- The Department of Health has told doctors they must use
stocks of a mercury-based vaccine for infants even though it is being phased
out for safety reasons.
-
- The department is supplying the brand with mercury despite
fears that it could be a cause of autism and other disorders. The decision
flies in the face of European guidelines, which warn that it would be prudent
to avoid such vaccines for children.
-
- Two years ago medicine regulators in America and Europe
recommended the mercury-containing preservative thiomersal should be phased
out of vaccines "within the shortest possible time frame".
-
- This followed an announcement by the United States Federal
Drugs Administration (FDA) that accumulated mercury in vaccines given to
babies under six months in America exceeded safety limits set by the Environmental
Protection Agency.
-
- In a related US study, researchers from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention found a "statistically significant"
association between thiomersal in vaccines and children with problems such
as attention deficit disorder and language learning delays.
-
- In June last year the European Agency for the Evaluation
of Medicinal Products (EMEA) said: "For vaccination in infants and
toddlers, as a precautionary measure it would be prudent to promote the
general use of vaccines without thiomersal and other mercurial preservatives.
Moreover, the use of the available thiomersal-free vaccines should be recommended
for vaccination of newborns."
-
- Mercury-free vaccines are available to the Department
of Health but last month all GPs and clinics, which inoculate more than
600,000 babies a year, were told all orders for the combined diphtheria,
tetanus and pertussis (DTP) and Hib vaccine (which protects against a form
of meningitis) would be met with a product containing thiomersal, which
is almost 50% mercury. This was "in order to make good use of the
current and future stocks available".
-
- The previous policy was to supply a DTP Hib vaccine,
Infanrix Hib, which does not contain mercury.
-
- The decision will outrage parents already concerned that
vaccines may damage their children. "It beggars belief," said
Isabella Thomas, from Brighton, whose son Michael is autistic. "To
replace a vaccine which contains no mercury, which must be safer, with
one which contains a toxic substance to use up stocks is disgraceful and
irresponsible."
-
- Celia Forrest, from north London, who has an autistic
son, is to write in protest to Tony Blair, Alan Milburn, the health secretary,
and David Hinchliffe, chairman of the Commons health committee, demanding
an inquiry. "The time has now come for the politicians to investigate
this scandal," she said.
-
- When asked why it was not promoting the mercury-free
vaccine Infanrix, the health department said: "The joint committee
on vaccination and immunisation has decided Infanrix is not as effective
as the other."
-
- A more effective mercury-free vaccine than Infanrix was
now being developed and would be made available on the NHS once it came
on the UK market, it said. GPs could request a mercury-free vaccine now
"for specific patients on clinical grounds. We would stress the recommendation
[from the EMEA] was as a precautionary measure".
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- http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/08/05/stinwenws02001.html?
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