A 12-year-old made a video hammering home the truth about autism and vaccines
There's long been a heated debate over whether vaccines cause autism. Most doctors and scientists have declared the two to be unrelated, while certain holistic health and parenting groups have professed that vaccines are to blamed for the condition.
Marco Arturo, a 12-year-old "scientist" from Mexico, posted a video on Facebook settling that fierce debate once and for all. In a video entitled "Vaccines DO cause autism," the preteen said that he has compiled a file-folder full of research proving the link - and that he would go page by page through the folder, presenting his evidence.
The kicker? All of the pages were blank - because the young medical expert couldn't find any evidence to support that theory.
"I think it might be because there is no evidence to support the statement that vaccines are linked to autism in any way whatsoever," Arturo said in the video. "On the other hand, it's almost an accident that vaccines are preventing millions of children from dying from diseases like polio and measles and meningitis and hepatitis - just to mention a few."
The young scientist went on to note that smallpox has largely been eradicated thanks to vaccines. He also made a heartfelt plea to anti-vaccine parents, telling them that their decision not to vaccinate their child is putting others at risk.
"You might think, it's my child, it's my choice. Okay, I agree: it's your choice if you're going to expose your child to deadly diseases. But it's not just your child; it's basically everyone else's child. It's also everyone else's child you're putting in danger because you got some forwarded email," Arturo said.
However, Arturo did end the video with one sheet of paper that contained writing: the word "Mic." Then he dropped it.