Autism's False Prophets - A Review

Immunization time always gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I feel safe once my children have been inoculated against potentially deadly diseases. On the other hand, I feel nervous. Of course I hate to see my children screaming from the pain of the injections. I hate seeing the fear in their eyes as I help the nurse hold them down for the second or sometimes the third shot. But that's not what makes me nervous. What gives me anxiety is not fully trusting my doctors and the government when they assure me that the shots are perfectly safe. Until my children reach the age of three, I observe my kids carefully for signs of developing autism after they receive their shots.

I've never done anything about my fear other than asking my doctor's advice. I haven't requested that the MMR be split into three doses. I haven't delayed shots except when my kids had a nasty cold. I've smiled at the doctor and handed over my naked child because the threat of polio or measles seemed more dire than the possibility of autism. But regardless of my acquiescence, a nagging anxiety hangs with me based on vaguely recollected news headlines. I took a straw poll during my toddler playgroup yesterday to see how the other moms, all parents of two or three children, had handled their vaccination decisions for their older children. Although none had opted to skip vaccinations, some had delayed shots. All reported the same fears I felt.

When Parent Bloggers Network asked me if I wanted to review a book by Dr. Paul Offit called Autism's False Prophets
, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to put my doubts to rest by getting the full story on vaccines and autism. I was not disappointed. Because the tie between autism and vaccines is such a heated topic, this post was very difficult to write. Although I am scared to offend, I want to share my review of this book here on this blog because it helped to put my nagging fears to rest.

Dr. Offit begins the foreword of his book by saying, "I get a lot of hate mail." He patented and developed the rotavirus vaccine that was rolled out in January of 2006. As a result of his association with that vaccine, he is accused of being in the pocket of pharmaceutical companies. Have your kids ever gotten the rotavirus? I've never had mine be sicker - they were throwing up for an entire week with very high fevers. When I learned that Juliette would be immunized, I was thrilled that she wouldn't be put in danger like that. He has been further criticized because he started the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia after he treated unvaccinated children with pneumonia from whooping cough, severe skin infections from chicken pox, and meningitis from Hib. His descriptions of the threats he has received against his life and his children's lives are terrifying.

Dr. Offit is an infectious disease specialist and I selected my college program with the nickname of "Safe from Science" because it had no science requirement, yet I found his book to be easy to follow. Offat is passionate about his mission, to rebuild parents' confidence in vaccines, and it makes for an interesting read. He methodically describes how the public came to fear that autism was caused by the MMR vaccine or thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative in some vaccines. Many of the individuals who influenced public opinion about the MMR and thimerosal were parents of autistic children, but a few, like Andrew Wakefield were actually financially motivated with patents on alternative vaccines and connections to class action lawsuits. He then convincingly proves, explaining the various studies and the results of removing mercury from California vaccines since 2001, that there is no link between the MMR or thimerosal and autism.

This is a dense book full of vital information. I encourage you to get your own copy. Here's the bullet version of what I took away from it:
• Ten studies looking at thousands of children in various countries have proven that the MMR vaccine doesn't cause autism. The initial studies that raised the alarm were based on skewed samples looking at children who had a greater propensity for autism.
• The MMR vaccine is not more potent because it inoculates against three diseases at once. The smallpox vaccine (which is no longer given) contains 200 virus proteins and the MMR vaccine contains only 24.
• Six studies have shown that thimerosal does not cause autism. Three have shown that it does not cause subtle neurological problems.
• The irrefutable proof of the safety of thimerosal came from California. They banned mercury in vaccines in 2001, but the autism rate has continued to increase.
• There have been outbreaks of previously eradicated diseases like measles and whooping cough, and children have died.
• Recent studies are now making it clear that the cause of autism is genetic - but identifying the genes will not necessarily make treatment easier because it seems to be related to many genes. Two uncurable diseases, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia are tied to one gene. Autism is much more complex.

Offit devotes the last few chapters to exposing the role of the media in propagating the public's fears about vaccines. He made me realize how easy it is to be swayed by the moving stories of individual parents, but their stories are not science. When a mother tearfully describes how her child stopped making eye contact and started banging his head within days of the MMR vaccine, it is impossible to keep yourself from believing her and imagining that it is your child. Those tragic interviews are the source of my nagging fears. Offit's book put my fears to rest however, by explaining the science proving the lack of ties. When I head to the pediatrician's office for the next bout of tests, I'll be going with a lighter heart.