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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 2:48 PM and filed under Health. Follow comments here with the RSS 2.0 feed. Skip to the end and leave a response. Trackbacks are closed.

One Response to “Medical News Today News Article”

1. James Lamberti said:

   It is obvious that the author has an ulterior motive: scare parents away from vaccinating their children.  This is misleading, irresponsible, and dangerous. 
    
   The author noted that the “…Hepatitis B vaccine for infants (is given) within the first few days of life, even though the disease is primarily transmitted sexually or spread through the use of dirty needles”.  Is the author suggesting that it would not make sense to vaccinate individuals until they become IV drug users or sexually promiscuous?  This vaccination is given to infants because, although IV drug users and populations who are sexually active are at a greater risk, all people are at risk, and being an infant, at least from personal experience, is condition that over time disappears.  Its much more efficient to vaccinate infants than it is to vaccinate those who may or may not be IV drug users and/or sexually active.  Furthermore, the article references Thimerosal as the substance subject to the study, and seeing as Thimerosal is no longer used in Hepatitis B vaccines, the point is moot.  What further action can then be taken to safeguard our children if the evil thimerosal has been removed?  Should parents still choose to not vaccinate against Hepatitis B?
    
   The article does correctly identify that “The introduction of the shot (Hepatitis B) was part of a greatly accelerated vaccine schedule that coincides with the drastic increase in autism”.  This is true, these two unrelated things did coincide and are in fact a coincidence.  As with nearly all coincidences, there are no data linking the two issues.  It should be noted that thimerosal was removed from all vaccines in Denmark in 1992, and yet autism rates continued to climb in that country.  Thimerosal was obviously not the cause for autism in Denmark.
    
   The author then goes on to highlight the fact that, “… Thimerosal was removed from U.S. Hepatitis B vaccines in 2000 but was not recalled from the market and was administered for approximately two more years. It still remains in other vaccines including all multi-dose shots for both the seasonal flu and H1N1.”   Yes, thimerosal is a toxic substance, and yes it is present in vaccines.  There are many dangerous substances in pharmaceutical products, that is why they are pharmaceutical products.  There are however, no credible data that link thimerosal to autism or any other disorder that could be considered as part of Lori Mcllwain’s claim that “This study’s outcome confirms that such an over-the-top toxic vaccine schedule is an assault on the developing brains of our children”.  That is absolutely absurd.  There are no evil men assaulting children’s brains.  Though profits are involved, it would be ridiculous to believe that pharmaceutical industry executives and medical practitioners are maliciously distributing vaccines to ‘assault brains of children’.
    
   And to top it all off, the “study” being referenced has listed as an author one Laura Hewitson, a woman who has a child who is a petitioner in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.  This is far beyond a mere conflict of interest.
    
   This article was garbage, based on a garbage study, with garbage results, and contains garbage opinions based on zero factual data.  It does no good to spread misinformation like this, and could in fact be harmful if parents are dissuaded from vaccinations.  Vaccinations are good things; measles, mumps, rubella, polio, etc. are bad things.
    
   I understand that autism is an awful thing and empathize with those parents and children suffering with this disorder, but all clinical and scientific data show that there is no link to vaccinations.  Efforts in the fight against autism should be focused elsewhere, and no one should be afraid to protect themselves or their children from disease.

   Posted on 07-Oct-09 at 9:42 pm | Permalink