The U.S. Court of Federal Claims will be trying as a test case Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services to determine whether mercury in thimerosal, an ingredient in vaccines, with those vaccines' ingredients have together been resulting in the increase in cases of autism. The government has been saying, "No." Are you surprised yet happy over this development?

I am interested, but I doubt it will come to much. If thimerosal were responsible for autism alone, then every vaccinated child, including myself and my husband, would be autistic. It may well be that thimerosal could be a contributor for those already pre-disposed to autism, but this pre-disposition is something we should be concentrating on as well.

I wonder, though, how much validity anyone will give these results whether they confirm or deny suspicions, considering it is the dreaded federal government making the decision.

Anything that helps understand autism, I am all for. I just wonder if further “proof” one way or another will change anyone’s opinions when we already have so much supposed proof both ways.

If if means cash in my bank account, I would guess that I could identify with any symptom. That is what people often do for cash when it comes down to Class Action. The lawyer is wealthy and the rest of us get a few bucks.

Here is a New York Times article about the study results:
Study Finds Vaccine Preservative Is Not Linked to Risks of Autism

Here is a well-written review of a book, Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure , by Paul A. Offit, that is going on my to-read list. Thought I'd add it to this old thread.

The General Medical Council is due to give its verdict on Mr Wakefield [the originator of this scare, referred to in Elexina's 'review' link] next month.He is surely to be found guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Ten of the twelve authors of his paper in The Lancet have formally retracted the claim, saying on the record that there is no causal link between autism and the MMR vaccine and that none was established by Wakefield's research.