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Published: April 4, 2006 at 4:18 PM
By DAN OLMSTED
UPI Senior Editor
Representatives of 22 medical organizations have written to all members of
Congress opposing efforts to ban the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from
vaccines.
"Our organizations respectfully wish to state our opposition to all legislative
efforts at the federal and state levels to restrict access to vaccines
containing thimerosal, an ethylmercury-based preservative," said the letter
dated Monday from "Multiple National Organizations that Support Safe and
Effective Vaccines."
The groups said that banning the preservative in vaccines for children and
pregnant women -- as several states have done and legislation in Congress
proposes -- would "perpetuate false and misleading information that vaccines are
not safe. Parents may see the banning of thimerosal as an admission that vaccine
safety oversight is inadequate."
In fact, the letter said, "There has been considerable research on this issue
since the 1999 precautionary statement of the U.S. Public Health Service and the
American Academy of Pediatrics and there is no documented scientific evidence
that ethylmercury in the form of thimerosal in the doses administered in
vaccines causes any risk to health."
The letter also cited concerns that bans could trigger "ongoing vaccine
shortages or inability to deliver care. ... Limit the nation's inability to
quickly administer influenza vaccine in the U.S. when a pandemic strikes. ...
Lead to increased costs for vaccines. ... Add more complexity to our present
vaccine delivery system. ... Profoundly affect global immunization programs, as
do many U.S. vaccine policy decision."
Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., sponsor of a House bill to ban thimerosal from
vaccines, said the letter would not deter his efforts.
"It is warped logic to suggest that somehow public confidence is reassured
by keeping mercury in vaccines," Weldon told United Press International on
Tuesday. "Buying into this logic will only further erode public confidence in
vaccines. It's time to kick the mercury habit."
Also Tuesday, proponents of banning thimerosal fired back in their own letter to
Congress, noting that they plan to be in Washington Thursday for an anti-mercury
march and lobbying on Capitol Hill. They believe the medical groups' statement
is intended to pre-empt that effort.
According to a statement from the National Autism Association:
"We feel legislation specifically delineating the removal of thimerosal (ethyl
mercury) from vaccines is necessary in an effort to restore public confidence in
vaccines and to prevent the potential for injury in our most vulnerable
citizens; the fetus, infants and children. We base our concerns with the policy
of exposing pregnant women and children to ethyl mercury on scientific facts and
current policy."
At issue are concerns raised by parents and some scientists that increasing
exposure to thimerosal in childhood vaccines during the 1990s may have triggered
a huge rise in autism diagnoses. In 1999 the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and others recommended manufacturers phase out thimerosal as soon as
possible to limit exposure.
In 2004 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies said it found no
connection and that future research should go to "more promising" areas.
Yet concerns have persisted, in part because some flu vaccines still contain
thimerosal, and the CDC has recommended the vaccines for all pregnant women and
for children ages 6 months to 5 years.
Those concerns have prompted several states -- including New York, Illinois,
California, Iowa, Delaware and most recently Washington state -- to enact bans
over the opposition of the CDC and state medical associations.
At the same time, pressure has mounted for more studies of potential health
problems of thimerosal and vaccines in general. Last week U.S. Rep. Carolyn
Maloney, D-N.Y., said she will introduce a bill this month to force the federal
government to study the autism rate in never-vaccinated American children.
In a letter to Congressional health policy staff that accompanied the groups'
statement opposing a thimerosal ban, Diane C. Peterson of the Immunization
Action Coalition said: "As you may be aware, recent media attention has been
given to the role of thimerosal in vaccines and the development of autism. The
22 national organizations that have signed this letter, as well as many others,
stand behind the enormous amount of scientific evidence that shows no link
exists between thimerosal in vaccines and the development of autism.
"Please oppose all anti-thimerosal legislative proposals and help further (the)
nation's work in protecting children and adults against vaccine-preventable
diseases."
The signers include representatives of the following groups:
Ambulatory Pediatric Association; American Academy of Family Physicians;
American Academy of Physician Assistants; American College of Allergy, Asthma,
and Immunology; American College of Preventive Medicine; American Liver
Foundation; American Medical Directors Association; American Pharmacists
Association; Association of Immunization Program Managers; Council of State and
Territorial Epidemiologists; Every Child by Two; Hepatitis B Foundation;
Hepatitis Foundation International; Immunization Action Coalition; Infectious
Diseases Society of America; National Coalition on Adult Immunization; National
Foundation for Infectious Diseases; Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases;
Pediatric Infectious Disease Society; Society for Adolescent Medicine; Society
of Teachers of Family Medicine; Vaccine Education Center at the Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia.
E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com
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