Autism is a difficult disorder to miss, as it is characterized by noticeably abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted array of activities and interests. And while scientific consensus claims autism has been around for millennia at generally the same prevalence, that prevalence is now considered to be one in every 166 children born in the United States.
Therefore, with this devastating statistic in mind, one reporter set out to analyze the autism rates among Amish communities. Why? Because perhaps searching for autistic Amish children would reveal clues to the cause of autism … and it did.
The Clues Come Together
Since they have been cut off for hundreds of years from American culture and scientific progress, the Amish may have had less exposure to some new factor triggering autism in the rest of population. The likely culprit: vaccines.
Traveling to the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country in search of autistic Amish children, the reporter, based on national statistics, should have found as many as 200 children with autism in the community — instead, he found only three, the oldest age 9 or 10:
- The first autistic Amish child was a girl who had been brought over from China, adopted by one family only to be given up after becoming overwhelmed by her autism, and then re-adopted by an Amish Mennonite family. (China, India and Indonesia are among countries moving fast to mass-vaccination programs.)
- The second autistic Amish child definitely had received a vaccination and developed autism shortly thereafter.
- The reporter was unable to determine the vaccination status of the third child.
Dangerous Effects of Thimerosal
In some vaccines, they use a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal that keeps multiple-dose vials from becoming contaminated by repeated needle sticks. After health officials became concerned about the amount of mercury infants and children were receiving through thimerosal-tainted vaccines, the toxin was phased out of U.S. vaccines starting in 1999.
However, due to mislabeling and other problems, its presence is still being felt, and more and more children are suffering because of it.
Washington Times April 18, 2005
Washington Times April 19, 2005
Dr. Mercola’s Comment:
Does anyone out there really need more evidence than this?
Admittedly, this was not a placebo-controlled scientific trial but an evidence-based fact analysis that, in my mind, provides an irrefutable link to a lifestyle and, most likely, mercury-containing vaccine connection to autism.
Folks, you don’t have to be a medical doctor, hold advanced epidemiology degrees or teach molecular genetics to figure this one out. You don’t even need a degree in rocket science. How much more obvious could it be?
The link between autism and vaccines is certainly not a new idea. In fact, suggestions of this link have been in the national news for at least six years now. Just last year a study, that reviewed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Data Link, concluded that children who receive thimerosal-containing vaccinations are 27 times more likely to develop autism than children who do not.
That’s a 2,700 percent increase. The numbers just don’t lie.
Considering how important this issue is for nearly everyone you know, it might be a good one to forward to your friends and relatives.
This most recent investigation simply provides the proverbial icing on the cake. There aren’t too many other places, if any, in America where you can find large groups of children who haven’t been vaccinated.
The reporter found three children with autism. One child was adopted and previously vaccinated, another was one of the few Amish children who were vaccinated, and the third had an unclear vaccine history. That leaves, at most, potentially one child out of an expected 200 (from national statistics) with autism. The odds of this being mere coincidence are slim to none.
At Least Change the Rules Concerning the Hepatitis B Vaccine
Because of their religious beliefs, the Amish community chooses not to give their children any vaccines. Understandably, many of you may not choose such a radical approach. However, if you were to focus on just one vaccine, I would encourage you to look at the issues surrounding the hepatitis B vaccine.
The multi-dose version of this vaccine, which is typically administered to newborns before they leave the hospital, still contains thimerosal. This is reprehensible, irresponsible negligence of the highest magnitude.
The immature central nervous systems of these helpless newborns are particularly susceptible to toxic insults, and thimerosal, the mercury-containing preservative used in these vaccines, is one of the worst.
It would be much easier to understand if the hepatitis B vaccine had some value, but most natural health experts who study this are convinced that this is nearly always an absolutely unnecessary vaccine.
There are only about 5,000 people a year who develop the most serious consequence of hepatitis B infection, liver cancer. That means we are immunizing tens of millions of infants and causing brain injury that has caused an epidemic of autism to protect liver cancer in 5,000 adults. And, many of these adults have serious social problems like IV drug abuse, alcoholism and poor nutrition that seriously increases their risk for this disease.
If you’re a young parent weighing the pros and cons of vaccines, I strongly urge you to learn more about the toxicity of thimerosal, which, again, is still present in multi-dose hepatitis B vaccines, and nearly all the mandated flu vaccine for infants.
Article cited written by Dan Olmsted with comments by Dr. Joseph Mercola; from the free health & wellness e-newsletter at the world’s most visited natural/alternative health website, Mercola.com
About the Author...
In 1997 I started my web site, Mercola.com, that is now the most visited natural health site in the world. By 2006 we had over 800,000 subscribers and over 5 million page views every month. I created this site with no outside investors or advertising
Jan 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 am
Thimerisol has been eliminated from childhood vaccines for several years now but the autism rate has not decreased. ???? There IS still mercury in flu shots…????
