Thimerosal Information and Vaccine Injury Lawyer!

Since the 1930s, thimerosal has been used in biologics and vaccines for its ability to kill bacteria within certain vaccines. As well, thimerosal prevents bacterial contamination in certain containers. Some of the vaccines that contain thimerosal are often recommended for infants and young children in the U.S., including many recombinant vaccines such as Hepatitis B, diphtheria, pertussis, acellular pertussis, tetanus and Hib vaccines. (For a complete list of thimerosal-containing vaccines, scroll down to the bottom of this page.)

Thimerosal contains four main ingredients, ethyl mercuric chloride, thiosalicylic acid, sodium hydroxide and ethanol. Ethyl mercuric chloride is essentially an organic mercury. Mercury itself is known to cause neurotoxic reactions in human beings, given high enough doses. While the amount of mercury in thimerosal is very low, infants and young children have much lower levels of acceptable mercury levels for neurological disorders to develop. When vaccines containing thimerosal have been administered in the recommended doses, hypersensitivity has been noted, but no other harmful effects have been reported. Overdoses of thimerosal-containing products have resulted in toxicity.

The Controversy

A press release from the National Vaccine Information Center in July of 1999 press points out that, "The cumulative effects of ingesting mercury can cause brain damage." During this same month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerted the public about the possible health effects associated with thimerosal-containing vaccines. These health-related organizations strongly recommended that thimerosal be removed from vaccines as soon as possible. Under the directive of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997, the Food and Drug Administration also determined that infants who received several thimerosal-containing vaccines may be receiving mercury exposure over and above the recommended federal guidelines.

Thimerosal Dangers

The mercury content of thimerosal poses a potential risk of serious long-term immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions for infants. Health-related organizations such the National Vaccine Program have pointed out many infants received up to 15 mercury- containing vaccines by the time they six months old. These levels of exposure are feared to cause serious developmental and neurologic problems for infants and small children who are developing rapidly, and therefore are more susceptible to mercury toxicity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found enough data to link mercury-containing vaccines and developmental disorders. Among these disorders are autism, attention deficit disorder, and speech and language deficiencies. It should be noted that the CDC still recommends that parents vaccinate their children. There has however been a strong push by the CDC and other watchdog groups to eliminate thimerosal from all vaccines.

One of the biggest concerns for parents and health officials is the link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. Autism is a neurological disorder that typically appears within the first two years of a child’s life. The disorder is marked by problems with the sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral functions of an individual. The condition is the third most common child development disorders. Researchers are paying close attention to the danger of mercury in thimerosal because of the increase in the worldwide rate of autism (from 1-3 cases per 10,000 births to some 30 cases per 10,000 births). This rise has occurred at the very time when the availability of vaccines has increased and a lowering of the age at which many vaccines are administered to infants and young children.

Conflict of Interest

The Federal government has become involved in this controversy both for health reasons and for possible conflicts of interest between the approval process for these vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, this conflict of interest has led to several Congressional hearings. The resulting Congressional report found that the pharmaceutical industry exerted undue influence on mandatory vaccine legislation. The study stated that, "The vaccine approval process has also been contaminated by flawed or incomplete clinical trials, and government officials have chosen to ignore negative results."

In response, Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana) and others have called for the removal of all vaccines containing thimerosal. They have called on the government to insist on using available vaccines that do not contain thimerosal.

Changes in Amount of Thimerosal

In the last two years, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has worked with vaccine manufacturers to reduce and eventually eliminate future purchases of thimerosal containing vaccines for federal programs. While mercury levels that children and infants are exposed to have been reduced, they are still being exposed to potentially toxic levels of mercury. As well, any children who received thimerosal-containing vaccines before the levels of thimerosal were reduced or removed are potentially at risk for the aforementioned health risks.

Two new hepatitis B vaccine products and a new Hib product are being developed that will be entirely thimerosal-free. One of the four licensed DTaP vaccines is already thimerosal free, and at least one other thimerosal free DTaP vaccine is anticipated to be licensed by early 2001. Thus, the likely exposure of thimerosal that an infant is exposed to should go down by some 60% by 2001.