No link between autism and vaccinations: study

A new Canadian study concludesthat childhood immunizations do not cause autism.

The study led by Dr. Eric Fombonne, director of pediatric psychiatry at the Montreal Children's Hospital, aims to dispel the theory that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine may cause developmental disorders including autism and Asperger Syndrome.

Researchersalso found there was no link between vaccines containing thimerosal and developmental disorders.

"In the past, concern about a potential link betweenmeasles, mumps and rubellavaccinations and autism led some parents to take the drastic step of refusing to inoculate their children against dangerous childhood diseases like measles," Fombonne said in a news release issued Wednesday.

"This action resulted in resurgence of the measles, which caused the deaths of several young children in Europe," Fombonne said.

"We hope this study will finally put to rest the pervasive belief linking vaccines with developmental diseases like autism."

Thestudy, which evaluated 28,000 Quebec children, was published in the medicaljournal Pediatrics.

The researchers relied on reports of mercury exposure, rather than measuring levels in the blood.

Autism, a neuropsychiatry disorderthat mars a person's aptitudefor communication and interaction, affects about one child in 155.Cases of autism were identified based onreports from school board officials.

Fombonne said that a wider definition, along with improved public awareness of the disorder, has led to the false perception that there is a rising autism epidemic.

The hypothesis that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was causally linked to autism was first raised in a 1998 British study led by gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield. The study was published in the journal The Lancet.

The findings shook the public's faith in childhood inoculations, and vaccination rates dropped dramatically in Britain.

In 2004, 10 of the study's 13 researchers retracted their findings, citing insufficient data.