Debate Continues Over Mercury, Autism Link
By Trevor Schubert
Published on March 02, 2006
Today, scientists and physicians are debating whether the vaccines have done more harm than good.
Thimerosal is about 50 percent mercury, a heavy-metal neurotoxin that is believed to damage the nervous systems of children and fetuses.
There is a segment of researchers and doctors who believe there is a link between the mercury in vaccines and rising autism rates in American youth, a developmental disorder whose cause, according to the CDC, remains unknown. Researchers say their studies have been dismissed by a government unwilling to put blame on pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Carl Cooley, medical director of Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, believes that although there is no doubt that mercury is a toxin; there is no concrete proof that it is linked to autism.
"I'm personally satisfied that the evidence that we have so far does not support a role for mercury," Cooley said.
"Immunization has been one of modern society's greatest achievements," said Dr John Moeschler, professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. Not vaccinating a child because of fears about autism would be a detriment to both that child and the public, particularly when "the link to autism is zero."
Barbara Loe Fisher, President of the National Vaccine Information Center finds the numbers difficult to overlook. She testified in January 2003 for the California Senate Committee on Childhood Immunization Mandates, that since 1992 the number of American children with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder (ADD), and asthma have doubled; diabetes has tripled; and the incidence of autism has reached what Fisher describes as, "epidemic proportions," increasing 200 to 600 percent in every state.
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