JSS: June 2007 Archives

Vaccine dangers are back in the news, but The New Scientist points out that "a question mark hangs over the credentials of experts advising parents in the latest autism court case."

These expert witnesses include doctors promoting their use of chelation therapy for treating autism, this based on their claim that the disease is caused by mercury toxicity. Specifically they implicate the form of the metal contained in the vaccine preservative thimerosal.

Chelation therapy, as yet unproven for treating autism, comes with its own risks--including known side effects of liver toxicity and bone-marrow damage.

Of note, the form of mercury used in vaccines--ethyl mercury--does not accumulate in the body as does methyl mercury, the type associated with neurotoxicity (nerve and brain damage).

Headlines about the high-profile lawsuit are sure to sustain the enduring public fears around childhood vaccines. Over the last decade, the Insititutes of Medicine has pursued extensive research aimed at ferreting out any increased health risks associated with the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Meta analysis of dozens of scientific studies found none. Nonetheless, US vaccine makers have removed thimerosal from all "baby shots" and now offer mercury-free formulations of most adult vaccines.

Tellingly, rates of autism have not dropped in the 8 years since manufacturers began phasing thimerosal out of US vaccines--as would be expected if this mercury-based preservative was to blame.

The New Scientist notes the similarity to the recent UK court cases and scares that led to a precipitous drop in childhood immunizations against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) in that country. The resulting mumps resurgence recently spilled over to North America, in the form of several mumps outbreaks thought to have been sparked by British visitors.

The bound page proofs are now out, and Good Germs, Bad Germs has its first review--from Publishers Weekly. Here it is ...

Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World
Jessica Snyder Sachs. Hill & Wang, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-8090-5063-5

Science writer Sachs (Corpse) makes a strong case for a new paradigm for dealing with the microbial life that teems around and within us. Taking both evolutionary and ecological approaches, she explains why antibiotics work so well but are now losing their effectiveness. She notes that between agricultural antibiotic usage and needless prescriptions written for human use, antibiotic resistance has reached terrifying levels. A decade ago, resistant infections acquired in hospitals "were killing an estimated eighty-eight thousand Americans each year... more than car accidents and homicides combined." Our attempts to destroy microorganisms regularly upset useful microbial communities, often leading to serious medical consequences. Sachs also presents evidence suggesting that an epidemiclike rise in autoimmune diseases and allergies may be attributable to our misguided frontal assault on the bacterial world. The solution proposed is to encourage the growth of healthy, displacement-resistant microbial ecological communities and promote research that disrupts microbial processes rather than simply attempting to kill the germs themselves. Despite the frightening death toll, Sachs's summary of promising new avenues of research offers hope. (Oct. 16)