Monday, April 21, 2008
Don't blame vaccines for autism
Steve Huff
Recent columns
Confusion swirls around the issue of vaccines and autism. The government's concession that vaccines led to Hannah Poling's "symptoms of autism" is partially to blame.
Does she have autism or just symptoms of autism?
The point is moot: Having the symptoms of autism is, by definition, having autism.
We will not know what Poling's symptoms are or how the decision was reached until the records are unsealed. There is no word if or when this will happen.
It needs to happen. By leaking results but withholding specifics the government has fueled wild speculation.
On the government/pharma/mainstream medical side, opinions hold firm that the Poling case applies little to the general autism debate and by no means affirms that vaccines cause autism.
On the other side, the vaccine skeptics are giddy. "I've never said this before," said David Kirby to Larry King, "the debate is over. Vaccines can trigger autism."
Watch that word "trigger." He chose it carefully.
That is because, based on available information, Poling's autism was caused not by vaccines, but by an underlying disorder of the powerhouses of her cells, the mitochondria. Her vaccines allegedly triggered a cellular energy crisis that led, eventually, to brain damage.
Could something else have triggered her disorder? Sure: medicines, toxins, infections (including those prevented by vaccines) and so on. Autism is a rare result of mitochondrial disease, which itself is rare.
So, did vaccines cause Poling's autism? No. Her genetic disorder did. Every month or so, research seems to uncover another genetic link to autism. Genetics, however, cannot account for the recent increases in autism; environmental or toxic cues also come into play. The overall picture remains complex and murky.
One point is clear: No credible link has been established between vaccines and autism. I repeat: There is no good evidence for a direct link between vaccines and autism. That includes live vaccines like MMR and vaccines containing the controversial preservative thimerosal.
That statement will set my e-mail inbox on fire (again), but I don't care. The truth must be told.
Kirby, journalist turned autism/vaccine zealot, professes that the medical community ignores a mountain of evidence to the contrary. I've followed his arguments from his book, "Evidence of Harm," to his blogs on the Huffington post to interviews with the likes of Don Imus.
I will say this about Kirby: His prose is lovely, his enthusiasm unquenchable, his determination staunch, his heart well-placed and his science junk.
His devotees gobble it up and then regurgitate it. After my last column ("Fear the disease, not the prevention," April 7), I cleaned it out of my inbox for days. It was well worth it. The more I corresponded, the more I learned.
After nine months in the womb, a grueling childbirth and months of playing, learning and loving, the personalities -- souls, if you will -- of babies and children with autism are hijacked. Their bodies remain close by and perfect, but their minds (to varying degrees), go somewhere else. So much loving, caring and bonding fade like a puff of smoke.
What is a parent to do?
For the emotionally overwhelmed, scientifically untrained mind, vaccines make an irresistible target. They are invasive, mandatory and mysterious. They are injected into children every few months throughout the time that autism tends to occur. They prevent diseases that no longer frighten us.
Hannah Poling regressed into autism as a result of a specific genetic defect. That is, in a way, exciting news. How many other children with similar disorders might there be? Can we find them? Can we shield them from the stressors that could damage their brains? Let's go!
Hold on: There's this massive vaccine/thimerosal thing. It's grabbing the headlines. It's devouring money. It has put the government on its heels and the skeptics in a frenzy.
As a scientist I remain aghast at the levels of evidence and logic that drive parents from vaccines. As a doctor I worry that the gains we've made through vaccines will be reversed. As a journalist it pains me to read the misconceptions of writers like David Kirby. As a human, my heart goes out to those deprived of the full measure of their children's love and achievement.
Ironically, we all seek the same Grail: the prevention of childhood illness. If we could find a way to focus our energies we might well prevent two epidemics: infectious disease and autism.
Huff, who lives in Patrick County and practices family medicine, is a columnist for The Roanoke Times.
