Autism/Thimerosal Timeline 2006

DISCLAIMER – The Autism Resource Foundation provides general information to the autism community. The information comes from a variety of sources, and the Autism Resource Foundation does not independently verify any of it, nor does it necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of the Autism Resource Foundation. Nothing on this website should be construed as medical advice. Always consult your doctor regarding the needs of your family.

Excerpt from Autism Facts.com

2006
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) located in Atlanta, Georgia operates under its administrator, Julie Louise Gerberding, who is also the Director of the Centers for Disease Control. Their web site "ATSDR ToxFAQs" concerning mercury states:

• "The nervous system is very sensitive to all forms of mercury."
• "... mercury can permanently damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus."
• "Effects on brain functioning may result in irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, and memory problems."
• "Very young children are more sensitive to mercury than adults."
• "Mercury in the mother's body passes to the fetus and may accumulate there."
• "Mercury's harmful effects that may be passed from the mother to the fetus include brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak."
• "Children poisoned by mercury may develop problems of their nervous and digestive systems, and kidney damage."
• "Properly dispose of older medicines that contain mercury."
• "Keep all mercury-containing medicines away from children."

New Jersey Assemblymen Peter Biondi and Christopher "Kip" Bateman introduced Bill number 1324 to ban Thimerosal in vaccines in their state.

The Rotavirus vaccine is again approved.

The Hepatitis A vaccine is added to the schedule for all infants to be given twice at 12 months and 18 months.

The Tdap vaccine is added to the schedule for all children age 11 to 12 years.

Thimerosal-containing vaccines continue to be distributed by the United States through the World Health Organization to other countries. These vaccines have never been required or requested to have mercury removed and all still contain full dose Thimerosal.

January 1, 2006
State laws banning mercury in vaccines for small children and pregnant women goes into effect in Iowa, Illinois, and Delaware. Hospitals, physicians, clinics and pharmacies in Illinois were never informed of the new law by the Department of Health and Human Services or the AAP.

After being heavily lobbied by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Illinois Department of Health suspended Illinois' vaccine mercury ban effective on this date, the same date that the provisions passed in the Bill would begin to take effect. They invoked the emergency provision of the law to do so. Dr. Eric Whitaker issued the exemption to the law stating that the law could lead to shortages.

January 10, 2006
South Carolina State Senators and Representatives Cleary, Elliot, Lourie, Leventis, Scott, Anderson, Reese, Rankin, Land, Sheheen, Hutto, Groms, Knotts, Drummond, Ford and Short introduce 2 Bills, S 0958 and H 4351, to require insurers to provide insurance coverage to individuals with autism in their state.

January 11, 2006
The Department of Health Services in California issued a letter to physicians in that state to order thimerosal-free vaccine flu shots for the 2006-2007 season.

January 25, 2006
Hawaii legislators Waters, Arakaki, and Green introduces a Bill, HB 3154 HD 2, to ban Thimerosal in vaccines in their state.

February 7, 2006
Theresa Wrangham, President of the Autism Society of Boulder Colorado, wrote an e-mail to Len Lavenda of Sanofi Pasteur with questions concerning Sanofi Pasteur's ability to meet a demand for Thimerosal-free vaccines for children ages 6 to 23 months. An e-mail was returned with those answers.
   "Currently Sanofi has a total production capacity of 50 million doses. Sanofi has prebooked 42 million doses in multi-dose vials (sold out), and has the capacity for 8 million preservative free (supplied in single dose syringes and vials )(not sold out as yet, but has never to date sold out of this version) and may (not able to determine at this time) be able to produce an additional 2 million single dose vial (preservative free) for the 2006/2007 flu season. Our no preservative formulation will be available until it is fully committed. We are accepting prebooking requests for this product continuously...Estimates from other manufacturers indicate a surplus in overall flu vaccine supply for 2006-7."

   "Sanofi has invested in a new packaging facility that is due to be completed 2007/2008 (depending on approval process) that will allow them to increase capacity for the preservative free flu vaccine - packaging is a major issue in this version. Another production facility has also broke ground and is due for completion in 2008/2009 (upon approval) and will produce preservative and preservative free flu vaccine (version to be produced depends on demand) and will conceivably double overall capacity to 100 million."

