Many experts and researchers point to a corresponding relationship of the increase in autistic diagnosis over the years with the introduction of new vaccines. The phased introduction of the HIB vaccine in 1985 – 1990 and the introduction of the HepB vaccine in 1991 correspond with the epidemic increase of autism closely. In these vaccines are aluminum and mercury at, according to some clinical studies, toxic levels. These are given to children at birth, 2 months, 4 months and 6 months of age. It is important to note that although there is an increase in autism; scientists are still looking for the cause. The cause is out there, it is just debated as to what it is. There is reason to assume the vaccinations and autistic diagnosis levels are corresponding because of a direct relationship just as much as there is with any other corresponding prevalence.

Biologically, it is highly plausible that several major components in vaccines could cause autism. The major components of vaccines (aluminum adjuvant, mercury preservative, endotoxins, and viral or bacterial antigens) have been shown in research to be individually capable of causing damage to brain and other organs, and synergistic toxicity of these components has not been sufficiently investigated. Interesting recent research has focused on aluminum, which has been increased in the vaccine schedule since 2001 in parallel with mercury being reduced (note: it is not true that mercury has been removed from childhood vaccines, as it is still in most flu vaccines at 25 mcg as well as in <1 mcg amounts in other vaccines). In animals, veterinarians have determined that over-vaccination in animals causes a syndrome they call “vaccinosis”.

Vaccinated children have a higher chance of developing autism. The risk may be as high as 1 in 7 chance. A 2007 study indicated that vaccines may have been a contributing causal factor in boys born from 1990-1996 in approximately 68% of autism cases and 81% of ADHD cases. It is important to note that this study also indicates that some unvaccinated boys develop autism and ADHD, suggesting that vaccines are not the only factor in autism and ADHD causality.

Is it linked to MMR?

In 2001, Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana) held congressional hearings on the connection between childhood vaccines and America's raging autism epidemic. After hearing the testimony of many experts, Rep. Burton accused U.S health agencies of suppressing evidence linking the MMR vaccine to autism. Burton's committee found that the majority of officials who set vaccine policy for the Institute of Medicine have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, a situation that presents a serious conflict of interest. This was televised at the Government Reform Committee Hearings on Vaccines and Autism, April 6, 2000, Chairman Dan Burton. Hearings information available from Office of Government Reform, Washington DC. (202) 225-2276. Video tape available at: http://www.cspan.org.

In 1999, New Jersey Medical School researchers found abnormally high titers of anti-measles antibodies in autistic children. They concluded that the MMR vaccine may cause chronic over-activation of the immune system, leading to brain and nervous system damage. This was confirmed by Dr. Oleske and Professor Zecca, New Jersey Medical School.

Studies conducted by British scientist Dr. Andrew Wakefield show a significant correlation between autism and the MMR vaccine. Wakefield found that the MMR vaccine increases the permeability of the bowel, causing "leaky gut syndrome." Toxin-laden fecal matter is then allowed to escape the digestive tract and enter the bloodstream. Once in the blood, the toxins travel to the brain where they damage sensitive brain tissues leading to the development of autism. Dr. Wakefield also found that autistic children develop inflamed bowel nodules causing indigestion and liver damage from toxic overload. This can be found in testimony by Dr. Andrew Wakefield before the Government Reform Committee Hearing on Vaccines and Autism, April 6, 2000, Chairman: Representative Dan Burton. "Top UK Doctor Ties 170 cases of Autism to MMR Baby Vaccine," London Telegraph, 1-21-01. Wakefield's study that first brought about the idea His findings have been corroborated by Irish molecular biologist John O'Leary , who found measles virus in the gut of 96% of vaccinated autistic children and in 75% of children with Crohn's Disease. This can be found in the testimony by John O'Leary, PhD, Coomb's Women's Hospital in Dublin, before the Government Reform Committee Hearing on Vaccines and Autism, April 6, 2000, Chairman: Representative Dan Burton.

Vijendra K. Singh, a scientist at the Utah State University, published a conclusive study in 2001 confirming that MMR-vaccinated children have abnormally high levels of measles virus antibodies, indicating that autism may be a neuro-immune response to the vaccine. Singh found auto-antibodies in 80% of autistic children while normal children had none. These auto-antibodies apparently attack the myelin proteins surrounding the sheath of nerve fibers, resulting in brain dysfunction. Singh found that 55% of autistic children developed this condition after receiving the MMR vaccine and 33% after receiving the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine.

Is it linked to Thimerosal?

Could there link between Thimerosal, a preservative in some vaccines that is mercury based, and potential health ailments? Mercury is a highly toxic substance and if the increase in vaccinations correlate with the increase in autism than it is certainly reasonable to question the link. For almost 3000 years, mercury-poisoning ("mercurialism") has occurred and been given different disease names depending upon the mercury species as well as the age and particular symptoms of the people affected. Some more notable disease names for mercurialism include "Mad Hatter's Disease" in hat makers due to inorganic mercury vapor fumes, "Acrodynia" (aka "Pink Disease") in infants due to mercurous chloride in baby teething powders, and Minimata Disease due to ingestion of fish with very high levels of methylmercury caused by mercury releases from a vinyl chloride plant.

In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session -- only private invitations to fifty-two attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.

The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants and young children. According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines -- Thimerosal -- appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. "I was actually stunned by what I saw," Verstraeten told those assembled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering number of earlier studies that indicate a link between Thimerosal and speech delays, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and autism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteen fold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.