Vaccine question may be resolved

Last week, Congress asked for an independent investigation into the connection between autism and thimerosal, a mercury based perservative used in some vaccines. Thimerosal is widely believed to be a cause of autism -- despite the CDC’s claim that there is no connection.

Funds have been appropriated to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to conduct the study. If it moves forward, the study will re-examine the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink, a database that follows 7 million immunized children from 1990 to the present.

Congressman Joe Lieberman is among those supporting the new study. He states that the US has relied too heavily on European studies of the effect of thimerosal: vaccines in the US use 75% more thimerosal than those in Europe.