Do vaccines which have a mercury preservative cause Autism?

Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 09 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

Do vaccines which have a mercury preservative cause Autism?
New research is going to be carried out on whether certain vaccines might cause autism.

Special emphasis will be placed on whether autism is caused by a mercury preservative which can be found in many vaccines.

Experts from the Institute of Medicine will look at scores of new studies. One study which may be of interest to these experts is a Danish one.

500,000 children were researched in this study. It found no link between vaccines and autism.

Another study (USA) found a possible mechanism for mercury, lead and other metals (these are thought to cause autism).

Three years ago, the same panel (experts from the Institute of Medicine) said there was no link between vaccines and autism. However, there had not been a great deal of research around at that time (now there is a lot more).

Many more studies have been done since 2001 (many are still ongoing).

Several charities and advocacy groups say that there may be a link between autism (and asperger's syndrome) and vaccines.

The number of people being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (within the autistic spectrum) and Autism in general has been rising alarmingly in industrialised countries.

Experts are not sure whether this rise in numbers is due to a real rise in Autism. Some say that it could be because diagnosis is better today.

Experts have said that if thimerosal got into a child's brain it could cause brain damage (it is plausible). Nerve cell signalling could be damaged.

The Danish study looked at 467,000 children (born 1990-1996). Some of these children had been vaccinated with a thimerosal containing whooping cough vaccine. Other kids in this study got their vaccine without thimerosal.

After studying the two groups carefully, they found that there was no difference in the incidence of autism at all.

It seems that babies eliminate thimerosal from their bodies in a matter of days. Researchers have found the mercury in babies' stools within a couple of days. This means it is not staying in their bodies. It therefore cannot do any damage, say the Danish researchers.

Other experts have noticed that autistic children have less mercury in their hair than non-autistic children. Could this be because their bodies are not as good at getting rid of the mercury as other kids are?

Apart from vaccines, some fishes can be a dangerous source of mercury for humans.

For a list of which vaccines currently contain ethylmercury and which do not, visit (Thimerosal means 49.6% ethylmercury by weight):

http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm
and
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm#2

For information about which flu shots contain ethylmercury and which do not, visit some CDC-created information at:
Flu Vaccine 2004 Mercury Content
http://www.safeminds.org/NewChart.pdf

CDC Study Raises Level of Suspicion.
O'Meara KP.
http://www.insightmag.com/news/573542.html

• Additional
• References
• Citations