Dr. Novella, an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine made a great exploration on why the myth ‘Vaccines Cause Autism’ is still around and how it results in suffering and deaths of Autistic People.
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Why the Vaccines Causes Autism Myth Still Goes On
More so than that, in my opinion, it's because parents look at Autism as a horrible thing that causes their kid to suffer (thanks Autism Speaks). So they want to get rid of their kid's Autism, and if Autism is genetic, removing it outright is more or less impossible. But, if Autism is a disease, it can be cured, and if it's a disease caused by vaccines, it's something that can also be blamed on someone else. So basically it's either believe it's genetic and is what it is, or it's believe that it's a disease which gives hope of it disappearing eventually. It's kinda like a religion, "who cares what the scientific evidence says, I'm gonna believe what I wanna believe, and I'm gonna take my revenge on those who I decide are at fault based on my belief".
It also allows the superstitious to indulge in their hatred of science and medicine--while simultaneously shelling out money to self-styled "scientists" and "doctors".
won't they ever drop it like good doggies?
This goes back further than parents, frequently a young parent is pressured by others in their family, it is often their own parents who simply will not accept the idea of having a child in the family that is not "normal" (ie.up to standard).
Family members are often in denial when it comes to disabilities of any kind and I have seen situations where grandparents disown their children for producing offspring that do not match their ideals. There are still many people around that believe that anyone not "normal" should be put away somewhere out of sight.
One family I know of the eldest daughter had an autistic child and her parents were frankly awful to her over it. When her sister also had an autistic child far from seeing and understanding that there was clearly a familial cause they turned on the eldest daughter again and blamed her for her sisters child being autistic! ....... Yes that is some leap but they managed it.
My sons maternal grandparents are in total denial,(they cannot see that they themselves are so far off the wall that even most aspies and auties would find them bizarre),they simply refuse to accept that this is a hereditary condition,their son is obviously an aspie, their daughter has it,her 4 children(all by different fathers) have it in one form or another yet all we hear is it is nothing to do with us,no-one else in the family has anything like it, and to their own daughter "it is something you brewed up yourself" which does wonders for her self esteem.
I think the "myth" and other odd theories will always be around as some people have a need for these beliefs and have to go against the grain ,you also have those that have their own agenda in all these causes and they will go on spreading their warped views no matter what proof you provide.
What saddens me is that after a young parent is given a diagnosis for their child, they are often feeling low and isolated which makes them vulnerable to all the quack / crank ideas that circulate, this does not help them or the child in any way and distracts from getting the right help and advice in place.
Caring for a young autistic child can be quite a challenge and they need their energies focussed on their families needs not some oddball cause that is being touted around.
"Standard blood tests were negative, but this outside lab found a significantly positive result. I looked over the lab report and found that it was a “provoked” urine test for lead and mercury. “Provoked” means that prior to collective the urine a chelating agent was given to draw lead and mercury out of the tissue so that it could be excreted in the urine. However, at the bottom of the lab sheet was a small disclaimer admitting that the reference range was based upon normal values for an unprovoked urine level (which should be much smaller than a provoked level). In other words - this test was worthless, and worse it was designed to produce a false positive test. And yet the patient was being chelated to treat the fake diagnosis made by using an invalid test, while the valid test was negative."
I think that is a serious fraud.