Assuntos
Transtorno Autístico/etiologia , Política de Saúde , Compostos de Metilmercúrio/efeitos adversos , Conservantes Farmacêuticos/efeitos adversos , Timerosal/efeitos adversos , Vacinas/efeitos adversos , Criança , Indústria Farmacêutica/história , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , Humanos , Intoxicação por Mercúrio/história , Compostos de Metilmercúrio/farmacocinética , Conservantes Farmacêuticos/história , Opinião Pública , Timerosal/história , Estados Unidos , United States Food and Drug Administration , Vacinas/história , Vacinas/normasRESUMO
The controversy regarding the once widely used mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines has raised many historical questions that have not been adequately explored. Why was this preservative incorporated in the first place? Was there any real evidence that it caused harm? And how did thimerosal become linked in the public mind to the "autism epidemic"? I examine the origins of the thimerosal controversy and their legacy for the debate that has followed. More specifically, I explore the parallel histories of three factors that converged to create the crisis: vaccine preservatives, mercury poisoning, and autism. An understanding of this history provides important lessons for physicians and policymakers seeking to preserve the public's trust in the nation's vaccine system.