   "The reason for incorporating a preservative into multidose vials is due to the risk of contamination by multiple insertions. This risk does not exist in single dose presentations."

* * Dr. Alan Clark of NoMercury.org passes away from cancer. Many families mourn his passing.
   The Alan D. Clark, M.D. Memorial Research Fund was established by his family to provide grants to physicians and researchers striving to prevent, protect and reverse the devastating effects of mercury, particularly when used in medicine.

February 15, 2006
* Congressional Democrats introduce legislation to repeal the law giving vaccine, drug and medical device makers broad protection against lawsuits in a public health or bioterror emergency that had been added to a defense Bill enacted in December, 2005. The Bill is titled, "Responsible Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act", S. 2291. Senator Edward Kennedy and 20 other democrats house and senate wrote a letter to Senator Frist and Hastert protesting the way the existing legislation was enacted.

February 22, 2006
* After enacting legislation to the FY 06 Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Bill, urging the NIEHS and the CDC to organize a workshop by May 2006 to explore the VSD database of the CDC to study the link between Thimerosal and autism, members of Congress wrote a letter to the new Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. David A. Schwartz, asking for his cooperation. The letter states that the CDC is not the appropriate organization to lead the study and that the NIEHS would be, instead. The letter was signed by 2 members of the U.S. senate, Joe Lieberman and Debbie Stabenow and 6 members of Congress: Dave Weldon, Carolyn Maloney, Chris Smith, Dan Burton, Joseph Crowley, and Maurice Hinchey.

March 2006
* Kansas State Senator Anthony Hensley introduces Bill SB 537 to ban Thimerosal in vaccines in their state.

March 1, 2006
* Kentucky State Senators Ed Worley and Daniel Mongiardo introduce SB 255 to ban mercury from vaccines in their state.

March 24, 2006
* Congressional members Chris Smith, R of New Jersey, Mike Doyle, D of Pennsylvania and Carolyn Maloney, D of New York circulated 2 letters among the House members. The letter is directed to the appropriations subcommittee for Department of Defense funding asking for $10 million for autism research. A total of 39 members of the house signed the letter.
   The second letter was directed to the appropriations subcommittee over the Department of Health and Human Services asking for $5 million for autism activities at the Centers for Disease Control for surveillance, epidemiological research and awareness. A total of 36 members of the house signed the letter.

March 27, 2006
* Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire signs SB 5305 into law, officially banning mercury from vaccines in their state. The law is set to go into effect on January 1, 2007.

April 2006
* The Women's Division Board of Directors of the United Methodist Women called on the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control to take action to protect children from mercury-containing drugs.
   They established a Campaign for Children, focusing on improving the lives of children in their communities, the safety and well-being of children, and access for all children to quality public education.

* The Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine lists that a total of over 200 new vaccines are in production in various stages of development and approval process. Most, if not all, of these vaccines are planned to be added to the Recommended Childhood Vaccine Schedule.

April 6, 2006
* Generation Rescue Organization launches a new organization, putchildrenfirst.org, and runs an ad in "USA Today" which outright accused the CDC of covering up the connection between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. They encourage people to visit the website which provides documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act "revealing the CDC's deception".

April 7, 2006
* Parents from across the United States marched and rallied in Washington for autism and to remove Thimerosal from vaccines.

May 2006
* The Gardasil vaccine for HPV is approved for girls and women.

May 4, 2006
* The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in cooperation with other relevant NIH Institutes worked with the CDC to convene and expert panel to review the use of the Vaccine Safety Database (VSD) to address changes in autism rates and the potential association to Thimerosal in childhood vaccinations in future studies.

May 5, 2006
* Hawaii passes their Bill to eliminate mercury from vaccines and it is waiting for the governors signature.

June 2006
* Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, did a study titled, "Autism Spectrum Disorders in Relation to Distribution of Hazardous Air Pollutants in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles". They stated:
   "The adjusted odds ratios were elevated by 50% in the top quartile of chlorinated solvents and heavy metals, but not for aromatic solvents. Adjusting for these three groups simultaneously led to decreased risks for the solvents and increased risk for metals. The individual compounds that contributed most to these associations included mercury, cadmium, nickel, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride."
   They concluded:
   "Our results suggest a potential association between autism and estimated metal concentrations, and possibly solvents, in ambient air around the birth residence, requiring confirmation and more refined exposure assessment in future studies."

