Louise Kuo Habakus, co-editor of The Vaccine Epidemic has summarized the the eighth and final report of the Immunization Safety Review Committee that examines the hypothesis that vaccines, specifically the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and thimerosal-containing vaccines, are causally associated with autism. She notes that there are over a decade of Institute Of Medicine reports on vaccine safety that you can read with free PDF downloads. She writes:
You will be struck by how little is known. And yet the schedule of recommended and mandated vaccines continues to expand.
1991: [T]he committee encountered many gaps and limitations in knowledge... insufficient or inconsistent information... limited capacity of existing surveillance systems... if research capacity not improved, future reviews of vaccine safety will be similarly handicapped.
1994: Committee members were struck by lack of evidence... insufficient or inadequate to make a determination of causality... studies of vaccines are generally not randomized controlled trials... lack of unvaccinated controls...
1997: A number of factors make it difficult to detect adverse events... difficult to establish causality... need for large sample sizes and lack of large computerized immunization databases... More research could be done...
2001: Little is known about ethylmercury (the active component in thimerosal) compared to methylmercury. There are no data that elucidate... weak evidence... additional research would be needed.. no published epidemiological studies examining the potential association... weak and inconclusive evidence... inadequate evidence to accept or reject a causal relationship...
2002: The committee concludes that the epidemiological and clinical evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship... unable to address... no epidemiological studies that address this... no study that compares an unvaccinated control group...
2004: 'The committee does not conclude that the vaccine does not cause the adverse event merely because the evidence is inadequate to support causality. Instead, it maintains a neutral position, concluding that the “evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship."... [A] relationship between immunization and a particular adverse event may be found to be biologically plausible at the same time that the epidemiological evidence is found to be inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship.' (This particular entry can be read on page 2-3 of the report's Executive Summary)
The vaccine-autism link has not been proven false. Although they are easily confused, lack of proof is not the same as proof of lack. Studying a genetic link instead of a vaccine link to autism is safer for vaccine manufacturers because it keeps the general public believing that vaccines do not cause autism simply because there is no proof that they do. They must also keep in mind, however, that there is also no proof that vaccines do not cause autism.
Page 165 of the report specifically states, "...this conclusion does not exclude the possibility that MMR vaccine could contribute to ASD in a small number of children."
You can read the free Immunization Safety Review Committee report that states all of the above here: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10997
Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/UnvaccinatedAmerica
http://www.facebook.com/vaccineepidemic
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