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Having kids vaccinated is a decision every parent has to make shortly after their children are born. Most parents are led to believe there is no question about the safety of these vaccines. However there are few parents that are determined these vaccines are one of the prime factors in the cause of autism. The United States is in the midst of a tragic epidemic of autism. An analysis of the US Department of Education data from 1992-1993 in comparison to 2000-2001 indicates that there has been an average increase of 644% among all US children. (www.autismsociety.org) Recent studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association and Pediatrics have confirmed the autism epidemic is real and not due to changes in diagnosis, population changes nor is it explained by other factors. At the same time that the incidence of autism was growing, the number of childhood vaccines containing Thimerosal was growing. Thimerosal is an inorganic mercury compound that is metabolized to ethyl mercury and Thiosalicylate and has been present since the 1930’s as a preservative in some vaccines and pharmaceutical products to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination. A growing number of scientists and researchers believe that a relationship between the increase in disorders of autism, and the increased use of Thimerosal in vaccines could be linked. The Thiomersal controversy claims that vaccines containing the preservative Thimerosal contribute to autism and other brain development disorders due to the high levels of mercury.(www.cdc.gov) Autism is a severe developmental disorder that will usually begin at birth or sometimes within the first two-and-a-half years of life. Most autistic children are perfectly normal in appearance, but spend their time... ... middle of paper ... ...ply be prevented. With the proper research done a parent could prevent there child from sever reactions, and possibly even autism. In the end the choice is up to the parents, but is it really worth the risks? Works Cited "Autism". Autism Society of America. April 28th 2010 http://www.autismsociety.org/site/ PageServer?pagename=about_whatcauses Gorman , Christine . "Time Magazine". Time. April 28th 2010 http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article Jenny, Prather. "Vaccines: what they don’t tell you.” Right Health January 2009: 2-6. Martin, Peggy. "Autism Causes". Health Reports November 2008: 8-9 Mike, Adams. "Vaccines". Natural News January 24, 2010: 1. Rudy, Lisa. "What Causes Autism>". About.com. 5-1-2010 http://autism.about.com/od/whatisautism/p/ autismcauses.htm Dye, Michael. Vaccinations Deception and Tragedy. Shelby, NC: Hallelujah Acres, 2006.
Autism was first discovered by Leo Kanner in 1943, he labeled it as early infantile autism. Most causes of autistic children before Kanner’s discovery were thought to be possessed and were put through very inhumane conditions. Autism is the prototypical form of a spectrum of related, complex, neuro developmental disorders referred to as autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), also known as pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) (Berry 73). The main symptom of Autism is the inability to easily communicate and interact with others. A cure for autism has not been discovered, but there are reports of some children that have naturally recovered. Symptoms are noticed in early years of life, normally around the age of three. The onset of the disease must be before the age of three years (Berry 73). The families with an autistic child have to adjust their daily activities around the child at all times. It is very difficult for an autistic child to be in a crowded area or in new environments.
Those fears are what motivate parents not to vaccinate their children. Many parents hear stories of children who go in for vaccinations and soon after develop autism or other neurologic disabilities, and decide that vaccines should not be given to children. Government agencies and medical research centers have gone through study after study in an attempt to disprove the theory that vaccines cause autism, and so far,
...s teacher, classmates, friends and family members at risk. Immunization and vaccines save millions of lives each year. Vaccines imitate infection, but do not cause illness, what they do is cause the immune system to produce T-lymphocytes, antibodies and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight that disease in the future. The bacteria and virus’ that cause life threatening diseases still exist, but because of vaccination, there are 90% less cases of these illnesses in America today. Less than 1% of children have severe side effects to vaccinations. In the recent past many celebrities have chosen to voice their opinions regarding vaccinations. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has done extensive research on the link between the rise in the cases of Autism and vaccinations, since Wakefield’s 1998 study and has found vaccinations to be safe and effective.
Experts believe that failure to vaccinate your child based on unfounded and inconclusive reports will only result in an increase of infectious diseases. This fear is seen in a statement given by some of the most respected medical professionals; “Using an unsubstantiated hypothesis to question the safety of vaccination . . . could lead to widespread rejection of vaccines and inevitable increases of serious infectious disease” (qtd. in Allen 411). Some studies have revealed that in places where vaccines have been associated with autism vaccinations go down, and consequently, certain diseases resurface or grow in number (Autism and Vaccines). Overall, though vaccinations are accompanied by risks, they are also the best defence against our children developing many deadly infectious diseases (Meadows).
Immunization is the process by which a person or animal becomes protected against a disease. Even though it’s “one of the greatest health development of the 20th century”, the number of infants who aren’t fully vaccinated are increasing gradually over the past years. This happened because of all the controversy surrounding vaccine. Despite the fact that it can prevent potentially life-threatening diseases, people are paying less attention to those infections because they are rarely seen nowadays. So people start to look at the vaccine and the possible side effects and now they fear that the vaccine itself might be more harmful than it is helpful. Although there are some objections for the use of vaccinations, I strongly support it for many reasons.
