2006 Study: Autism Declines After Removal of Mercury from Vaccines

Study Shows Decline in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
After Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines

A new study published today (3/1/06) shows that the rate of neurodevelopmental
disorders (NDs) in children has decreased following removal of thimerosal, a
preservative containing the neurotoxin mercury, from American childhood
vaccines. The study, published in the Journal of American Physicians and
Surgeons, a peer reviewed journal, by Dr. Mark Geier and David Geier examined
two independent databases maintained by the government - one national and one
state. The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database maintained
by the Centers for Disease Control and the Californian Department of
Developmental Services (CDDS) database each showed the same downward trend for
the period from 2002 through 2005. According to the study "[t]he results
indicate that the trends in newly diagnosed NDs correspond directly with the
expansion and subsequent contraction of the cumulative mercury dose to which
children were exposed from [thimerosal-containing vaccines] through the U.S.
immunization schedule."

The study examined the trend for cases of autism during the period beginning
1994 and ending 2002 compared with the period from 2002 to June, 2005. The
trends for increases and decreases of cases of autism found in the VAERS
national database were consistent with the trends found in the CDDC California
database. Most significantly, in each database the increasing and decreasing
trends correlate with the time that the exposure to thimerosal through the
immunization schedule was increased and then decreased after removal of mercury
containing vaccines. "The consistency of the effects observed for the spectrum
of NDs, including autism and speech disorders, and the agreement between the
observations from two separate databases, support the conclusion that the effect
is real and not a chance observation." The study found that the magnitude of the
change in the decreasing trend of cases was significant after removal of mercury
from vaccines. Data from the U.S. Department of Education, a third database,
showed a recent decrease of autism diagnoses that is consistent with the
findings in the two databases.

The authors show that the biological plausibility of their statistical findings
is supported by recent toxicological and molecular studies that reveal the
mechanism by which mercury from vaccines can cause damage to the developing
brains of children. A recent study by researchers at the University of
Washington has shown that ethylmercury from thimerosal in vaccines can cross
from the bloodstream into the brain in toxic amounts which can remain in brain
tissue for many years. This finding contradicted the untested view about the
toxicity of ethylmercury in vaccines that prevailed in public health for 75
years. Other researchers have shown that minute concentrations of mercury, far
lower than previously believed and far less than other toxins such as lead, can
destroy neurons and damage DNA within hours of exposure. Such low levels of
mercury, which likely are reached in infant brains via vaccine thimerosal
exposure, can disrupt cell signaling and metabolic pathways necessary for normal
brain development. Studies in mice, rabbits, monkeys, rats and other animals
support these findings. Further studies in children have found evidence of
mercury toxicity, metabolic disruption and oxidative stress that is consistent
with the author's statistical findings that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism
and developmental disorders.

The authors point out that their finding that the VAERS and CDDS databases show
strong associations between thimerosal containing vaccines and
neurodevelopmental disorders completely contradicts the 2004 findings contained
in a report published by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of
Sciences - which was based on data controlled exclusively by the Center for
Disease Control's National Immunization Program and unavailable to outside
researchers. In arguing that their study's findings justify additional research
the authors point out that the handling of vaccine safety data by the Centers
for Disease Control has been called into serious question in a 2005 report
published by the Institute of Medicine.

You can view and download a pdf file containing the new study, "Early Downward
Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of
Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines" by clicking here. It is being published today in
Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2006 of the peer-reviewed Journal of American
Physicians and Surgeons.