A federal court has determined that the theory that thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autism is “scientifically unsupportable,” and that the families of children diagnosed with the condition are not entitled to compensation. Three special masters in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims determined that the three families represented in the suit didn’t prove a link between the vaccines and autism. The three released more than 600 pages of findings after reviewing these test cases.
Hopefully, this court ruling will put to rest the persisting delusion that some have that vaccines are associated with autism. Whether it’s the MMR vaccine or the vaccine preservative, thiomersol, there is no compelling reason to believe that either are causing the increasing numbers of kids with autism or autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
The New York Times reported, “In a further blow to the antivaccine movement, three judges ruled Friday in three separate cases that thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury, does not cause autism.”
The rulings “are the second step in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding begun in 2002 in the United States Court of Federal Claims,” which “combines the cases of 5,000 families with autistic children seeking compensation from the federal vaccine injury fund.”
The fund pays “families of children hurt by vaccines,” but it “has never accepted that vaccines cause autism.”
The Los Angeles Times reported, “The cases that three judges, called special masters, chose to rule on as test cases were considered among the strongest, so the outlook appears grim for others making the same claim.”
Special Master Denise K. Vowell wrote that “petitioners propose effects from mercury in [vaccines] that do not resemble mercury’s known effects in the brain, either behaviorally or at the cellular level.”
Although Special Master George Hastings was sympathetic with one of the families and believed they brought their claim in good faith, he found “the opinions provided by the petitioners’ experts in this case, advising the … family that there is a causal connection between thimerosal-containing vaccines and Jordan’s autism, have been quite wrong.”
“The cases had been divided into three theories about a vaccine-autism relationship for the court to consider,” the AP reported. The court previously “rejected a theory that thimerasol can cause autism when combined with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine,” and “a theory that certain vaccines alone cause autism.”
Although, Friday’s “ruling doesn’t necessarily mean an end to the dispute … with appeals to other courts available,” hopefully this will allow physicians, researchers, parents, and child activists to work together to find the real cause(s) of autism, and quit chasing our tails over a theory that no longer holds water or credibility.
You can read some of my blogs on autism here:

• • Though unproven, 1 in 4 parents believes vaccines cause autism
  • Survey Shows Parents Still Worry Unnecessarily About Vaccines
  • Lancet formally retracts paper linking vaccine to autism
  • Chelation therapy for autism not only potentially harmful, it’s based on faulty premise
  • Many autism therapies are unproven and risky
  • Supposed ‘miracle drug’ for autism called ‘junk’
  • Parents continue to have unwarranted fears and delusions about pediatric vaccines
  • Special court rules against families who claim vaccines caused autism
  • U.S. study clears measles vaccine of autism link
  • Fringe Autism Treatment Could Get Federal Study
  • Does the MMR vaccine cause autism? A redux.
  • Vaccine Myth #1: Vaccines Cause Autism