* The new revised Combating Autism Act Bill is submitted to the HELP Committee by Senator Rick Santorum. He, after working with autism organizations, added in language that would mean environmental factors, including Thimerosal, would be researched as a possible cause of autism. However, he would not specifically name Thimerosal.

* The 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill included $7.5 million for autism research. The Senate version of the Bill, however, does not include any funding for autism research.

June 1, 2006
* Congressman Dan Burton, R of Indiana writes a letter to Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii requesting that she sign the Bill to ban mercury in vaccines into law in their state.

* During this month, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle vetoed the Bill under pressure by the American Academy of Pediatrics to eliminate mercury-containing vaccines in their state. Hawaii became the first state to veto the law after being passed by both the State Senate and house.

June 12, 2006
* A letter was sent to the members of the advisory committee for Immunization Practices and to Congress to ask for the ACIP to state a preference for Thimerosal-free vaccines for pregnant women, infants and children. This would be following the Institute of Medicine's recommendations in 2001. This request was made because of the continued recommendation that these groups receive their flu shots, in which about half still contain mercury. The Following organizations made this request:
A-Champ, Autism One, Autism Research Institute, Center for Medical Consumers, Coalition for Mercury Free Drugs, Generation Rescue, Mercury Policy Project, Moms Against Mercury, National Autism Association, National Vaccine Information Center, NoMercury, Prairie Collaborative for Immunization Safety, Safeminds, Talk About Curing Autism, Unlocking Autism.

June 20, 2006
* The state of New York passed a Bill, A699-B providing insurance for individuals with autism by prohibiting insurance carriers from denying coverage due to the autism diagnosis.

June 23, 2006
* The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, signed a law mandating that all state, local, and private insurance plans pay for the treatment of pervasive development disorders. The law is to take effect immediately.

June 29, 2006
* Senator Barack Obama, D of Illinois, introduced S. 3627, "Mercury Market Minimization Act". The Bill would significantly reduce mercury deposited in oceans, lakes and rivers. This Bill has no co-sponsors.

July 2006
* After a year of working with autism organizations to include language that would direct research into all possible causes of autism, the Senate Help Committee removed the language from the Combating Autism Act that was inserted.

* Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano approved 2 measures for $9.6 million for autism research and services in their state.

July 11, 2006
* Senator Barack Obama, D from Illinois, introduced S. 3631, "The Missing Mercury in Manufacturing Monitoring and Mitigation Act", or M5 Act. The Bill would significantly reduce mercury deposited in oceans, lakes and rivers by prohibiting the use of mercury cells in the chlorine or caustic soda manufacturing process by the year 2012. It also puts procedures in place by midyear 2008 to track and report mercury input and output in the chlor-alkali industry. This bill also provides for the transfer and storage of mercury from closed or closing facilities. It also directs the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Register to conduct a health assessment at those facilities that still use mercury after 2008. This Bill has no co-sponsors.

July 25, 2006
* Members of Congress Dave Weldon, R of Florida and Carolyn Maloney, D of New York introduced H.R. 5887 - Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2006. The Bill requires public access to data, makes vaccine safety research and public oversight a high priority for Federal Health Agencies, requires transparency in decision-making by government regulators, requires accountability by the government to the public, requires long-term safety regulatory functions now conducted by the CDC to a new independent entity called the Agency for Vaccine Safety Evaluation (AVSE), requires those that monitor vaccine safety and conduct vaccine research must be free of conflicts of interest, places oversight of the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), the nation’s primary source for vaccine safety information, under the newly created AVSE, ensuring the public that analysis and reporting of vaccine safety will be unbiased, requires the vaccine industry to conduct post-marketing surveillance of adverse reactions to vaccines, correcting the inadequate testing that is used currently, creates an Advisory Council that gives significant participation in the administration of vaccine safety to parties outside the government regulatory bureaucracy, and provides membership to the Advisory Council by those affected by vaccine safety policy: vaccine-injured individuals and their parents.

July 27, 2006
* Members of Congress Carolyn Maloney, D of New York, Tom Osborne, R of Nebraska, and Maurice Hinchey, D of New York introduced H.R. 5940 - Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Population Act of 2006. The Bill will direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct or support a comprehensive study comparing total health outcomes, including the risk of autism, in vaccinated populations in the United States with outcomes in unvaccinated populations in the United States.

