Vaccines cause autism. Specifically the chemical thimerosal in vaccines does. In fact, because of thimerosal, anyone who has been vaccinated in the last decade now has some form of autism. And while that might be hard for America swallow, there’s a reason: It isn’t true.
While that might seem obvious, since the premiere of ABC’s new TV series “Eli Stone” Thursday night, the seemingly closed debate over whether or not thirmerosal causes autism is still a hot issue. A mild-mannered, corny adaptation of the “Ally McBeal” formula, “Eli Stone” puts this potentially harmful information forth in the plot of its first episode. The mother of a boy with autism seeks out the newly pious lawyer with hard evidence that her son’s autism is linked to a chemical preservative in vaccines.
Whether this sort of disinformation furthers the plot, you can judge for yourself. However, the facts are scientific studies by the leading American health authorities have failed to establish a causal link between the preservative thirmerosal and autism. In fact, since the preservative was largely removed from childhood vaccines in 2001, autism rates have not declined.
Granted, it isn’t as if producers are purposely trying to shove this information down anyone’s throat. Even suggesting that vaccinations somehow cause autism is a dangerous door to knock on. In 1998, a widely publicized – and since discredited – British research paper was published that ignited a scare over the safety of vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, drawing a potential link to autism. Although the premise for the paper made no mention of thimerosal, vaccination rates plunged all over Britain. Over the next two to six years, outbreaks of measles soared in Britain and Ireland, causing at least three deaths and hundreds of children to be hospitalized.
Of course, no one is placing all the blame on the good people at “Eli Stone.” If you’re going to blame anyone, blame the public. As people who have seen the rise of media over the past 30 years in all their diverse and global forms, it seems reasonable to assume we’d be able understand the difference between reality and entertainment. You’d be wrong. And while that might sound like a defeatist perspective, in reality it might just be the only way to protect people from themselves. Granted, it isn’t and never should be the responsibility of a TV show to censor itself just because someone might actually “try this at home.” But in an age where dissemination of information is this easy, global and ever improving, maybe it is.
