News Story
Court says thimerosal did not cause autism
WASHINGTON (AP) — The vaccine additive thimerosal is not to blame for autism, a special federal court ruled Friday in a long-running battle by parents convinced there is a connection.
While expressing sympathy for the parents
involved in the emotionally charged cases, the court concluded they
had failed to show a connection between the mercury-containing
preservative and autism.
"Such families must cope every day with tremendous challenges in
caring for their autistic children, and all are deserving of
sympathy and admiration," special master George Hastings Jr., wrote.
But, he added, Congress designed the victim compensation program
only for families whose injuries or deaths can be shown to be linked
to a vaccine and that has not been done in this case.
The ruling came in the so-called vaccine court, a special branch of
the U.S. Court of Federal Claims established to handle claims of
injury from vaccines. It can be appealed in federal court.
Friday's decision that autism is not caused by thimerosal alone
follows a parallel ruling in 2009 that autism is not caused by the
combination of vaccines with thimerosal and other vaccines.
The cases had been divided into three theories about a
vaccine-autism relationship for the court to consider. The 2009
ruling covered one theory, and a second was dropped after that.
Friday's decision covers the last of the three theories.
That doesn't necessarily mean an end to the dispute, however, with
appeals to other courts available.
The new ruling was welcomed by Dr. Paul Offit of Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia, who said the autism theory had "already had its day
in science court and failed to hold up."
But the controversy has cast a pall over vaccines, causing some
parents to avoid them, he noted, "it's very hard to unscare people
after you have scared them."
On the other side of the issue, a group backing the parents' theory
charged that the vaccine court was more interested in government
policy than protecting children.
"The deck is stacked against families in vaccine court. Government
attorneys defend a government program, using government-funded
science, before government judges," Rebecca Estepp, of the Coalition
for Vaccine Safety said in a statement.
SafeMinds, another group supporting the parents, expressed
disappointment at the new ruling.
"The denial of reasonable compensation to families was based on
inadequate vaccine safety science and poorly designed and highly
controversial epidemiology," the group said.
The advocacy group Autism Speaks said "the proven benefits of
vaccinating a child to protect them against serious diseases far
outweigh the hypothesized risk that vaccinations might cause autism.
Thus, we strongly encourage parents to vaccinate their children to
protect them from serious childhood diseases."
However, while research has found no overall connection between
autism and vaccines, the group said it would back research to
determine if some individuals might be at increased risk because of
genetic or medical conditions.
Meanwhile, in reaction to the concerns of parents, thimerosal has
been removed from most vaccines in the United States.
Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation, says she
hopes the decision will allow parents to "put the issue behind us."
Singer says she was gratified that the court, in a 174-page ruling,
expressed sympathy for the families of autistic children. "I can
understand wanting to have a reason why your child was diagnosed
with autism. It's natural to want to blame someone or something.
Believe me, I have been there."
Although she understand that families who have filed suit are
"clearly in a lot of pain," Singer says, "you can't be so focused on
your anger that you lose sight of what the science is saying. ...
There's no evidence that vaccines cause autism."
But Singer noted that the vast majority of parents — even those with
autistic children — agree with the court that vaccines are safe.
"It's really not a science vs. parents issue, as it's often been
portrayed in the media."
In Friday's action the court ruled in three different cases, each
concluding that the preservative has no connection to autism.
The trio of rulings can offer reassurance to parents scared about
vaccinating their babies because of a small but vocal anti-vaccine
movement. Some vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, are
on the rise.
The U.S. Court of Claims is different from many other courts: The
families involved didn't have to prove the inoculations definitely
caused the complex neurological disorder, just that they probably
did.
More than 5,500 claims have been filed by families seeking
compensation through the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation
Program, and the rulings dealt with test cases to settle which if
any claims had merit.
Autism is best known for impairing a child's ability to communicate
and interact. Recent data suggest a 10-fold increase in autism rates
over the past decade, although it's unclear how much of the surge
reflects better diagnosis.
Worry about a vaccine link first arose in 1998 when a British
physician, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, published a medical journal article
linking a particular type of autism and bowel disease to the measles
vaccine. The study was later discredited.