{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T11:45:22Z","timestamp":1791287122231,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"American Public Health Association","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Am J Public Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2008,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The controversy regarding the once widely used mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines has raised many historical questions that have not been adequately explored. Why was this preservative incorporated in the first place? Was there any real evidence that it caused harm? And how did thimerosal become linked in the public mind to the \u201cautism epidemic\u201d?<\/jats:p><jats:p>I examine the origins of the thimerosal controversy and their legacy for the debate that has followed. More specifically, I explore the parallel histories of three factors that converged to create the crisis: vaccine preservatives, mercury poisoning, and autism.<\/jats:p><jats:p>An understanding of this history provides important lessons for physicians and policymakers seeking to preserve the public\u2019s trust in the nation\u2019s vaccine system.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2105\/ajph.2007.113159","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2008,1,3]],"date-time":"2008-01-03T01:59:47Z","timestamp":1199325587000},"page":"244-253","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":132,"title":["Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism"],"prefix":"10.2105","volume":"98","author":[{"given":"Jeffrey P.","family":"Baker","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The author is with The Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"844","reference":[{"key":"R2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1377\/hlthaff.24.3.729"},{"key":"R6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1749-6632.1950.tb31947.x"},{"key":"R7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1929.02710230035009"},{"key":"R8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"H. M. Powell and W. A. Jamieson, \u201cMerthiolate as a Germicide,\u201dAmerican Journal of Hygiene13 (1931): 296\u2013310.","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordjournals.aje.a117118"},{"key":"R9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1930.02720110012005"},{"key":"R11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"W.A. Jamieson and H.M. Powell, \u201cMerthiolate as a Preservative for Biological Products,\u201dAmerican Journal of Hygiene14 (1931): 218\u2013224.","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordjournals.aje.a117759"},{"key":"#cr-split#-R12.1","unstructured":"H.M. Powell and W.A. Jamieson, \"On the Efficacy of 'Merthiolate' as a Biological Preservative After Ten Years' Use,\" Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 47 (1937): 65-70"},{"key":"#cr-split#-R12.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Olga R. Povitsky and Minnie Eisner, \"Merthiolate Versus Phenol as a Preservative for Diphtheria Toxoids,\" Journal of Immunology 28 (1935): 209-213.","DOI":"10.4049\/jimmunol.28.3.209"},{"key":"R14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"AMA Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, \u201cReport to the Council: Organomercurial Compounds,\u201dJournal of the American Medical Association136 (1948): 36\u201341.","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1948.02890220039010"},{"key":"R16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1948.82890440006008a"},{"key":"R18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/pgmj.48.561.417"},{"key":"R19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/adc.52.12.962"},{"key":"R20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.107.5.1147"},{"key":"R21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-0536.1988.tb02809.x"},{"key":"R22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3109\/10408449509089885"},{"key":"R25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/tera.1420180216"},{"key":"R26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.181.4096.230"},{"key":"R27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kathyryn R. Mahaffey, \u201cMethylmercury: A New Look at the Risks,\u201dPublic Health Reports114 (1999): 403, 407.","DOI":"10.1093\/phr\/114.5.397"},{"key":"R28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0002-9378(76)90557-3"},{"key":"R29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Laman Amin-Zaki, Sami Elhassani, Mohammed A Majeed, et al. \u201cIntra-Uterine Methylmercury Poisoning in Iraq,\u201dPediatrics54 (1974): 587\u2013595.","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.54.5.587"},{"key":"R30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0022-3476(74)80291-X"},{"key":"R32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0892-0362(97)00097-4"},{"key":"R33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.280.8.701"},{"key":"R40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1977.tb00443.x"},{"key":"R41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01537863"},{"key":"R42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01537746"},{"key":"R44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.312.7027.327"},{"key":"R47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(97)11096-0"},{"key":"R48","unstructured":"Fitzpatrick,MMR and Autism."},{"key":"R50","unstructured":"Kirby,Evidence of Harm, 89\u201390."},{"key":"R52","unstructured":"Arthur Allen, \u201cThe Not-So-Crackpot Autism Theory,\u201dNew York Times Magazine, November 10, 2002."},{"key":"R53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.107.5.1147"},{"key":"R54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.104.3.568"},{"key":"R55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.109.6.1153"},{"key":"R56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.107.5.1177"},{"key":"#cr-split#-R57.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sarah J. Clark, Michael D. Cabana, Tasneem Malik, Hussain Yusuf, and Gary L. Freed, \"Hepatitis B Vaccination Practices in Hospital Nurseries Before and After Changes in Vaccine Recommendations,\" Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 135 (2001): 915-920","DOI":"10.1001\/archpedi.155.8.915"},{"key":"#cr-split#-R57.2","unstructured":"\"Impact of the 1999 AAP\/USPHS Joint Statement on Thimerosal in Vaccine on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccination Practices,\" MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 50 (2001): 94-97."},{"key":"R59","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.282.18.1763"},{"key":"R61","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1054\/mehy.2000.1281"},{"key":"R62","unstructured":"Kirby,Evidence of Harm, 1\u20137."},{"key":"R63","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"One reason that many parents have not accepted the IOM Report\u2019s conclusion is their belief that the CDC deliberately manipulated data in early analyses of the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a charge that the primary researchers have patently denied. See Kirby,Evidence of Harm, 270\u2013299; T. Verstraeten, R.L. Davis, F. deStefano, et al. \u201cSafety of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: A Two-Phased Study of Computerized Health Maintenance Organization Databases,\u201dPediatrics112 (2003): 1039\u20131048.","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.112.5.1039"},{"key":"R64","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1363849031000139315"}],"container-title":["American Journal of Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/ajph.aphapublications.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.2105\/AJPH.2007.113159","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,15]],"date-time":"2023-05-15T16:54:47Z","timestamp":1684169687000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/ajph.aphapublications.org\/doi\/full\/10.2105\/AJPH.2007.113159"}},"subtitle":["One Controversy, Three Histories"],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2008,2]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2008,2]]}},"alternative-id":["10.2105\/AJPH.2007.113159"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2105\/ajph.2007.113159","relation":{},"ISSN":["0090-0036","1541-0048"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0090-0036","type":"print"},{"value":"1541-0048","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2008,2]]}}}