ABC is scheduled to air a new Drama, “Eli Stone” on Thursday Jan. 31st. The first episode features a lawyer suing for a parent who believes her son’s autism was caused by mercury in vaccines. By all accounts the show is an assault on science and reason. The New York Times got it right when they wrote:

But reams of scientific studies by the leading American health authorities have failed to establish a causal link between the preservative and autism. Since the preservative was largely removed from childhood vaccines in 2001, autism rates have not declined.

But the script also takes several liberties that could leave viewers believing that the debate over thimerosal — which in the program’s script is given the fictional name mercuritol — is far from scientifically settled.

The new show has sparked controversy beyond the New York Times. The American Academy of Pediatrics has written an open letter to ABC calling for the cancellation of this episode. They write:

Continue Reading »

I have been following the story of claims that thimerosal in childhood vaccines causes autism for a few years, and writing about it often in this blog. Without putting too fine a point on it, there are two camps when it comes to the question of the relationship between thimerosal and autism. The first camp (of which I am a member) has looked at all the scientific evidence and has come to the conclusion that thimerosal does not cause nor contribute to autism, that vaccines in general do not cause autism, and that there is no autism epidemic (as is often claimed), but rather an increase in surveillance and expansion of the diagnosis. This camp includes almost the entire scientific and medical communities.

The other camp appears to be motivated by ideology, not science. They cherry pick and misinterpret the scientific evidence systematically to support their beliefs, but the science is against them. They are comprised of misguided journalists, ignorant celebrities, well-meaning but scientifically naive parents, dedicated ideological groups including those who are anti-vaccine, conspiracy-mongering activists, and a few incompetent scientists.

Continue Reading »

A new study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years, does not support a correlation between mercury in vaccines and neurological damage. It adds to the growing evidence that vaccines are safe and they do not cause neurological disorders. This study did not look at autism (a study that will be published next year looks, again, at vaccines and autism), but the mercury-causes-autism crowd are still unhappy with the results.

I have been following this issue closely for several years. Although my awareness of the issue goes back much farther, I started to seriously research the claim that the MMR vaccine, or that thimerosal in other vaccines, causes autism while researching an article on the topic for the New Haven Advocate. As a physician (a neurologist) and a skeptical activist I knew I had to get this issue right. I certainly did not want to falsely stoke the flames of public fear, nor did I want to cast myself in the role of denier.

Early on in my research I really did not know which way I was going to go with the issue. Should my bottom line be that there is real reason for concern here, that there is nothing to the claims, or that we really don’t know and will have to just wait for further research? But after reading through all the claims on both sides, and all the research, it was an easy call – vaccines, and specifically the MMR vaccine and thimerosal, do not cause autism, and the alleged autism “epidemic” is likely just an artifact. Those claiming there is a connection were drowning in conspiracy thinking, logical fallacies, and blatant pseudoscience. Meanwhile every piece of reliable clinical data was pointing in the same direction – no connection.

Continue Reading »

There are many true controversies within science – where the evidence is not definitive competing theories may remain plausible and their proponents will fight hard for them. Ideally, this scientific fighting will lead to new ideas and new evidence that will eventually resolve the controversy. But most of the scientific controversies that garner public attention are fake controversies – they are not disagreements among serious scientists but between the mainstream scientific consensus and a dedicated group of unscientific ideologues working hard to subvert science to their cause. Evolution vs creationism is a good example of such a fake controversy, as is the denial that HIV causes AIDS. Another is the controversy over whether or not mercury, and specifically the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal, causes autism. The scientific consensus forming around a large body of evidence is pretty solid – no! Vaccines do not cause autism.

Yet there exists a largely grassroots movement that insists mercury/thimerosal does cause autism. Their beliefs are born largely by desperation, as the ranks of such groups are filled by parents of ASD children. They are ideologically fueled by anti-establishment, anti-government, and anti-corporate conspiracy thinking. They have their champions in the guise of activists like Robert Kennedy, journalists like David Kirby, and rogue scientists like the father and son Geier team.
Continue Reading »