The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has just released three reports by its special masters who have been hearing months of evidence for and against the proposition that there is a causal link between childhood vaccines and Autism Spectrum Disorder. The highly emotional issue has pitted advocates of those with autism against the public health community, which is alarmed that autism-related fears are leading parents to keep their children from receiving standard vaccines. We previewed the court's review of the issue in this 2007 story in Legal Times.
Each of the three reports assesses the issue of causation as presented in a real-life test case. A quick reading of the reports indicates that the special masters found insufficient evidence to link autism with the vaccines under the federal vaccine compensation law. The reports can be found here. More later at legaltimes.com.
Clarification: This post has been revised to reflect that the three cases evaluate a single theory of causation, not three separate theories.
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