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Published on 06/23/1999 All articles from this issue

Do vaccinations cause autism?

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See cover story "It's got to be for love".

Dr. Bernard Rimland, internationally known expert on autism, whose son is autistic, believes he knows the cause of autism.

"The most likely hypothesis by far for the rise of autism is vaccines," said Rimland. He notes that autistic children often develop normally until about age 2 -- when many vaccinations are given -- and that the onset of symptoms is often 21 days or so after the doctor visit.

Rimland believes that the viruses in childhood vaccines can damage the body if the child doesn,t have a strong enough immune system.

Rimland referred to the work of Andrew Wakefield, and English gastroenerologist. He was seeing a lot of autistic kids with diarrhea, and found that they had MMR viruses in their intestinal tract, "chewing away their intestines," Rimland said. Wakefield published his findings in the prestigious English medical journal The Lancet last year.

Despite this published research and data gathered for decades, it's "politically incorrect," Rimland said, to criticize vaccination. He supports the National Vaccine Information Center in Virginia, an activist group that gathers data linking autism and other damage to vaccines.

Contact the National Vaccine Information Center at 1-800-909-SHOT, or see their website, www.909shot.com/

- Joan Passarelli