Dr. Shawn’s Blog

Vaccines, Autism, and Pthalates

February 28, 2010 on 8:29 pm | In General Posts | No Comments

Tommy B., a cute young boy a little over one year old, recently received another set of immunizations from his pediatrician. According to his parents, Wanda and Tony, and Tommy’s pediatrician, he was a normal healthy infant prior to his recent immunization. Developmentally he was in line with what would be expected for his age.

Shortly after his immunization, Tommy’s parents noticed something was not right with him. Several months later, he was diagnosed with autism. When asked if his immunizations could have anything to do with this common developmental problem, his pediatrician answered with a firm “No.”

Unfortunately, stories like Tommy’s are quite common. Seemingly normal children receive yet another set of (in many cases unnecessary) immunizations, only to develop severe medical problems including autism shortly following their immunizations.

For years the conventional medical community has refused to acknowledge even the slimmest possibility that the temporal relationship between immunization and autism is at all meaningful.

The autism community, along with naturopathic and integrative medical doctors, feels otherwise.

New information released in the major news media this week suggests other possible causes of autism, including exposure to household phthalate chemicals (common in vinyl floors,) and asthma or autoimmune diseases in the pregnant mother.

Most doctors do agree that autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that has increased dramatically in children over the past 20 years, is likely related to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Unfortunately, those in the mainstream still refuse to acknowledge that childhood vaccines could be one of these environmental causes.

After reviewing the literature, and applying common sense along with scientific knowledge, my own belief is that autism is likely a combination of some sort of genetic predisposition that renders the child less capable of or incapable of detoxifying toxins introduced into the body. Many doctors consider these children “poor methylators,” which simply means they may lack the enzyme systems necessary to turn toxic compounds into non-toxic ones, allowing these toxic compounds to be safely and quickly removed from the body before they can harm the developing nervous system.

There is certainly no question that most children who receive vaccines do not develop autism (whether or not they are predisposed to other disorders later in life such as asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases (which have been linked to vaccines) or cancers is another story.)

There is also no question that infants and young children receive way too many vaccines, as pediatricians adopt a “one approach fits all” model for immunization, rather than formulating specific vaccine protocols for each individual patient.

The best advice I can give parents to find a pediatrician who will design a logical vaccine protocol for your children if you decide to immunize your children. Since antibodies against diseases can be passed from the mother to the infant, it may be more prudent for women desiring to become pregnant to consider limited immunizations so that their newborns will have a level of protective immunity and not require immunizations so early in life. Once again this is something for the woman to discuss with her holistic obstetrician and pediatrician.