Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has long been a fearmonger about vaccines, including promoting a purported link between vaccines and autism. Even though such a link has been all but discredited, WND is still clinging to it.
A May 4 WND article by Dave Tombers carries the headline, "Do vaccines really cause autism?" Tombers begins by explaining autism spectrum disorders for which "a staggering number of families are still searching for answers to the cause."
Tombers then shows off his Google skills:
An Internet search for the cause of autism points in every direction, except when it comes to thimerosal, a phased out mercury-containing preservative in many childhood vaccinations.
Once considered a potential cause of the neurological disorder, most doctors, government entities and pharmacies now dispute thimerosal has any connection. At least one report released by the CDC claims there are no medical studies that show a link between autism and childhood vaccines.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., isn’t buying it.
Then, Tombers embraces the autism-vaccine link and starts sounding conspiratorial:
More than one study claims a connection between mercury and autism.
In the same year the feds released data acknowledging a drastic increase in the prevalence of autism in American children, a 2011 study in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found a “statistically significant relationship” between mercury and autism.
According to the study, “the higher the proportion of children receiving recommended vaccines, the higher was the prevalence of autism.”
Another 2011 study in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry questioned more than just thimerosal in vaccines but aluminum as well.
According to the report, the number of children from countries with the highest rates of ASDs appear to also have the highest exposure to aluminum in vaccines.
However, the medical community steers away from vaccines as a cause and instead continues to question what is causing the terrible disorder.
It's not until the 26th paragraph of his article that Tombers gets around to noting the evidence against a vaccine-autism link, including the discrediting of a study by Andrew Wakefield -- but that is followed by quotes from Wakefield defending his work.
As we've noted, WND devoted no original coverage to the discrediting of Wakefield, being first mention only in a column by Phil Elmore.
Tombers concludes with the anti-vaccine ranting of one "Dr. Mary Ann Block of Texas":
Many cringe when they hear about parents skipping vaccines for their children, yet Block has found the dangers to be unmistakable.
She explains there is more to a vaccine than just the active ingredients, and a close look at labels should make one shudder.
“Thimerosal, a mercury derivative, is still found in many vaccines in trace amounts,” she told WND.
Propylene glycol, or antifreeze; phenol, a disinfectant dye; formaldehyde, a carcinogenic preservative; aluminum hydroxide; aluminum phosphate; and even human aborted fetal tissue are among a long list of other chemicals Block cited.
“Why would anyone think it’s OK, much less safe, to inject these toxic substances into anybody, especially infants,” she asked.
We've previously detailed how Tombers (near as we can tell) wrote a WND article in January on a professor suing his school alleging retaliation over, among other things, "autism causation" -- a euphemism for anti-vaccine activism, despite the fact that he is a linguist by training.
