Prozac: Return of the Mercury Vaccines

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Apparently, certain studies have surfaced that allegedly link the antidepressant Prozac to cases of autism, when the drug was taken while the mother was pregnant. On the legal commercials where I saw this, autism was listed with "other birth defects."
Is anyone on this site into autism pride/awareness enough to be pissed off about this?
As far as I'm concerned, this is the "mercury-laced vaccine" scandal all over again, and that was proven to be a hoax (look it up on NPR or other media sources if you doubt me). There is no proven environmental cause of autism, it is genetic and naturally occurring within the human species.

I've said it before on another thread on this topic, those lawyers are just glorified ambulance chasers.

It's nice to know that, as usual, people are trying to call us an abberation and, as usual, are failing miserably in the meantime.

Oh hang on...

I mean herd those ambulance chasers unto a barn and do something useful with a machine gun by all means, but don't dismiss the possibility of ssris causing autism in neonates entirely. It didn't cause mine, I am too old, but that is not to say it cannot cause it, particularly as the some of the most measurable biochemical aspects of autism concern seratonin and melatonin production.

It's well possible that neonatal prozac could cause irregularity in one or the other, I am completely thinking out of the box here but as seratonin and melatonin production relates to light in some way surely they are produced very differently in a neonate, and interfering with that naturally occurring pattern could have unpredictable result - even permanent ones.

It is something that warrant closer, expert, neutral, non-nutter examination...to see if anything is happening that would be better off preventing. Something else that needs exploring are other factors that might interfere with those same patterns.

A correlation was found in the study on antidepressants, but at this point it's not known if the antidepressants were the specific environmental factor that precipated the correlation.

For many years the idea that the more debilitating symptoms of Autism were influenced by genetics alone has been propagated by a few studies on a limited number of twins years ago. Those studies were suggested at the time to be of small scope, with further research needed to confirm the results. That further research has been done in a large scale study now.

The first study that suggested a 90 percent genetic component involved only 11 sets of twins that were studied in a homogenous society. The most recent study was done with a heterogenous group of 192 sets of twins. It found a potential influence of environment that was at least as strong as the genetic influence, but does not suggest there is not a genetic component involved here as well.

The Prozac Company is covering their potential legal liability by listing Autism along with the other issues that have been correlated in research studies with the drug. It's standard procedure. People will initiate lawsuits over this type of thing, whether or not there is conclusive evidence provided in research.

If we were to be angry, who should we direct it at, the researchers that did the research to find the correlation, that wasn't conclusive, or the drug companies that are protecting themselves from people that will file lawsuits over research that shows a correlation?

Research has always been part of the medical field, without it there would be no such thing as antibiotics; many people that walk the streets would not be present today if it wasn't for that research.

Medical research still does not understand what causes the more debilitating symptoms of Autism, like cognitive and speech impairments that disable some with Autism. If there are environmental factors they can identify that can be prevented that allow these autistic people to have a greater ability to fulfill their potential, without the more debilitating symptoms, I see it as nothing but a win-win solution.

Part of the process is finding correlations and narrowing the factors down to conclusive factors; research is the only way it can be accomplished. I see Autism on a list of potential effects from a drug as a small price for the potential benefits that may eventually arise out of this type of research.

Current research indicates Autistic traits may exist in 30% of the population. Many of these people are thriving. These aren't the people the researchers are trying to help; they are doing fine, it is the symptoms that some find debilitating that they are looking to prevent to help people live fuller lives.