Goverment pays out on vaccine autism case

[bascule]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/05/autism.vaccines.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

 

So to toss some more fuel on the fire of the whole vaccine autism "debate", the US government recently paid out on a case in which it's claimed vaccines caused a disease which influenced the onset of autism.

 

I've felt the whole angle has been completely discredited at this point, but I assume we'll be hearing about this case for quite some time. Meanwhile the parents ignore the real causes of their children's autism: their genes.

[Reaper]

I've felt the whole angle has been completely discredited at this point, but I assume we'll be hearing about this case for quite some time. Meanwhile the parents ignore the real causes of their children's autism: their genes.

 

It has been, but then, you should never underestimate the power of large amounts of stupid people.

[ecoli]

how the hell was this not discredited in court?

[JohnB]

Meanwhile the parents ignore the real causes of their children's autism: their genes.

Of course. Everyone knows that drugs and vaccines have no negative side effects.

 

Be reasonable, please. If only 1 in 10,000 people has an adverse reaction and you innoculate 10,000,000 kids, then you have 1,000 adverse reactions. It's a numbers game, pure and simple.

[swansont]

What the article didn't mention was that the diagnosis was encephalopathy, which has symptoms similar to autism. Nothing about this case supports the idea that vaccines are the cause of autism.

 

Of course. Everyone knows that drugs and vaccines have no negative side effects.

 

Be reasonable, please. If only 1 in 10,000 people has an adverse reaction and you innoculate 10,000,000 kids, then you have 1,000 adverse reactions. It's a numbers game, pure and simple.

 

And the numbers show that vaccines in general, and thimerosol in particular, don't cause autism.

[John Cuthber]

Vaccines are known to cause occasional side effects. It is quite right that those who suffer from these side effects are compensated in some way. After all, the society that pays the compensation is the same society that benefits from not having epidemics.

 

However it doesn't make sense to pay "compensation" out of that fund to people who just have the bad luck to be affected by autism. With no evidence that the problem was caused by the vaccine (and with plenty of evidence that vaccines don't cause autism) the decision is ridiculous.

[swansont]

Once again: the payout was not because of autism, per se. It was encephalopathy; a very specific condition. This is the distinction the mercury militia are trying to blur.