In more than 20 years of reporting and anchoring the news on television, I've reported on more stories than I care to about abuse and neglect of children. Even before I became a mom, it was always hard for me to talk about someone or something that harmed a child. So, I am fully aware that there are people who don't have children's best interest at heart.
But, I still find it difficult to hear about people who put money and career before life. Be it a child, adult or animal's life. There are allegations that key people in our government knew of the dangers of a mercury-based preservative called Thimerosal and still continued to promote its safety and use in vaccines.
An excerpt from David Kirby's book, Evidence of Harm:
In 2005, Los Angeles Times reporter, Myron Levin reported on a leaked memo from Merck & Co., dated March 21, 1991. The memo warned company executives that six-month-old children who were vaccinated on schedule would be exposed to mercury at levels up to 87 times the limit in guidelines on mercury from fish.
This will resonate with mothers. We are told once we learn of our pregnancy to not eat certain fish that may contain high levels of mercury. Why are we told to not eat certain fish because of the mercury level, but there are no warnings about injecting mercury into our babies. Vaccines up until 2002, contained the mercury-based preservative Thimerosal in them. At the same time the "Merck memo" was written, U.S. health authorities were expanding their immunization schedule by adding 5 new shots for children in their first six months. Did our government "not do the math"?!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that there is no link between Thimerosal and autism. You can log onto its website and see all of the studies on this issue for free.
You can also visit A-CHAMP's website, www.achamp.org and see studies on the other side of this argument.
I have a personal connection to all of this. My 5 year old daughter was diagnosed with autism in 2003, just as the C-D-C, the FDA and the other government agencies were exploring the possible compound effect of the vaccine schedule. My question is not whether Thimerosal causes autism, but why weren't parents made aware of the possible problem? We should have been given the chance to make our decision based on these studies, and we weren't. We were purposely kept in the dark, to protect the government and drug manufacturers who were saying there's no "Evidence of Harm".
And if there is no connection, then why are families having success with chelation? According to Kirby's book, "chelation was developed by the Navy to treat lead poisoning in sailors." It's a controversial treatment for autism. Basically, chelation removes toxic heavy metals such as lead and mercury from the body. It's experimental and controversial, but has been successful in many cases. Success being, the person no longer shows signs of autism.
Doctors I've spoken to say, just because chelation has been successful in treating autism, doesn't mean mercury is the cause of it. I say to that...."WHUT EVVERRR".
Do I, as the mother of a child with autism care what successfully treats this disorder?! But, I do care that the jury is still out on this. I will be paying close attention in June when a 3 week hearing will be held in federal vaccine court in Washington, D.C. A 3-judge panel will hear the cases of several parents who claim their child's autism was caused by the mercury in their vaccines.
Sadly, if the court rules in favor of the parents, will we ever be able to trust our government? Pharmaceutical companies? Doctors?
And will that "Pandora's Box" enter into the minds of the judges? A lot of question marks -- and the biggest question mark will remain behind the phrase of my special report Mercury Myth? --- until it's proven not to be.
