Feel like watching TV tonight? Well, I’ve decided that tuning into the new ABC drama, Eli Stone is going to be worth the watch. Why? Because it’s in the center of the autism controversy.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for ABC to cancel the first episode of this series because the story involves the main character, a prophetic attorney, representing a mother and her son with autism against a vaccine manufacturer (and winning) for the mercury placed in the vaccine that “caused” the boy’s autism.

The AAP believes that airing this show will increase the number of parents who decide not to vaccinate their children against serious childhood diseases and that ABC will “share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths that occur as a result.”

There’s a lot here to comment on. First off, I’m hoping that parents aren’t gullible enough to confuse fiction with reality…although with nothing but reality TV on the airwaves lately, I’m thinking there will be those who believe all TV is real. Law and Order has been doing this type of reality-based drama for years.

But then there’s the whole truth behind why these writers would write a story like this. Is autism caused by vaccines? If only there was an easy yes or no answer to that. I’ve spent a lot of time reading and re-reading about the autism/thimerasol connection. Do I think that vaccines cause autism?

No, I don’t. BUT, I do think that the mercury in the preservative of many vaccines may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for many children susceptible to autism. I think there are plenty of other environmental triggers as well. While it is human nature to look for an easy answer to complex issues, I don’t think we’re going to find one where autism is concerned. The vaccines alone are not the cause. But, as the AAP touts, genetics alone are not the cause. How can they be? How can a disease increase exponentially in a generation or two if genetics were the only cause?

The role of environmental toxins in autism and other diseases (especially those with auto-immune connections) is huge. So anything, including vaccines laced with mercury, that increases our bodies’ toxin load increases the chance that those who are genetically predisposed to a disorder will get it.

Yet there are people entrenched on both sides of the argument and adamant that thimerosal is or isn’t the cause. I think that perhaps the most frustrating thing while trying to read and understand all the complicated biochemistry behind this information is that the vaccine manufacturers didn’t hurry to pull the mercury-based preservative out of the vaccines. The vaccines themselves weren’t what was in question; it was (is) the preservative. And sadly, some types of vaccines still contain thimerosal.

Then there’s the CDC’s role in all this. They have done repeated studies and issued repeated reports saying there is no link between the vaccines and autism. Yet their data and testing methods are suspect. So the controversy lives on.

Either way, the real-life controversy is actually better than any TV drama will likely be.

National Autism Association

Mom Takes AAP to Task

Eli Stone: It’s Not About Autism – Blog

Eli Stone to Premier Amid Autism Controversy