LETTER

To the Wall Street Journal

Politicizing Facts

As a parent of an autistic child, I was shocked at how many "facts" the editorial "Politicizing Vaccines" left out (WSJ 11/18/02). Taking the attitude that anything that slows down the Republican (and drug industries) agenda is unpatriotic is like saying "Think like me, or the terrorist have won!"

Although it is true that Thimerosal has been used for over forty years, the amount of Thimerosal a baby is exposed to has increased a great deal in the last two decades. In the early eighties children received a handful of shots. Now children are required to receive almost 20 shots before they begin kindergarten.

Mysteriously, the rate of Autism has skyrocketed in the same period of time. The official (conservative) estimate has gone from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 500 children in that same time. Many in the medical community have tried to brush this off as better diagnosis, but a recent study out of UC Dacvis showed that diagnostic criteria can not explain the increase in autism.

The other fact that was overlooked is that Thimerosal is about 40% mercury. It wasn't a Democratic plot that got the CDC to recommend the removal of Thimerosal. Someone finally did the math and realized that they were giving babies nearly 5 times the maximum dose of mercury for an adult, and there is no safe dosage for a baby. It is also a fact that the many of the symptoms of mercury poisoning and autism are the same. Thimerosal is used as a preservative in vaccines. I am sure the drug companies can come up with something that is not a poison to replace it.

I am not saying that Thimerosal caused the increase in autism. The fact is, the studies have not been done yet. But saying the drug companies need not be responsible for their product is putting our heads in the sand. Are we willing to sacrifice corporate responsibility in the name of homeland security?

Economic factors are more responsible for the slowdown in vaccine manufacturing. There just isn't enough money in vaccines the drug companies no longer own patents to. Blaming the parents for the slow down in vaccine manufacturing won't help, although with 1 in 500 kids being diagnosed with autism, there are a lot more of us.

Arnold Patscott, Father of Stuart, Chicago, Illinois