Let's compare and contrast!

[conuly]

Some of these traits are traits of autism and some of them are traits of cancer. Let's see if you can spot the difference!

This is a disease which is marked by excessive growth, aka tumors. Answer: Cancer. Hard to tell, but the word "tumor" gives it away.

This is a neurological difference/disability which is marked by either gaze aversion or staring. Answer: Autism. People with cancer generally will look you in the eye for the appropriate amount of time.

This can develop later in life. Answer: Cancer. It should not be possible to become autistic later in life.

This can kill you. Answer: Cancer. Contrary to popular belief, autism does not snatch children, nor does it kill them.

Congratulations. You now know the difference between autism and cancer. There will be a quiz later.

Comments

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[conuly]

It's the big scare everywhere, but study after study shows no connection.

The fact is that the age most kids get their MMRs is the same age many people start to realize their children are autistic - and, by coincidence, the same age some children begin to display autistic traits. But it's just a coincidence. If it rains every time I wear blue, I can't say that it rains because I wear blue.

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

(You beat me to replying - yer fast!)

I second Conuly on everything she wrote.

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[phoebonica.livejournal.com]

And even if there was a connection, you can't die from autism. You can die from measles. In fact, my mother knew someone whose daughter had a severe reaction to the MMR jab - ended up in a coma - and the doctor told her to be thankful that she'd had the kid immunised, because if she'd caught the actual measles virus she'd have been dead.

Which reminds me of the other thing I don't get about this debate - how is having single vaccines supposed to be better? Isn't it basically the same thing?

(That got a bit off topic, didn't it?)

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Well in my case I'm not allowed the MMR because I reacted badly to the measles jab as a baby. So if single vaccines were easier to get hold of I could actually be protected against rubella. I'm just glad I had mumps as a baby - we've had a couple of outbreaks in English universities over the last 12 months (one of which I missed, the other of which included people I was working with) and my city was one of the worst hit. Our medical centre provided free MMRs, but that's no use to me. As you can imagine, I wholeheartedly support the provision of individual jabs.

As for why - perhaps it's just the body reacting badly to having all three introduced at once. If I recall correctly, when given individually there is some time between them.

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[phoebonica.livejournal.com]

Well, if there's an actual reason why you can't have all three, then fair enough. I really meant why do people think that giving three single vaccines is less likely to trigger reactions than one combined one.

I don't see why having all three being introduced at once would cause problems. When you think of all the germs you breathe in just sitting on the bus or something...

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[conuly]

Actually, I do believe that giving them separately is safer. Normally, you don't get exposed to three dangerous diseases at once. Doing that to an infant is reprehensible.

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[phoebonica.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Well, maybe it is safer in that respect. Still not sure why giving them separately would be considered less likely to trigger autism, since most of the studies that people claim to support that only seem to refer to the measles part.

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[conuly]

Because they can't agree on what part of the MMR causes autism - is it the dead virii? The mercury? The thirmirisol-whatever? The phase of the moon? The letter M?

Re: If the suspected links between the MMR jab and autism are true,

[staircase-wit.livejournal.com]

M-O-O-N, that spells autism!

Themirasol is hard to learn how to spell. Maybe if I heard it pronounced more. Thing is, the people who talk about Themirasol don't talk about Themirosol. They talk about one of the 23 atoms that is in the Themirasol molecule.

As far as the letter M is concerned, I wouldn't rule out milk. In "Unraveling Autism," the authors promote the theory that autism is an allergic reaction to gluten and/or casein, which causes the random brain growth of autism.

While not endorsing anything here, I will say that there seems to be much more to the second theory. The idea behind Themirasol is that other molecules which contain mercury, (which Themirasol has not been shown to metabolize into it within the body), are neurotoxins toxic to neurons. (Hey, if anyone can get away with saying what they meant by "mad" in "mad child disease" was "mercury acquired disease" {which would make "M.A.D. Child Disease" "Mecury Acquired Disease Child Disease"} then I can speak of a neurotoxin toxic to neurons). While in the PDD of Rhett's syndrome the head circumference is smaller, a distinguishing characteristic of autistic heads is that they are often above three standard deviations in the "daz a BIG head" direction. It's not brain cells dying that is causing autism. In fact, Simon Baron-Cohen's latest theory is that unlike neurotypicals, we don't "prune" brain cells as we age, and thus our developmental delays are due to the retention of brain-cell configurations we had in our youth.