Last Post on Vaccines

No more vaccine posts from me for a while, although you are all welcome to continue debating in the comments section (What fun! Great job Steve and Anne!). I need to take a mental break and I'm rethinking my post-children-raising plans for medical school. Only half-joking there.

I edited my previous post that said I would be happy to debate vaccine safety. That is no longer the case - I have found that this topic is as controversial as abortion! And in general it's a real downer to spend hours researching this information online. So after looking at some of Steve's links, here are a few points I would like to make.

1. So much information is biased, and it's really difficult to determine what is not. Someone posted a link for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is Dr. Paul Offitt. He is a vaccine patent-holder, a paid spokesperson for Merck, and he has been reprimanded by Congress for his conflicts of interest in voting for vaccine policy. He stands to make a lot of money from people vaccinating their children.

2. Aluminum: Obviously there is a difference between ingested or inhaled aluminum and injected aluminum. The Vaccine Book looks at safe levels of injected aluminum, as I correctly cited. I stated that it is important to continue to research the way a child's body metabolizes injected aluminum. We really can't control the things we ingest (although I'm cutting back on tin cans, not microwaving plastics, etc.) and inhale but we certainly can take a second look at the ingredients we are injecting.

3. MMR: If there is absolutely no connection between the MMR and autism, why do scientists continue to study it? These studies began in 1998 and are ongoing. If there's no harm in unbundling the MMR, I don't see why anyone should criticize those who want to be cautious (especially those with a family history of auto-immune disorders or autism spectrum disorders).

From everything I've read about autism, research has determined that genetic and environmental factors appear to be most important in its development. However, researchers have yet to pinpoint the "trigger" that leads to the onset of autism. Perhaps it has to do with the mother's measles immunization or other hereditary factors. However, studies have shown that the measles virus is present in the intestines and brain tissue of some children with autism spectrum disorders. (They've also shown that the hair samples of children diagnosed with autism have higher levels of mercury than those of their non-autistic siblings, though thimerisol is a different topic). Even if the MMR is not a trigger, it is obviously important to continue studying this connection.



Okay, off to bed...I hear from APY that the women's gymnastic team is not doing so well. But a great big CONGRATULATIONS to men's gym and Justin Spring!