MMR

But to many parents, the anecdotal experience of seeing seemingly healthy, well adjusted children suddenly descend into a twilight world of bizarre behavior after being given multiple inoculations is evidence enough that "autism" isn't necessarily a genetic condition, but may be directly related to what's in those vaccines. Also convinced of that are a number of lawyers who have agreed to represent them, at least in regard to the mercury issue. In April 2002, a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of thimerosal and the vaccine manufacturers who used it was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York based on claims that the amounts of mercury contained in these vaccines far exceeded the levels considered "safe" by the EPA.

The safety of these MMR vaccinations has also continued to be called into question. "Thousands of parents believe that the MMR vaccine has contributed to their children's autism," noted longtime pediatrician and vaccine researcher F. Edward Yazbak, M.D., of Falmouth, Massachusetts. " They speak of the MMR being the only new event in their child's life in that period between normal development and autistic regression...These parents certainly did not acquire their conviction from reading about the twelve cases reported in Dr. Wakefield's first paper...Always remember their children were normal and their disease is acquired"

Noting that such parents no longer believe health authorities' assurance that the vaccine is safe, Dr. Yazbak also charged that "the infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists who make decisions and mandate vaccines have little knowledge of autism and its immune etiology."

Another critic, Dr. Tedd Koren, a Pennsylvania-based chiropractor and author of Childhood Vaccination: Questions All Parents should Ask, charges that doctors routinely failed to report vaccine reactions because "they don't want to, they don't recognize it, and they're afraid if malpractice. The truth is, we don't know how many kids are being hurt."

Koren even disputes the conventional medicine postion that vaccinationa are necessary to protect  against childhood disease. "If we stopped vaccinating, we would not have an outbreak of measles tomorrow," says Dr. Koren. Rather, "we would stop having an outbreak or epidemic of autism," which Dr. Koren claims has corresponded with the increased use of vaccines. "You didn't see autism in Japan until after WWII, when the Americans instituted an immunization program," he says.

"When you eat fish, it's ingested; when you get a vaccine with mercury, it's injected," observes Koren, adding, "Stop with the tuna already."