The following is an excerpt from Bob’s new book “Tabloid Medicine”:
From the beginning, there were two problems with the connection between thimerosal and autism. The first problem with was that thimerosal, while about half mercury, contains ethyl mercury, for which there were no exposure guidelines. So the scientists used the ones for methyl mercury. However, the ethyl mercury has different properties, including being processed out of the body more quickly. The second problem was that children receive more mercury from breast milk in their first year then they do from vaccines.
Scientists were divided on whether the use of thimerosal was even a potential problem and many believed that the US government had reacted to the issue too hastily, allowing political concerns to overwhelm scientific ones.
The worries that the withdrawal had been undertaken precipitously were quickly born out. While the move to eliminate thimerosal from vaccines was intended to calm fears and reassure the public while scientists looked further into the issue, many people interpreted it as an admission of guilt. Why, they wondered, would thimerosal be taken out of vaccines if it was safe? And why would the government and the medical establishment keep reporting that there was no danger when this seemed belied by their actions? The next logical leap was that the scientists and doctors must be hiding something. Anti-vaccination activists, parents with autistic children who needed someone to blame, and others who saw an opportunity for profit began to coalesce into a movement that promoted the theory that immunizations caused autism using websites trumpeting the dangers of vaccines and the evil of doctors, scientists, and national health agencies callously concealing a threat that were damaging millions of children.
For those who missed it, here is Dr. Goldberg’s interview with Pixels & Pills:
CMPI's Robert M. Goldberg, PhD Advocates for Reliable and Trustworthy Medical Information on the Internet from Zemoga on Vimeo.
