In 1998, Andrew Wakefield conducted a study of 12 children linking the MMR vaccine to the onset of autism. His study has since been discredited, he was stripped of his medical license and larger-scale studies were done that refuted Wakefield's findings. But the aftermath of Wakefield's bunk study lives on and the misinformation perseveres. Journalist Jeremy Laurance called it "one of the biggest public relations disasters in medicine." If you read any comments section on measles stories in major news networks, you will still read people trumpeting that autism is caused by vaccines.

With the outbreak of measles, leaders in the autism community are taking to the airwaves and the internet and making their message clear.

Rob Ring, Chief Science Officer, Autism Speaks:

Over the last two decades, extensive research has asked whether there is any link between childhood vaccinations and autism.  The results of this research are clear: Vaccines do not cause autism.  We urge that all children be fully vaccinated.

Autism Science Foundation:

A decade ago most researchers agreed that we needed to study vaccines in relation to autism. We had to reconcile the fact that the number of vaccines children were receiving was increasing, and at the same time, the number of children who were being diagnosed with autism also was on the rise. Fortunately this was a question that could be studied – and answered – by science. We looked at children who received vaccines and those who didn’t, or who received them on a different, slower schedule. There was no difference in their neurological outcomes. Multiple studies have been completed which investigated the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination in relation to autism. Researchers have also studied thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, to see if it had any relation to autism. The results of studies are very clear; the data show no relationship between vaccines and autism.

Parents of autistic children have also been sending the message. I was very moved reading Carrie Cariello's blog post, "I Know What Causes Autism," where she writes that her son is "exactly the way he's supposed to be."

I am happy to announce that I do know what caused Jack’s autism, and without further ado, I'd like to tell you.

Wait for it.

It’s kind of a big deal.

Drum roll, please.

Jack has autism because, as his 5-year old brother Henry says, he was bornd-ed with it.
Yes, I believe autism is a genetic condition. I believe that somehow Joe’s DNA mixed up with my DNA and together we had a child who thinks Wednesday is orange.

Cariello goes on to say:

You can see my dilemma. If I start running around declaring autism an epidemic and screeching about how we need to find out where it’s coming from and who started it and how to cure it, well, that sort of contradicts the whole message of acceptance and tolerance and open-mindedness.

And Daily Kos's own tmservo433, who is a parent to an autistic child, said:

Because the range of autism is very wide - thus why we call it a spectrum - the inbuilt need to equate all of it as having a single root forces far too many autistic parents to step back and say 'no, it wasn't a vaccine', and it puts too many children in the role of being seen as 'permanently damaged' by those who want the vaccine theory to be true.

Think about this:  the anti-vaccine movement is telling you they would rather risk the death of their child rather than an unbelievable longshot - even in their own, non-scientifically supported view - of autism.  Even those who believe that vaccines=autism acknowledge that in their fever dream of non-science that the impact is a small percentage.   But that small percentage is so scary to them that their child's death is OK to avoid the risk of autism.   Talk about a stigma to put on those with autism.

And if that's not enough, Dr. Sanjay Gupta stated on CNN this week:

“I don’t think there is an ‘other side’ here, frankly. We’re so used to this discussion about this side and that side. The two sides could simply be the right side and the wrong side. We don’t know what causes autism. That’s fair to say. We’re not sure, in the scientific community, what causes autism. But we know that vaccines do not. I think it’s important to say that as succinctly as I just did.”

But will anyone listen? Seth Mnookin, who tackled the myth that vaccines cause autism in his book The Panic Virus, said on NBC:

Once you scare someone, it’s really hard to un-scare them.

With so much evidence and so many medical professionals and leaders in the autism community supporting this evidence, the question we're dealing with at this point is exactly the point that Mnookin brought up.

How do we un-scare people? How do we debunk a dangerous myth?