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Savannah Cerwin
Ms. Elizabeth Caruso
UWRT 1103
1 March 2016
Synthesis Paper
To begin this process, I chose a topic that has always been in the back of my mind just
waiting for the chance to research it. A teacher I had in high school always ranted about how her
daughter got autism from all of the vaccines she had to get as a child, and that has been forever
embedded in my mind. So I began with the question: do vaccines during childhood relate to the
development of autism?
At the beginning of my research, I was not very familiar at all with autism, so I started
with the obvious, what is autism? I found out that autism is a mental disability that is
characterized by the person having difficulty in motor coordination, attention, and physical
health issues. This wasnt enough for me. From this point, I wanted to know the symptoms and
what is the average age that one is diagnosed with autism? The symptoms were on the same
source as the definition of autism, so I began there. I found that there are a variety of symptoms
that could lead to a diagnosis of autism. The most common ones were not catching social cues,
difficulty controlling emotions, odd, repetitive motions, and difficulty communicating with
others until taught differently. Which lead me to my next question. I found that more than half
of school-aged kids were age 5 or older when they were first diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder, the study showed. Less than 20% were diagnosed by age 2. (Mann). Since kids are
diagnosed so early, I was already beginning to think that vaccines may have something to do

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with this, because what else could they be exposed to this early, besides genetics, that would
contribute?
I knew there had to be a correlation between the two. What do scientists really believe
causes autism? I continued my research and found that no one really knows for sure what causes
autism, but scientists have found a few mutations that appear to be associated with autism. Other
causes are said to be environmental factors. I was reading this information from the official
autism speaks website, and under the causes of autism, it mentions nothing about vaccinations
relating to the development of autism. If scientists dont mention this, then what could possibly
be in a vaccine that could cause autism? By searching through some sources, I discovered that
there is a preservative, called thimerosal, that is in vaccines. This preservative has been through
some studies, and it was found to have a significant level of ethyl mercury in it. When children
have to get all of their vaccines, they are being exposed to this ethyl mercury. Studies have
shown that high levels of this in children under the age of 6 months can cause issues later on in
their life. Dr. Mark Geier, a geneticist and researcher, did a study and found that children
exposed to thimerosal in vaccines are six times as likely to develop autism than unexposed
children.
I remember someone mentioning in class, when we were discussing topics, that they
believed that children were born with autism, so they couldnt develop it from anything besides
their genetics. I decided to look into this, because if that is true, there is no way that a vaccine
can cause autism. According to the autism speaks website, there is not a clear answer on whether
or not you are born with autism or if it develops after birth. What is known though is that toxic
exposures during pregnancy and complications with delivery can disrupt the brains development,
which may be a lead in the "cause" of autism. While looking in the comments of this website, I

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watched a video that someone had posted. In this video, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is giving a speech
on why he believes that autism is caused by the vaccines that children have to get. A quote from
the video is, there is a clear link, not just with autism, but with a whole range of neurological
disorders. People in the comments were complaining about how vaccines are necessary to
keeping everyone healthy and safe, and people who choose to not vaccinate their children are
just harming the rest of the population. Since vaccines are so important to assuring everyone
stays healthy, are there any alternatives to thimerosal that are safer? I found that thimerosal was
actually taken out of childhood vaccines in the United States in 2001, except for very small
amounts. Now, the vaccines are put into single doses, which eliminates the need for the
preservative. The only shot that still contains thimerosal are flu shots, but you can even ask for a
thimerosal free option of the flu shot.
I began to question if this exposure to thimerosal, even the trace amounts, was still
causing autism, then are children receiving too many shots at a young age? My discovery to this
question was shocking. I found a chart that listed all of the recommended shots for children
under the age of six, and it showed that kids under six months are supposed to get 16 shots.
SIXTEEN. That just seems a little excessive to me. No matter how much thimerosal is removed
from these individual shots, it is eventually building up with all of the shots they are supposed to
get by the end of their first 6 months of their life.
At this point, I wanted to know how this debate became so mainstream. How did moms
begin to believe that their children were getting autism from the shots they were supposed to give
them? In 2007, Jenny McCarthy, a famous actress, went on the Oprah Show and shared with the
world her thoughts on why she believed that her son developed autism from the vaccines he was
receiving. I wanted to know more about Jennys opinion on this, so I looked further into it. She

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said that her son, Evan, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 , shortly after a series of
vaccines that he had to get. Basically in this interview, Jenny said that she doesnt believe in not
vaccinating your children, but she does believe that it is best to wait until they are at least two
years old because before that, the amounts of thimerosal are just too much for their bodies to
handle. Wait until their brains are more developed. (McCarthy).
There is still so much more research that can be done on this topic, not just for my own
discovery process, but for scientists as well. Gray areas remain in what exactly causes autism, so
until they find out what the cause is, with 100% certainty, I think it will be hard to say if vaccines
are a major contributor to this or not. While I do believe that there is a relationship between the
two, I can see both sides, so I do hope that one day there is an answer to protect the future
generations from what could be harmful: vaccines.

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Works Cited
FRONTLINE. "The Vaccine War." PBS. PBS, 23 Mar. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
Heyworth, Kelley King. "Vaccines: The Reality Behind the Debate." Parents.com. Meredith
Corporation, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
Kennedy, Robert F. "Robert F Kennedy Jr Exposes Vaccines Causing Autism." YouTube.
YouTube, 9 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.
Minnesota Department of Health. "Thimerosal and Childhood Vaccines: What You Should
Know." Thimerosal and Childhood Vaccines. 5 July 2012. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
Shih, Andy, Ph.D. "What Is Autism?" Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks Inc., n.d. Web. 15 Feb.
2016
US Department of Health and Human Services. "Thimerosal in Vaccines." Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Oct. 2015. Web.
20 Feb. 2016.