Topic awaiting preservation: Study Dispells Link Between Autism and MMR Vaccine (Page 1 of 1)

Remember way back when, there was a discussion about a possible link between Autism and MMR Vaccine? Well, a large-scale study was done in Japan on this - here Study Dispells Link Between Autism and MMR Vaccine

I think this part of the study is really eye-opening

quote:

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The new study conducted in Yokohama, Japan examined the medical records of over 31,000 children born between 1988 and 1996 and counted how many were diagnosed with autism by age 7. But after withdrawing the MMR vaccine in 1993, researchers found the rate of autism remained on the increase.

"The findings are resoundingly negative." said lead researcher Dr. Hideo Honda, of the Yokohama Rehabilitation Centre.

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Note : Blocks are mine.

Yep that study looks to be pretty conclusive. The problem is the usual one of cause and effect. Even if you can show a correlation between two things you aren't necessarily showing the one causes the other but actually disproving the link is a tricky one and requires exactly what has been done - a long running study on a large group (which is not something you can just pull out of one's hat).

Its sad that so many parents have had to make an agonising decision on poor data (from both sides of the debate).

It also goes too a fundamentally human level - it has always been better to blame something for a natural occuring problem (whether it is the work of witches spoiling the crop or some kind of vaccine) as the laternative (crappy things happen to ncie people) seems awfully random and unsettling.

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Emps

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if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Another study seems to show that autism is genuinely rising in the US (its not just a factor of better diagnosis):

Link

The The National Autism Association seem not to be able to let the issue of MMR drop and its telling that they read an awful lot more into the CDC director's statement than is actually there.

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org | Justice for Pat Richard | FAQs: Emperor | Site Reviews | Reception Room

if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!