The risk of autism and other autistic-spectrum disorders did not differ significantly between children vaccinated with thimerosal-containing vaccine and children vaccinated with thimerosal-free vaccine (RR, 0.85 [95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-1.20] for autism; RR, 1.12 [95% CI, 0.88-1.43] for other autistic-spectrum disorders). Furthermore, we found no evidence of a dose-response association (increase in RR per 25 microg of ethyl mercury, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.90-1.06] for autism and 1.03 [95% CI, 0.98-1.09] for other autistic-spectrum disorders). (Hviid et
Just like prescription drugs, vaccines can be a harmful risk. For example, the small pox vaccine that is recommended by government health officials carries a risk for complications like inflammation of the brain which can lead to damage of the brain or even death. People who believe we should have mandatory vaccinations will say that vaccines have saved many lives, and though its true vaccines have also caused many serious and sometimes fatal side effects. There are also many cases where many parents strongly believe that some vaccines may have caused autism in their children. The reason being that many parents noticed shortly after their child was vaccinated they noticed symptoms like loss of language abilities and they were suddenly stopped interacting with people. Also, the vaccines used to treat measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) are linked to many autism cases. Vaccines that contain thimerosal, which is an organic compound that contains mercury, has also been suspected to cause autism in children. Thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines because of its linkage to autism. Scientist believe that MMR vaccines trigger a regressive form of autism, because the measles virus in the vaccine embeds itself in the intestine, causing some kind of reaction in the brain. Mercury, a chemical element, is used in a lot of vaccines can be very dangerous. High levels of
Autism is a general term for a group of complex disorders of brain development. The Autism spectrum is vast and varies in degree of severity from person to person. The challenges that come with Autism Disorder include difficulty in social interactions, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Autism has been a diagnosable disorder since 1951. Treatment options have changed since the first diagnosis. Available treatment today has advanced over the sixty-three year span and has become the best possible form of treatment available for Autism.
Autism usually occurs within the first three years of life, and drastically affects the development of a child. It is also the fastest growing developmental disorder in the United States (Autism Project, 2014). One out of eighty- eight children is diagnosed with Autism, and boys are five times more likely to be diagnosed (ASDS 2013). Many areas of development are affected by autism. This is a disease that disturbs the brains normal development of communication, social interaction, and sensory processing (Inc 2013).
In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.
Autism is a developmental disorder which affects many small aspects of the person's life and can sometimes affect major parts. Autism affects 1 in 68 children and for most it’s a lifelong
Vaccines are becoming increasingly hazardous for many children and parents are not being informed about the safety of their children. Current reports are linking vaccines to serious life-threatening disorders such as asthma, autism, immune system dysfunction, and mental retardation (Williams). These recent revelations are causing an increasing amount of people to claim religious and medical exemptions from vaccines. From 1999 to 2006, exemptions have more than doubled from 9,722 to 24,919 (Cronin). It is very clear that vaccinations are posing many problems for parents everywhere. Each day researchers are finding out about vaccines and are realizing that there are a lot more risks than benefits. Dr Phillip F. Incao explains: “Today, far more children suffer from allergies and other chronic immune system disorders than from life-threatening infectious disease. It is neither reasonable nor prudent to persist in presuming that the benefits of any vaccination outweigh its risk” (qtd in Spaker). While infectious diseases are becoming uncommon there is no need for any person to get vaccinated.
Vaccines against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and more recent additions of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have given humans powerful immune guards to ward off unwelcome sickness. And thanks to state laws that require vaccinations for kids enrolling in kindergarten, the U.S. presently enjoys the highest immunization rate ever at 77%. Yet bubbling beneath these national numbers is the question about vaccine safety. Driven by claims that vaccinations can be associated with autism, increasing number of parents are raising questions about whether vaccines are in fact harmful to children, instead of helpful (Park, 2008).
A prevailing argument that pro-voluntaristic individuals frequently make is that vaccines have the potential to be harmful to individuals; a primary motive behind this pertains to an alleged correlation that exists between thimerosal, a component of vaccines, and countless disorders including autism (Benjamin, 2003). According to Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, “When you take a look at the ever-increasing numbers of doses of vaccines babies have gotten over the past two decades and you see this corresponding rise in chronic disease and disability in our children, it is out of control” (Benjamin, 2003). Many speculated that the mercury contained within the thimerosal was to blame for this. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thimerosal contains a form of mercury known as ethylmercury that quickly evacuates the body and cannot cause adverse reactions unless exposure involves abnormally large doses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Nevertheless, a fair handful of United States citizens are medically unable to receive vaccines; for example, out of a billion people, nearly 250,000 possible vaccine reactions were documented
...t have thimerosal and autism. It does not make sense that someone that is being vaccinated to help prevent diseases would end up with an intellectual disability, difficulties with motor coordination and attention and physical health issues (Concerns About Austim). The original study that started this debate for years had been retracted. Parents should be more informed and keep up with regarding this situation.