Provided by: www.ewg.org

Summary
Background
Findings
Recommendations

Recommendations

Research

The findings by James significantly strengthen the science supporting a connection between mercury and autism. Contrary to the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine, that research on the relationship between mercury and autism essentially be abandoned, the weight of the evidence in the basic biological sciences now supports accelerated funding and research into the biological pathways and genetic mechanisms that may make some individuals more vulnerable to mercury and a host of other environmental toxins. We recommend increased federal support for research in this area.

A small follow-up group of children in this study have benefited markedly when their impaired antioxidant defense was restored. This provides important clues about treatments that could derive from increased funding for research in this area.

Several studies are underway to explore the relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism in greater detail—including a follow-up study underway by the CDC (Verstraeten 2004). The power of these studies would be dramatically enhanced if they included Dr. James' simple blood test to examine the antioxidant capacity of autistic and healthy children as a factor that modifies an individual's sensitivity to mercury toxicity.

Policy Reform: Environmental Health

James' findings also have major implications for public health protections and pollution control. They potentially identify a subgroup of people with dramatically increased risk of harm from industrial chemicals, and provide important new evidence that policies designed to protect the average person, or even the average child, from chemical exposure, are insufficient to fully protect the public health. Children with the metabolic profile James has identified may be more susceptible to a vast number of common pollutants, from arsenic in drinking water and pressure-treated wood, to air pollution from cars and power plants. Environmental and health officials must evaluate the adequacy of current laws and policies to protect individuals with a heightened sensitivity to chemicals exposure.

Policy Reform: Immunizations

The Environmental Working Group strongly supports the standard battery of childhood immunizations recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC. Clearly, vaccinations have led to many major advances in public health. At the same time, EWG recommends the removal of thimerosal and all mercury-based preservatives from all vaccines in the United States, as is currently required by law in California and Iowa.

As individual states and many industrialized countries have phased out or banned the use of the mercury-based preservative in vaccines, the use of immunizations preserved with thimerosal continues unabated in the developing world. Precisely because of the clear public health benefits of vaccinations, the limited access to refrigeration, and the need to deliver vaccines in multiple dose containers in these countries, we urge the World Health Organization and multinational drug companies to move quickly to develop and adopt an alternative, low cost, effective preservative that is safer than mercury-based thimerosal.

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