Feb 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Fortunately, you are simply ignorant of the facts, but also dangerously biased.
Have I got your attention? Or are you an idiot as well?
Hepatitis B was endemic in Hong Kong (contracted at birth by about 80% of the population) until Hepatitis B vaccination was available. Liver cancer is NOT the only condition caused by this disease, and not the only killer effect (e.g. cirrhosis of the liver).
Lack of exposure to vaccination is NOT the only “modern” thing that the Amish avoid. TV, telephones, bitumen paved roads etcetera.
Vaccines are not completely safe, but there are distinct benefits. The diseases they prevent or reduce in severity have incalculable benefits. Did you know that Paget’s disease of bone (one of the leading causes of osteosarcoma in the elderly) is caused by MEASLES virus - I bet you didn’t. Vaccination appears to prevent this cancer, but more importantly it prevents a lethal encephalitis in some children.
I could go on. But it’s impossible to get some people to review their “facts”.
Bye
P.J. Sutherland (MBBS)
P.S. The MBBS is relevant, as it indicates that I do understand the science behind vaccination, as opposed to the pseudo-science that you subscibe to. I actually work as a farmer!
Feb 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Are there any suggestions to parents who are deciding to not vaccinate their children?
Feb 18th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
So Peter because you have MBBS after your name that makes you superior to everybody else? There are many, many cases where individuals with an alphabet after their name have been either wrong, slanting the facts to protect their ego or the most common reason….. greed.
Your knowledge is only as good as the research that you read and try to heal with no regard to what happens down the road.
We the public have seen the side effects to various drugs, pills, and opinion with disastrous consequences. GM modified foods are amongst us and set to continue… if this is your science, you can keep it.
Feb 19th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Alicia,
Once again conventional medical treatments are letting us down!!!
There is some good reading at Generation Rescue on the subject of vaccines.
http://www.generationrescue.com/misinformation.html
Feb 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Hi Alicia, check out this website: http://www.avn.org.au/ Australian Vaccination Network for loads of information. I think the key is an unprocessed, traditional foods diet. Pre-conception and diet during pregnancy are also really important. Finally there is the option of homeopathic vaccination.
Feb 20th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Alica,
There were great lectures on Vaccinations, Autism, Children’s Nutrition at the WAPF 2007 seminar.
The lectures can be downloaded as MP3 files for a small price each, from
http://www.westonaprice.org/index.html
click on Order recordings from the 2007 conference and it will take you
there.
Education is better then Medication!!
Feb 20th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Okay for one, my husband’s side of the family. Two of their children are brain damaged, one of their children was born autistic and has never uttered a word at all.
Two were born healthy, but became brain damaged after being immunised. The rest of the children are healthy. Now I know that there may be other factors behind their condition, considering that one was born autistic, but the worrying factor is that wo were born healthy but suffered serious consequences as infants after being immunised.
For me, my children are not fully immunised. I stopped after doing some of my own research on the subject. Instead I keep them healthy through their food and make sure they diet is high in antioxidants. There are many ways to keep kids healthy through nutrition.
Yes granted there was once a need for immunisations and no doubt they did their work, but we also ned to look at other methods of keeping our childre nehalthy.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Mum says <>
Mum, you depend on everybody ELSE getting immunized so the disease does not get your kid. Everybody ELSE keeps their kid from getting mumps, whooping cough, tuberculosis… and your un-immunized and vulnerable kid gets to play in a disease-free environment.
Do you know the meaning of “parasite”? “One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.”
Immunization is a collective undertaking for collective benefit. Where TB immunization becomes universal, TB disappears. Where a pocket of religious or health-food zealots maintain a pool of the disease, it is kept alive as a hazard for everybody.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Oliver, you might want to check your facts and do a little bit of your own research and some critical, independant thinking before letting fly with your vitriolic comments. Herd immunity is an idealistic dream. Medicine admits that no vaccine is 100% effective and there are several with success rates that would make herd immunity impossible to achieve even if every single child and adult is vaccinated. But don’t take my word for it do your own research.
Some vaccines simply don’t make any sense such as the Hepatitis vaccine for newborns. Unless a baby’s mother is an IV drug user, sex worker or perhaps a health care worker in a high risk setting, there is simply no justification to give this vaccine to every new born: this is a case of collective immunisation for minority benefit at a huge cost to the health system, tax payers and the risk of adverse reactions in one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.
No parent makes the decision not to vaccinate their child lightly. It’s like opening pandora’s box once they start to research vaccination, they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Statistics show that parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are in fact often among the most highly educated. Your inflammatory comments do nothing to help the cause of either side.