August 2006
* Scientists, DK Cheuk and V. Wong at the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University of Hong Kong in China did a study called, "Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Blood Mercury Level: A Case-Control Study in Chinese Children." They found significant differences in blood mercury levels between study subjects and controls in 7 year old children. They stated:
"The geometric mean blood mercury level was also significantly higher in children with inattentive and combined subtypes of ADHD. Children with blood mercury level above 29 nmol/L had 9.69 times higher risk of having ADHD...Conclusion: High blood mercury level was associated with ADHD. Whether the relationship is causal requires further studies."

* The Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMed) filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal court against the FDA for failure to respond to their 2004 citizen petition requesting that restrictions be placed on Thimerosal.

August 3, 2006
* The Combating Autism Act passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate. It has been sent to the House of Representatives for their consideration and vote.

August 24, 2006
* The Department of Health and Human Services through the National Institutes of Health concluded their report from the May 2006 review of the link between Thimerosal and autism and the use of the CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink for future studies. It was issued in October 2006.
"The panel identified several serious problems that were judged to reduce the usefulness of an ecologic study design using the VSD to address the potential association between thimerosal and the risk of AD/ASD. These included uncertainties in case ascertainment, heterogeneity of business practices within and across managed care organizations (MCOs) and their systematic changes over time, misclassification of exposure status using comparisons of before vs. after removal of thimerosal from most childhood vaccines, and the inability to control for temporal changes in awareness, diagnostic practices and potential confounding factors. In light of the cumulative effect of these limitations, the panel reached consensus that an analysis comparing the rates of AD/ASD in the VSD over the time period before, during and after the removal of thimerosal from most childhood vaccines would be uninformative and potentially misleading."
   These assessments are the some of the same types of problems that were present at the time of the Verstraeten Study.

Fall, 2006
* Two studies were published in leading medical journals admitting that limited data exists to support the effectiveness of flu shots. One study, in the "Journal of the American Medical Association", noted that:
   "there is scant data on the efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccine in young children."

September 2006
* Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, D of New York and Mike DeWine, R of Ohio circulate a letter to other Senate members to urge Defense Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Steven, R of Alaska and Ranking Member Daniel Inouye, D of Hawaii to accept the House funding of autism research. They received a total of 18 signatures.
   House Members Chris Smith, R of New Jersey, Mike Doyle, D of Pennsylvania and Carolyn Maloney, D of New York circulated a letter for signatures of fellow members in the house to the Chairman of Department of Defense Appropriations John Murtha, D of Pennsylvania and Ranking Member C.W. Bill Young, R of Florida. They received a total of 43 signatures to the letter.

* A House-Senate conference committee included $7.5 million for autism research in the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill.

September 26, 2006
* The FDA finally made public their answer to the Coalition for Mercury Free Drugs who petitioned them in 2004 to place restrictions on Thimerosal. The FDA denied the petition. Dr. Jeffery Shuren, the FDA?s assistant commissioner for policy, wrote:
   "Only a small number of licensed and approved products still contain thimerosal, and the available evidence supports FDA's conclusion that all currently licensed vaccines and other pharmaceutical drug products containing thimerosal are safe."
   The FDA admitted that they had no substantive evidence confirming the safety of mercury in medicine. They also acknowledged that mercury in drugs could easily be eliminated.

October 2006
* Congressman Joe Barton, R of Texas, refused to allow the Combating Autism Act to leave the committee and go to the floor of the House for a vote. He has stated that he will not even consider the Bill without passage of his own NIH Reform Bill. He also indicated that he will not consider the CAA Bill without the removal of all provisions concerning the NIH. This would gut the Bill by over $600,000 million. This is despite the fact that the majority, of over 200 members of the House, have already supported the Bill and are ready to pass it.
   According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Joe Barton received the donations by pharmaceuticals and health products for the 2006 election cycle, receiving $115,350. He also received $3,500 directly from Eli Lilly and Company and $5,000 from GlaxoSmithKline.

* News media organizations everywhere take notice and pressure is applied to Joe Barton for his refusal to allow the Bill to go to a vote.

