What's Causing This Epidemic? Is it possible that the FDA has made yet another grave oversight?

Evidence of Harm:
Mercury In Vaccines And The Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy A medical controversy
 
By David Kirby

Did mercury in vaccines cause an epidemic of autism, ADD, ADHD, speech
delay and other childhood disorders? Evidence of Harm: Mercury In Vaccines
And The Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy (St. Martin's Press, April
2005, $24.95 Hardcover, ISBN: 0-312-32644-9), by New York Times contributor David Kirby, is a disturbing, important book that examines both sides of this brewing controversy-the personal stories of the affected families and the unfolding political drama in the courts and halls of Congress.
 
Evidence Of Harm is essentially the story of a handful of parents with
autistic children who, upon learning that their kids received levels of
mercury in their vaccines that far exceeded Federal safety limits, set out
to take on Big Business, Big Science and Big Government with a radical new
theory on the cause. These parents have uncovered compelling evidence that
vaccine mercury, in the form of the preservative Thimerosal, could very well
have played a role in the disease, and their medical, scientific, legal, and
political allies are getting closer to establishing their claim.
 
In November 2002, KIRBY was researching alternative autism treatments
on spec for a women's magazine when he came across the Thimerosal theory. He thought it was interesting, but a little far-fetched. One week later, the House of Representatives passed the Homeland Security Act, which included a secret and scandalous rider immunizing Ely Lilly and Co., from liability for any damage caused by Thimerosal in vaccines. The journalist in KIRBY knew that something was fishy here.
 
If Thimerosal were harmless, as government and drug industry leaders
insisted (while also moving to phase it out of pediatric vaccines), then why
was the cloak-and-dagger provision inserted anonymously in the middle of the night? By most assessments, autism is now epidemic in the United States. In the 1990's reported autism cases among American children began spiking, from about 1 in 10,000 children in 1987 to a shocking 1 in 166 today. In this period, new shots containing Thimerosal were added to the nation's already crowded vaccination schedule.
 
In 1999, the FDA announced that children were being exposed to mercury
at very young ages at levels far exceeding federal regulations, but the
public health establishment failed to take parental concerns about the
impact seriously.
 
Evidence of Harm explores both sides of this issue, which has pitted
families and their allies against the federal government, public health
agencies, medical academies, and powerful pharmaceutical giants. It
examines:
 
* Story Of Thimerosal: a mercury-based additive approved by the FDA in
the 1930's as a vaccine preservative and never subsequently tested by the
agency.
 
* Increase In Reported Autism Cases and apparent parallel to the
increase in number and frequency of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations in
the 1990s.
 
* Private meeting at which FDA, CDC, medical and pharmaceutical
company representatives discussed data on neurological childhood disorders
related to mercury in vaccines
 
* Mysterious Rider To The 2002 Homeland Security Bill, which would
free drug companies of liability in lawsuits regarding Thimerosal
 
* State And Federal Lawsuits Filed By Families against the drug makers
seeking compensation for the lifelong care of their ill children
 
* New Biological Research Indicating A Link Between Thimerosal Exposure And Neurological Disorders VS. Government-Sponsored Epidemiological
Data Which Fails To Show A Link Preliminary Federal Investigations
currently underway into allegations of fraud, malfeasance, and conflict of
interest at pharmaceutical companies and among officials at the FDA and CDC

* Recently discovered CDC Data Showing A Shockingly High Correlation
Between Thimerosal Exposure And Autism, ADD and other childhood disorders
 
David Kirby has been a contributor to The New York Times for seven years, where he covers science and health, among other subjects, and has been a writer for over fifteen years. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.