Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccines and thimerosal–containing vaccines (which are approximately 50 percent ethylmercury) have been suggested as possible causes of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) like autism and Asperger Syndrome.
However, in a new study from MUHC that assessed the link between childhood immunizations and PDD in 28,000 Quebec children, has finally cleared MMR vaccines and thimerosal–containing immunizations as risk factors.
"There is no relationship between the level of exposure to MMR vaccines and thimerosal–containing vaccines and rates of autism," says Dr. Eric Fombonne, Director of Pediatric Psychiatry at The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC and lead investigator of the new study.
"In the past, concern about a potential link between MMR vaccinations and autism led some parents to take the drastic step of refusing to inoculate their children against dangerous childhood diseases like measles," says Dr. Fombonne.
This new study, published July 5 in the scientific journal Pediatrics, hopes to finally put to rest the pervasive belief linking vaccines with developmental diseases like autism (a neuropsychiatry disorder that impairs a child's ability to communicate and interact with others).
Read more at MUHC.
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