Re Vaccine causing Autism
This is completely OT, of course, but it is a subject that I have read a bit about and would like to share.
Study finds no sign that child vaccine causes autism
By Stephen Smith (The Boston Globe)
Saturday, November 9, 2002
The researchers found that the incidence of autism was essentially identical for the children who had been vaccinated and those who had not, with about three cases for every 1,000 children in both groups. The scientists also found no evidence that autism diagnoses tended to cluster in the period soon after receiving immunization, a finding, they believe, that further suggests that the shots do not cause the medical condition.
Increased frequency of diagnosed cases of autism is attributed not to MMR vaccine (which almost all children take anyway) but to:
1) increased awareness and hence chances of diagnosis
2) reinforced genes
The first point is rather easy to see, but is probably responsible only for some of the increased diagnoses. The second point came out from the observation that the real explosion in autism was in California - "Silicon Valley", to be exact.
California Sets Record for New Autism Cases
healthyamericans.org
There is apparently something called "Asperger's Syndrome", a cousin of autism, that is extremely similar to "geekiness". No kidding. Take a look at the Wired article below, where there is a very interesting argument that the autism explosion in the west coast is due to the reinforced geekiness of the parents.
wired.com |
