Well, using the logic and rationale of the anti-vac wacks, anyway.
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=bc8253e7-ec6…
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Mercury in vaccines not cause of autism, study finds
Canadian Press
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
CREDIT: Julie Oliver, Ottawa Citizen
The belief that mercury in vaccines causes autism has prevailed despite
studies that have proven no correlation.
MONTREAL – A new Quebec study casts doubt on the popular theory that
mercury poisoning from childhood vaccinations can cause autism.
The theory has prevailed despite several previous studies around the
world that have failed to find any connection between autism and common
childhood vaccines containing mercury.
But the unique Quebec study, which is to be published next month in
Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics,
could have a big impact on the debate.
Quebec changed its vaccine formula 10 years ago, Eric Fombonne, chief
of pediatric psychiatry at the McGill University Health Centre, told
the 10th International Child Neurology Congress being held in Montreal.
Back to Body & Health
Since 1996, Quebec children have received vaccines without the
mercury-based preservative thimerosol, Fombonne said.
He compared autism rates among kids before the vaccine changed and
after.
"My study is very clear in showing that there’s no relationship between
the level of exposure to thimerosol in vaccine and autism," Fombonne
said in an interview.
"In fact, in my study the incidence of (autism) is higher in the years
when there was no mercury."
Some desperate parents, convinced that mercury poisoning is responsible
for their child’s condition, have turned to chelation therapy, an
unproven treatment that purports to remove heavy metals from the body,
in the hopes that it will cure the neurological and developmental
disorder.
At least one child has died because of the process, Fombonne said.
"Now these methods are making inroads into Canada," he said.
An anti-vaccine hysteria gripped British parents after an infamous
study purportedly linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with
autism.
The 1998 study has since been discredited, but in the meantime many
parents refused to inoculate their children, leading to a resurgence of
infectious diseases such as measles.
Autism is a disorder that impairs a child’s ability to communicate and
interact with others.
Fombonne’s department sees about 350 new cases every year, but there’s
no "autism epidemic," he said.
The definition of autism has broadened to include more children with a
wide range of difficulties.
An estimated 200,000 Canadians are living with the disorder, a
prevalence of about 65 for every 10,000 people.
"What we need is treatment and services and support for people, and
right across their lifespan," said Louise Fleming, executive director
of Autism Society Canada.
© The Edmonton Journal 2006