Formal Debate Thread: Vaccinated children are more likely to have autism than unvaccinated children. - Page 7

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by Rrrrrachel 

I know we're mostly done here, but I came across some of these today and the threads not locked yet, soooo . . . .
Pervasive developmental disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: prevalence and links with immunizations.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818529
Examined birth cohorts in Canada from 1987 to 1998 and looked for trends in pervasive developmental disorders and a relationship with exposure to thimerosal and mmr. Thimerosal exposure ranged from none to medium (around 100 mcg) to high (around 200 mcg). The prevalence of pdd was significantly higher in the thimerosal free group than the thimerosal exposed group. Rates of pdd were also found to significantly increase when rates of mmr decreased.
Association between thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14519711
Compared birth cohorts born in Denmark between 1990 and 1996. Compared children given a thimerosal containing vaccine to children vaccinated with a thimerosal free version of the same vaccine. Risk of autism did not vary significantly between the groups.

These studies are shredded in www14studies.org.

The Canadian study analyzed here: http://www.14studies.org/MMR_3_details.html
"Used a statistical trick by using MMR uptake data from one city (Quebec City) and comparing it to autism rates in a different city (Montreal)."


The Canadian study asks and answers these questions:
"Q: Are MMR uptake and PDD rates related in Montreal? [Remember, they're using MMR uptake data from Quebec, not Montreal.]

A: No

Did the study look at unvaccinated children?

A: No"

Is there any potential Conflict of Interest in the Canadian study?

Um, yes.

"In the United Kingdom, Dr Fombonne has provided advice on the epidemiology and clinical aspects of autism to scientists advising parents, to vaccine manufacturers, and to several government committees between 1998 and 2001. Since June 2004, Dr Fombonne has been an expert witness for vaccine manufacturers in US thimerosal litigation."

According to another researcher, Ed Yazbak, Fombonne et al (authors of the Canadian study) "ignored the fact that autism rates increased following a doubling of the MMR exposure after 1996 when a second MMR shot was added to the immunization schedule and chose to emphasize that a rise in PDD rates coincided with a decline in MMR coverage rates."

[Taximom5]

SafeMinds found several major flaws with the Danish study:


"In our review of the Danish data we identified a flaw which resulted in a substantial loss of autism case records from the registry which essentially renders the findings from the JAMA study by Hviid and colleagues invalid", said Sallie Bernard, executive director of Safe Minds. "The registry allows 10-25% of diagnosed autism cases to be lost from its records each year. The effect of this loss is such that the records will disappear from older age groups to a much greater degree than from younger age groups in any given registry year."

Using an alternative method to avoid the record removal bias, Safe Minds looked at the Danish registry data and did a reanalysis. They found a clear association between thimerosal-preserved vaccines and autism:

"The analysis looked at same-age children - 5-9 year olds - but from different registry years: 1992, when all of the children received thimerosal-containing vaccines, and 2002, when none of the children received vaccines with thimerosal. After adjusting for the lack of outpatient records in the 1992 registry, the analysis found a 2.3 higher number of autism cases among the 1992 thimerosal-exposed group relative to the 2002 non-exposed group."

There is (as usual) clear conflict of interest, as the authors of the Danish study were employed by Statens Serum Institut, which manufactured one of the thimerosal-preserved vaccines given to children in the study; vaccines account for 80% of SSI's profits.

[Rrrrrachel]

Good thing we have all these other studies.

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by Rrrrrachel 

Good thing we have all these other studies.

Good thing we have www.14studies.org to explain the flaws, the lies, and the financial conflicts of interest surrounding those studies.

[AdinaL]

Okay. Looks like we are done.

This thread has been a tough one for me to moderate, honestly.  I am sorry if any of you feel I have moderated unevenly.  

Thread is closed.

[AdinaL]

Also - a question regarding the next one: http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1355839/topic-submission-for-debate-threads/0_100#post_17026777