The Associated Press brings us a new article further highlighting the suspected link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism.  While it is unclear whether officials blatantly covered up research or simply experienced a lapse in judgement, the fact is that it looks like a link could be there and someone was not acting on the possibility.  According to the president of the National Vaccine Information Center, “...a subset of kids can’t handle mercury because of a genetic or other kind of predisposition...,” and oddly enough, this is exactly what our own physician told us when we asked about this issue.  When comparing the idea of mercury sensitivity to food allergies and other genetic conditions, it seems entirely plausible that some children would not handle mercury well, so why a medical professional didn’t catch this is beyond me. 

Over the years we have heard heart-wrenching stories about autistic children with mixed reviews in the press regarding the potential link to vaccinations.  With each story like this one, it is becoming more clear that all the parents who claim that their children’s condition was caused by vaccinations are not crazy.  As a mom, I am glad this issue is getting publicity, and I hope that it continues to turn heads.  If we cannot offer our children decent protection from disease through our vaccination program without causing permanent damage, then maybe we need to question the strength of our health care system.  We are a superpower, right?  The more I hear about this situation, I wonder if we are doing much better than some third world countries in addressing disease.