Mercury Ruled Out Again

A new study has just come out in California dismissing the hypothesis that mercury causes autism. In particular, thimerosal, a preservative that was used in vaccines in the last century, was suspected to cause autism. This was a popular belief because children's symptoms frequently became evident between 18 and 24 months of age, just after they received a big round of vaccinations. Those whose children have the type of autism that is regressive (typical development followed by loss of language and motor skills) were often most convinced of this correlation.
The belief that immunizations cause autism is so strong that there are a number of law suits and class-action suits making this claim. But thimerosal was removed from most vaccinations in the early 2000s and this study states that there has been no decrease in the diagnosis of autism.

So many families that I work with are strong believers that immunizations caused their child to have autism. So many more refuse to immunize their child out of fear that they will 'lose' their child to autism. So now children are exposed to illnesses that can easily be prevented. In the past couple of years we've seen a resurgence in some of those illnesses, including smallpox and the mumps.

It must be one of the hardest decisions to make as a parent: deciding whether to risk exposing your child to developing autism, or to other serious illnesses that could be prevented. Hopefully this new study will allow parents to weigh their options with more confidence.