My guts (not qualified in immunology, I will freely admit) tell me genes ain’t the issue. Environment is.

@Mark: Your guts say that, but I think a more relevant question is this: What does the data say? And the data is quite clear that autism is one more the most heritable phenotypes known.

We are constantly made to feel that our DNA is faulty, that humans are deficient.

Feelings, politics and fads are irrelevant to the nature of reality. If reality makes you feel bad, so be it. It’s still reality.

Thanks for the reading list.

Whilst it might – technically – be factual to say that the Amish are ‘inbred’ I have to say that that feels a bit wrong to me…. It kind-of suggests that the Amish aren’t valid in their organic and homegrown discernment and skepticism with respect to Big Pharma’s needle.

Their cultural bias against marrying someone outside of their religion has nothing to do with any acceptance they have of technology and/or medicine. They actually do accept modern things, but they have to be of a certain value (that includes chemical fertilizers and phones).

It seems you have limited knowledge of the various autonomous communities in the United States, bordering on stereotyping. I suggest you read a bit more about them, especially the Research Page from the Clinic for Special Children, http://www.clinicforspecialchildren.org/CSC/Home.html (note there are actually different genetic disorders associated with different sects).

Then go and familiarize yourself with http://www.PubMed.org. Through that you will find lots of articles on the genetics of autism. Though, with your statements that we are made “feel that are DNA is faulty” that perhaps you should start by taking a basic biology course.

That might also help with your notion that we are modified by minute bits of certain chemicals. Though, aluminium hydroxide is a common food additive and you have more than likely consumed more than in any vaccine just by eating a pickle (it is alum, a common item found in most drug stores… I used it make sure home made play dough did not go bad quickly).

There is lots of literature around. I would suggest if this is an interest that you educate yourself on child development, genetics, basic anthropology (Roy Grinker’s book Unstrange Minds is very good), some neurology (I love reading Oliver Sacks book), population dynamics (read Jared Diamond’s books starting with Guns, Germs and Steel), read Paul Offit’s Autism’s False Prophets and the very good Ben Goldacre book Bad Science.

Whilst it might – technically – be factual to say that the Amish are ‘inbred’ I have to say that that feels a bit wrong to me. Maybe it’s just the word – not a good vibe, y’know? It kind-of suggests that the Amish aren’t valid in their organic and homegrown discernment and skepticism with respect to Big Pharma’s needle. I’m sure you weren’t saying that, that’s just the thought-bubble that sprang up above me. The Utah birth-defect slant is a whole different packet of broken biscuits, and maybe EVEN autism is the least of their problems.

I take the point about comparisons. But… aren’t the fundamentals ‘Vaccines and Incidence of Autism’ versus ‘No Vaccines and No Incidence of Autism’? Genetics vary from household to household, never mind population to population. Maybe genetics should be set aside. My guts (not qualified in immunology, I will freely admit) tell me genes ain’t the issue. Environment is. And your internal environment would seriously be altered by eye of newt, ethyl of mercury, toe of frog, aluminium of hydroxide etc, etc.

We are constantly made to feel that our DNA is faulty, that humans are deficient. “Everything is down to the genes…. we must fix the misfiring human genome!”

But hey, you should check out my town. As Bill Hicks used to say – ‘the gene pool’s a puddle’.

For instance, in developed countries they are often small sects of people within a community, and would have a genetic makeup that, like the Amish, would be inbred and genetically unlike the general population. They would also be unlikely to seek public services for disabled children (there has been some interesting genetic disorders that have arisen in the fundamentalist polygamist Mormon communities in Arizona and Utah).

In undeveloped countries, like portions of India (and Uttar Pradish), you would have larger portions of children without vaccines, but also have several other health issues. These would include malnutrition and high levels of disease in general.

What you have is a Catch-22.

What you can do is look at the several large epidemiological studies that have been done in Finland, Denmark, Canada, USA, UK, Japan and elsewhere. None of these have shown any real correlation between vaccines and autism (Japan is interesting in that they actually stopped using their form of the MMR, and not only did rates of autism diagnosis still increase, several dozen people died from measles — they have since reintroduced a Measles/Rubella vaccine, and are grappling with a large resurgence of mumps, and there are at least two studies from Japan showing mumps causes deafness at greater rates than previously estimated).

The last great outbreak in the US, in 1964-65, resulted in 20,000 cases of CRS.

MMR, which has never been shown to cause autism, actually prevents one form of the disorder – CRS.

Remember, measles, mumps, and rubella are not life-threatening diseases (except the ultra-rare case involving a pregnant mother)

So you think that a one out of a thousand chance of death from measles is acceptable? That is the low estimate. During the outbreak of measles between 1988 to 1991 in the USA it was one death per five hundred cases.

Add to that the chances of deafness, mental retardation, blindness and other disabilities that are caused by mumps, measles and rubella.

Okay, so you don’t trust “Big Pharma”. But if you were told measles was not dangerous, either you are ignorant or you have been lied to. So don’t trust any website that tells you measles and mumps are mild diseases.