* The American Academy of Pediatrics made the decision that children need twice the amount of flu vaccine as the year before. This decision impacted the Thimerosal-free versions of the flu vaccine by doubling the demand.

* Sanofi-Pasteur announced they were unable to produce enough Thimerosal-free flu vaccines due to the new demand that children need twice the amount normally given.

October 26, 2006
* The California district of the Academy of Pediatrics, the California Academy of Family Physicians, The California Medical Association and Kaiser Permanente requested an exemption from the law to ban mercury in vaccines for children and pregnant women in California that went into effect on July 1, 2006. They claimed that there was now an emergency situation because of the Thimerosal-free flu vaccine shortage.

October 27, 2006
* The Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMed) filed an amendment complaint in U.S. Federal Court disputing the FDA's September defense of using mercury in medicine. CoMed is asking the courts to compel the FDA to comply with the law, follow existing regulations, and to provide proof of the safety and efficacy of mercury in drugs.
   According to the FDA, mercury remains in at least 45 different prescribed and over-the-counter medicines including eye ointments, ear solutions, nasal sprays, vaccines, and biologics.
   The lead attorney stated:
"It is not the responsibility of consumers to prove drugs 'unsafe'; it is the FDA's duty to prove drugs are safe."

November 2006
* Putchildrenfirst.org releases a survey of over 9000 Americans to learn if they intended to receive a flu shot, if they knew the ingredients contained in the shot, and who they hold responsible for making sure vaccines are safe. The survey showed that:
74% were unaware that flu shots contain mercury.
78% disagree with the cdc about vaccinating pregnant women and children.
After learning that mercury is an ingredient, 74% are less likely to get a flu shot and 86% of parents say they are less likely to get their child a flu shot.
78 % of respondents believe mercury should not be an ingredient in flu shots given to pregnant women and children.
73% believe the government should warn pregnant women not to get a flu shot if it contains mercury.
More than 70% agree that Congress, doctors and medical groups (e.g., the American Academy of Pediatrics) should take responsibility for ensuring that vaccines do not contain mercury.
80% of respondents and 82% of parents are willing to pay the $2.50 additional cost for a mercury-free flu shot.

* Mike Wagnitz, a Senior Chemist with the University of Wisconsin who has over 20 years experience evaluating materials for mercury stated:
"A common myth is that Thimerosal is added to vaccines in 'trace' amounts. The concentration of mercury in a multi-dose flu vaccine vial is 50,000 parts per billion. To put this in perspective, drinking water cannot exceed 2 parts per billion of mercury, and waste is considered hazardous if it has only 200 parts per billion. Is it really safe then to inject pregnant women, newborns, and infants with levels of mercury 250 times higher than what is legally classified as hazardous waste?"

* Senator Barack Obama, D of Illinois, called upon the Department of Energy to stop its proposed sale of large quantities of mercury. The Department subsequently announced it would not sell its stockpiles.

November 21, 2006
* Dr. Bernard Rimland passes away. Parents and families mourn the loss of a man who dedicated his life to the research of the biological mechanisms behind autism.

December 1, 2006
* Autism organizations across the country sent a joint letter through A-Champ Organization to Congressman Joe Barton urging him to restore the Combating Autism Act to its original form as agreed upon by Autism Organizations and to include the research into environmental factors and vaccines as a potential cause or trigger of autism. AutismFACTS joined in this effort in signing the letter along with these organizations:
A-Champ
Adventures in Autism
Alan D. Clark, M.D. Memorial Research Fund
Angels Wings for Autism
Approaching Autism with Advocacy, Recovery & Education
Autism and Vaccination
Autism Healing Network
Autism in Nebraska
Autism Recovery Network
Autism Recovery Resources of Washington
Autism Society of America, North East Louisiana Chapter
Autism Solution Center
Autism Support Daily
Autismfacts.com
Biological Education for Autism Treatments, Iowa
Biological Education for Autism Treatment, Minnesota
Brenen Hornstein Autism Research and Education Foundation
Coalition for Mercury Free Nebraska
Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs
DAVID&SAM
Dental Amalgam Mercury Syndrome, Inc.
Developmental Delay Resources
FAIR Autism Media
Foundation for Mercury-Injured Children
Heal Autism Now Delaware
Healing Every Autistic Life Foundation
International Hyperbaric Medicine Association
Moms Against Mercury
National Autism Association, Long Island
National Autism Association, New York City
National Autism Association, Ohio
National Autism Association Foundation
No Mercury
Parents for Autism Autoimmune and Vaccine Education
Patient Resource Center
Research, Education, and Action for Autism Spectrum Children
Schafer Autism Report
Tennesseans for Safer Vaccines

