On Hilleman, Mercury, and Autism
The other night I was reading through some old Economists before recycling them, and found an obituary of Dr. Maurice Hilleman. (The Economist runs a very interesting obit every week, usually of someone fascinating and important that you've never actually heard of. I highly recommend them
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I am also not saying that we need to ban vaccines; obviously, the risk of infectious disease in non-vaccinated children is far greater than the autism risk. But it is possible to store and use vaccines without Thimerosal, and if you read the article carefully, it notes that Thimerosal is no longer used in most U.S. vaccines. So clearly we can have comprehensive vaccination programs without Thimerosal.
Lastly, according to the article, Hilleman was arguing that because Merck and the FDA had significantly increased the number of vaccinations that chidren receive in the 1990s, this led to the increased mercury levels. I believe he was speaking in theoreticals, there - i.e., if you receive x vaccinations containing Thimerosal, your body will end up containing (undesireable amount y) of mercury.
Also, simply because many people received vaccinations and did not develop autism does not mean that there is no risk whatsoever. Everyone reacts to toxins differently. (My grandmother smoked every day of her adult life, and was healthy up until the day she died in her sleep at 83.) Autism incidence is actually rather high - numbers vary, but it's frequently placed around one out of every 200 births. (The incidence is much higher for boys - sometimes placed at 1 in 80.)
Obviously, you're the pharmeceuticals expert here, and I defer to your knowledge about the industry. I do feel, however, that there are some areas that need to be investigated. I'm not advocating the wholesale ban of vaccines by any means.
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