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This came to light subsequently, but the study has never been withdrawn, and continues to be cited as valid. Since then there have been a number of other studies claiming to demonstrate that there is no vaccine-autism link. Most of them have been reviews of other studies (which allows media to quote them as “new research shows that….” when it is nothing of the sort), but the latest is a study from Italy which is actual, not warmed-over research. The paper, by Dr Alberto Tozzi, has been publicized as demonstrating yet again that thiomersal does not contribute to autism or neurodevelopmental problems. But guess what; it also turns out to have ethical and methodological issues. The ethical one is that the author does not declare any conflict of interest, despite having received grants in the past from Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline and from Novartis — all major vaccine manufacturers. The methodological one is that there was no real control group; the study compared subjects who had received two different doses of thiomersal in a whooping-cough vaccine in 1992-3. The authors themselves have admitted that “comparing children with no exposure to thimerosal could have improved the study”, which didn’t prevent it being hyped as further proof of the safety of thiomersal. The other curiousity about the study is that in 1700 students they found only one case of autism; hardly a useful group to compare to primary school children in the UK or USA, where the same number would have more than 20 cases. There may be good reasons why Italian children are different to American ones — chiefly to do with their exposure to other toxins such as pesticides |
Which science?The other standard assertion is that there is no research to link autism to mercury, as contained in the thiomersal preservative; but as Bernard Rimland pointed out time and again, you can only make that assertion by ignoring the evidence — which is what usually happens. The next step is to muddy the waters by recommending that pregnant mothers should avoid eating fish due to its mercury content — although mercury in vaccines, or in your teeth, is perfectly safe! As is the tapwater, food and the air we breathe; the pesticides, flame retardants and other toxins we can’t avoid are all harmless, we’re told. Let’s be clear on this. Mercury, wherever it comes from, is poisonous. The younger you are, the more toxic it is; developing brains are much more vulnerable to mercury and to all the other toxins than our adult brains. The mercury in vaccines is in addition to exposure from incinerator fumes, from the mother’s dental fillings, from all the background exposures we all receive. And in addition to the pesticides, flame retardants and so on that pervade our ecosystem. Polar bears, otters, fish, humans, we are all being poisoned. Just removing mercury from vaccines won’t solve that, it will only remove the worst culprit. WakefieldThe GMC last month resumed its hearing in the case of Drs Andrew Wakefield and Simon Murch and Professor John Walker-Smith. |