Autism news no surprise

News last week that a British journalist found evidence of fraud in a famous study linking childhood vaccines to autism seemed to come as a shock to some people. It shouldn't have.

When the study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield was published in 1998, no one other than Wakefield (who has since been stripped of his medical license) knew it was a fraud and that he was faking data for his own financial gain. And yet no one should take one isolated study, regardless of the subject, and consider it to be the absolute truth. Scientific evidence becomes reliable only after it is corroborated by other, similar studies and by peer review.

In this case, more than a dozen similar studies have shown no connection between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism. They have shown no link between the vaccine preservative thimerosal and developmental disorders. One study published in the journal Pediatrics found infants' bodies expel thimerosal mercury within a matter of days, leaving little chance that the metal could build up to toxic levels. Indeed, so many studies have been done to disprove this bogus link that some people think it has drawn attention away from the need for more useful studies of either genetic or other environmental causes of autism.

And yet many parents have stubbornly clung to the results of one study that now has been thoroughly discredited.

Perhaps that is understandable. Parents of children who develop this condition carry a huge burden and are searching for answers. The vaccine link gave them one that seemed definitive and reasonable. Unfortunately, the truth about autism, and why it seems to be a growing problem, remains elusive.

This is a problem of great relevance in Utah. In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified Utah as having one of the highest rates of autism among 14 states studied. Among boys, it was the second highest rate, with one in every 79 being affected by the disorder. Utah's overall rate was 20 times higher than it was in the 1980s.

Some of the increase may be due to better reporting and diagnostic techniques. The severity of symptoms ranges widely, from some children who still can function with a high degree of normality to others who will never learn to talk or communicate.

Obviously, medical science has a lot of work left to do to isolate the real causes of autism. By now, however, there is overwhelming evidence that childhood vaccines are not to blame. Parents who put their children at risk for other severe diseases by avoiding this shot (cases of measles are on the rise in Britain and the United States) are acting irresponsibly.