Injecting Mercury - Is Thimerosal the Missing Link to Autism and Developmental Problems?

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Injecting Mercury

Is Thimerosal the Missing Link to Autism and Developmental Problems?

By Annette Fuentes

No one could accuse Lyn Redwood of being anti-vaccination or suspicious of

the medical establishment. After all, the Atlanta, Georgia resident was a

nurse practitioner and member of her county’s board of health, which

promoted childhood vaccination. But in 1999, when her happy, healthy

toddler, Will, began to regress developmentally at 15 months—he lost speech,

he avoided eye contact and seemed miserable—Redwood set out to learn why.

And her quest led to thimerosal, a preservative used in some vaccines that

is 49.6 percent ethylmercury, a known neurotoxin.

© Blackshear

Redwood had received two thimerosal-containing injections of RhoGam while

pregnant because her blood was Rh negative. Will got all the recommended

vaccines for infants, including multiple shots of Hepatitis B, Haemophilus

influenzae B (HiB) and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTaP)—all containing

thimerosal. By her calculations, Redwood’s son has been exposed to mercury

in quantities far exceeding safe levels. To Redwood, the cause of Will’s

illness was clear: mercury poisoning. “If someone had told me prior to 1999

that vaccines were responsible for my son’s disabilities, I would have

thought they were crazy,” she says.

Thousands of parents like Lyn Redwood have watched their normal children

suddenly become ill, exhibiting symptoms called autism spectrum disorders.

From Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s Syndrome on one end of the spectrum, to

severe forms of autism on the other, these illnesses have seemingly exploded

into what many consider an epidemic in just the last decade.

Autism was rare, diagnosed in one in 10,000 children, before 1980. But in

2002, the National Institutes of Health estimated that one in 250 U.S.

children were affected. The Autism Society of America projects that autism

disorders are increasing by 10 percent every year. Boys are four times more

likely than girls to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, a

disparity some scientists attribute to hormonal differences. Genetics may

also play a role in susceptibility. Some critics counter that rises in

autism rates may be better attributed to increasing awareness among parents

and doctors of autism than to any environmental toxin. But for Redwood and a

growing number of activists and scientific researchers, the key to autism

disorders is thimerosal. Can it be mere coincidence, they ask, that the rise

in autism began during the same period when the number of vaccines was

tripled? In the early 1990s, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

approved for use Hepatitis B and HiB vaccines for infants and children, and

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added them to its list

of recommended childhood vaccines.

The total number of vaccines containing mercury increased to 11, containing

a cumulative total 237.5 micrograms of ethylmercury injected into children

during the first year and a half of their lives. There are no standards on

acceptable exposure to ethylmercury, unlike its chemical (and more toxic)

cousin methylmercury, which is found in fish in polluted oceans.

Lax Safety Tests

Although thimerosal, invented by the Eli Lilly company, has been used to

preserve vaccines since the 1930s (and was used in over-the-counter

products, such as eye drops, nasal sprays and topical antiseptics) the FDA

has never required testing of its safety or of safe levels of exposure in

newborns and children. And the CDC never considered the consequences of

increasing infants’ exposure to mercury as it multiplied the number of

suggested vaccines. CDC immunization expert Bernier explains,

“Vaccines tend to be evaluated on an individual basis, and a holistic view

of safety was not part of the review.”

Through her research, Redwood found allies in a group of parents of autistic

children who were also seeking answers. They founded Safe Minds, an advocacy

group that has also conducted studies, including “Autism: A Novel Form of

Mercury Poisoning,” published in 2001 in the journal Medical Hypotheses. The

study shows the symptoms of mercury poisoning were virtually the same as

those in autism disorders. Safe Minds took their findings to government

agencies. Redwood says, “We petitioned the FDA unsucessfully on three

occasions to take thimerosal off the market.”

Congress had requested the FDA in 1997 to review mercury in products, and in

1998, the agency had banned all over-the-counter products containing

thimerosal. A year later, the FDA, CDC and National Institutes of Health

issued a joint statement with the American Academy of Pediatrics that urged

vaccine manufacturers to stop using thimerosal because of a “theoretical

potential for neurotoxicity.”

In February 2000, scientist Verstraeten presented the first of

several analyses of the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink, a patient record

database that includes information on children vaccinated who developed

neurological disorders. Verstraeten’s earliest findings showed a risk of

autism 2.48 times greater for infants who received the highest amounts of

mercury in vaccines. A June 2000 analysis showed a connection between

thimerosal exposure and language, speech and developmental delays for

infants up to six months old.

A Blizzard of Suits

In the years since, the thimerosal-autism connection has become a hotly

contested issue, and one with tremendous political and economic

implications. Hundreds of parents have filed lawsuits against Eli Lilly,

GlaxoKline and other companies that used thimerosal. In November 2002,

Congress sought to protect the drug giants from such legal action by

inserting a liability waiver in the Homeland Security Act. Three months

later, public outcry forced its repeal. Although the FDA and CDC requested

that thimerosal be removed from vaccines, no direct ban was ever issued, and

the agencies’ scientists have steadfastly defended thimerosal.

In November 2003 a study published in Pediatrics, and co-authored by

Verstraeten, presented the final analysis of the CDC’s database. All of the

positive findings of neurological delays and autism have disappeared. Safe

Minds and other critics argue this is a product of questionable methodology

and selective data use. Verstraeten’s current status as an employee of

GlaxoKline was excluded from the article.

WebMD reports that the federally funded study published in The Lancet the

same month by lead researcher E. Pichichero “offers reassurance to

those who are concerned about the health risks of vaccines containing the

preservative thimerosal.” WebMD concludes, “Researchers found that blood

mercury levels in vaccinated infants were well below those considered safe

and that mercury was eliminated from the body much faster than expected.”

But Boyd Haley, a toxicology researcher at the University of Kentucky and

expert on mercury issues, says he questions the validity of the study.

In February of this year, the California Environmental Protection Agency

issued a report in response to a petition made by the Bayer Corporation,

which was asking the state not to classify thimerosal as a reproductive and

developmental toxin under clean water rules. The California agency reviewed

the scientific literature and concluded that thimerosal should be considered

toxic. Says vaccine researcher Mark Geier, “This is another powerful piece

of evidence showing that thimerosal has no place in vaccines.”

Today, thimerosal is still used in some vaccines given to children,

including Fluzone by Aventis Pasteur, which is provided in multi-dose vials.

Thimerosal is also present in what are called “trace” amounts, defined as

less than half a microgram of mercury per dose, in several pediatric

vaccines, including a Hepatitis B shot from GlaxoKline.

Infants and children, with their less-developed immune systems and

still-growing neurological systems, are more vulnerable to mercury’s

toxicity, but everyone may want to read vaccine labels before being stuck

with a needle. FluMist from MedImmune is an example of a thimerosal-free

vaccine.

ANNETTE FUENTES is an upstate New York-based freelance writer on health

topics.

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