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Sunday, March 2, 2003

Parents Keep Pressure On To Find Cause
Thimerosal Prime Suspect To Many

AUTISM: Families show strength while juggling attempts at normalcy and needs of children stricken with lifelong brain disorder

By P. Douglas Filaroski
Times-Union staff writer

CORRECTIONS: Measle, mumps and rubella shots analyzed in a Danish study on autism rates did not contain the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Because of a reporter's error, that information was incorrect in a story on Page A-11 Sunday.

For every researcher citing a lack of science, a parent or doctor is making a case that trace mercury in childhood vaccines triggers autism.

Exhibit A is the sharp increase in autism diagnoses in years when childhood vaccinations containing a mercury-based preservative also rose.

They include Leslie Weed's long-haired daughter, Lanier, 4, diagnosed with the neurological disorder after receiving her state-mandated shots containing thimerosal.

The mercury-based preservative that keeps microorganisms from spoiling multi-dose vaccine vials is drawing heat from parents, doctors and even lawmakers.

Weed says Lanier's symptoms -- social withdrawal, lack of eye contact, sadness -- mirror those of mercury poisoning. She is calling for greater government attention to the issue.

Congress held hearings in December after an exemption from rising lawsuits for thimerosal-maker Eli Lilly & Co. was slipped into the Homeland Security Act.

U.S. Rep Dan Burton of Indiana, who blames vaccines for his grandson's autism symptoms, led the hearings and asked for a White House conference on autism.

Lawmakers repealed the provision recently, but not before hearings featuring studies blaming thimerosal fueled opposition to the government's position.

"If there was nothing wrong with thimerosal, why did they want to yank our rights," said Weed, of Ponte Vedra Beach, who says thimerosal contributed to her daughter's condition.

Government health officials say no studies suggest children face any greater risk for autism from vaccines, including measle-mumps-rubella shots.

In the largest epidemiological study yet, Danish research in the New England Journal of Medicine in November showed no difference between 444,000 children who received the MMR vaccine with thimerosal and the 96,000 who did not.

The study showed both groups that received the shots between 1991 and 1998 had identical rates of developing the lifelong disorder.

Thimerosal, which contains up to 50 percent ethylmercury, has been used in diptheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines for decades but was later added to hepatitis and flu shots.

Larger cumulative doses of mercury might have caused children to exceed the government's own safe standards for the toxin, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said.

But the FDA in 2001 said there is no evidence to show thimerosal causes autism. Officials also said there is no proof it does not, and asked vaccine makers to reduce or remove the preservative from its product as a precaution.

"It doesn't mean the vaccines are unsafe, but you want to reduce the risk wherever you can," FDA spokeswoman Lenore Gelb said.

Conflicting reports

The cause of autism remains "a particularly challenging mystery," said Steve Foote, a director of neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Most scientists believe the cause is a combination of genetics and environment. A 2001 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed autism cases increased by five times between the 1980s and 1990s, but attributed the rise to change in diagnostic criteria and an increase in the level of education services offered to autistic children.

In any case, as autism diagnoses have risen so has funding for research at the National Institutes of Health, from $22 million in 1997 to $73.85 million last year.

Jodi Star, a pediatrician and psychiatrist who directs a new multi-disciplinary Autism Program at the University of Florida, said she understands why parents would "hang on to any theory they think would help their child."

"They are really desperate for anything they think will help," Star said. "But there has never been any medical evidence [blaming thimerosal] and that's what I tell them."

Weed, and other parents such as Bruce Anderson of Jacksonville Beach, say there is mounting science that is proving a thimerosal connection.

"The big elephant in the room is that mercury is dangerous but we are still giving it to our children," said Anderson, an attorney who is suing on behalf of his family and others.

One study was done by Maryland geneticist Mark Geier, who told Burton's Congressional committee he found a six-time greater autism rate among children following vaccination.

Geier said he used the CDC's own adverse reaction database to establish the finding. He acknowledged trouble receiving the data from the government, but said a report will soon be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

During the congressional hearings, committee member Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida called the possible thimerosal-autism connection a troubling issue that has not been resolved.

Physicians know children with autism have auto-immune and immunological disturbances, Melbourne physician Jeffrey Bradstreet also told the committee.

And vaccines containing thimerosal are more than capable of causing those disturbances, Bradstreet said.

Genetic factors

Toni Krehel of Vaccine Awareness of Florida said many scientists want to point to genetics as the major cause of autism because of studies suggesting sibling of autistic children have higher rates of autism and other neurological development problems.

"One might assume that genetics is the culprit since no other cause is offered," she said. "But one might also ask how it is possible to have such an epidemic based solely on genetics."

Weed's china cabinet in her Ponte Vedra home is full of books and files she says makes a strong case that thimerosal contributed to her daughter Lanier's condition.

She talks about a study by Chicago physician Bill Walsh that showed 499 of 503 autistic children lacked a protein that helps people process heavy metals from their bodies.

Tests showed her own daughter lacked metallathionein, perhaps explaining why many children with autism also have gastrointestinal problems which some doctors say is the result of mercury in their systems.

Weed started her daughter on chelation therapy to removes the toxin a year ago. Since then, Weed said, Lanier is more alert and less irritable when she is taken to the grocery story.

Weed doesn't deny she is desperate to understand the cause of her daughter's problem so she can help her recover better.

The government's position that there is no proof thimerosal causes autism is not good enough anymore, given the explosion of autism diagnoses, Weed said.

"I want them to prove that it is safe," she said. "These are our children we're talking about. I think they owe us that."

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Staff writer P. Douglas Filaroski can be reached at (904) 359-4509 or via e-mail at dfilaroskijacksonville.com.

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