Parents Say Vaccines Are A Possible Link To Autism

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Parents Say Vaccines Are a Possible Link
By Gary White
The Ledger

The girl on the videotape looks like a typical toddler on a good day.

She nestles comfortably in her grandfather's arms, smiling and saying "Bye bye" and "Papa." She stands before a mirror, admiring herself while wearing a hat, and then utters, "Uh oh" when the hat falls off.

She places the hat on the head of her mother, who is working the video camera. And she smiles and hugs the knees of her grandfather.

That was Emma Murphy at 21 months, a little over two years ago. Today, she seems an entirely different person. The Lakeland girl doesn't talk, wears a constant blank expression and shies from physical contact.

No one knows what causes autism, the disorder that afflicts Emma. But Emma's parents can't help wondering about a link between the vaccinations Emma received in her first months of life and the dramatic change that followed, including the loss of her budding vocabulary.

As autism figures continue a dramatic rise, many parents blame vaccinations. More specifically, they suspect that thimerosal -- a mercury-based preservative long used in childhood vaccines -- plays a role in triggering autism.

"It's kind of ironic; they tell pregnant women not to eat fish because of mercury, and it's in the vaccine," says Sabra Murphy, Emma's mother.

The issue has become a raging controversy in recent years. Researchers in the United States and elsewhere have conducted several studies of scientific data, each time concluding there is no convincing evidence tying vaccines to autism.

But not everyone agrees. Skeptics point to smaller studies and to a memo showing executives at the drug company Merck had reservations about using mercury in vaccines as early as 1991. According to the Los Angeles Times, Merck documents said 6-month-old children given vaccinations could receive mercury at 87 times the recommended maximum daily level.

Congressman Dave Weldon, a Republican from Indiatlantic, recently reintroduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban the use of mercury in vaccines. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all vaccines now routinely given to American children (except for the flu shot) are either thimerosal-free or contain only "trace amounts."

The CDC says studies suggesting a link between vaccines and autism are scientifically flawed, but Lynn Adams, a professor at Radford University specializing in autism, says the government doesn't have a good record of policing itself on public health issues.

Adams, a speech-language pathologist, says a 1999 study found the average American child received 33 doses of 10 different vaccines by age 5. She says the multiple shots could "flip a genetic switch" in children predisposed to autism.

Murphy, who is pregnant with her second child, says she and her husband, Jared, have halted Emma's vaccinations. They face a difficult choice with their second child: ignore their suspicions and vaccinate or withhold the shots and risk exposure to a potentially deadly childhood disease.

Florida law allows exemptions to the childhood vaccination schedule only for religious or medical reasons. Marion Nowlin of the Polk County Health Department says the county receives about six requests a month for religious exemptions, which don't require proof of religious affiliation.

Medical exemptions require a doctor's written explanation for each vaccine regimen a child misses.

Tammy Brooks of Winter Haven blames the autism of her oldest daughter, Tabitha, on the vaccinations she began receiving at 2 months. Brooks says Tabitha, 4, was speaking at the level of an older child when she was 18 months old.

"We had her saying words she wasn't even supposed to be saying yet, long words," Brooks says. "And then, right after she got her 18-month-shots, she stopped. It was like she went into a world of silence."

Brooks says her daughter now speaks only a few words. Tabitha doesn't engage with other children, makes repetitive hand motions and is easily agitated.

Brooks and her husband, Dennis, fault Tabitha's original pediatrician for starting her too early on vaccinations and giving too many at a time. They have since changed doctors. Brooks says she is cautious about vaccinating Marissa, her 6-month-old daughter.

"We give them to her, but every time I take her I'm questioning them," Brooks says. "I always ask, `Are they thimerosal-free?' I'm going to start making them put it in writing."

Nicole Torres, Murphy's friend and the mother of an autistic child, says experiences like Emma's make it impossible to dismiss a connection between vaccines and autism.

"It's heartbreaking, especially if you see those videos," Torres says. "The other day, we looked at those videos and (Murphy) said, `Where did my daughter go?' "

Gary White can be reached at 863-802-7518.