Has autism disappeared yet?

[cthulu2016]

We know that the autism epidemic is caused by mercury in vaccines, in the form of thimerosal. (Robert Kennedy Jr. told me so, after all.)

Autism is an early-childhood onset condition.

There hasn't been thimerosal in any of our vaccines since 2001.

Arithmetic suggests that we must have seen a huge reduction in new cases in America starting 2002-2003, with the epidemic disappearing entirely by 2005-2006.

[The Straight Story]

1. No, cause we still have vaccines

[cthulu2016]

2. But vaccines without mercury compounds in them.

[sharp_stick]

6. Well Dammit

that just proves it was the damned vaccine and not the mercury after all.

BAN ALL THE VACCINES

[mmonk]

3. Of course not.

All I can advise people is don't believe everything someone says when it comes to "cures" and causes, no matter who it is unless it comes from a concensus of Doctors and science and is in some means quantified. As far as I know, there is no "cure" so people need to work on acceptance and understanding.

[cthulu2016]

7. I have total sympathy for sufferers and families

It is about as stressful and disheartening as life gets, and I understand why parents were desperate to find a scapegoat -- not that understanding is justification.

But I have a perverse interest in our consequences-free intellectual marketplace. People who *knew* Iraq had WMD continued to pontificate on foreign and military affairs as if nothing had happened. People who *knew* that interest rates would climb due to our deficit in 2008-2012, rather than being blackballed have just as high a soapbox as ever.

And people who *knew* thimerisol caused autism seem to run their mouths about health issues about as much as ever.

Zero accountability.

[kimbutgar]

4. They're in our flu shots, that's why so many people are getting alzheimers/dementia now

A child before the age 3 can get up to 38-45 shots who knows what are in them and who knows the toxic effect it has on a developing brain? I saw my son change in a couple of days after getting his MMR shot. He is 20 now and autism will prevent him from living a normal life. I have cried many tears knowing that my son was harmed by these shots. The only shot he has gotten recently is a tetanus one. I refuse to further hurt him with the chicken pox shot, meningitis shot or a flu shot. You have to wonder why the big pharma's are shielded by our government by law for vaccine damages. Another republican BJ to big pharma during the bush years.

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. There has never been thimerosal in the one vaccine spuriously linked to autism

that would be the MMR vaccine; the paper finding a link between MMR and developmental disorders was retracted by the journal that published it, and the doctor who wrote the paper and did the research has been struck off the medical register by the UK's General Medical Council for professional misconduct and research fraud.

There has never been any causative link between vaccination and autism.

On edit: The perceived 'link' between autism and neurodevelopmental disorders is one of mistaking correlation for causation. The symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders most often manifest at about the age of 18 months; this is also approximately the age at which children receive vaccinations. Correlation is not causation; numerous studies have failed to find any link between vaccination and autism.

[msongs]

8. conception is the leading cause of death. nt