
The critics talk back
The American Academy of Pediatrics claims that:
“decades of high-quality, large-scale studies show that vaccines do not cause autism.” they offer 34 studies on their website to support your claim. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention previously stated that vaccines do not cause autism but has amended their position after a reexamine of much of the evidence that we are offering here. On their website healthychildren.org the AAP has listed the research that they have depended on for their position. They have invited the public to “Examine the Evidence.” Despite 20 years of critical analysis of these papers directed at the AAP, we know of no such response on their part. In fact they have ceased their participation on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in order to avoid facing their critics in a public forum.

“It is easy to understand why people are not believing the scientific community. It reduces confidence in the scientific enterprise when it turns out that the CDC had information on early versions of the studies of Verstraeten et al. that demonstrated a linkage between thimerosal exposure and autism, that these studies were never published, and that no one has ever explained satisfactorily why different analyses were conducted and why they were changed. But all of these studies have equally debilitating flaws that invalidate any conclusions drawn from them on thimerosal safety. And if it turns out that that there is a subset of children for whom additives in vaccines are a problem, then this is important to know. For then we can focus on how to identify these children in advance. The conclusions I have drawn are that we are not going to solve this problem by ignoring it. So let’s embrace it. Let’s get the data.”