New Legislation Aims to Resolve Controversy About Mercury and Vaccines

WASHINGTON, DC – Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Tom Osborne (R-NE) introduced new legislation today that would require the National Institutes of Health to conduct a comprehensive comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, which may resolve the controversy about the possible link between autism and mercury or other vaccine components (Text of legislation).

A large number of parents have raised concerns about the effect that thimerosal, which is used as a preservative in vaccines and is a form of the known neurotoxin mercury, may have on a child’s chances of developing autism and other neurological disorders.  Some of the parents have concerns about other components used in vaccines.  The study mandated by this new legislation would try to help resolve this controversy.

“Childhood immunizations greatly reduce human suffering from infectious disease, and I think it would be in the best interest of everyone if we definitively resolve parents’ questions about vaccines,” said Rep. Maloney.  “Parents deserve answers.  As the most scientifically advanced country in the world, we should be able to conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of vaccines to restore absolute trust in the nation’s vaccine program.  Our nation’s children deserve no less.”

“The controversy surrounding the safety of mercury in childhood vaccinations continues to cause a great deal of concern for many parents,” said Rep. Osborne.  “While vaccines have been an unquestionable success in dramatically reducing the incidence of many once-common diseases, we owe it to parents and children to fully explore the issue of thimerosal safety.”

In the past, those who claim the preservative thimerosal has no effect on children have claimed a comprehensive study comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated populations could not be done in the United States because there was not a big enough unvaccinated population to which we could compare the general vaccinated population.  However, Dan Olmsted of UPI recently wrote a series of articles about the autism epidemic that identified a number of populations suitable for study, including the Amish, children whose parents don’t vaccinate for religious reasons, patients of Homefirst, an alternative medical practice in Chicago that does not vaccinate and other unvaccinated communities. The Maloney-Osborne legislation proposes comparing vaccinated populations with unvaccinated populations such as these.

A broad spectrum of vaccines containing thimerosal was manufactured for domestic use until 1999, and the nation’s inventory of vaccines included some containing thimerosal for several years afterwards. Thimerosal is still used in most flu vaccines, and it remains in most vaccines administered to children in the developing world.

###