The Amish don’t get autism because they don’t get vaccinated! The headlines shout out from the most debunked health site on the internet, Natural News, anti-vax web sites, various naturopathic sites and most likely your Facebook feed. This thoroughly erroneous view has been gaining traction lately and a perfect example of the misinformation relentlessly spewed out by anti-vaxxers.
What they also
espouse is that the Amish rarely get sick – another fib easily discredited.
They definitely do have lower incidences of certain cancers compared to the
rest of the US population. The reasons for this are obvious – their
conservative clothing covers their entire bodies from the beaming sun, they
don’t engage in risky sexual behaviors, they eat healthy, get plenty of
rigorous exercise, and they certainly don’t smoke or drink.
A study published in the
journal Pediatrics clearly establishes that while
autism rates are lower in the Amish community than the general population, the rates
are significant, and certainly not non-existent, as the anti-vaxxers contend:
“Holmes
County, Ohio, one of the largest Amish communities in the world, has
persistently low immunization rates. Studies of other Amish communities have
revealed that parents do not immunize their children because of lack of access
to immunizations. Our study explored reasons that Amish parents in the
previously uninvestigated Holmes County population exempt themselves from
immunizations.
“Thirty-seven
percent of the parents responded. Among the 359 respondents, 68% stated that
all of their children had received at least 1 immunization, and 17%
reported that some of their children had received at least 1 immunization. Only
14% of the parents reported that none of their children had received
immunizations. Eighty-six percent of the parents who completely exempted
their children from vaccines stated that the main reason they do not vaccinate
their children is concern over adverse effects. Many parents indicated that
they allow their children to receive only some vaccines because of concern
about the way certain vaccines are produced.”
The consequences of lower
immunization rates
in certain Amish communities have led to predictable outbreaks:
“The largest
outbreak of measles in recent U.S. history is underway. Ohio has the majority
of these cases — 341 confirmed and eight hospitalizations. The virus has spread
quickly among the largely unvaccinated Amish communities in the center of the
state.”
This has
caused many in the community to reassess their views:
“Ervin
Kauffman reassures his six children as they squeeze into a small back office
for their second shot for mumps, measles and rubella since the outbreak began.
While many Amish are not against vaccines in principle, many, including
Kauffman's children, have never had shots. ‘I guess there was no scare to us
before,’ Kaufman says. ‘I guess we were too relaxed.’
“Kauffman
says the outbreak has changed other customs, too. ‘We're just now starting with
weddings,’ he says. Spring is the Amish wedding season, a time when hundreds
come together, often traveling from other states and sometimes Canada. Those
weddings were postponed. Church services, typically held in family homes, were
also curtailed. ‘We didn't have church for almost two months because of the
measles, so we wouldn't spread them, so we kind of tried to put the clamp on
them,’ he says.”
Now let’s examine the concept that
the Amish never get sick. The Atlantic recently ran a piece exposing anti-vaxxers
and their desperate fabrications:
“Almost all
of the roughly 250,000 Amish people in the U.S. can trace their roots back to a
few hundred Swiss farmers who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.
The centuries of isolation and intermarriage has forged tight-knit communities,
sure, but it has also caused widespread genetic problems.
“One example
is Maple Syrup Urine Disease—so named for the smell of the sufferer’s urine and
ear wax—which causes the body to be unable to metabolize protein. Most people
with MSUD experience vomiting, seizures, and brain damage starting in infancy,
and they die early.
“Only one
out of every 180,000 babies in the general population is born with the disease,
but it strikes one out of every 358 Amish babies. Treatment usually
involves avoiding meat and dairy entirely—which is tough to manage in the ‘all-natural’
Amish lifestyle. Liver transplants are another option, but few Amish can afford
them.”
The Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Pennsylvania,
established by Dr. D. Holmes Morton and his wife in 1989, serves Amish and Mennonite
families and is on the cutting edge of genetic research. They have 16 full time
staff and 1,083 active patients. Their 2016 Patient Care Stats:
Biochemical
& genetic tests: 3,897
Patient
visits: 1,560
Known
variants managed that cause disease: 225
The New York
Times went into some depth examining the work of the above mentioned pioneering doctor and his work:
“Dr. D. Holmes Morton stood at the front of the red-and-white-striped
tent set up in a farm pasture in Lancaster County, Pa. Behind him were a horse
and a buggy -- his host's main mode of transportation -- and a whitewashed barn
and silo. To his left was a sunken barbecue pit, with 60 chickens cooking
inside a homemade wire-mesh spit. Before him were seven families, upward of 50
people. The women wore bonnets and aprons, the men, long pants and long
sleeves, in keeping with their Mennonite ways. Many of the youngest were in
wheelchairs. One teenage girl had her left heel in her mouth. A boy was chewing
on the handout Morton had distributed. It was two pages long and titled ‘Pretzel
Syndrome.’
“The families had gathered here at the Weaver farm on this sticky July afternoon so that Morton could tell
them what was wrong with their children. He could not give them a scientific
name for their disease, because it did not have one yet. Morton and his team
had discovered the existence of this illness only a few weeks earlier. Nor
could he tell them how to cure it, or how to ease its symptoms, or what the
future held for their kids -- though he said he hoped that would come in time.
All he could tell them then was why -- why their children looked different, and
had seizures, and could not speak, and died young. Why the youngsters' joints
were so elastic that they could rest their feet behind their heads, their
bodies twisted like pretzels. The cause, he could say with brand-new certainty,
lay in their genes.”
Morton treats 700 pediatric patients, who combined have more than 60 rare disorders:
“Although
they (the Amish) keep their distance from most technology, they have developed
a trust in doctors because they suffer from so much disease. It was also an
introduction to their ways of paying for health care. The Old Order Amish do
not accept government assistance, and therefore they do not get Medicaid. They
also don't carry private insurance but rather rely on the community to cover
bills that individuals cannot cover themselves.”
A fairly
well balanced look at the vaccine debate
by PBS’s Frontline. Both sides are accurately represented. Two highlights:
A typical
victim of anti-vaccine beliefs: 44 minutes 23
seconds - 47 minutes 20 seconds
Who are
the vulnerable? 48
minutes 36 seconds – 50 minutes 58 seconds
Related Posts
Kids
& Autism: Peer-Reviewed Studies That Make Anti-Vaxxers Squirm http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/07/kids-autism-peer-reviewed-studies-that.html
Anti-Vaccine:
Fraud, Paranoia & Vulnerable Children at Risk http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2014/12/anti-vaccine-fraud-paranoia-vulnerable.html
How
To Avoid Bad Medical Advice: A Basic Guideline http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/05/how-to-avoid-bad-medical-advice-basic.html
Well-Meaning Parents Placing Their Children At Risk http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/01/well-meaning-parents-placing-their.html
It’s
Complicated! How Apathy Leads To Risky Medical Decisions http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2017/02/its-complicated-how-apathy-leads-to.html
Photo: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/heprodimagesfotos8712014060738823446-jpg/10011502/3-format43.jpg
Photo: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/heprodimagesfotos8712014060738823446-jpg/10011502/3-format43.jpg
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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