It has long been an article of faith amongst some autism advocates that the type of mercury found in thimerosal was the cause for autism. Arthur Caplan in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer that debunks this claim, not that I expect those who advocate this position to be swayed by the evidence.
What must it be like to spend a huge amount of time every waking day trying to change public health practice – only to find out that you were wrong?
That is precisely what has happened to the proponents of the theory that mercury in vaccines – contained in the preservative thimerosal, which once was used (and is used no longer) in vaccines – is responsible for a nearly 20-year explosion in autism and other neurological disorders among American children.
This urban legend has had very real – and terrible – consequences. It has led, and continues to lead, many parents to avoid getting their kids and themselves vaccinated against life-threatening diseases. The failure to vaccinate has caused many preventable deaths and avoidable hospitalizations from measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, flu, hepatitis and meningitis. And fear of vaccines puts each one of us at risk that we, our children or grandchildren will become part of a deadly outbreak triggered by someone whose parents avoided getting their child vaccinated for fear of autism.
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Recent research on many fronts in medicine and science has nailed the coffin shut on the mercury-in-vaccines-causes-autism hypothesis. The connection is just not there. Perhaps the key fact, which has garnered little attention, is that thimerosal has been removed from vaccines in this and other countries for many years, with no obvious impact on the incidence of autism. The most recent data point toward a correlation with nothing at all to do with vaccines: the increasing age at which people (particularly men) have children seems to be associated with an increase in autism and other neurological problems.
You’d think this would be obvious. If thimerosal has not been added to vaccines for decades and there has been no change for the better in the rates of autism, then one would think that thimerosol and the mercury in thimerosal was not the culprit. Add on that there is another factor that is correlated with autism (and yes, I’m quite well aware that correlation is not cuasation, but it can be suggestive) and like Prof. Caplan says, you have the final nail in the coffin.
Still, some of the most fervent anti-vaccine critics cannot let go. They continue to tell devastated parents of children with autism that vaccines are to blame. Others are still out on the lecture circuit peddling books and articles that bash vaccines and invoke mercury as a problem. Still others pepper the Internet with the false message that vaccines and autism do go hand in hand – it is just that the government, or the pharmaceutical companies, or organized medicine, or all of them, are keeping the truth from us all.
Less than two years ago, Robert Kennedy Jr. published an article in Salon.com alleging that the government knew of and covered up the autism-vaccines connection. Thimerosal was, Kennedy told large audiences and many media reporters, to blame.
Well if there was every any doubt that Robert Kennedy Jr. was an idiot, this will hopefully remove that doubt. The problem with the autism crowd is that they are what are sometimes referred to as woo-woos and for them their beliefs have taken on an almost religious aspect.
Take for example this website. It claims that the link between autism and thimerosal is a fact and has a list of facts,
1. Mercury is hazardous to humans. The use of a toxic poison as a preservative is undesirable, unnecessary and should be eliminated entirely.
Actually there are two types of mercury, methyl and ethyl. Methylmercury is bad, but the toxicology of ethylmercury is not well studied and hence the supposed fact is actually speculation.
2. For decades, ethylmercury was used extensively in medical products ranging from vaccines to topical ointments as preservative and an anti-bacteriological agent.
Notice how they don’t tell the reader that mercury comes in two forms and implies that ethylmercury is as dangerous and methylmercury. Right here we see some pretty egregious dishonesty form a site that claims to be honest and in the fight against autism. I suppose the latter part is true, the the former part is highly questionable.
The bottom line here is that thimerosal is no longer in vaccines. Vaccines do carry small risks of illness and even death. However, vaccines also prevent illnesses, death and disability with far, far greater likelihoood. So if you are a new parent, get your kid vaccinated.
