Once Again, Court Rules Vaccines DO NOT Cause Autism
Mar 12, 2010

By Amy Pisani
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims today issued a decision on the Omnibus Autism Proceeding’s second theory that vaccines which contain thimerosal (a preservative) do not cause autism.   The decision was based on three test cases who alleged that thimerosal-containing vaccines triggered autism in their children.  After a thorough and exhaustive review of the science, the judges overwhelmingly declared that the vaccine-autism theory is “scientifically unsupportable.”  One of the judges, Special Master George Hastings, wrote, “This case, however, is not a close case. The overall weight of the evidence is overwhelmingly contrary to the petitioners’ causation theories…In short, this is a case in which the evidence is so one-sided that any nuances in the interpretation of the causation case law would make no difference to the outcome of the case.”
The Omnibus Autism Proceeding was created by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to handle the large volume of claims that vaccines induce autism. In order to ensure that the over 4,900 cases were dealt with in a timely manner; the U.S. Court of Federal Claims divided the claims into three theories.  The first theory, that MMR vaccines given in combination with thimerosal-containing vaccines could cause autism, was denied over a year ago.  The second theory, that thimerosal containing vaccines cause autism, was denied today, and the third theory, that MMR vaccines alone cause autism, was not considered viable and thrown out last year.
It’s important to remember that while these legal decisions reaffirm the science, the science has already spoken for itself many times over.  A series of biological and epidemiological studies have concluded that the ingredients in vaccines do not cause autism or other disorders.  If you’d like to review the current body of literature on thimerosal and autism, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a wonderful resource available here, which I encourage you to share with family and friends. The Vaccinate Your Baby web site also has a handy summary of the various studies which have shown that thimerosal does not cause autism.
If you’d like to learn more about the Vaccine Court, check out our web site here.
The bottom line is that vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective, and they save lives.  I think Alison Singer, President, Autism Science Foundation put it best when she said, “It’s time to move forward and look for the real causes of autism. There is not a bottomless pit of money with which to fund autism science. We have to use our scarce resources wisely. Our children deserve real answers and at this point doing more and more studies of vaccines, when the science is so clear, would be allowing politics to triumph over science.”

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