Autism and Vaccinations
Anyone know some good articles that show whether there is a link between vaccination and autism? I'm looking for something that cites studies but accessible to a lay person.
My mother thinks there's a link, thinks no one's ever done a study about it, but has never bothered to look for one. If I can show her she's wrong about this, maybe I can break her from crystal healing, too. I'm going to look for articles too, but most of what I find on google scholar is not lay person friendly, and the rest I've seen did not cite anything.
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I had actually made a thread about this issue here . It was far back as it was long ago and no responses lately.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
Here's a CTV article from Canada that lays it all out in a pretty accessible manner. The whole scare is due to one paper published in Britain by a guy that is now being investigated to see if his medical license should be removed. In the ten years since the paper came out, no researcher has been able to duplicate this quack's results despite dozens of attempts.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070716/vaccine_070716?s_name=&no_ads=
Make sure your mother understands that one experiment or study is not considered evidence of anything until it can be verified.
Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
- Dr. Joy Brown
Thanks for the thread. Seems like people got off subject in that one.
Thanks for the article.
I know enough about statistics that I should be able to explain it to her, it just depends on whether she values the truth enough to change her mind.
Philosophy and Politics
My Foster Kittens
Math/Science help: in Pittsburgh PA or Online
Tilberian, the link doesn't work.
Weird. Try it this way.
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you Tiberian!
I just sent my mother that article and another that was linked to the page. I think the combination of the two should clear up some of her misconceptions, and hopefully she'll even pass the info on to her friends and co-workers. She works with autistic children.
Philosophy and Politics
My Foster Kittens
Math/Science help: in Pittsburgh PA or Online
Here is a link to an article about autism on Quackwatch, one of my favorite sites.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/autism.html
Thanks, entomophila, good article.
Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast often talks about this. That might be a good resource.
My pleasure. The other thing you might want to point out to your mother is the far higher chance of life-threatening illness that unvaccinated children face. Then she should reflect on all the millions of people who have received vaccinations and not become autistic. Even if vaccinations do cause autism, any sane analysis would show that getting vaccinated is by far the lower risk choice.
Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
- Dr. Joy Brown
Phil plait has being doing a few blog posts about this topic lately....
check them out ...
http://www.badastronomy.com
The issue became important the British Tabloid the Daily Mail got involved. In the UK papers are probably more politically important than TV (which is strictly controlled for bias).
Daily Mail generally headlines similar to 'Illegal immigrants are pushing up house prices and will make your children sick' etc. I personally think some of its editors should have been charged with manslaughter for the children whose deaths they have been responsible for.
It all came about due to the well known genuine disease of the 'blame culture'. Middle class kids arent meant to get sick if you give them a decent nanny etc