Continued Rise In Autism Diagnoses Puzzles Researchers, Galvanizes Advocates

sciencehabit (1205606) writes "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has raised eyebrows, and concern among current and prospective parents, with a new report documenting that the rate of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in the United States jumped 30% between 2008 and 2010, from one in 88 to one in 68 children. CDC officials don't know, however, whether the startling increase is due to skyrocketing rates of the disorder or more sensitive screening, or a combination of both."

Comments

Re: Clearly vaccination is to blame!

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, while correlation does not equal causation, it also does not preclude it. And at this point it's just not because of more screening, etc. The incidences of autism, even under current guidelines, not long ago was one in the thousands, now we are well into one in the double digits. That's not simply more diagnosises.

As any honest doctor will tell you, it would not matter if tomorrow someone found absolute direct evidence of vaccination leading to autism, no medical establishment would ever, ever admit it. Yes, it is a conspiracy theory, LOL.

The simple reason why is that in their "let's play God, we know better" mentality, they would rather a ton of kids be born "wrong" than to have millions of people die should effectively eradicated diseases return. The whole "greater good" thing.

They may not be wrong to do that, but we also don't need to be pumping our kids with all the new vaccines they are getting today. When I was a kid in the 70's/80's you got 8-10 vaccinations, now the "recommendation" is for over 30. You don't need a chicken pox vaccination, for example - the old fashioned method of throwing your kid in the middle of an outbreak so they get it young and get it over with (as it's only dangerous to adults who did not have it) works fine.

Unlike some, I just also cannot deny the stories over and over from parents who have developmentally normal toddlers, who smile, laugh, interact, even have begun speaking - who suddenly within a week or two post-vaccination stop speaking, stop interacting, and don't even look at their parents anymore. While it may not cause it, it certainly seems to help it kick in. I'm sure the first folks who got lung cancer and thought it was due to smoking were laughed off, too. Or folks who went insane due to mercury or led poisoning. And those things didn't have terrified doctors involved who believe the best interest is to deny, either.

To be honest, what makes me the most skeptical is that doctors/scientists admit they have absolutely no idea what causes it, but they are SURE it is not vaccines. If they don't know what causes it, there is no logical way for them to be able to categorically eliminate vaccines as a cause. "There is no evidence" is not evidence of anything - it just means that no one has or wants to find any.

Since there is no way to actually eliminate vaccinations from being the cause without knowing what the cause is, and it's the one big change that just about every kid is exposed to (especially in the US, where autism is the most rampant), until someone comes up with the smoking gun, only someone who didn't think it was in our best interest would refuse to acknowledge the possibility, much less categorically deny it.

Re:Medicalizing Normality

[flyneye]

My son was born autistic, when the rate was 1 in 600,000 , 26 years ago.
But , of course, it couldnt be anything environmental. Science says the world is a safe place.
It couldnt be anything wrong with vaccinations. Someone important said it wasnt and of course Medicine knows what it is doing and has all the answers.
It couldnt be industrial chemicals in the food supply, we have government agencies to watch over us. It couldnt possibly have anything to do with science, politics or policy, those people are infinitely wise and caring and will rescue us with the right answers at the right times.
Autism is obviously a punishment by God for rejecting Fred Phelps and making fun of liberals.
It must be magic faeries.
Yeah, thats the ticket...