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Mother Doesn't Tire in Mission to Make Vaccines Safer for Nation's
Children
By Jason Sandford
published: March 8, 2005 6:00 am
Amy Carson is on a mission. Carson wants North Carolina state lawmakers to ban, or drastically reduce, the use of thimerosal in vaccines and the flu shot. Carson has a 8-year-old son with developmental disabilities she believes were caused after he received routine vaccinations. The culprit thimerosal, an organic mercury compound used in many vaccines to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination. Debate has been raging for years over the possible connection between thimersosal and a rise in developmental disabilities in children, especially autism. In a report last year, a U.S. government panel concluded decisively in an Institute of Medicine report that childhood vaccinations do not cause autism. But Carson and many others are not convinced. For every study denying a connection, one can be found to argue there is one. Carson says she has petitions signed by thousands of North Carolinians, including doctors and other medical professionals, who favor removing thimerosal from vaccines. Carson and another mother from Raleigh recently met with lawmakers to lobby for passage of the legislation. Carson is passionate about her cause - she has put up billboards in Asheville and Raleigh, and the back of her car is plastered with information about the issue. She has got a Web site, too - www.momsagainstmercury.org. "This is about getting neurotoxins out of vaccines and flu shots. It's not about whether or not you think thimerosal causes autism," Carson said in a recent interview. She has a point. If there's any chance it can make us safer, why not do away with it? Carson says similar legislation at the federal level is moving slowly. Two states have passed similar legislation. Right now, she says, "state-by-state is the way to go." |
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