| According to Autism Speaks, an advocacy group, | | | | year for the past decade. Jim Carrey, who believes |
| autism incidences have increased 10-17% every year | | | | that his wife's son was 'vaccine-damaged', said of the |
| for the past decade. Boys are more than four times | | | | situation: "With billions of pharmaceutical dollars, could it |
| as likely as girls to be diagnosed with the disorder. All | | | | be possible that the vaccine program is becoming |
| three presidential candidates in the 2008 election have | | | | more of a profit engine then a means of prevention?" |
| agreed with Bernadine Healy, the former head of the | | | | On May 20, '08, the University of Pittsburgh declared |
| National Institute of Health, that the connection | | | | that autism and vaccines recommended by the CDC |
| between vaccinations and autism be studied in a | | | | and the AAP have been linked in experiments |
| properly controlled, double-blind experiment. Healy | | | | performed on monkeys. The article I found ( declares |
| accuses her colleagues of not wanting "to pursue a | | | | "Safety studies of medicines are typically conducted in |
| hypothesis because that hypothesis could be | | | | monkeys prior to use in humans, yet such basic |
| damaging to the public health community at large by | | | | research on the current childhood vaccination regimen |
| scaring people." | | | | has never before been done." |
| In her best-selling memoir "Louder than Words" actress | | | | One of the theories linking vaccines and autism is the |
| and model Jenny McCarthy, wife of actor Jim Carrey, | | | | presence in many vaccines of a mercury-based |
| tells a compelling story of her attempts to rescue her | | | | preservative called "thimerosal". Mercury has long been |
| son from autism with a regimen of vitamins and | | | | known to cause mental disorders - in fact, the Mad |
| minerals and a diet free of gluten, yeast, and wheat. | | | | Hatter of Alice in Wonderland fame was Mad |
| Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), the group that | | | | because of mercury poisoning. The CDC demanded in |
| McCarthy recently became national spokeswoman | | | | 1998 that the drug companies stop producing vaccines |
| for, makes the reality clear: "Recovery is like a car | | | | with thimerosal in them, but never demanded that they |
| accident, where some individuals may die and some | | | | destroy or stop using their existing stock. Though the |
| receive different wounds," said TACA founder Lisa | | | | last reported thimerosal-laden vaccine usage was way |
| Ackerman, "you can't be cured, but you can recover | | | | back in 2007, some companies may well still be using |
| through treatment and time to heal." | | | | vaccines with thimerosal in them. |
| Autism and vaccine schedules seem to have an | | | | Even today, Google News shows article after article in |
| intuitively-obvious connection. In the '80s, U.S. kids were | | | | which children who developed autism spontaneously |
| given 10 vaccines by age 5. Today's kids are on a | | | | after receiving their vaccines had high levels of |
| strict schedule for no fewer than 36 vaccinations by | | | | mercury in their systems. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, |
| age 2. Connect that with the fact that the number of | | | | but that's a connection between autism and vaccines |
| children diagnosed with autism has grown 10% every | | | | that's hard to ignore. |