|
"Evidence
of Harm"
Winner of the 2006 Investigative Reporters and Editors
Award
by David Kirby
(A
brief introduction)
Does
mercury in vaccines cause autism in children? A definitive
answer has so far proven elusive. No one can say with certainty
that thimerosal, the vaccine preservative made with 49.6%
mercury, helped fuel the explosion in cases of autism, attention
deficit disorder, speech delay and other disorders over the
past decade. But no one can say for certain that it did not.
On
May 18, 2004, the respected Institute of Medicine issued
a much heralded report stating that the bulk of evidence
"favors rejection of a causal relationship" between
thimerosal and autism. The independent panel, commissioned
by the government to investigate alleged links between vaccines
and autism, delivered a harsh blow to advocates of the thimerosal-autism
hypothesis. But despite its authoritative certainty, the
report failed to close the books on this simmering medical
controversy. Indeed, recently published animal and test
tube studies provide compelling biological evidence of harm
(though certainly not proof) from thimerosal containing
vaccines.
Exactly
five years ago, the federal government disclosed that most
American children were being exposed to levels of mercury
in vaccines above federal safety limits. Since then, officials
moved to phase out mercury from childhood vaccines, and
to determine if thimerosal exposure in infants could cause
autism and other neurological developmental disorders. To
date, neither goal has been fully attained.
Meanwhile,
the CDC has been unable to definitively prove or disprove
the theory that thimerosal causes autism, ADD, speech delays
or other disorders. Several studies funded or conducted
by the agency have been published in the past year, all
of them suggesting that there is no connection between the
preservative and the disorder. The CDC insists that it looked
into the matter thoroughly and found "no evidence of
harm" from thimerosal in vaccines.
But
"no evidence of harm" is not the same as proof
of safety. No evidence of harm is not a definitive answer;
and this is a story that cries out for answers.
Why
would a trusted health agency allow a known neurotoxin to
be injected into the bloodstream of small babies -- in amounts
that exceed federal safety exposure levels for adults by
up to 50 times per shot? It’s a disturbing question,
and there are no satisfying answers. But
a small group of parents, aided by a handful of scientists,
physicians, politicians and legal activists, spent the past
five years searching for answers. Despite heavy resistance
from the powerful public health lobby, the parents never
abandoned their ambition to prove that mercury in vaccines
is what pushed their children, most of them boys, into a
hellish, lost world of autism.
Of
course, there are two sides to every good story, and this
one is no exception. For every shred of evidence the parents
and other researchers have unearthed linking thimerosal
to autism, public health authorities have produced forceful
data to the contrary.
The
parents and their allies accuse public health officials
and the pharmaceutical industry of negligence and incompetence,
at best, and malfeasance and collusion at worst. On the
other hand, the mercury-autism proponents have been greeted
with contempt and counterattack by many in the American
health establishment, which understandably has an interest
in proving the unpleasant theory wrong.
Each
side accuses the other of being irrational, overzealous,
blind to evidence they find inconvenient, and subject to
professional, financial or emotional conflicts of interest
that cloud their judgment. In some ways, both sides are
right.
Something
in our modern world is apparently pushing a certain number
of susceptible kids over the neurological limit and into
a befuddling life of autism and other brain disorders. Several
potential culprits beside thimerosal have been mentioned,
though there is no hard evidence to link any of them to
autism. Possible environmental "triggers" include:
mercury in fish, pesticides, PCB’s, flame retardants,
jet fuel, live viruses in vaccines or some as-yet unidentified
virus, and even rampant cell phone use. It is plausible
that any combination of the above, with or without thimerosal
exposure added into the mix, might cause harm to some fetuses
and infant children.
But
so far, only thimerosal exposure has been studied to any
significant degree in children (with the exception of the
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, or MMR). This book looks
at evidence presented on both sides of the thimerosal controversy,
but told from the parents’ admittedly subjective point
of view. Perhaps this story will be told one day from the
opposing view, from the doctors, bureaucrats and drug company
reps who claim nothing more than the laudable desire to
save kids from the ravages of childhood disease.
But
many of the public health officials who discount the thimerosal
theory were unwilling (or prohibited by superiors) to speak
on the record for this book. Readers are invited to reach
their own conclusions on the evidence.
Did
the injection of organic mercury directly into the developing
systems of small children cause irreparable harm? It’s
a plausible proposition, and a hugely important question.
If the answer is affirmative, someone will have to pay to
pick up the pieces.
Why
did the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration allow mercury
exposures from childhood vaccines to more than double between
1988 and 1992, without bothering to calculate cumulative
totals and their potential risks? Why, for that matter,
was there a corresponding spike in reported cases of autism
spectrum disorders? Why did autism grow from a relatively
rare incidence of 1 in every 5,000 births in the 1980s,
to 1-in-500 in the late 1990s. Why did it continue to increase
to 1-in-250 in 2000, and then 1-in-166 today?
PURCHASE
A COPY OF "EVIDENCE OF
HARM," by David Kirby
Visit
the author's Website.
See
also:
The
Irony of the New Universal Waste Disposal Laws
|
