Memo to McCain: Vaccines Not Linked to Autism
There is no hard evidence linking autism to vaccinations, notes Dr. Manhattan. So why did John McCain choose the losing side in this debate?
We’re all used to watching presidential candidates torture facts in unspeakable ways.
Recently, however, the presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain took a break from the usual distortions of foreign policy, taxes, and the federal budget in favor of a new topic: whether thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines, causes autism.
At a recent campaign “town hall” meeting in Texas, a mother of an autistic boy asked McCain about a recent report that the federal vaccine court had conceded in one case that a vaccine may have contributed to a child’s autistic-like symptoms (more on this below). As reported by Jake Tapper of ABC News:
“We’ve been waiting for years for kind of a responsible answer to this question, and are hoping that you can help us out there,” the woman said.
McCain said, per ABC News’ Bret Hovell, that “It’s indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what’s causing it. And we go back and forth and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”
McCain said there’s “divided scientific opinion” on the matter, with “many on the other side that are credible scientists that are saying that’s not the cause of it.”
We don’t generally expect presidential candidates to be experts in scientific research, and McCain lived up to expectations with that conversation. In truth, McCain far overstated the extent of the “divided scientific opinion” as to the connection between thimerosal and autism. In short, there is neither a connection nor much of a divide in the scientific opinion about the question.
As the parent of an autistic child, I have been following this story for quite some time, and the verdict is clear. (Click here for some disclosures.)
So here’s the background. As diagnoses of autism have skyrocketed over the last two decades, there has been much discussion of an autism “epidemic” and the related search for an explanation. Several years ago, suspicions focused on vaccines — intially, on the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, but soon thereafter on thimerosal. Suspicions were inflamed when public health officials realized (in what reporter Arthur Allen dubbed a “D’oh! moment”) that under the then-current immunization schedule, children were exposed to aggregate levels of mercury (via the thimerosal preservative) that exceeded certain Environmental Public Agency guidelines. That realization, coupled with some concern over whether a link between thimerosal and autism was in fact biologically plausible, led the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Association of Pediatrics to recommend in 2001 that thimerosal be removed from vaccines as quickly as possible.
For a few years following this recommendation, many autism organizations argued that thimerosal was a cause — or the cause — of the autism “epidemic.” The journalist David Kirby wrote a respectfully received book arguing this hypothesis titled Evidence of Harm, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a widely publicized screed in Rolling Stone accusing the medical establishment and the government of covering up the harm caused by thimerosal.
But evidence has accumulated over the last several years showing that there is nothing to the hypothesized link. Various epidemiological studies in other countries have shown no decrease in autism diagnoses after the removal of thimerosal from vaccines. In the U.S., California studies have shown a continued increase in autism diagnoses among California children who were born and received vaccinations after thimerosal was removed from vaccines. Aside from the epidemiological evidence, various other studies have failed to find any link between thimerosal exposure and adverse health consequences. In fact, one major recent study was partially designed by the head of SafeMinds, an organization committed to the thimerosal-autism link — but she disavowed the study when the results demonstrated the opposite.
By contrast, the evidence adduced in favor of the link has failed to stand up to any scrutiny. Most of the studies purporting to find a link stem from the work of Mark Geier, whose work is deemed laughable by several courts and the medical profession alike. And Geier’s reputation is pristine compared to that of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor behind the initial study purporting to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. That study was retracted and Dr. Wakefield has faced charges of financial misconduct in connection with the study. And last and least, RFK Jr.’s story was riddled with factual distortions and the subject of many embarrassing corrections (scroll down for links to five separate rounds).
The anti-vaccine forces have recently been making much hay of a recent concession by the government in the vaccine court division of the Federal Court of Claims (a special court established by the government to hear cases alleging injuries caused by vaccines). This concession (referred to by the woman who questioned Sen. McCain) only applied to a girl with a rare mitochondiral disease (to which there is some evidence that those few kids may be more susceptible to adverse reactions). Moreover, this concession isn’t much of a precedent: it has since been reported that this concession is consistent with other instances in which the government has conceded that children may have experienced adverse reactions to vaccines.
