The Wall Street Journal

Re: The Truth About Thimerosal

December 5, 2002

I’m not sure which is more offensive, the gross mischaracterization of Thimerosal toxicity you present, or the cavalier dismissal of families pursuing compensation for their Thimerosal-damaged children as “frivolous”.

I see only one fact you got right:  Thimerosal was introduced in the 1930’s as a vaccine preservative.  You fail to mention that autism was never described in medical literature until roughly a decade after Thimerosal use in vaccines began.  Nor do you mention that all symptoms of autism are identical to symptoms of heavy metal toxicity.  Also missing is the fact that the rise in autism diagnoses is in lockstep with the rise in the number of thimerosal (49.6% ethyl mercury by weight) vaccines added to the immunization schedule over the decades.

Thimerosal in vaccines did not “theoretically, slightly” exceed EPA mercury guidelines.  The EPA’s safe mercury exposure level for adults  (no guidelines have ever been established for infants and toddlers) is .1 mcg per kg body weight.  I invite you to take a look at the amounts of mercury my two non-theoretical, greatly over-exposed autistic children received by adhering to the vaccine schedule.  My son, at two months of age and weighing 14 lbs., was injected with an amount of mercury the EPA would consider safe for a 1,100 lb. adult.  Theoretical?  Slight?

As for all those years of detailed research into the safety of vaccines you refer to—could you please share them with me?  I’ve been dredging through Pub Med and the local medical library for years and those Thimerosal safety studies have somehow eluded me.  I’ve come across a few things I’d be happy to share with you in return.

For example, here’s just a small portion of the NIH’s frightening Material Safety Data Sheet for Thimerosal:

             “Symtoms…….Exposure may be fatal……fine tremors, loss of side

               vision, speech, writing and gait, inability to stand or carry out voluntary

               movements, irritability and bad temper leading to mania, stupor, coma,

               mental retardation in children, anxiety, mental depression, insomnia,

               hallucinations, and central nervous system effects”.

In the case of skin contact, the NIH recommends the following:

             “IMMEDIATELY flood affected skin with water while removing

               and isolating all contaminated clothing.”

In hindsight, I wish I’d never allowed my children within a 50-mile radius of Thimerosal.  Yet it was directly injected repeatedly into their tiny bodies where it did, in fact, wreak havoc.

The Thimerosal rider deserves the scandal surrounding it as does Thimerosal itself and those who produced it.

Sincerely,

Rita Cave Shreffler

Nixa, MO