Without evidence of benefit, an intervention should not be presumed to be beneficial or safe.

- Rogue Medic

Education Problems, Autism, and Vaccines

Monday I wrote about the problems that can result from national standards. We do need to raise our education standards. An excellent example can be seen in the faulty logic used by those claiming that vaccines cause autism.

Hypothesis: Vaccines cause autism.

Experiment: Compare the rate of autism in groups with differences in vaccination methods. There are many ways this can be done, depending on the way the vaccine is hypothesized to cause autism.

However, the people claiming that vaccines cause autism do not accept the research that has been done. They claim that it is obvious that vaccines are dangerous and no amount of science will change their minds.

Vaccines contain thimerosal. Thimerosal is mercury. Mercury causes brain damage. The brain damage caused by mercury is exactly the same as autism. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on the planet, so we have to stop poisoning children with it.

Clearly, this is a problem. We have a substance so dangerous that it must produce close to 100% brain damage. It is good that these public spirited people have raised this alarm.

Wait!

Using faulty logic, we can prove almost anything. Here is one example.

Zeno’s paradoxes provide several. Here is just one.

In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.[1]

Once the pursuer reaches the spot where the slower runner was, the process repeats infinitely. Since distances can be made ever smaller – there is no distance so infinitesimal, that is not made up of an infinite number of even smaller infinitesimal distances. Therefore, the faster runner can never catch up to a slower runner, who has just a tiny head start.

Using a different paradox, Zeno proves that the runner cannot even first reach the point whence the pursued started.

That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.[2]

The same endlessly repeating problem of infinitely divisible space is the explanation.

However, we know that these are not impossibilities. It is only by proposing an explanation that sounds reasonable, that these become confusing.

The way we find out the truth is simple. We test the claim.

Anyone capable of walking can walk across a room. There is no need to break the motion up into smaller and smaller parts. The motion is continuous.

Similarly, the problem of thimerosal only appears insurmountable. The only way to determine the accuracy of the claim is to test it.

The single study, that has supported any connection between thimerosal and autism, had such fatal flaws that it was retracted by the journal that published it. In 2004, most of the authors of the study had their names removed from the study, when they became aware of the fraud involved. The study was funded by lawyers hoping to win a big settlement from drug companies. All the lawyers needed was a study that showed this connection. About half a million dollars later, Andrew Wakefield was able to produce just such a study.

One problem with the explanation that thimerosal is such a toxic substance is that the occurrence of autism is supposed to happen so quickly after the vaccination, that the connection is inescapable. Some parents describe the onset of autism symptoms resembling somebody turning off a switch.

This study investigated if the discontinuation of thimerosal-containing vaccines paralleled a decrease in the occurrence of autism. The incidence of autism remained fairly constant during the period of use of thimerosal in Denmark, and the rise in incidence beginning in 1991 continued even in the group of children born after the discontinuation of thimerosal. The amount of thimerosal used in vaccines changed during the study period with less amount of thimerosal administered in the period 1970–1992. Moreover, the thimerosal-containing vaccine was gradually phased out meaning that the incidence rates should decline gradually if thimerosal has any impact on the development of autism. However, an increase (rather than a decrease) in the incidence rates of autism was observed.[3]

So much for throwing a switch.

Using the logic of the anti-vaccinationists, this must be evidence that thimerosal protects against autism.

There are many reasons for using this chart. The chart is from the same study as the paragraph that is above it, so it was handy. It is dramatic. It makes it easy to see that there is no connection between when thimerosal was in the vaccines (up until the vertical line) and autism (begins to increase just as the thimerosal is removed). There are other studies that show the same information. The evidence is clear.

There is no reason to believe that vaccines cause autism.

Then there is the comment that is supposed to silence disagreement. If you don’t have an autistic child, you cannot understand anything about autism. Unless you agree with the anti-vaccinationists. It doesn’t matter if you know what you are talking about, if you agree with them.

Therefore, if I want to know what is the best treatment for something, I should ignore doctors and ask a parent of a child with the condition. Using this logic, the most knowledgeable parent would be one with a child sick for the longest time with that disease. If being a parent of a sick child confers expertise, then the longer that illness continues, the greater the expertise conferred by this faulty logic.

If my child is sick, I am not going to look for parents with the same condition. These parents may have a lot of useful information about many things. However, the abilities to understand assessment, diagnosis, and treatment are not infections transmitted from the children to the parents.

The doctor to go to is also not the one treating children who do not get better. The anti-vaccinationists might conclude that the greatest expert is a parent who had at least one child die from the illness. They are persuaded by emotion, not reason.

There is a further problem with, I refuse to listen to anyone who does not have an autistic child. These parents even ostracize other parents of autistic children unless those parents agree with the emotional claims of the anti-vaccinationists about thimerosal. Catch-22 has nothing on them.

What about the mercury?

Thimerosal is C9H9HgNaO2S or sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate. Mercury is Hg. Thimerosal is not mercury, but a compound that contains mercury. Being in a compound changes the characteristics and the effects of elements.

An example that people in EMS should understand is chlorine (Cl). This is so toxic, that it was used as a poison gas. Mix it with sodium (Na), which is also extremely toxic, and you have sodium chloride. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is known as common table salt. Sodium chloride is also the ingredient in normal saline, which we inject into the veins of just about every patient with a serious medical condition.

According to the anti-vaccinationists, No amount of mercury is safe. Based on what? Using the same criteria (Because I say so!), no amount of sodium or chlorine would be safe in the body. After all, they are toxic.*

The video below is less than 10 minutes long, but does a great job of explaining ways in which science keeps us from attributing too much to anecdotes, such as this. He was a normal little boy, until he received the vaccine. Autism is diagnosed at the time that children receive vaccinations. This is true, even for children who do not receive vaccinations. Since the vaccines do not cause autism, the only thing avoiding vaccination does is to endanger children.

The explanations that sound good, but are not supported by research are examples of narrative fallacy. I have written more than a little bit about narrative fallacy, because it is important. Using this devotion to reasonable sounding explanations, even though research demonstrates that these explanations are wrong, is a problem. Fortunately, in medicine there is more of an understanding of science. If that were not the case, we might be still bleeding patients to get rid of bad humors.

Narrative Fallacy –

Narrative Fallacy I

How did this happen? – Research

Narrative Fallacy II

CAST and Narrative Fallacy

C A S T and Narrative Fallacy comment from Shaggy

Some Research Podcasting Comments

Shaggy Comments on Some Research Podcasting Comments.

Spine Immobilization in Penetrating Trauma: More Harm Than Good?

EMS EdUCast – Journal Club 2: Episode 43

Education Problems, Autism, and Vaccines

Footnotes:

^ * This does ignore the obvious problem that both hyponatremia and hypocalcemia are fatal conditions, even though sodium and calcium are toxic. If only there were some kind of medical expert to explain cutting edge toxicology. Somebody like Paracelsus.

^ 1 Zeno’s paradoxes
Wikipedia
Achilles and the tortoise
Article

^ 2 Zeno’s paradoxes
Wikipedia
The dichotomy paradox
Article

^ 3 Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data.
Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, Thorsen P, Plesner AM, Andersen PH, Mortensen PB.
Pediatrics. 2003 Sep;112(3 Pt 1):604-6.
PMID: 12949291 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Pediatrics has the free full text and free PDF available at their site.
Free Full Text                 Free PDF

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