In a final blow against the fictional link between vaccines and autism, earlier this month the Lancet officially retracted the scientific paper which started it all.  Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who had taken funding from a group of lawsuit-eager lawyers in order to scrape up the right findings, has now been officially discredited.  In the Lancet's own words, Wakeman's research and findings were "dishonest and irresponsible."

And in the wake of this, now it seems that Jenny McCarthy's son doesn't have autism!

McCarthy was interviewed for an article in Time Magazine which asserts that her son Evan actually suffers from a rare condition called Landau-Kleffner syndrome.  The biggest proof of this is that Evan has gotten better, when in reality there is no cure for autism.  

McCarthy's son is now able to talk, make eye contact, and maintain friendships, all things which he was initially unable to do.  His early behavior is what led to the early diagnosis of autism, but the recent reversal in his symptoms points to a different cause.

Instead of banning vaccinations entirely, Jenny McCarthy is now calling for them to be "better researched."  This is a tacit acknowledgment on McCarthy's part that vaccines are actually useful in preventing disease, and that the link between her own child's MMR vaccine and his development of autistic signs was completely unrelated.

"Correlation does not equal causation."  Say it as often as you like, but there are still plenty of people who have to learn this lesson on their own.

McCarthy is still not publicly admitting that her son never had autism.  She prefers instead to put forth the idea that she cured him of his autism.  Surely this can't be because she has founded an organization dedicated to "curing autism," and is the wildly popular author of three books about how you can cure your child's autism?

Stories like this simply make me sad.  So many parents are struggling with life with an autistic child, with a terrible disorder that has no known cause, and for which there is no cure.  And then people like noted Playboy bunny Jenny McCarthy come along seeming to offer a solution, a way out.  Best of all, the cure is dependent upon things the parents themselves can do - in other words, it gives parents back the control their lives have so completely lost.  

McCarthy puts the reins back in the parents' hands - for a fee.  And in exchange, her campaign has caused the illness and death of countless children from diseases which are easily preventable with a simple vaccination.

These little setbacks, that the only shred of "evidence" that vaccines cause autism has been finally discredited in its entirety, and that McCarthy's son does not have autism, and that McCarthy herself is backing off the antivax message.  I wonder if they will start turning the tide?  If the public will finally start seeing these anti-vaccination messages and "autism cures" as the pernicious, greedy sellers of snake oil that they are?