Family News

There has been considerable debate about the link between exposure to mercury, specifically the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal, and the rate of diagnosed cases of autism in children. Thimerosal is a preservative used in vaccines, including flu vaccines, and advocacy groups, such as the National Autism Association and the Coalition for SafeMinds, have long held the view that there is a causal link between mercury and neurological
disorders such as autism.

Two recent studies, however, have questioned the proposed link; the most recent was published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Dr. Robert Schechter, a medical officer at the state Department of Public Health, was lead author of the report, which indicated that the rate of autism diagnoses in California children had continued to rise “despite the exclusion of more than trace levels of thimerosal from nearly all childhood vaccines.”

A study released in May 2007 by the University of Missouri-Columbia reached similar conclusions regarding Rh immune globulin preserved with thimerosal and given to pregnant mothers. “This study adds to the evidence that there is no casual association between thimerosal and childhood autism,” says Judith Miles, who is the William S. Thomson Endowed Chair of Autism and professor of pediatrics and pathology at the university.  

Shortly after the publication of the Schechter study, SafeMinds published a critique of the study. The critique stated the data used in the Schechter paper “can equally support thimerosal exposure as a primary causative role” of autism.

The subject of raising an autistic child was the cover story of the October 2007 issue of OC Family. This story can be found in the archives section at ocfamily.com. Click Here