Pediatric Group Releases Mercury-Autism Study, Condemns New Lawyer Drama
A pediatric journal has released details of a vaccine study earlier than usual to counter possible negative publicity from a new ABC television pilot set to air Thursday in which a lawyer argues that a flu vaccine caused a child’s autism.
The study in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics indicates that mercury from vaccines disappears rapidly from the blood, returning to pre-vaccine levels in one month, the Associated Press reports.
The findings, which bolster the argument that the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal doesn’t cause autism, come from a small group of children studied in Argentina.
“The study supports the decision by the World Health Organization to continue to permit thimerosal to remain in vaccines for the world’s children,” study co-author Dr. Michael Pichichero, of the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., is quoted saying. Pichichero says thimerosal vaccines are cheaper to produce, making them more accessible worldwide.
The pilot episode of Eli Stone is set to air Thursday, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which publishes the journal, has called on ABC to cancel the episode.
“A television show that perpetuates the myth that vaccines cause autism is the height of reckless irresponsibility on the part of ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co.,” AAP President Renee R. Jenkins, said in a news release condemning the episode. “If parents watch this program and choose to deny their children immunizations, ABC will share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths that occur as a result. The consequences of a decline in immunization rates could be devastating to the health of our nation’s children.”
The release notes that the episode includes statements that science has refuted any link between autism and vaccines.
SPOILER ALERT: But at the conclusion of the episode, jurors award the mother $5.2 million. And the AAP says that leaves viewers “with the destructive idea that vaccines do cause autism.”
Autism, however, is a complex disorder featuring repetitive behaviors and poor social interaction and communication skills, the AP notes. Scientists currently believe genetics has more to do with causing the disorder.