Finally, the current expert consensus is that there simply isn’t an “autism epidemic.” As most comprehensively detailed by Roy Grinker, much of the increase in kids classified as autistic likely is due to a combination of (a) “diagnostic substitution,” where, for example, children who would once have been classified as “mentally retarded” are now diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder; (b) a broadening of the autistic spectrum to include Asperger’s syndrome and “PDD-NOS” (”pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified”), which were added to the authoritative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1987 and 1994, respectively; and (c) greater efforts by schools and the medical profession to identify children on the spectrum and get them appropriate services, driven by the obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act and the money for services available thereunder. Given these changes in definition, it is impossible to make accurate comparisons between past and present rates of autism. So while it is possible that there really has been an increase in autism incidence, there is little doubt that these three factors account for a large percentage of the seemingly massive increase in autistic children.
So why did Sen. McCain choose the losing side in this scientific debate? According to Arthur Allen (author of a recent book on the history and politics of vaccines, and who wrote a story for the New York Times Magazine which helped publicize the thimerosal debate, and has continued to report on the hardening scientific consensus that no link exists), McCain met an Iowa mother of an autistic child named Lin Wessels on the campaign trail. Ms. Wessels is also associated with A-CHAMP, an autism activist group which pushes the thimerosal-autism link. McCain has met with A-CHAMP and sent a letter (together with Sen. Joe Lieberman) to Sen. Edward Kennedy asking Kennedy’s committee to hold hearings on the link between thimerosal and autism. It is also worth noting that A-CHAMP sent questions to various presidential candidates, and their website features responses from Senators Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Joe Biden (see under the January 2, 2008, heading). None of those men’s responses gave much succor to A-CHAMP as to the mercury-autism link. Other wags have speculated that McCain is getting his science advice from infamous radio talk-show host Don Imus, who has been a long-time exponent of the thimerosal-autism link and has had McCain as a frequent guest.
Still, McCain had not distinguished himself as an activist in the area of vaccines and autism (or in vaccine safety issues generally) prior to his statements at the town meeting, in contrast to, most notably, the mercurial Rep. Dan Burton, the most prominent Congressional advocate of a vaccination-autism link.
While he did send a letter to Sen. Kennedy requesting hearings on the mercury-autism link, he has not been active in pushing the matter. In fact, McCain was recently asked a similar question at a second town meeting, and this time carefully avoided any speculation about a link to mercury or vaccines. Quite possibly, his staff set him straight after his initial response to the question. In addition, McCain’s campaign website has nothing at all on the matter of autism, in contrast to plans proposed by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (neither of which have anything to do with vaccines). Barring further developments on the campaign trail, there is thus little reason to assume that McCain will put the federal government’s weight behind the discredited theory.
But as the reaction to the recent government vaccine court concession shows, there are lots of people who remain invested in believing that vaccines caused their child’s autism. In light of a child’s diagnosis, parents are often desperate for any form of clarity — both with respect to a cause and for anything that holds out hope of an effective treatment. In addition to offering up a simple and wrong tale of autism’s cause, the mercury-mongers have proffered modes of treatment (most notably “chelation“) about which the only scientific debate is whether they are useless, fantastical ,or actively harmful.
If there is one thing the current state of the science doesn’t provide, it is clarity. The temptation to believe something that promises answers can be overwhelming, especially when your life has been permanently overturned due to a child’s diagnosis.
But the need to believe something doesn’t make a belief true. Politicians such as McCain are very efficient at giving voters what they want. If he wants to be a responsible leader, he should not buy into such flagrant untruths. Unfortunately, as long as there are voters who need to believe those untruths, other politicians will follow suit.
Dr. Manhattan is the pseudonym of a lawyer in New York City who has a child with autism. He blogs at www.blissfulknowledge.com.
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25 Comments
1. John J. Pitney, Jr.:Dr. Manhattan errs about McCain’s website. It indeed includes a discussion of autism:
http://www.johnmccain.com/content/?guid=24dc9c37-e739-4aa3-8a88-ebae650a2f11
Mar 14, 2008 - 7:44 am 2. Lisa Barli:I am saddened by your response as I know it is your child who is suffering. On the contrary, there is plenty of scientific evidence supporting the link between autism and vaccines. Even so, my child is really all the proof I require. He was well, he had a series of vaccines and he was gone. Now that we have gotten him the necessary medical treatment and removed much of the neurotoxic mercury and other toxins his body was insulted with by his vaccines, our son has almost fully recovered from Autism today.
Mar 14, 2008 - 7:57 am 3. Amos:You can’t pay attention to these things. They said my child was artistic but he can’t even draw a straight line!
