I got this from the Autism and Vaccination Yahoo Club, addy:
http://www.clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/autismandvaccinations
and Sarah was nice enough to let me post it here-she got it in response to an email to them...
National Autistic Society Position Statement on
Mercury in Vaccines
The National Autistic Society (NAS) welcomes Government recommendations that
mercury be removed from vaccines. It is hoped this process will be carried
out immediately by manufacturers of vaccines.
We understand that live vaccines, like MMR and the single vaccines for
measles, mumps and rubella, should not contain mercury. Mercury has been
used as a preservative in other vaccines including Hepatitis B and DPT
(diptheria, pertussis and tetanus). However, it has proved difficult for
parents to discover just what the various childhood vaccines do contain.
The NAS therefore urges the Government to ensure greater transparency in the
labeling of vaccines so that the contents can be easily and clearly
identified by parents and practitioners alike."
We have also approached the Department of Health to ask which vaccines
contain Thimerosal. The following is their response:
"1. The following vaccines in the routine childhood programme contain
thiomersal:
DTP vaccine given at 2, 3 and 4 months;
DT vaccine given as a preschool booster.
The following routine vaccines do NOT contain thiomersal:
Hib
Meningitis C
BCG
polio
MMR
2. Because of the risk of an allergic reaction (separate to the question of
hypothesised links to developmental disorders) there is a move across Europe
to label thiomersal containing medicines as such. This is being brought in.
3. The forthcoming Chief Medical Officer's Update newsletter to doctors
will provide advice to GPs on thiomersal and vaccines (the date of this has
not yet been finalised).
4. On anti-D immunoglobulin the Department of Health blood products policy
team and the UK suppliers of anti-D confirm that their anti-Ds do not
contain thiomersal. There are two products that have been identified as
supplied to England - one by BPL and one by Baxter Hyland Immuno. Both
organisations have confirmed their anti-Ds do not contain thiomersal. A
third company, Octapharma, have been supplying, but are not currently, an
anti-D made by Cangene Canada. They have also confirmed that their product
does not contain thiomersal.
5. It appears there are 6 anti-D products in the USA, one of which is
called RhoGAM.
6. Thiomersal has been routinely used in vaccines since the 1930s. It plays
an important role in ensuring the safety of vaccines by acting as a
preservative to prevent biological contamination. In the routine UK
childhood programme only DTP vaccines (given at 2, 3 and 4 months) and DT
(given as a pre-school booster at around 4-5 years) are those that contain
low levels of thiomersal as an excipient in the final vaccine.
To confirm:
BCG, Hib, oral polio, meningitis C and MMR vaccines do not contain
thiomersal.
The story run by the Sunday Times originates in the USA where many more
thiomersal containing vaccines have been given in the routine US
immunisation schedule - for instance in Hepatitis B vaccine, not part of the
UK programme, and in multidose vials of Hib vaccine, whereas UK Hib is in
single dose presentation which does not require thiomersal. The US concerns
were that the amount of thiomersal in vaccines given to babies might exceed
their recommended levels and that this amount had been increasing. This has
been running as in the US as a news story over recent years. However, in
the UK routine programme thiomersal levels are much lower because we
use/have used fewer thiomersal containing vaccines. And the amount of
thiomersal in the UK routine programme has not been
increasing. Unfortunately these crucial differences between the UK and US
immunisation programmes have been overlooked in the newspaper.
Although the scientific evidence does not support a link between thiomersal
in vaccines and neurological problems, there is a general desire to minimise
expose to mercury of any sort. The elimination of thiomersal from vaccines
is seen as a feasible means of doing this, whereas other environmental
sources of exposure to mercury are more difficult or impossible to
eliminate. This follows the general precautionary principle. To this end
the US and European authorities are working to reduce or replace thiomersal
and the manufacturers are actively developing research programmes to achieve
this. But this may take some time since manufacturers are required to
ensure that the replacement or reduction of thiomersal does not compromise
the safety and efficacy of the final vaccine.
As a final comment on the evidence to link thiomersal with autism in the UK,
contrary to the assertions in the Sunday Times, over the past decade
thiomersal content in the routine UK programme has not risen (despite the
addition of Hib, menC and a second dose of MMR). If autism rates are
rising, as the Sunday Times has suggested, it is difficult to see a role for
thiomersal in such a rise."
