From time to time, I comment on social issues rather than legal issues of importance to Michigan family lawyers and their clients. The increase in diagnoses of autism has concerned me, as have reports of effects of medication on America's children. Many children are receiving antipsychotic medications that are normally prescribed for psychotic adults. Side effects are prevalent among these children.
Another issue of concern is that the measles vaccination has long been thought by some to be the cause of autism. This has led parents to refuse vaccinations, risking disease in their children.
Today, the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal reports that the measles vaccination is not associated with autism. The article cites a British case-control study finding no association between measles vaccination and autism spectrum disorders.
The study examined children aged 10 to 12 years who had previously received the MMR vaccine. Researchers compared 98 children who had autism with 52 who had special educational needs but no autism and 90 who were developing normally.
The authors say theirs is the third virological case-control study to show no association between the vaccine and autism. The importance, of course, is in ensuring that children are properly vaccinated, as some parents have been refusing vaccination because of fears about a link between autism and the MMR shot. "We hope people can have confidence in the MMR shot again," the lead author told Reuters. "Measles has come back again because people have stopped immunizing their children."
Archives of Disease in Childhood article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)
Reuters story (Free)
Additional items of interest:
On January 10, 2008, the New York Times printed an article citing a New England Journal of Medicine study that states that a flaw in DNA may be the cause of autism. See also a New York Times Op-Ed piece that outlines the history of the autism "epidemic."
See also Autism Debate Strains a Family and Its Charity, written by the New York Times' Health Editor Jane Gross and Stephanie Strom, published on June 18, 2007. This article details the family rift in the autism community in the Wright family, founders of the charity Autism Speaks. Blame, for some people, must be laid somewhere . . . the question is "Where?"
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