Mar 14, 2008 - 8:53 am 4. Matthew Hooper:So, let me get this straight.
The idea that autism is caused by vaccines is “laughable”…but the courts have determined that it does, in fact, happen. When children have a “rare mitochrodrial disease” that doesn’t seem to get diagnosed except aster the fact.
Uh-huh.
So it’s not “laughable” at all, is it? It does happen. The people who believe this aren’t kooks.
And, forearmed with this knowledge… wouldn’t it want you to take another look at vaccines?
Mar 14, 2008 - 9:55 am 5. dan:“So why did John McCain choose the losing side in this debate?”
Who cares - worry about it later. Focus fire on Obama, please.
Mar 14, 2008 - 10:20 am 6. Linda Frank:How are we to trust this article? It starts out by attacking McCain, then at the bottom says McCain backtracked on this anyway.
Ho-hum.
Also I see Dr. Manhattan is not a doctor, but a lawyer. One can certainly sympathize with his plight having an austistic child, but don’t we want to hear from the scientifically trained on such an issue? It’s like listening to Al Gore on global warming.
Mar 14, 2008 - 10:20 am 7. Richard:Where was autism 20 years ago? How can it rationally be said “we have no clue what causes autism but we know it is not vaccines or mercury”?
Where are the safety studies on Thimerisol?
Why do all the hundreds of studies by major universities that support a thimerisol/neurological damage link never seem to get mentioned?
Why is mercury still in the flu shot after it was recommended to be removed by the CDC in 1999?
Who checks to make sure mercury has been removed from current vaccines?
Why is Pharma so blindly trusted when they have a history of putting profits ahead of safety?
My son was diagnosed with autism after his 18 month check up and the CDC has provided no answers and he was diagnosed 6 years ago!!!
Mar 14, 2008 - 10:52 am 8. Dad Fourkids:So “Dr.” Manhattan is actually not a medical doctor, but posts under that name to lend perceived credibility to his words?
I wonder what type of law he practices.
Mar 14, 2008 - 12:01 pm 9. John Fryer:Dr Manhattan is not a doctor.
Dr Manhattan is not a scientist.
This should not necessarily bar him from talking sense on autism and thimerosal but in fact he like his pseudonym makes out many things which are lies.
Thimerosal was removed in 1999? So why is that the CDC, the US Govt, NIH, FDA, EPa et al SAY it is still in vaccines in March 2008.
He poses questions but he doesn’t pose questions like:
Thimerosal has been filmed destroying brain cells at the concentration of one vaccine evenly diluted through a child’s body.
Or another question:
Nobel scientists more than 100 years ago proved injecting even HARMLESS material into humans can excite a PROTECTIVE response to protect the HUMAN race by killing the person repeatedly injected with protein material.
There are thousands of other questions which give us cause for concern that vaccination is a FORCED programme that kills and maims but NO ONE must tell the family that their child is the price SOCIETY is paying for freedom from smallpox et al.
John Fryer Scientist
Mar 14, 2008 - 12:59 pm 10. Tom Maguire:Exhaustively researched. FWIW (OK, not much) I had pounced on the activist Iowa mom connection early (this story has lots of background).
And a bonus connection you missed - in 2002 the Administration, or Dick Armey, or someone put a provision in a Homeland Security bill shielding Eli Lily from thimerosal lawsuits.
A Dem attempt to strip this amendment failed 51-48, but McCain was the lone Republican voting with the Dems. That said, McCain may have objected to the earmark character of the amendment, rather than the specific content.
Mar 14, 2008 - 1:04 pm 11. John Fryer:Every person denying mercury causes autism is anonymous.
Every person has an autism spectrum child.
So why do you not identify yourselves?
And presumably you think you can do nothing to help your child recover?
I am talking using my proper name and proper dualifications.
Anyone who uses mercury vaccines is committing ATTEMPTED MURDER.
John Fryer MSc BSc MRIC PGCE Advanced analytical Chemist
Mar 14, 2008 - 2:41 pm 12. Rebecca Bilek:By the time my son was four, his autism had been diagnosed by two neurologists, two psychiatrists, and an MD who specialized in treating kids w/autism. Then when he was almost five, we began aggressively treating his autism as a neuro-immune disorder triggered by environmental toxins such as the thimerosal in his vaccines.
