend two doses of MMR vaccine for all children who do not have a known medical contraindication; the first dose is recommended at 12-15 months of age and the second dose is recommended at either 4-6 years of age or at 11-12 years of age [30,31].