Autism & Epigenetics

What is Thimerosal?

 

In 1998, an article was published in the Lancet Journal, announcing that the MMR (measles-mumps and rubela) vaccine was the cause of autism. The article was later retracted, but by then the damage had already been done. Parents were beginning to halt vaccinating their children.

 

The fear was over an ingredient in the vaccine, called Thimerosal. Thimerosal is an organic compund, which contains mercury. 

 

The ingredient was removed entirely from vaccines in the summer of 2001. But parents still feared and refused to vaccinate their children. It wasn't until several years later that the controversy died down, that parents realized vaccination were not the cause of Autism.