I’ll be sure and tell him (he’s twelve now) that his recovery from autism is a figment of all of our imaginations. He’ll have a good laugh over that.
FYI, Sallie Bernard (of SafeMinds) did not “disavow” the study referred to above. She asked the NEJM to publish her dissenting comments because she asserted that “The study’s many limitations [which she enumerated] preclude sweeping conclusions on thimerosal’s effects.”
Visit SafeMinds.org for the whole story, and visit GenerationRescue.org for info on helping your child with autism.
Mar 14, 2008 - 5:05 pm 13. joe gratto:I wonder why a candidate in a Q&A would be held to a high standard on a detailed scientific question which has not yet been conclusively resolved, despite what the esteemed sort of a doctor, manhattan, has to say. This is a vicious attack on Senator McCain by some anonymous flack whose reasons need to be identified, just as he needs to be identified. Could manhattan be a lobbyist or a flack?
Mar 14, 2008 - 6:30 pm 14. John Fryer:It would be nice to get some feedback on this topic from the writer.
The quote I found today which says it all for me:
“A little mercury is all that humans need to do away with themselves quietly, slowly, and surely.”
Why is mercury in its most toxic form still in our March 2008 vaccines for one day old babies?
Is this POLITICAL too?
And why do people (the current head of the CDC for example) falsely say it isn’t to try to reassure us?
Is this POLITICAL too?
Why do people hide their real names?
Is this POLITICAL too?
Mar 15, 2008 - 3:51 am 15. tanstaafl:…authoritative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1987 and 1994
Authoritative ?
Have you seen the proliferation of identified disorders and sub-disorders in the latest addition ?
Shameful. I guess you have to label the dis-ease or the disorder before you can receive insurance payments for “treating” it.
The controversy over the preservative Thimerosal has been going on for years. Actually, despite this conclusion or that conclusion, its use in childhood vaccines would still be problematical
But quite a long time ago, it was removed from childhood vaccines, n’est-ce pas ?
The rise in autism (or the rise in its diagnosis, which isn’t the same thing) might be related to the medicalization of pregnancy, the (overuse) of sonograms, the huge rise in number of Caesareans performed (the birthday at the convenience of the doctor’s holiday plans) and so forth.
Have you seen the ever growing list of vaccines recommended (even required, under duress) for infants and very small children ? It has grown by leaps and bounds in recent decades.
If I were a parent of an infant today, I’d look long and hard at each vaccine recommended for injection into my small child’s body. Of course, I was working at a law firm when the Lederle lab vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) was found defective and turning some babies’ brains into “Swiss Cheese”.
So you might say, I’m not completely objective in these matters.
It looks like you’re reaching to criticize Senator McCain on this point. Maybe McCain is friendly with that “other” Senator who doggedly pursued the Thimerosal issue for years as one of his grandchildren was diagnosed as “autistic” and he was hell bent on getting to the bottom of it.
Mar 15, 2008 - 7:06 am 16. Tracy:Then why did the government just pay money to a family they concluded had been given autism (autism-like is the same thing as autism) from the vaccines?
Mar 15, 2008 - 12:35 pm 17. Johan Amedeus Metesky:The only reason anti vaccine luddites can even think of not vaccinating children is ironically because of the very success in childhood vaccinations effectively suppressing childhood diseases.
One problem with focusing on thimerosol is that autism predates the use of vaccines. What caused autism before widespread exposure to thimerosol?
Life is all about balancing risks and rewards. Before Pasteur, mortality due to childhood diseases and smallpox was incredibly high. People had many children and only some of them lived to adulthood. As a parent I’m willing to risk a 1 in 100 chance of autism to avoid a 25 in 100 chance of infant or childhood mortality.
Mar 15, 2008 - 3:39 pm 18. tanstaafl:Recommended childhood vaccines, 1973.
DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus)
MMR (measles, mumps, rubella)
Polio vaccine
Recommended childhood vaccines, 2006
here
Seems like a heavy load, hepatitis A&B, influenza (2 types), chickenpox (varicella), meningitis, pneumonia…
I don’t know that this heavy and early medicalization represents “progress”.
Anyway, I was incorrect earlier.
The Lederle Labs vaccine that was huge problematical in the 1980’s was the P or “pertussis” (whooping cough) component of the DPT shot.
