This bill calls for the removal of Thimerosal from vaccines specifically because of the threat it represents to the health of America's children. Dr. Weldon's bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), is an answer to the Centers for Disease Control and Federal Drug Administration's "repeated failure to take formal action on their own recommendations to prevent the potential of vaccine-induced neurological injury."

Too many parents are losing their children to Autism," said Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D. "and sadly, parents are the ones funding this valuable research. Funding from the National Institutes of Health has been woefully inadequate. This is shameful and I am applying the appropriate pressure to rectify this."

In a presentation in November before the, Rep. Weldon stated:

Thimerosal is 50% mercury by weight - a known neurotoxin. We have experienced an epidemic a of neurodevelopmental disorders in the last decade, a time-span that directly corresponds with increasing doses of mercury children received in vaccines. Levels of mercury exposure far exceeded the EPA’s maximum exposure levels. In fact, just recently a DC public school was shut down for a month because of supposed high levels of mercury contamination. However the levels were less then what we were injecting into millions of new born babies throughout most of the 1990’s

Do higher doses of Thimerosal cause autism and other developmental disorders? None of us can answer that with certainty. But, common sense tells us that it is logical to consider mercury - a known neurotoxin - as a possible cause of this neurodevelopmental disorder epidemic. We must consider this and examine it even if it means admitting to errors in the 1990s.

I came across a letter written in 1935 to Eli Lilly. That letter, by an research firm Lilly contracted with stated of Merthiolate, the trade name for Thimerosal: "Merthiolate is unsatisfactory as a preservative for serum intended for use on dogs."

Processing by Some Kids/Mercury Elimination

Is it possible that children with neurodevelpmental disorders, unlike non-affected children, might not be able to eliminate mercury from their system? Thimerosal was banned from topical products because it was toxic to some, but not all, individuals. Why could we not have the same experience with Thimerosal as a vaccine component? Why should our assumptions about injected mercury be different?

A study by Homes (International Journal of Toxicology (2003; 22:277-285) found that the hair samples from non-autistic children had mercury levels of 3.79ppm while autistic children had mercury levels of 0.47 ppm. Clearly the autistic kids may handle mercury differently to get such a large statistically significant difference.

A study by Bradstreet (Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 2003) found a significant increase in urinary mercury concentrations after administering an oral chelating agent to 221 autistic children. He found a relative increase of 3.15 among autistic children, indicating that these children with autism were retaining mercury in their systems.

If mercury is a factor in the increase in neurodevelopmental disorders, it may relate to the varying abilities of different children to eliminate mercury from their system. Indeed, this is what some independent researcher are looking at - unfortunately, however, they are forced to do so with little if any funding from the $30 billion NIH budget.

Ethyl vs. Methyl Mercury

Some researchers have said that Thimerosal contains ethylmercury, which is not as toxic as methylmercury. However, even the latest NEJM article on this subject indicates that very little is known about the breakdown of ethylmercury once injected into an infant. Just look at the molecular structure, the only real difference is one methyl group.

Research by NIH and CDC Lacking

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) looked both the MMR and Thimerosal- autism issues. IOM concluded it is biologically plausible and made a number of research recommendations. The response from NIH and CDC has been severely lacking with respect to this research. In the research matrix that is being presented here at this conference this is given a very low priority. Sadly, to date most of the research on this possible association has been funded by parents and the researchers themselves.

The CDC has produced a number of epidemiological studies over the past five years that portend to demonstrate that there is no association between particular vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders. Unfortunately, these studies, while they generate some good P.R. for a couple of days, do little to allay the concerns of the more than causal observer. Serious concerns have been raised about the methodologies and conclusions, and leave the original questions about an association unanswered.

Verstraeten Study - Pediatrics

Most recently, the CDC produced an article by Dr. Verstraeten, published on November 3 in Pediatrics. Dr. Verstraeten is a former CDC employee. Since 2001 he has worked for GlaxoSmithKline - a vaccine manufacturer. While working for the CDC in 2000, the first version of Dr. Verstraeten’s unpublished study found an association between higher Thimerosal exposures and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Between 2000 and 2003 Dr. Verstraeten and coauthors manipulated and stratified the data so much that each of these associations magically disappeared. I don’t know if it was deliberate, but that is nonetheless what happened. This study has done nothing in my mind to put these concerns to rest, but only serves to raises suspicions.