State legislations that limit the use of thimerosal in vaccines for pregnant women and their infants

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Edlich, Richard F. | Chase, Margot E. | Cross, Catherine L. | Wack, Courtney A. | Brock, Carroll M. | Fisher, Allyson L. | Gubler, K. Dean | Lin, Kant Y. | Britt, L.D. | Long III, William B. | Zura, Robert B.

Affiliations: Biomedical Engineering and Emergency Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA, USA | Legacy Emanuel Hospital, Portland, OR, USA | Department of Plastic Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA, USA | Department of General Surgery, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA | Division of Orthopedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

Note: [] Correspondence: Richard F. Edlich, MD, PhD, 22500 NE 128th Circle Brush Prairie, Washington 98606, USA. Tel.: +1 360 944 7641; Fax: +1 360 944 7612; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Thimerosal is a mercurial preservative that was widely used in vaccines in the United States and Europe until 2001. By 1999, expanding recommendations for infant vaccinations indicated that United States children who received a complete series of vaccines that contained thimerosal received up to 187.5 μg of ethyl mercury during the first six months of life. This cumulative exposure could exceed the United States Environmental Protection Agency's recommended safe intake level, estimated in 1997, to be no more than 0.1 μg of mercury per kilogram of body weight per day. This observation lead to a recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics that thimerosal is removed to all vaccines that are administered to infants in the United States. Realizing the potential dangers of thimerosal in vaccines, six states have enacted legislations that have limited the amount of thimerosal that can be used in vaccines in their States (Iowa, California, New York, Missouri, Delaware and Washington). In 1987, Congress established the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to provide compensation to family of individuals who suffer injuries from vaccines. Until recently, these judgments have been paid only to families of non-autistic children who received complications due to the vaccines. In 2008, the Government conceded its first vaccine-autism case in Federal Court. Scientific studies of this autistic child suggested that the autism was related to a mitochondrial disorder. The Federal Government should enact legislation that prohibits the use of thimerosal in vaccines given to pregnant women and their infants.

Keywords: Thimerosal, vaccine legislation, children, pregnancy, autism, infants, mitochondrial

DOI: 10.3233/JPI-2009-0166

Journal: Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 229-232, 2009