Friday April 27 11:06 AM ET

Congressman, Health Officials Spar Over Vaccine

By Todd Zwillich

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - The chair of the House Government Reform Committee (news - web sites) Thursday blasted federal science and health officials for not recalling combination childhood vaccines that he says may be causing autism in children who receive them.

An Institute of Medicine (news - web sites) (IOM) panel earlier this week issued a report concluding that there was no causal connection between combination measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and an increased risk of autism in children.

Still, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) confronted officials from the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), and the National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) (NIH) over the vaccine on two fronts.

Besides its proposed link to autism, the combination MMR vaccine contains thimerosal, a preservative that uses the toxic element mercury as an active ingredient.

Thimerosal is unrelated to the autism question. But the FDA has said that in order to cut children’s overall exposure to mercury, future lots of MMR vaccine will contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts.  The NIH has just begun a 2-year, 10-center trial looking at blood and urine mercury levels in children who receive the childhood immunization schedule.

But Burton expressed outrage that the agency is allowing two lots of thimerosal-containing vaccine comprising thousands of doses to go to market before mercury-free vaccine is produced.

“If there’s any doubt whatsoever...and you’re taking mercury out as a precautionary measure, then why in the heck don’t you get that stuff off the market,” he said.

Dr. Karen Midthun, who directs FDA’s office of vaccine research and review, told the committee that the agency lacks the authority to force a recall of vaccines unless it can verify that the product represents a clear and imminent threat to public safety.

“The preponderance of the evidence finds no causal relationship between vaccines and autism,” she said.

The FDA contends that the premarket testing required of all vaccines showed no increased risk of autism in children who got MMR shots.

Midthun and others told the committee that the benefits of MMR and other childhood vaccines in preventing infectious diseases in children far outweighed the risk that the immunizations might be linked to autism. They said that pulling available MMR doses from the market would cause shortages in available vaccine and would also send unjustified panic throughout the public about the safety of immunizations.

Burton, despite the IOM report and testimony on vaccine-preventable diseases, maintained that MMR vaccine containing thimerosal should not remain on the market. He called attention to his own grandson, whom he says developed autism shortly after receiving recommended vaccination shots.

“If you at the federal health agencies think this issue is going to go away, you guys are blowing smoke,” he said. “If the health agencies don’t deal with this and deal with it quickly, you’re going to have a big problem over there.”

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.