An assessment of the
impact of thimerosal on childhood neurodevelopmental
disorders.
Geier DA, Geier MR.
The
Genetic Centers of America, 14 Redgate Court, Silver Spring, MD 20905,
USA.
The prevalence of autism in the US has risen from 1 in
approximately 2500 in the mid-1980s to 1 in approximately 300 children
in the mid-1990s. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether
mercury from thimerosal in childhood vaccines contributed to
neurodevelopmental disorders. Neurodevelopmental disorder dose-response
curves for increasing mercury doses of thimerosal in childhood vaccines
were determined based upon examination of the Vaccine Adverse Events
Reporting System (VAERS) database and the 2001 US' Department of
Education Report. The instantaneous dosage of mercury children received
in comparison to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s maximum
permissible dose for the oral ingestion of methylmercury was also
determined. The dose-response curves showed increases in odds ratios of
neurodevelopmental disorders from both the VAERS and US Department of
Education data closely linearly correlated with increasing doses of
mercury from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and that for
overall odds ratios statistical significance was achieved. Similar
slopes and linear regression coefficients for autism odds ratios in
VAERS and the US Department of Education data help to mutually validate
each other. Controls employed in the VAERS and US Department of
Education data showed minimal biases. The evidence presented here shows
that the occurrence of neurodevelopmental disorders following
thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines does not appear to be
coincidental.