Government ruling fuels vaccine/autism debate
Despite the lack of scientific studies linking vaccines and autism, the government has agreed to a settlement in the case of Hannah Poling, whose parents had sued believing that vaccines administered to Hannah caused her autism. Advocates are jumping all over the ruling, claiming it to be the proof they previously lacked. Government officials, however, are cautioning parents from jumping to conclusions:
“Let me be very clear that the government has made absolutely no statement indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism,” Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday. “That is a complete mischaracterization of the findings of the case and a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today.”
Given that the details of the case have been sealed by court order, what is certain is that there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
Hannah’s father, Dr. Jon Poling, was a neurology resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the time, and she underwent an intensive series of tests that found a disorder in her mitochondria, the energy factories of the cells.
Such disorders are uncommon, their effects can be significant but varied, and the problems associated with them can show up immediately or lie dormant for years.
There are two theories about what happened to Hannah, said her mother, Terry Poling. The first is that she had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that vaccinations aggravated. The second is that vaccinations caused this disorder.
“The government chose to believe the first theory,” Ms. Poling said, but added, “We don’t know that she had an underlying disorder.”
Information from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/us/08v...
