Vaccinations, autism, and science that stinks
Vaccinations remain a highly contentious issue
The scientific community is up in arms and the prestigious British medical journal, “The Lancet“, has been pressured to retract a study that it published in 1998. This particular study shocked parents when it concluded that there was a causal link between the MMR vaccination (measles, mumps, rubella) and autism. As a direct result of this study, parents around the world began to question the safety of vaccinations and refused to subject their children to the injections for fear of putting their children at risk of developing autism.
Now, the design of the study and the head researcher’s methods have been discredited as unscientific and unethical. The explanation given by medical experts as to why there appears to be a perceived link between vaccinations and autism is that many of these childhood vaccinations take place right around the age of the onset of autism. In other words, it is just an unfortunate coincidence.
The irony of this situation is that opponents of vaccination argue that if you examine the scientific evidence about vaccinations in general, the declines in disease rates were already occurring BEFORE widespread vaccination. In other words, declines in disease rates and the introduction of vaccinations are just a fortunate coincidence. Worst of all, despite the fact that there is potential harm from vaccination, companies that profit from selling these vaccinations influence the medical community and governments to pressure parents to vaccinate their children.
How ethical is that?