Mar 15, 2008 - 6:25 pm 19. Dave:Big Pharma would like to send a big shout out to Dr. Manhattan. Great idea doc- let’s put this issue to bed before there is ever a true study done that confirms or denies- makes lots of sense. It makes about as much sense as getting a Hep B shot day one of life…
Mar 16, 2008 - 11:20 pm 20. Anthony Cox:John Fryer writes: “Every person denying mercury causes autism is anonymous.”
I’m not.
“Every person has an autism spectrum child.”
I don’t, but I have vaccinated children.
Dr Anthony Cox BSc Clin Dip Pharm MRPharmS Ph.D.
Mar 17, 2008 - 5:58 am 21. Kathleen Seidel:Pharmacovigilance Pharmacist
I have family members with ASD dx’es, and do not attribute this to vaccines or mercury. Although it is possible that some autistic children have experienced vaccine reactions, I strongly doubt that this is the case for the majority of autistic children, or for the majority of those autistic children whose parents have been persuaded to file a VICP claim.
I have written extensively about this subject under my own name. At the same time, I respect the right of others to express their opinions anonymously. By choosing anonymity, Dr. Manhattan allows his opinions and arguments to be evaluated on their own merits. He protects his own and his family’s privacy. He avoids receiving hostile emails and invasive telephone calls from vaccine-causation proponents determined to vent some spleen and/or “educate” him. It happens; I’ve been there.
IMHO, McCain stuck his foot in his mouth because he temporarily confused the interests of a well-organized, assertive group of litigants with the interests of disabled citizens.
Mar 17, 2008 - 8:58 am 22. isles:Excellent post. You know you’ve hit a nerve when the mercury moms and dads start coming around spluttering.
Policymakers often have to make decisions on topics where they have no expertise, but they should at least have the good judgment to know not to get their science briefings from angry Iowa autism moms.
Mar 17, 2008 - 9:05 pm 23. Real Answers:Autism has been growing incredibly since 2000, so has cell phone use. Cell phones use microwaves to communicate with cell towers. Microwaves adversely affect the brain and the developing fetus. Please start asking questions.
Try doing some searches in google with the words, cell phones, microwaves, health, autism, cancer etc. I think you will be a little shocked about what you see.
If we start asking questions we may get some real answers.
Apr 4, 2008 - 6:23 am 24. RW:Every person denying mercury causes autism is anonymous.
My name is Ricky West & I live in Georgia. My son has autism. He was vaccinated at the very same location as my daughter, who does not have autism. Our family is participating in a ground breaking study (funded in part by the Marcus Institute) to see if there is a genetic link in place. Since boys are four times more likely to develop autism than girls, a direct link between a vaccination and autism doesn’t seem likely to me, but I’m an engineer & not a scientist.
Every study to date fails the scientific method in proving a connection.
My anecdotal guess is that *I* have the genetic traits & I passed it down to my son and MAYBE the vaccination caused something to kick the gears, so to speak, that put the path to autism into action. Simply a guess, mind you, but there are far too many things that my son does that today causes people to say “wow, better check for autism” that I did when I was a kid in the 70s that made people say “wow, smart kid….likes to do things himself, though” as I was quite talkative and my time in ‘my own world’ was brief and was nothing more than a typical kid playing in their land of make-believe, which almost every kid does.
Am I anonymous, still?
And presumably you think you can do nothing to help your child recover?
We’re doing everything possible, to the point of meeting the federal medical deduction (7.75% of gross) for the last six years. What I’m not doing is claiming/blaming something that has no evidence to support it, so I’m working constructively to keep my son ahead of where he should be as a first-grader (which he currently is).
Mercury could have some part, yeah, much like water has a role in drowning. Getting the person underwater & in a situation to cause the lungs to fill w/o recourse is the problem, not the H20 & perhaps genetics & not vaccinations (which didn’t hurt my daughter) are the culprit. But, hey, I’m only Ricky A. West in Georgia, and I’m a political operative trying to help the big pharma companies (that would be liable to pay me big bucks if there WAS a link) instead of being a pragmatic dad.
In short, lighten up & do some research.
Apr 4, 2008 - 9:34 am 25. RW:To those battering parents who make such claims: imagine this being your kid & you having no answers and the day after a vaccination was the first time you saw the switch turn “off”. Lighten up, yourselves.
Sorry about the messed up html.
Apr 4, 2008 - 9:34 am