|
A Midland mother is campaigning to
ban a mercury-based preservative from being used in child
vaccinations - because it has been linked to autism.
Claire Bothwell, originally from
Coventry, has led a battle in the US against Thiomersal, a compound
50 per cent composed of ethylmercury.
It is contained in the diphtheria,
tetanus and wholecell pertussis (DTP) vaccine given to babies in
Britain.
The preservative is also found in
hepatitis B and some influenza jabs but it is not used in the
controversial MMR vaccine which campaigners have also linked to
autism.
Mum-of-three Claire, who has two
autistic children, Fisk and Katrina, has been dubbed the English
Erin Brockovich in the US because of her campaign against the
preservative.
She claims that her children
became autistic as a direct result of being injected with
vaccinations containing Thiomersal.
The US Congress has recommended
that pharmaceutical companies stop using the preservative in
paediatric vaccines in America and British campaigners want an
outright ban on mercury being used in child vaccinations here.
But the UK government has rejected
suggestions that the preservative has any adverse effect on infants.
It has been estimated that there
has been a fivefold increase in autism in Britain in the last 20
years.
US researchers have claimed that
children who received vaccines containing Thiomersal were more than
twice as likely to develop autism than children who did not.
Studies have also showed that the
symptoms of autism are markedly similar to those of mercury
poisoning.
Claire first heard about the
possible links between autism and Thiomersal through a friend who
sent her a report titled Autism: A Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning.
Her son Fisk was nine at the time
and she immediately began investigating the claims.
She now works with the legal firm
Waters & Kraus who have taken on Thiomersal cases. More than 2,000
families have contacted them about it.
“I’ve no doubt that there are
children who have been diagnosed with autism who have been damaged
by MMR,” said Claire.
“But I think there is another
group that have been damaged by persistent exposure to Thiomersal
through other shots.
“More children than ever before
are being diagnosed with autism and there has also been an increase
in neurological disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder.
“Experts say that this is due to
doctors being more aware of the problems, but if that is the case,
where are all the adults who missed being diagnosed with autism when
they were children?
“All my children were born in the
same hospital and went to the same doctors. The only difference
between them is the vaccines they received.
“My second child Katrina is not
nearly as affected as my son. By chance she received less vaccines
containing Thiomersal than Fisk did.
“I had heard the debates about MMR
and decided not to give her the booster jab she was due. Jillian, my
third child, didn’t have any and she is not autistic.
“We want Thiomersal taken out of
everything. There is no reason to have a substance that is toxic in
anything given to humans.
“I can’t change what has happened
to my family but I want other parents to be able to have the choice
to make the right decisions for their children.”
Claire said that she is not
against vaccinations which do protect against diseases.
She said that she allowed her
children to be vaccinated because she wanted to be a good mother.
“I’m not going to beat myself up
about it,” she added. “I got my children vaccinated because I
thought I was being a good parent.
“Fisk has had therapy since he was
three years old. He’s in a regular school now but still needs aids
to help him.
“It is very hard to deal with him
sometimes. Other times it can be great. His friends have to be very
tolerant of him.
“I don’t know what to expect for
him. Some days I think he is OK and that he will make it. One of my
biggest fears is that he will never be independent.
“I didn’t think about Thiomersal
until I did research and ordered Fisk’s medical records after
hearing about the dangers.
“All the parents had been talking
about MMR which Fisk had as well.
“I went back and charted each
visit I had to the doctors with each of my children and assessed
each reaction they had to each vaccine.
“I believe my son and daughter are
autistic because of the vaccinations they received that contained
Thiomersal.”
A US government report has
recommended that President Bush should order a White House
conference on autism to uncover the causes of the epidemic in
America.
The latest findings in the States
show that the number of autistic children is growing between 10 and
17 per cent every year.
Jonathan Harris, West Midlands
representative for the campaign group Justice, Awareness and Basic
Support - JABS for short - is urging the British government to take
more heed of this research.
"The simliarities between the
symptoms of mercury poisoning and autism are frightening," he said.
"We should be doing the same as
America and phasing out the use of mercury in vaccinations. The
government is too readily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry
who, at the end of the day, are making money out of these vaccines.
"If a parent followed all the
recommendations laid down by the British government their child
would have received a total of 29 vaccinations by the time they
reached school age.
"Eighteen of these are given
before they are six months old. It is ridiculous.
"Two of my four children are
autistic and I belive this is caused by their MMR vaccination."
A spokesman for the Department of
Health said: "Two independently-conducted UK epidemilogical studies
that investigated the safety of Thiomersal-containing vaccines for
children have been recently completed.
These studies showed no evidence
of adverse developmental effects from exposure to levels of
Thiomersal at the amounts used in existing UK vaccines.
"A further study in infants has
shown that ethylmercury is rapidly excreted from the body following
administration of Thiomersal-containing vaccines."
The World Health Orgainsation has
stated that its Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety is
reviewing the safety of Thiomersal.
Its experts say current
assessments have not provided enough evidence to prove toxicity in
infants, children or adults exposed to Thiomersal.
|
