![\"Autism](\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Autism_Onset_Chart.jpg\")
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Whoa! I found the autism onset chart produced by Dr. Bernard Rimland that nobody can explain. Dr. Bernard Rimland, an autism expert who founded the Autism Research Institute, firmly believed vaccines cause autism. I located his original testimony and the graph of the data he cited in Congress.
\nSteve Kirsch<\/p>\n
The officials of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control, and other medical organizations claim that since autism typically starts at about 18 months, when the MMR shot \u201ccoincidentally”given, the parents are mistaken in their belief that the MMR caused their child’s autism. To examine this issue, Riniland analyzed the data collected by the Autism Research Institute from many thousands of parents of autistic children since the 1960s. The data reveal that the onset of autism at 18 months is a recent development. Parent reports show that through the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s children autistic from birth outnumbered by 2 to 1 those with onset at 18 months. Starting in the early-1980s, when the MMR triple vaccine was introduced, the picture has reversed: now the “onset at 18 months” children outnumber the “onset at birth” children by 2 to 1.<\/p>\n
Executive summary
\nDr. Bernard Rimland studied autism for over 44 years, including about 35 years collecting parent reports. He is the founder of the Autism Research Institute (ARI).<\/p>\n
He testified in Congress on April 6, 2000.<\/p>\n
You can find his full testimony here starting on page 337 including the chart on the shift of the onset age post MMR vaccine.<\/p>\n
In this article, I will summarize his key points:<\/p>\n
Vaccines cause autism<\/p>\n
Authors of papers disputing this will not show their data. They ignored all data requests.<\/p>\n
There was a shift in parent-observed onset age from birth to 18 months that happened post-MMR vaccine introduction. It flipped from 2:1 (birth onset:18 mo onset) to 1:2 which is dramatic. Nobody has ever explained it including the current ARI which is now pro-vaccine!<\/p>\n
Starting in 1964, parents started telling Rimland their children were normal until getting a DPT shot, a \u201ctriple vaccine.\u201d So in 1967, he started systematically collecting data on the child\u2019s response to the DPT shot.<\/p>\n
More recently, before his testimony, he was inundated with parents reporting their child was normal until receiving the MMR, another triple vaccine.<\/p>\n
You can see the chart Rimland referenced in his testimony above.<\/p>\n
You can also watch the full testimony: Dr. Bernard Rimland, Dr. Michael Goldberg & Dr. Mary Megson – Autism & Childhood Vaccines – April 2000.<\/p>\n
Key points<\/p>\n
These are the four myths he dispells:<\/p>\n
Vaccines are safe<\/p>\n
No link between MMR and autism. And Taylor refused to supply his data for re-analysis!<\/p>\n
Autism is primarily genetic.<\/p>\n
Autism \u201cnaturally\u201d occurs at 18 months<\/p>\n
Key statement:
\nAs a parent and as a full-time professional researcher, I am bitterly disappointed with the medical establishment’s dismal record with regard to autism over the past 60 years. The medical schools, as well as the governmental agencies, have consistently supported outmoded, unproven and even disproven theories from the very beginning, and have actively opposed the most promising approaches for the treatment of autism.<\/p>\n
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on non-productive lines of research, while virtually no money at all has been given to research on the methods of alternative medicine, which are far more promising in terms of both safety and. efficacy.<\/p>\n