Thursday, June 30, 2005

Of Diabolical Vaccines and Refrigerator Moms I sent the Salon article on thimerosal to my co-worker, thinking she would be interested.  After all, she has an adult autistic brother, and so she has a stake in the potential causes of autism.  I thought she would have something to say about it.  I wasn't prepared for the emotions I saw.  At first, she was angry, bitterly denying that there was any such link.  "They've studied that for years, and they've proved that there's no connection."  She searched the Internet for alternate research and found a press release for the Institutes of Medicine study, the same one that RFK Jr. discredited in his article.  She got angrier.  "Look," she said, "I've been looking all my life for a smoking gun that caused my brother's autism.  I know this isn't it.  I can't believe this is it." The discussion went on.  ABC (pointing out twice that Kennedy is "not a doctor") and the New York Times covered the new thimerosal controversy.  She continued to angrily slap away the connection, and even started telling me about articles (NY Times, for example) that denied the link.  Then we both realized the problem.  We were asking different questions about thimerosal.  Her question:  did this preservative cause my brother's autism.  She explained that there had been theories and theories and more theories about autism's cause.  Environmental causes from radiation to mercury had been explored.  For years, the cause was said to be "refrigerator moms" - mothers who showed too little emotion toward their children.  This haunted her mother for a long time, until it too was discredited.  So she just couldn't accept the new "smoking gun" memos and new research as proof.  But that wasn't the question I was asking. My question was simpler:  should I put thimerosal in my son's body?  On this, we were agreed.  "I wouldn't do it, if I were in your shoes," she said.  I don't trust it, and as I've made clear, I don't trust the watchdogs who tell me it's safe, any more than I trust the FDA to tell me when a drug is safe.  (In other words, I do trust them to a certain extent, because I have to.  But I'm also going to do my own research, because I know that the FDA is tainted by conflicts of interest, and often rushes drugs to market without solid research to support their safety.) So I'm going to keep looking. I'm going to keep peppering my doctor about the preservatives in Oliver's vaccines.  But I'm not going to say this is definitely the cause of autism.  I think - I feel, in my gut - that it's a risk factor.  But there has to be more research, of the hard and gut-wrenching kind that we expect from our national guardians of health.  The kind of research they never seem to be truly capable of.  At least, not to anyone's satisfaction.  And I'll keep listening to those painful phone calls between my co-worker and her brother ("What's wrong?  Well, did you eat today?  When did you eat?  Okay.  When are you going to eat again?  Okay.  Did you take a shower?  No, I don't know when mom's going to be home.  But it'll be soon, okay?") and praying.  Safe passage.  That's what I'll be praying for.  From everything:  SIDS, colic, hearing difficulties, autism, asthma, everything.  Safe passage from everything.  7:17:02 AM     Speak up!  []