The Great Thimerosal Debate

A good friend of mind works with autistic kids, trying to help them and their parents improve their lives through early intervention and aggressive therapies. He seems to think that vaccines may be responsible for some of the cases he sees, as the incidence of autism coincides with the vaccine course pediatricians administer.

Thimerosal, a chemical that includes mercury, is often attributed to the incidence of autism because mercury is known to affect intellectual and mental development. Thimerosal is a preservative that is used to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination of vaccines. I can't speak of the physiological effects on individuals, but dosage makes the poison. Does the dosage of thimerosal in individual vaccines make them toxic to babies? Possibly.

But here's the problem that I see.

Thimerosal was first used in vaccines in the 1930s, when it was introduced by Eli Lilly as a preservative. Has autism spiked only recently or has it been previously diagnosed as mental retardation or other disorders? Sites dedicated to autism and autism research mainly appear to show current or recent numbers, but if thimerosal is the primary cause, then the numbers should be high for the entire period of usage, increasing as more vaccines became mandatory for vaccination.

And that leads to the next problem. Just how many vaccines are being required and is it truly necessary to vaccinate children against all the diseases that pediatricians are calling for. Vaccinations against some diseases are clearly required - measles, mumps, ruebella, polio, but what about hepatitis? What is the incidence of hepatitis among children.

It may be that the incidence of autism is related to the number of vaccines given, and not just to any one individual vaccine. Since toxicity is related to dosage, it may be a prudent course of action to whittle down the number of vaccines required or given to infants and toddlers so that they are not exposed to a potentially toxic dosage.

Further, although thimerosal is no longer being used in most vaccines, it may still be available in some older batches. Culling those from the market would be a good idea.