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My child received thirty-eight vaccines by the time he was five, including twenty vaccines by his first birthday. Is the administration of so many vaccines causing autism in certain children?
That question, so important to the health of our children and our nation, has never been asked, so how could it be answered? Well, I should probably clarify that question, especially the part where I say "never been asked", because the question has been asked, several times, in fact, but the answers don't suit the Dr. Offits and Dr. Hotezes of the world, so you never hear about them, but you will in a moment, after a quick digression. I want to walk you through three simple but important concepts that will help put vaccine-autism science in proper perspective:
Biological plausibility "refers to the proposal of a causal association--a relationship between a putative cause and an outcome that is consistent with existing biological and medical knowledge."
Encephalopathy "means disorder or disease of the brain. In modern usage, encephalopathy does not refer to a single disease, but rather to a syndrome of overall brain dysfunction; this syndrome can have many different organic and inorganic causes."
Wisdom of crowds is the notion that "large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant, better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future."
No one wants to blame the childhood vaccine schedule for the autism epidemic. Vaccines were invented to save the lives of children, not harm them, and I believe most people on both sides of this debate believe they are helping children by either fighting for more vaccines or fighting for the recognition that vaccines are causing autism in a subset of children.
But blaming vaccines for the autism epidemic is the most "biologically plausible" hypothesis. Sorry, vaccines, but it's just true. You provide some benefits to society in reducing a portion of certain acute illnesses, but you also have a very nasty underbelly: You cause brain damage in some of the kids who receive you.
Don't take my word for it--our federal government could not be clearer that vaccines cause brain damage in some children. Time and again on their own website, the Department of Health and Human Services' National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program makes it clear that "encephalopathy" is a vaccine injury, and they define "chronic encephalopathy" in the following way:
"Chronic Encephalopathy occurs when a change in mental or neurologic status, first manifested during the applicable time period, persists for a period of at least 6 months from the date of vaccination."
Like many children with autism, my son is suffering from a chronic encephalopathy that occurred after his vaccine appointments.
I don't really have to use that many of my IQ points to think that there may be a correlation between a product that causes brain damage (vaccines) and my son's brain damage. It would be enough, frankly, that brain damage is known to be a side effect of vaccines in some children to assert how biologically plausible the vaccine-autism connection is, but the argument is bolstered by two additional points: (1) As you now know, the number of vaccines given to children has nearly quadrupled since the early 1980s, and the autism rate is up more than 30,000 percent during the same time period. (2) There are tens of thousands (or more) of parental reports of regression into autism after vaccination. These reports are worldwide, in every socioeconomic level and every race. The stories are remarkably consistent. The "wisdom of crowds" is taken to an extreme when it comes to the vaccine-autism connection, according to the parents, and many of their doctors, who witnessed the regression of their children firsthand.
An Embezzler and a Whistle-Blower
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