Taking a Temperature -- the Mercury Controversy Gearing Up -- Guest Columnist

We all remember those elementary school demonstrations of mercury and how it beads, bounces and squeezes everywhere. Well, it's an apt metaphor for a serious political and medical problem with mercury in the U.S. today.

There’s an aspect of the autism epidemic widely covered of late that needs more attention, what may be the nastiest triggers for autism, namely mercury in kids’ vaccinations.

It has been four and one-half years since our son was diagnosed with high functioning autism, and from that day until now, we have watched the whole controversy about whether thimerosol, the mercury preservative in childhood vaccinations, could have caused the epidemic.

At first, we discounted the theory because we didn’t see in our son what others point to as the result of mercury toxicity – a dramatic reversal in development starting at about 18 months. Our son was behind each developmental milestone from the start. However, he suffered mini seizures until he was 5.

Now, science is making a disturbing case. Most damning is the apparent stabilization or drop in the number of new autism spectrum diagnoses since thimerosol was largely eliminated from most vax bottles.

This controversy is very complex, and it is still hard to get my hands around it. But, there’s suspicion that the FDA is protecting the pharmaceutical companies from massive class action lawsuits threatened by parents of kids with autism.

If mercury is a significant causal factor in autism, and if the FDA and pharmas knew but hid that information, their actions were reprehensible, potentially criminal and certainly far-reaching. Regardless, and notwithstanding the unknown benefits of new privately-funded research into autism's causes and treatment, the U.S. will pay a huge price for this epidemic for decades.