Ive been too busy to come back and check on the thread, but im glad to see that there are quite a few people who recognize the difference between scientific evidence and anecdotal evidence.

Ill sum up a lot of the reading that ive done and some of the flaws of the arguments that people have made.
1. "Theyre not anti-vaccine, they want safe vaccines." So this whole thing started with the MMR vaccine, then it moved to thimerosal, then it branched into all the preservatives as well as the vaccine schedule and the number of vaccines. When a child receives a vaccine, they receive a few molecules that the body may recognize later when they encounter a real infection. Some are concerned that doctors are giving to many of these molecules at once and overwhelming the immune system. The truth is that children are exposed an innumerable amount of those molecules (antigens) on a daily basis as they interact with others, or play in the mud etc. Thus its highly unlikely that exposure to a few antigens would do much of anything.

2. what paper started this all? Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. (Lancet)...it has since been retracted by all but two authors.

3. "There are no conclusive studies out there." In the scientific community, you make conclusions based on body of evidence. Overwhelmingly, the best designed studies show no link between vaccines and autism.

4. an aside point...i could easily start a campaign against toddler's pampers, and parents would recall that "hey when my kid started wearing toddler's pampers, they changed and began to exhibit signs of autism." The point is, humans have a tendency to find correlations and assume that they are causations.

5. "Its just a theory." In science, theory is about as high as one can go. In common language, u say theory to express "oh its just an idea." whereas in science, a theory is used to express "this is the way it is" (more or less, i guess thats a "law" but theory is just about there).

6. TACA. Because this charity on their website has a link "studies linking vaccines to autism" and "chelation" etc.... i think that they are putting funds and resources into searching for leprechauns, as one reply stated, instead of looking for potential treatments and causes.

Theres too much to go into. but quickly, im just a student, im in my 6th year of my md/phd. i play a ton of poker, and when i saw that there was this tournament, it was my view (hence i put it in NVG) that poker players should become aware that this is not a worthwile charity and that they should reconsider.

ok thats all. now the tournament has come and gone. so i guess we can move on to more poker

I doubt that your post stopped anyone from playing that tournament that was planning to play it. However I wanted to say publicly, 2,475 views for this thread makes me think that at least one family conversation may have taken place. At least one family is likely to become better informed and make a better decision for their kid. I think it likely more than one...but one would be something important! Thank you for starting the thread....All the best!

theres quicksilver in vaccines, quicksilver is poisonous and causes autism, so wtf r u on bout Op

logic is ez

If you are trolling in a thread that is actually pretty serious you deserve to be insta banned.

On the off chance you are just uninformed as apose to being a moron then "google is ez".

linky

That was the 4th result on the search "mercury in vaccines". I didnt look at the first three so they may be equally informative but that seemed to be the most relevent on the preview bits.

Now maybe that doesnt give full details (though bear in mind its the first page i went to), but i believe it goes to some extent that you should probably retract your statement or qualify it with some evidence because in a one minute google search i found a page on the nhs website that contradicts you quite spectacularly.

Sodium is violently explosive, chlorine is a deadly gas, put them together you get.....tablesalt... which we can't live without. We have exposure to lots of poisonous things every day and they are essential for life. The logic you are using doesn't work. I know it makes sense that if a whole lot is deadly a little can't be OK, but it just plain isn't so. It is married to the logic that a little is good a lot must be even better.
Think about all the heart patients save by Warfarin, a rat poison.
Syllogism is faulty reasoning. Consider it.

All the best Orlov!

Judge Whoppner is on at 4.

Definitely!! K-Mart sucks!!