conuly | Of course, if people want to keep chasing after mercury, I'm hardly going to stop them.

I'm not sure I understand the controversy, here....

Mercury is a poison, and a far more dangerous one than anyone thought until very recently.
It is present in thimerosol, which is used as a preservative in many vaccines.
Vaccines are given to children.
Injecting children with poison is generally considered a Bad Idea.

So, um.... where's the controversy? Even if mercury doesn't cause autism, it's still a poison that causes many other problems, including death, and should not be inside something that gets injected into a baby, right?

If mercury *does* cause autism, then that's even more reason not to inject it into a baby. Being autistic, that doesn't mean you want everyone else to be autistic, does it?

thing is, there is only a tiny amount, or else it wouldn't be in there. There isn't enough mercury in there to poison anyone, really.

besides, none of the documented symptoms of mercury poisoning match up with Autism.

*shrug*

I just hate it when people don't research these things. OMG MERCURY HIDEZ! Wait a minute, none of these things match up! the correlation is most likely due to the incresed attention by doctors and better detection by parents! O NOEZ.

There isn't enough mercury in there to poison anyone, really.

That's... debateable. Certainly the odds decrease the larger the person injected is, but vaccines are given to babies and children.

As it is possible to make the vaccines without mercury, I certainly agree that they should be.

(Won't stop the insistance that they cause autism, though. See, people often start noticing autistic characteristics in their children around the time the MMR is given, and automatically deduce that the vaccine caused the autism. Because they think that correlation = causation, that's why. If you take the mercury out, they just declare that the autism is caused by the dead viruses in the vaccines.)

*froths at 'correlation =causation', even though she knows conult doesnae mean it*

Being autistic, that doesn't mean you want everyone else to be autistic, does it?

Well..... *grins*

Actually, I'm fairly happy as I am. I don't want to "cure" autism because I think there's a lot to be said for diversity. That said, it follows that I don't really want to cure non-autistics either.

However, the controversy here is multifold:

1. Parents are being told there's a cure for their kids. Not only does this prevent them from actually helping their children, and from accepting them as they are, but the so-called cure is dangerous. It's also expensive. People are being scammed out of their life-savings for cures that don't exist, for children who need help, not snake oil "cures".
2. Money that could go to help kids and adults is instead being funnelled into proving a connection between mercury and autism that, in all likelihood, doesn't exist.
3. In general, the emphasis on cures that, no matter the cause of autism I doubt will ever exist (and don't want anyway) takes away from the idea of helping autistics without cures, or of accepting people.

I agree, dangerous chemicals shouldn't be in our medicines. But people also shouldn't waste their time and money chasing after mythical cures when the truth is clear, obvious, and shows that the cures are worthless.

Okay.... I'm still not sure I see a connection between "money for an autism cure" and "money for preventing autism or any other possible side effect of injecting babies with a known poison."

I see the connection between "money for a cure" and "money for treatment," sure. And I know nothing about this proposed cure. But removing mercury from vaccines won't cure anyone of anything, right? Once you have it, that's pretty much it, isn't it?

Or maybe I don't see the connection because I'm not autistic and have no autistic children, and therefore I'm being too logical or obtuse or something. It seems to me that the websites and articles you pointed to confuse the issues as well, conflating mercury in the vaccines with some sort of "you're not curing this!" propaganda.

Mercury should not be in our vaccines, period, because it's dangerous, regardless of its effect on autism in children. Removing mercury from vaccines won't cure people of autism if they already have it.

A parent of an autistic kid can choose to opt for a cure, deciding for themselves whether it's worth the risk, or can opt for other ways to treat autism, but in either case, the "damage" is done-- the kid has autism already.

*shakes head* I know I'm not being very clear, here. I guess to me it seems like a lot of these websites and articles are trying to get mercury out of the vaccines, when it seems like a no-brainer that you don't inject babies with a known poisonous chemical...

The people who say that autism is caused by mercury often advocate a specific "cure" for autism - chelation. This is not only expensive, but it has been shown to have some serious dangers - and it's worthless. So people are spending the money that could, and should be spent on helping their children for a worthless therapy. And then they spend more money on it, throwing good money after bad.

So not only isn't the kid getting helped, but the family is going bankrupt endangering their child's life.

Additionally, of course, I object to the language. Autistics aren't "rotting", and we're not "trapped", and we're not "lost" or "stolen" either. Not all institutionalized, not worthless, not in need of "rescue". I object to this language wherever I hear it.

URge to kill no longer rising... urge to kill cant possibly rise any more without becoming a full on "he was a quiet quiet helpfull man" interview with my nextdoor neighbour. Lines like that have bene the trigger for depressive episodes lasting for weeks or months.

Generation Rescue’s ‘Rescue Angels’ are officaly on notice. Self defence is when you prevent someone from harming you. I've got my defence ready for when they find your bodies a floating face down in the river.

Not to mention that they'd rather that those of us who were showing signs of being different before vacinaiton would remove ourselves so as to not upset their little apple cart of conspiricy theories.

well fuck em. and if they get within my arm span, throttle em.

Should I screen this comment?

if you like... or you could delete it,,, sorry just needed to explode. To be honest, getting into then over a homicidal rage is probably a good hting realy. Much much better reaction than depression.