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IPFS News Link • Senate/Senators

Louisiana senator links vaccines, autism on Senate floor; officials say 'myth' ...

• https://www.theadvocate.com

A sitting Louisiana legislator linked vaccines to autism on the floor of the State Senate Monday, perpetuating a long-debunked theory on which officials have blamed a recent resurgence of measles.

State Sen. John Milkovich, a Shreveport Democrat, used a bill that would expand a voluntary statewide immunization database as an opportunity to launch into a diatribe about vaccines, which he suggested are dangerous and cause autism.

Vaccines, which do not cause autism, are "incredibly well studied" because of the "myths" surrounding their links with autism, said Dr. Joe Kanter, assistant state health officer with the Louisiana Department of Health.

"We're trying really hard to counter that with outreach and education," Kanter said.

Milkovich claimed "autism did not exist" when he was growing up, and that "tissue from aborted babies is now used in vaccines." He also suggested aluminum and mercury in vaccines are dangerous.

"Many of you may know some of the leading researchers in America say that autism is a result of vaccination," Milkovich said. "Did you know tissue from aborted babies is now used in vaccines. Did you know that vaccines use aluminum which is shown to be a neurotoxin? Did you know vaccines in America is preserved often with mercury, which is beyond neurotoxic?"


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