vaccine segment transcript

[Guest guest]

PORTLAND (KPTV) -- More children are being diagnosed as autistic than ever

before, and with the numbers rising, parents are looking for answers.

The Mead family of Beaverton is one of them. Their two-year-old son

was bright and happy, talking and walking last year. But they say he began

to dim, like a light bulb slowly going out. Finally, they say, he began to

spin and grunt, and was diagnosed as autistic.

" It's a devastating diagnosis, " says 's mother, Tory Mead. " The son

you thought was going to go to high school or college or get married or

have kids -- that child is gone. "

Now is doing better, after behavioral therapy, and some other

controversial steps. He is on a wheat-free, dairy-free diet, and his family

says he has shown improvement. But his parents think they may have found

some answers that help explain the mystery of autism.

" I think there's enough evidence here to warrant a serious look at this, "

says Dr. Jim Laidler, who works at OHSU, and has two autistic boys himself.

Laidler explains some of the emerging theories, still unproved and

controversial. One theory, he says, is that children receive vaccines with

a small amount of mercury in them as a preservative, often within hours of

birth. Some believe the mercury attacks the brain, possibly causing the

symptoms of autism. Some believe there is another step in the theory: The

measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, also known as the MMR, given around the

second birthday.

Some believe the measles virus can cause damage to the intestines, possibly

contributing to the symptoms of autism. The Meads say tests show that

had high levels of mercury in his system.

Now parents around the country are joining in a class action lawsuit

against pharmaceutical companies, claiming the companies sold unsafe

vaccines without warning parents.

But doctors in mainstream medicine do not see these theories as fact.

" Parents want an explanation for their child's illness, " says Dr.

Lauer, Chief of Pediatrics at Emanuel Hospital. He says no studies show any

connection between autism and vaccines.

" I know of no evidence at all that mercury levels are associated with

autism. Autism is not a complication of mercury. There is no evidence for a

relationship between measles vaccine and autism. "

Lauer hopes parents do not stop vaccinating their children out of fear. " I

think first what parents need to know is that the vaccines are very, very

safe and they are tested very, very thoroughly, " he says.

The Centers for Disease Control also reports that current scientific

evidence shows no connection between vaccines and autism. However, it does

support more research.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration has asked pharmaceutical

companies to stop making vaccines with mercury in them.

Parents like and Tory Mead are not waiting for science and studies.

Now they believe they have a chance for hope, where there was never hope

before.

" I get up every morning and I ask God to take away my pain and my grief and

my fear, " says Tory Mead, " and give me the strength to fight and to recover

my son. "

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