Great Britain experienced a rapid rise in autism among children born in the 1980s and early 1990s. Could this be due to thimerosal in vaccines?
It is unlikely that the rapid increase in autism cases in the UK was due to thimerosal. The only vaccine in the UKs childhood immunization program that contains thimerosal is DTP. All other vaccines (OPV, BCG, MMR, Hib, menC) added to the program since the 1950’s are and have always been thimerosal free. In addition, if thimerosal in vaccines were causing autism, we would expect to see a simultaneous increase in both thimerosal exposure and autism cases. However, from the 1950’s on, there was no increase in the amount of thimerosal UK children were receiving from vaccines, yet there was a jump in autism cases in the 1980’s. A significant change in the UKs program did occur in 1990 when they accelerated their immunization schedule so vaccines would be given earlier (changed from 3, 5, and 8 months to 2, 3 and 4 months). However, the rate of autism was rising long before this change occurred (see Fombonne, 2001).
Related Questions
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