In 2001 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) stated an association between mercury exposure and neurodevelopment disorders including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and speech or language delay was biologically plausible and many vaccines contained mercury at this time. The product information for the Tripedia DTaP (2005) vaccine lists autism as an adverse event and this is documented on the FDA website. Hence, there is plausible link between vaccines and autism that has been well documented in the medical literature. In 2001 the IOM considered that further studies were needed to prove or disprove a causal link (FDA). Whilst the IOM favoured rejecting a causal relationship in 2004, this decision was based only on selected epidemiological studies. These were observational studies and not empirical evidence, and the outcomes of observational studies are dependent upon the parameters and criteria that are selected by the researchers. Evidence from animal studies, biological studies and clinical evidence is suggestive of a causal link yet public health authorities have not funded large scale animal or human studies to prove or disprove a causal link between vaccines and autism/or other neurodevelopment disorders. The testimonials given at the US Congressional hearing on autism in November 2012, also document the possible causal link between vaccines and autism as does the correlation between the rise in autism in children and the increased use of vaccines in the 1990’s. Whilst correlation is not causation this safety signal needs to be investigated.
Mercury was not removed from most vaccines until 1999 and a causal link has not been disproven. Here is a link to more recent studies that document the possible causal link with vaccines and here. Here is a link to the physicians who are describing ‘evidence-based medicine’ as a fraud because of the way in which observational epidemiological studies can be manipulated by researchers to support the desired outcomes for their studies.
