Groups Argue Vaccine, Autism Link

Groups Argue Vaccine, Autism Link

(July 20, 2005) -- On the eve of a scheduled rally in Washington by parents of children with autism, leaders of federal health agencies and medical societies called a press briefing Tuesday to emphasize their message that childhood vaccines are safe and don't cause autism.

A T-shirt with a slogan designed to raise awareness of the possible connection of mercury in vaccines to autism.

Awareness Material

"We don't know what causes autism, that's a fact," said Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But what is known, she said, is that in studies involving thousands of children, "the predominance of evidence does not reveal an association between thimerosal (a vaccine preservative) and autism."

Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, said NIH has increased its budget for research to find genetic and environmental factors that cause autism and to find better ways to diagnose the disorder accurately and as early as possible.

The debate over the possible role of vaccines in autism has simmered for years. But it gained new impetus this summer with the publication in Rolling Stone and Salon.com of an article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which claimed medical authorities deliberately hid evidence of a connection between autism and thimerosal. That followed publication of a heavily advertised book, Evidence of Harm, by author David Kirby. Media celebrity Don Imus and several legislators have also weighed in.

Thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, is no longer used in the vaccines routinely recommended for children under age 6, Gerberding said. In 1999, health officials recommended that it be phased out of vaccines for babies to reduce their overall exposure to mercury.

It is still used in most flu shots, though preservative-free versions are available. Trace amounts of thimerosal still are in many vaccines, including those given to babies, because vaccine makers use the chemical during the manufacturing process.

Around 95% of children in the USA receive all the recommended vaccines by the time they start school. But health officials are concerned that could change, as a parent-driven movement linking thimerosal to increasing rates of autism gains steam and raises questions about vaccine safety.

Food and Drug Administration official Murray Lumpkin said vaccines have been "one of the mainstays" of public health, but "any kind of therapy is only as good as those willing to take it. One of our major concerns and goals is for parents to have confidence in the vaccines their health-care workers are recommending."

That message may not be getting through to activist groups planning to rally today at the Capitol to call for a ban on mercury in all medical products. Among groups participating are Moms Against Mercury, the National Autism Association and Safe Minds, whose director, Sallie Bernard, said health officials "missed the point" in Tuesday's briefing.

"The question is what did thimerosal do to these kids," she said. "The answer we got is they're really not looking at it. ... We heard some of the people today say 'we're researching the cause of autism,' but they're looking at everything but thimerosal."

By Anita Manning, USA TODAY

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Groups Argue Vaccine, Autism Link