This week we discussed autism in our neurochemistry course. Most of our discussions have revealed this year that the diseases and disorders in the brain are incredibly complicated. Autism is not, in this sense, an isolated case. It has many complicated genetic causes. Some of these genetic causes come about from mutations called de novo mutations in the father’s germ line. The paper we read discussed many of the environmental factors associated with causing autism. A couple of these include immune system of the mother, zinc deficiency, and stress on the mother during prenatal and perinatal timescales.
I found many of these pathways interesting, but their highly convoluted nature made it hard to formulate a possible plan of attack to combat, cure, or treat autism.
With all this confusion it’s hard to know where to go or what to do about the rising diagnosis of autism. However, what is painfully clear about autism is that vaccination absolutely does not cause autism. This terrible misunderstanding is the vestigial tail of a fraudulent claim made by a scientist in the UK. The ramifications of this claim are incredibly detrimental. In the 20th century mankind, through science, has accomplished unbelievable things such as the eradication of diseases that once plagued humans. These diseases killed many of our ancestors and maimed many more, and we now have the beautiful gift of not even fearing smallpox or polio. The anti-vaccination movement, founded on this ignorant study out of the UK, has sought to bring these diseases back into our society for some odd reason. The authors of the paper we read, and many other scientists, explicitly and in no uncertain terms have repeatedly said that vaccination does not cause autism. So parents, please vaccinate your children.
Vaccinate Your Children
