Author: Kreeston Madsen, Marlene Lauritsen, and others
Source: Pediatrics, Volume 112, Number 3, pages 604-606, September 2003
There has been concern that there may be an association between thimerosal, a vaccine preservative that contains ethyl mercury, and abnormal developmental outcomes, including autism. In this analysis of data from the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register, the authors looked at all children between the ages of 2 and 10 years in that country who were diagnosed with autism during the period of 1971-2000. They found no trend of an increase in autism in this population during the time that thimerosal was used (1971-1992) and actually noted a rise in the incidence of this condition after thimerosal was removed from vaccines(1993-2000). They concluded that the data they examined did not support a connection between thimerosal use and the incidence of autism.
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