Absolutely despicable if John McCain believes this :

“It’s indisputable that autism is on the rise among children… The question is, What’s causing it? And we go back and forth, and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.”

I don’t care what side of the political aisle you’re on, this has been debated and refuted with multiple studies, one of the most recent showing that autism continued to go up in California after thiomerosal had been removed from vaccines in that state .

I just called Senator McCain’s campaign — (703) 418-2008 — to tell them he’s flying in the face of evidence and data, and has only worsened the spread of a message that is both incorrect and harmful, as we’re now seeing measles outbreaks in San Diego .

This is not a political issue, it’s a medical one. If the political blogs can take action on political issues and see results, I think this is something we should be trying to take action on, Medbloggers. Demand that McCain state that he was wrong, and that the current evidence does not support his assertion. Nothing may happen today, ’cause of all the other Tuesday election coverage, but I’ll be following this through the week.

Thanks for the tip from the WSJ Health Blog — and boy, it seems to be taking off on ScienceBlogs . (For all my anti-vaccine-link stuff, I go straight to Orac .)

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