December 6, 2006
* The Combating Autism Act passes in House of Representatives by a 2/3 majority voice vote and will be sent back to the Senate for deliberations on the House version of the bill. Appropriations, or funding, for the Bill are not in place. The Bill also removed the provisions calling for more Centers of Excellence for autism. The Bill does not specifically use language to order the research into vaccines, other biologics and their preservatives such as Thimerosal. Dan Burton made a statement in support of the Bill. Included in that statement was:
   "During my tenure as Chairman of Government Reform Committee (1997-2002), and as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness (2003-2005), a number of very credible national and international scientists testified at a series of hearings that the mercury in vaccines is a contributing factor to developing neurological disorders, including, but not limited to, modest declines in intelligence quotient (IQ), autism, and Alzheimer's Disease. And the body of evidence to support that conclusion gets larger every day.
   Yet we continue to hear repeatedly in Congressional hearings, in media communications, and through government and scientific reports that "there is no evidence that proves a connection between vaccines and autism." This conclusion is not too surprising when you consider that our health agencies seem to routinely dismiss out of hand any scientific study that does conclude that thimerosal is a danger.
   It is imperative that we do all we can to restore the public's trust in vaccinations. And the only way we are going to resolve the conflict of opinion over thimerosal is through more research. Unfortunately, if the Department of Health and Human Services never funds or conducts the right studies, and given their current track record on the subject that is very likely what will happen, this question will forever remain unanswered. That will be a national tragedy because often once and environmental cause is discovered, immediate steps can be taken to prevent new cases and abate the epidemic. In addition, knowledge of the environmental cause or triggers often leads directly to more effective treatments.
   I stand here today not just as a concerned grandfather of an autistic child but as the voice for the hundreds of parents and families who continue to contact my office looking for help for their children. They are our constituents, we represent them in the People's House, and I hope we are all listening to them...we have a responsibility to those children and families already suffering. In the meantime, we should err on the side of caution and remove thimerosal, even trace amounts, from all vaccinations.
   By failing to provide a clear Congressional mandate to research ALL of the potential environmental causes of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), including vaccines and their preservatives, I believe we are handicapping our efforts to give all ASD patients the best possible quality of life and the ability to make the greatest contributions to society. I hope that in the coming weeks, months and years this Congress will push for further research into the question of thimerosal and autism so that one day we will be able to say that we have done everything possible to stop and treat this epidemic. In the meantime I urge my colleagues to support this very good Bill.
   The Bill was voted on by a voice vote so no record is kept to show who voted for or against the Bill.

December 7, 2006
* The House version of the Combating Autism Act is passed unanimously by the Senate.

December 11, 2006
* President Bush is presented with the passed Combating Autism Act and it awaits his signature to put the Bill into law.

December 19, 2006
* President Bush signed the Combating Autism Act and puts it into law.

2007
* Vermont State Representatives Hosford, Fisher, Deen, Donahue, Haas, Kupersmith, McCullough, Mrowicki and Smith introduced a Bill, H. 114, in the 2007-2008 legislative session to ban Thimerosal in vaccines in their state for infants and children under the age of 3 and pregnant women.

* West Virginia State Delegate Patrick Lane introduced a Bill, 2152, to ban Thimerosal in vaccines in their state for infants and children under the age of 3 and pregnant women.

* The Gardasil HPV vaccine is added to the schedule for all girls in 3 doses between 11 and 12 years of age.

* The meningococcal vaccine is added to the schedule for all kids twice at ages 11 to 12 years and again between 13 and 18 years.

* Today, 3 out of 4 vaccine injured children who submit claims to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund are refused. More than $1 Billion sits in the fund unused, collected by a "user fee" in the way of a small charge added on to the cost of every state mandated vaccine.

* Thimerosal-containing vaccines continue to be distributed by the United States through the World Health Organization to other countries. These vaccines have never been required or requested to have mercury removed and all still contain full dose Thimerosal.