thimerosol, autism, and epidemiology of beliefs
I’ll be done with grad school in about two weeks and able to start posting more frequently - hooray! Today’s entry is a response I wrote for a friend who asked why the thimerosol-in-vaccine-causes-autism movement doesn’t go after thimerosol in household products to anywhere the same degree as in vaccines (especially in vaccines that no longer contain thimerosol). This entry contains speculation, although it’s speculation based in existing cognitive science, primarily in cognitive anthropology work on what cognitive faculties make some beliefs catchier than other beliefs. In the field this work gets called “epidemiology of beliefs”: what characteristics of human minds some beliefs compelling in a way that others are not?
The anti-vaccine movement comes in part from anecdotes of kids regressing at about the time they get the MMR vaccine. That’s actually accurate; when I was taking a cognitive development graduate class, the percentage estimated to regress in that way was about 25%. There was some speculation at the time that it’s due to kids’ brains undergoing a major reorganization at (coincidentally) about the same time they get the MMR.
(Kids make a bunch of neuronal connections, then prune out the less useful ones, and the speculation was that the children who lost language and social skills had not pruned as extensively. There was some research on head circumference at the time looking at whether kids with autism had greater head circumference - kind of a crude measure if you ask me but it did seem to be panning out.)
My own impression is that the anecdotes about regression after vaccine (but not anecdotes about regression before vaccine) kick off contamination fears in some people. In the literal “we have a mental faculty that’s highly alert to dangerous contamination by non-visible substances” sense. Which then kicks off a search for an essentialized underlying substance that will explain/justify their intuitions (also an extremely common thing for people to do).
What I’m getting at is that thimerosol isn’t a trigger for concerns, thimerosol-in-vaccines is an explanation for them. It’s the endpoint of a search. Why doesn’t it generalize from there? My speculation is that vaccines are required by authority and contact lens solution etc is not, and stories about having dangerous things forced on you are much more mentally catchy and conducive to righteous indignation and fear than are stories about stuff you can voluntarily avoid. So a lot of people don’t know about it, and it’s not that their lack of concern comes from lack of knowledge, but that their lack of knowledge comes from fears of thimerosol-in-household-products never taking root strongly enough to become widespread.
April 15 2008 07:58 am | |
Kate McLaughlin on 25 May 2008 at 6:48 pm #
I stumbled across your posts and invite you to visit my website at http://www.katemclaughlin.net
Two of my three children have bipolar disorder and I’ve lived with depression (well-managed for many years now) my whole life.
As a writer, I switched gears after my kids’ diagnoses and began writing, speaking and advocationg for the mentally ill and those who love them.
I update my blog M-F with current science & research based material, along with a fair amount of motherly love and acceptance. The site also has loads of information and links for anyone dealing with bipolar disorder or depression.
You may also want to read my new book:
MOMMY I’M STILL IN HERE: One family’s journey with bipolar disorder.
It has been praised by Tipper Gore, Rosie O’Donnell and Maria Shriver, among others.
I hope you soon visit http://www.katemclaughlin.net and go to the ‘contact Kate’ page. Let me know what you like, dislike, want more of, and could do without.
Blessings!
KATE
resonance on 27 May 2008 at 9:06 am #
Interesting reading but when I try to view previous months it asks me for a password. Not sure whether that’s on purpose or accidental?
Wayward Radish on 25 Aug 2008 at 2:01 am #
Nice blog. I’m curious to find out how much you know about attachment therapy?
http://childtorture.wordpress.com/
I am one of the very few survivors to go public about this abuse. It was actually first developed as a so-called treatment for autistic children; I’d be interested to hear your thoughts…
Sam on 21 Oct 2008 at 12:56 am #
You are kidding, right? Which brand of contact lens liquid do you think still has Thimerosal?
On the other hand, approx 90% of the injected flu shots contain it.
resonance on 21 Oct 2008 at 6:23 am #
You say I’m kidding, although I’m clearly not. I’m guessing that you want to imply that the only way I could say what I said is if I were deliberately attempting to deceive readers. You never actually accuse, so if I call you out on it, you can say that you never meant that.
You then note a fact, and because you’re disagreeing with me, you’re implicitly encouraging the reader to buy the notion that flu shots cause autism. Since you’re not stating your argument, you can back up when called on it, and you don’t need to provide support.
People freak out about thimerosal in vaccines way more than about other household products; why is that?
L.RabbitGirl on 18 Mar 2009 at 7:12 pm #
Hey! Where the hell’d you go?
resonance on 18 Mar 2009 at 7:19 pm #
Mostly I just spent a long time realizing that my job wasn’t what it was sold to me as, and playing Rock Band and Katamari. I’d like to get back to writing stuff but I want to get a new job more.