The prevalence of autism has apparently been increasing over the past 30 years, leading frustrated parents and clinicians alike desperately wondering why. After all, something must be causing the increasing autism.
It seems likely to DrRich that at least some of the rising prevalence is caused by a rising awareness, on the part of parents, clinicians, and teachers, of both classic autism and some of its less apparent forms (i.e., the "autism spectrum disorders"). When DrRich was growing up in the 1950s, for instance, more than a couple of of the kids he knew, in retrospect, had clear signs of some of the milder forms of autism. They never received a diagnosis - they were just "different" - and indeed, at the time there were no diagnoses available to assign to them.
As it happens, a study appearing in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders a few years ago concluded that "improvements in detection and changes in diagnosis account for the observed increase in autism," and that, in fact, it really isn't known whether there has been an actual increase in prevalence. This conclusion, it must be admitted, is incorrect at least politically.
In any case, somewhere along the way some astute observer noticed that at about the same time that the prevalence of autism apparently began increasing in the 1980s, there was also a significant increase in the number of recommended childhood vaccines. Putting two and two together, a conclusion was reached: autism must be caused by vaccines.
DrRich does not understand why vaccines, of all the possible correlations, were focused on as the preferred culprit. After all, the use of cell phones, video games, and personal computers (for instance) came into being at that same time. And, while there is no plausible biologic mechanism which explains how vaccines could cause autism (aside from alleging that it's "toxins" in the vaccine preparation, or some unspecified and unmeasurable immune modulation), it is known that a lot of this electronic equipment emits ionizing radiation that can actually have a measurable biologic effect. So just from the standpoint of plausibility, all the cool electronics we have become addicted to over the past few decades would seem a much more reasonable candidate for blame than vaccines.
This is not to suggest in any way that electromagnetic radiation actually causes autism (though if parents who are now withholding vaccines from their kids - an action which really does produce a measurable risk - were instead to forgo their huge televisions and their ubiquitous cell phones, DrRich, a budding codger, thinks everybody would be better off). Instead, DrRich is merely suggesting that focusing so single-mindedly on vaccines as the likely culprit, given the wide range of other novel environmental influences our kids have been exposed to during this same period of time, just seems kind of arbitrary.
Nonetheless, because of the outcry, millions of dollars have been spent to study the hypothesis that vaccines or preservatives in the vaccines (such as mercury) are responsible for autism. And none have produced any credible evidence to support an association between the two - let alone a cause and effect relationship. And so (DrRich meekly submits), perhaps the vigorous broadcasting of such a cause and effect relationship between vaccines and autism has been a trifle too overdone.
It's probably too late for mere data to stifle the still-blossoming notion that vaccines produce autism, and anyone who says they don't (DrRich is well aware) is a hate monger and a shill of the drug companies. DrRich does not want to fight. Autism is an extremely difficult disorder to deal with, and whatever gives parents a sense of empowerment and control is not all bad. And while DrRich wishes something other than vaccines (which after all, do a lot of good) had become the focus of attention, he'll admit that blaming vaccines is far better and far less damaging than blaming the mothers - which is what physicians used to do.
For a learned and very measured discussion of the relationship between autism and vaccines, read these articles by About.com's Guide to Autism.
More of the Top 10 Overblown Health Stories of the Decade.
Sources:
Croen LA; Grether JK; Hoogstrate J; Selvin S. The changing prevalence of autism in California. J Autism Dev Disord 2002 Jun;32(3):207-15.
