Thimerosal goes to court. (Bulletins: good news about pregnancy, birth, and parenting).

Publication: Mothering

Publication Date: 01-MAY-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Mothering Magazine

Thimerosal, the ethyl mercury-based preservative used in infant vaccines up until 2001, increasingly has been the subject of national attention for its alleged connection to autism and other neurological disorders. The preservative has been the focus of not only extensive research but also of several major lawsuits across the country.

COUNTER V. ELI LILLY AND COMPANY ET AL.

The first known lawsuit to allege that thimerosal caused neurological damage to an infant eventually diagnosed with autism is currently being tried in Brazoria County, Texas. One of the defendants is Eli Lilly and Company, which at one time manufactured thimerosal. Waters and Kraus, a Dallas law firm involved in the case, asserts that Eli Lilly knew of thimerosal's dangers as far back as the 1930s but chose to conceal this information from the public. According to documents obtained by the firm, Eli Lilly sponsored a human toxicity study of thimerosal using terminally ill patients as subjects in September 1930. Lead attorney Andy Waters says Eli Lilly used the results of this...

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