This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 11:08 am and is filed under Autism Research, Thimerosal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
A United States Timeline of the Thimerosal Controversy
, 08 26th, 2008
Thimerosal, also known as thiomersal, was first added to vaccines as a bactericide in the 1930s. As of the mid-1980s, thimerosal was used as a preservative in almost all whole-cell DPT vaccines, which children routinely received four times from two months to eighteen months of age. During the late 1980s, Hib vaccines containing thimerosal are recommended for children at eighteen months of age as well. In the early 1990s, the Hepatitis B vaccine contained thimerosal; it was routinely administered three times before six months of age and again in a four-dose increment within an eighteen-month period beginning at the age of two years. By the late 1990s, three of the standard shots to be administered to all children between six and eighteen months of age contained thimerosal. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics requested thimerosal removal from all pediatric vaccines. By 2001, the preservative was no longer used in scheduled childhood vaccines in the United States.
In the years since 2001, many studies and statements have been made by the CDC, FDA, Institute of Medicine, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and others, both supporting and rejecting the plausibility the link between thimerosal and autism. Further studies have been conducted to explore a connection between chelating agent DMSA, and questions have also been asked regarding ethyl mercury being linked to autism. The ethyl mercury theory is unsubstantiated at this time, and a 2008 study indicates that further risk assessment will be needed before a definite conclusion can be made. In 2008, autism rates are rising among children in the United States, and there is still much work to be done.
2 Responses to “A United States Timeline of the Thimerosal Controversy”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:00 am
A United States Timeline of the Thimerosal Controversy | Help With Autism…
This site caters to the best information that you can ever find on autism online. With its regular updates, you sure can get the very best to educate and help you understand this condition. It’s a great site for all to see….
September 9th, 2008 at 8:01 am
A United States Timeline of the Thimerosal Controversy | Help With Autism…
This site caters to the best information that you can ever find on autism online. With its regular updates, you sure can get the very best to educate and help you understand this condition. It’s a great site for all to see…