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(More customer reviews)As the parent of a very high-functioning autistic child, I used to discount any relationship between vaccines and autism. This all changed as I gradually realized how dismal and pharmaceutical-dependent the conventional approach to autism really is. I put aside all preconceptions and reexamined the issue. Each day I found another study implicating mercury in vaccines, including very recent work by researchers such as Jill James, Mady Hornig and Thomas Burbacher. I also found very serious flaws in the studies used to reassure parents that there is nothing wrong with injecting mercury into an infant. I found disturbing similarities between the rhetoric used to defend mercury in medicine today and the rhetoric used 70 years ago to defend lead in paint. While I do not claim that the case has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, I have seen enough to act on the assumption that it is valid. My child's response to the conservative measures we have used in the past few months have only solidified my persuasion.
Kirby's book is an extremely thorough compilation of all the studies, political ramifications, and personal stories that make up the mercury-autism controversy. His research paralleled my own explorations and added some behind-the-scenes information as well. He also made every effort to present both sides of the issue but was hampered in this by the refusal of the CDC, AAP, pharmaceutical companies and others to grant interviews. He is in no way, shape, or form anti-vaccine. I would also like to point out that he did not confuse the MMR and thimerosal issues--perhaps another reader missed Kirby's full explanation of the theoretical interplay between the two as well as his full explanation of what happened with Andrew Wakefield's study in the Lancet, which is much more complex than a simple retraction.
It strikes me as odd if not suspect that any physician would argue that research into the thimerosal issue should be halted when the CDC itself has called for more study, when more and more autistic children are responding to treatment for mercury poisoning and when many of the key players in the research effort are medical doctors who also happen to be parents of autistic children. These are people who have put their names out in the open, people such as Alan Clark, MD, of Missouri, who runs the (...)website with his wife and who has a child who developed Asperger's following two flu shots.
Kirby shows nothing but respect for autistic children and adults. One of the key characters in the book is a researcher with Asperger's and he warmly depicts her creative and non-conformist approach to life. I think it is important to note that there are many wonderful autistic people who are brilliant, creative, free-thinkers, but there are also many non-autistic people who are brilliant, creative, free-thinkers. My child is extremely bright, imaginative, honest, intense and funny, but this is because that's who he is not because he's autistic. In fact, these positives only shine when he is not burdened by anxiety, overwhelmed by normal sensory stimuli or caught in a pattern of inflexibility as he is sometimes due to autism. I'm sure autism has left some indelible mark on his personality and it is true that it is not ALL bad, just as a blind person's vivid sense of hearing is not bad. And of course we must all respect and honor differences, as Kirby does so very well. That is not to say that autism is benign. I imagine the parents of a severely autistic child would find this idea alternately infuriating and laughable.
I strongly recommend reading this book. If you're a health care provider, it will explain where parents are coming from. If you're wanting a summation of the issue, it is a great source. If you have nothing to do with autism or mercury, it's still a compelling story. If you have a child with autism, well . . . I can't recommend it enough; however, I would also recommend that you do your own research. Don't take my word for it--or anyone else's--until you've read the actual primary studies, not the spin that gets reported in much of the media. You may encounter something quite unexpected. I certainly did.
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