Autism and Vaccinations

When I read about the mercury poisioning causing autism I immediately thought of Alice in Wonderland. It has been said that the Mad-Hatter was indeed "mad" because his hat contained mercury. Now that the post said that mercury poisoning is similar to that of autism I wonder if you can diagnose the Mad-Hatter with autism becasue it is so common? I think that it is a good idea that people have stopped using the vaccination that may or may not cause the condition because it is better to be safe than sorry.
I wonder who autism effects the most, adults or children?
I do not know of anyone that has autism, but I would like to learn more about what the symptoms are that make it such a distinguishable condition.

We discussed vaccinations, the possibility of them causing Autism, and whether or not we should use vaccinations in general because of this in Human Biology. A great point that was brought up by the TA is that when this vaccination came out, many people were getting vaccinated, and as they did autism was increasing, however as less people were vaccinated, the number of people being diagnosed as autistic did not drop off. I think it is a point to think about because MMR is used to vaccinate things such as the measles. The measles are a highly contagious and can result in death if not treated properly or if accompanied by another sickness. Sadly, another sickness can come along with measles weakening the immune system more and causing complications of its own. These other sicknesses are most often pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infections, and encephalitis. The most dangerous to a person is said to be pneumonia combined with measles. Along with these issues, there is an incubation period of about 8-12 days where a person may not know they are infected or contagious. Again, there has been no PROVEN correlation that MMR has been a cause of autism. If people continue to choose not to vaccinate their children for this purely on an unproven thought that it causes autism they are not only putting their children at risk, but also other people who may be more easily affected. If everyone chooses not to vaccinate because of this, there could be another outbreak, possibly an uncontrollable one. So in fact not taking the vaccination may actually be the sorry side of safe or sorry.

I think that it is extremely sad when people suggest that vaccines cause autism, especially when there is no science to support that claim (even after extensive research)! I feel that it is very selfish to make such a claim.

Ex-presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann said in a speech, "I will tell you that I had a mother last night come up to me here in Tampa, Fla., after the debate. She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter". However, "The “mental retardation” argument is a rehash of the thoroughly discredited notion that vaccines containing thimerasol caused a rapid increase in diagnosed autism cases. That started with a badly-botched report in Lancet that allowed one researcher to manipulate a ridiculously small sample of twelve cases in order to reach far-sweeping conclusions about thimerasol. That preservative hasn’t been included in vaccines for years, at least not in the US, and the rate of autism diagnoses remain unchanged." (http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/michele-bachmann-an-anti-vaccine-wingnut/)

People, especially political figures, should not make these sorts of claims when they are clearly not correct. It causes more damage to a child when they do not receive life-saving vaccines.

The theory that the MMR vaccine has potential to cause Autism has been around for years, just as you have stated in your paper. However, autism is found in Chromosome 15 (location: 15q11-q13 to be exact). The first dose that you should be given of the vaccine is around 12-15 months of age, and the second dose is between 4-6 years of age.
Signs and symptoms (as seen on this website: http://www.autismweb.com/signs.htm) of Autism begin to show in children around the age of 12mon-24mons.
I'd be curious to look at a few sections of research/data on this topic.:
1. Background of maternal lifestyle(s); the lifestyle of the mother during the baby's gestation should have a MUCH GREATER input on the baby's chromosomal outcome than a vaccine that hasn't even been received yet.
2. How would one explain autism being a vaccine problem if the child begins showing S/S at the age of 12 months, but doesn't receive the vaccine until 14 months of age?
3. Pre-Post MMR vaccine chromosomal markers of the child after each set of vaccine..