"I definitely think there has to be a link," she said.
I guess that settles it then!
So, almost every word in this phrase is wrong: "federal health officials recently acknowledged a link between mercury laden vaccines and autism diagnoses"
"federal health officials" -- actually, not the agency speaking as an institution, but "documents obtained" from the agency, written by some of its employees. No public announcement whatsoever; the federal government has not bound itself to this conclusion, and there's no indication that those documents represent the best scientific judgment of the federal government.
"recently acknowledged" -- they settled a claim; that doesn't mean they "acknowledged" anything
"a link between mercury laden vaccines" -- nothing in the article says that mercury in the vaccine was what caused this girl's condition
"and autism diagnoses" -- first, we're talking about one child, not "diagnoses," and second, we're talking about "autism-like symptoms." And far from a "link" we are talking about vaccines worsening "a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms."
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Re: Not quite
Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 10:09:15 AM EST
5.00 (astute)
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According to U.S. Department of Health documents obtained by the Associated Press, the five vaccines Poling received aggravated a genetic mitochondrial condition, predisposing her to metabolic problems that manifested in worsening her brain function.
This is key - the girl already had a "genetic mitochondrial condition, predisposing her to metabolic problems". Slate or Salon had an article about this case a few months ago. Basically, the girl probably would have gotten autism anyway, but it's possible that the vaccine made it worse, and the standard for payout is so low that the government authorized a payout. It's not an admission that vaccines cause autism, and it has no meaning whatsoever from either a legal or scientific standpoint. In fact, from what I remember from the article I read (I looked for it but unfortunately could not find it) it seems that the vaccination itself (i.e. the inactive virus) is what caused the reaction, and not mercury or whatever else. Even if there was proof that vaccines caused autism in some people, I frankly wouldn't give a damn. It's already well known that vaccines do cause adverse reactions in a small number of people - but the benefits far outweigh the downsides, so we take that risk (and have a compensation fund set up for the rare occasion that a vaccine does cause a problem). So, in a nutshell, nice try Colin, but this isn't the sort of "evidence" that should change anyone's mind.
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Re: Not quite
Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 10:14:33 AM EST
5.00 (informative)
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And for those that think vaccines don't make any difference - a New York Times article about a measles outbreak in California among the unvaccinated children of a bunch of San Diego hipsters. It can happen to you.
Colin, I think you've landed with both feet on a very weak reed here. What you have are two media reports, one of which recounts how one child has been demonstrated to have had some sort of adverse reaction to five vaccinations she received; an adverse reaction caused by a rare underlying medical condition peculiar to her. The other media report is about a woman who "is sure" there must be a link to her son's condition. The mercury preservative is gone from almost all vaccines administered to patients these days (there is still some question whether the medical community wasn't too hasty in reacting to media-promulgated scare stories or not).
The point really is that taking one particular case and expanding that to say this discredits all vaccinations is a foolish and potentially deadly public health stance. Don't we really require more than one unusual case and someone's uninformed guess to arrive at the conclusion that vaccinations = health threats?
Illegitimi non carborundum.
I figure that if I was normal, I'd be able to read and understand this article. But over the years I've accumulated so much fluoride by drinking municipal tap water that I simply can't think straight anymore.
