Jon VanZile
Thursday, March 22, 2007

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Autism is rapidly becoming a national epidemic. According to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 out of every 150 children in the United States will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The costs of this are staggering.

For years, many people have blamed mass vaccination for the rise in autism in the United States. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., is convinced his grandson became autistic after receiving 9 shots in one day, 7 of which contained a mercury preservative called thimerosal. Other researchers have focused on the measles/mumps/rubella combination vaccine (MMR), which has never contained mercury.

In response to rising parental concerns, in 1997, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the mercury content in vaccines.

The FDA found that children were being exposed to levels of mercury in the first 6 months of life that exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards. Also, the FDA review found no evidence of harm. This conclusion was echoed in a 2004 Institute of Medicine report, which found no connection between autism and vaccines containing mercury. Similarly, most research groups have strongly rejected a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Nevertheless, in response to public pressure, the Public Health Service Agencies, in conjunction with vaccine manufacturers, recommended removing mercury from all vaccines in 1999.

Today, mercury has been mostly removed from all childhood vaccines.

Thimersol is still used in adult vaccines, including the flu shot.

Yet questions remain regarding vaccines and autism. Vaccine-safety advocates, and increasing numbers of researchers, believe that some children may be vulnerable to autism because of tiny submicroscropic genetic abnormalities. Is it possible that high doses of vaccines trigger these children, resulting in autism? Unfortunately, finding a definitive answer to that question may take years.