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The Lingering Legacy Of Thimerosal

When manufacturers and public health officials took steps more than two decades ago to remove thimerosal from most pediatric vaccines, their intention was to bolster public confidence. Instead, it became a double-edged sword, amplifying vaccine misinformation that persists to this day. With Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, now likely to take the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services under a second Trump Administration, thimerosal myths seem to persist no less today.

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 RFK Jr to remove preservative thimerosal from all US vaccines

RFK Jr to remove preservative thimerosal from all US vaccines Anti-vaccine campaigns have targeted thimerosal for decades despite no evidence of ingredient causing harm Jessica Glenza Wed 23 Jul 2025 14.39 EDT Share Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, will formally require vaccine makers to remove thimerosal from vaccines. The ingredient has been the target of anti-vaccine campaigns and misinformation for decades. Arguments against the preservative culminated in June, when a key federal vaccine advisory panel, remade with Kennedy’s ideological allies, recommended against the preservative.

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More than a dozen subsequent studies of vaccines and, specifically, thimerosal have found no link between the shots or the specific preservative and autism. Moreover, follow up research has found no evidence of any harm from thimerosal in vaccines, aside from rare allergic reactions. However, most vaccines used in recent decades no longer contain thimerosal because of manufacturing changes. None of the vaccine formulations recommended for children six years or younger contain thimerosal, since 1999, out of an abundance of caution, and to reduce potential childhood mercury exposure levels, in all forms.

CDC Picks Thimerosal Researcher for Vaccines, Autism Study

According to CDC officials, Thimerosal was included as a vaccine ingredient in inactivated vaccines from the 1930s until about 2001, although federal health officials strongly deny that Thimerosal causes autism. Thimerosal is still an ingredient in some inactivated seasonal influenza vaccines in multi-dose vials and, according to some vaccine safety critics, Thimerosal is also included in trace amounts in single dose vials of other inactivated childhood vaccines despite federal health officials insistence that the mercury preservative has been completely removed.

Government Misled Public on Thimerosal Link to Autism ‘for Decades,’ Falsely Claims It’s Been Removed From Vaccines

According to a special investigation by journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the government has misled the public for decades about the science linking thimerosal to autism and other neurodevelopment disorders. It also continues to claim thimerosal has been removed from all childhood vaccines — even though some vaccines, including those given to children, still contain the ingredient.

Low-dose Thimerosal (ethyl-mercury) is still used in infants` vaccines: Should we be concerned with this form of exposure?

The risk from the neurotoxic effects of pre- and post-natal Hg exposures depend, in part, on aggravating or attenuating environmental and/or genetic-associated factors. Health authorities in charge of controlling infectious disease dismiss the toxicology of mercury (immunological and subtle neurological effects as insignificant) related to low-dose Thimerosal. The review addresses the evidence that brings into question the safety of Thimerosal that is still present in vaccines given to pregnant women, infants, and children in developing countries, and recognizes the ethical imperative to extend the use of Thimerosal-free vaccines to developing countries, not just developed countries.

Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism

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 “autism epidemic”?

Mercury/Thimerosal/Autism

In February 2017, Children’s Health Defense collected 89 peer-reviewed published articles linking autism, mercury and thimerosal. Each of these article abstracts are presented here along with a short annotation in layman terms about what the researchers found and how the findings are linked to autism. The science continues to accumulate that mercury and thimerosal are potent drivers of the autism epidemic.

Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Autism: A Review of Recent Epidemiologic Studies

Epidemiologic studies continue to provide evidence that there is no association between thimerosal exposure and autism. Whereas an infant younger than 6 months in 1999 could have been exposed to approximately 200 mcg of mercury derived from vaccines, the current amount is less than 3 mcg, if certain influenza vaccines are not included

Thimerosol is a Developmental Neurotoxicant

The vaccine preservative, thimerosal contains 50% ethylmercury. Its structural analog methylmercury, is a potent and well known developmental neurotoxin and substantial evidence exists that ethylmercury is also a developmental neurotoxin.

Vaccine Ingredients: Thimerosal

Mercury is a naturally occurring element found in the earth's crust, air, soil and water. Since the earth's formation, volcanic eruptions, weathering of rocks and burning of coal have caused mercury to be released into the environment. Once released, certain types of bacteria in the environment can change mercury to methylmercury. Methylmercury makes its way through the food chain in fish, animals and humans. At high levels, it can be toxic to people. Thimerosal contains a different form of mercury called ethylmercury. Studies comparing ethylmercury and methylmercury suggest that they are processed differently in the human body. Ethylmercury is broken down and excreted much more rapidly than methylmercury. Therefore, ethylmercury (the type of mercury in the influenza vaccine) is much less likely than methylmercury (the type of mercury in the environment) to accumulate in the body and cause harm.

Vaccine preservative at center of autism debate is harmless, study finds

Some parents' groups and prominent legislators contend that thimerosal has caused an epidemic of childhood autism. Several studies have examined this question and found no evidence that thimerosal is associated with autism.

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Children’s Health Defense

While correlation doesn’t necessarily indicate causation, it’s clear that something is amiss and the health of our children is going in the wrong direction. The only way to stop these troubling health trends is by investigating all possible causes, even if it means re-examining what has ironically been considered “settled science” in mainstream medicine.