MERCURY POISONING? Parents who believe childhood vaccines caused autism in their children argued their cases yesterday at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The medical community claims there is no scientific evidence linking childhood vaccines with autism. Instead it points to a strong genetic component. The plaintiffs argue that the mercury in the vaccine preservative thimerosal causes an otherwise dormant gene to become active, resulting in autism. The court cases have been continuing on a fairly regular basis since July 2002 as plaintiffs try various approaches.

Court Hears Three Scenarios

The action is being brought under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which is administered by the Office of the Special Masters (OSM). The OSM decided to hear cases covering three theories:

1. That a combination of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccines and thimerosal-containing vaccines can cause autism.
2. That thimerosal-containing vaccines alone can cause autism.
3. That MMR vaccines with no thimerosal can cause autism.

A different Special Master is assigned to each theory and each will hear three cases. The hearing for the first case is finished, but the results aren’t public yet.

Courts Award One Family Damages

In March, a Special Master ruled that Hannah Poling was entitled to receive damages—the amount is not yet determined. In this case, government health officials agreed that vaccines could have triggered a dormant genetic condition and caused autistic-like symptoms.

Hannah’s mother, Terry Poling, told reporters, "I wanted to know why my daughter, who had been completely normal until she received five vaccines for nine different diseases, in one day was no longer there … no longer responding." (ABC News, 5/12/08)

During a news conference about Hannah Poling’s case last March, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "The government has made absolutely no statement about indicating that vaccines are the cause of autism, as this would be a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today." (ABC News, 5/12/08)

Doctors Worry about Parents’ Reactions

Although there is no clear-cut cause and effect between vaccines and autism, there does seem to be some relationship. Studies in Denmark and California show that thimerosal can’t be the problem, though. The number of autism cases continued to climb even after thimerosal was removed from vaccines. In addition, other environmental factors that may trigger an autistic genetic defect to surface are often not taken into account.

On the other hand, there’s no doubt vaccines protect children from childhood diseases such as measles and polio. Since these and other diseases in question haven’t been wiped out, they could return in the absence of vaccines. Doctors worry that parents will refuse vaccines for their children, increasing the odds of debilitating childhood illnesses.

Copyright © 2008 Informify

Sources

Families will make case for vaccine link to autism (Associated Press, 5/12/08)

The Autism Proceedings (PDF, 12K) (US Court of Federal Claims)

Court to Hear Families on Vaccine-Autism Link (ABC News, 5/12/08)

Question for Readers:

Do you think it’s safe and rational to give a child five vaccines for nine diseases all in one day?