[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1531]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              MERCURY AND AUTISM: A ``PLAUSIBLE'' ARGUMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, for about the past 4 years we 
have been talking about children with autism. We have gone from 1 in 
10,000 children who are autistic to 1 in 150 to 200. It is an absolute 
epidemic. And we have had hearing after hearing where we brought in 
scientists from around the world who told us that one of the major 
reasons for children to become autistic and have ADHD and other mental 
problems and psychological problems is because of an additive that was 
put into vaccines called thimerosal. It is a mercury-based additive, a 
preservative, that is supposed to preserve the vaccine if you put it in 
multiple shot vials.
  Recently, a study was done by researchers from Johns Hopkins 
University, Northeastern University in Boston, the University of 
Nebraska and Tufts University, and it was published in the Vancouver 
Sun. It was not in any American newspaper, but in the Vancouver, 
British Columbia, Sun. It had a headline, ``Vaccine additive linked to 
brain damage in children. Mercury-based preservative tied to autism, 
ADHD, U.S. researchers say.''
  After that came out, there was a flurry of activity over at Health 
and Human Services, and the Institute of Medicine's Immunization Review 
Board met yesterday and said, well, there is no conclusive evidence 
that this is causing that kind of a problem.
  No conclusive evidence? One in 10,000 children used to be autistic; 
now it is 1 in 150 to 200. It is going to cost us billions and 
trillions of dollars to take care of them over the years to come 
because they are not going to be able to cope with society. This study 
is going to be published in a scientific journal in April called 
Molecular Psychiatry.
  This meeting that took place yesterday with the Institute of 
Medicine's Immunization Review Board, they had the people that were on 
the side of the pharmaceutical companies saying, oh, there is no proof 
that the mercury in vaccines is causing these neurological problems.
  The fact of the matter is, almost all of the people who were taking 
that position were people who had a vested interest in the 
pharmaceutical industry's position. They were getting money for 
research grants. Their universities where they study were getting 
grants from the pharmaceutical industry. Many of these people work for 
pharmaceutical companies, and they are taking the position that mercury 
in vaccines does not cause brain damage.
  But it does not just affect kids. An article that came out just a 
couple of days ago said that one in four women aged 55 and older are 
going to suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's, and one in six men aged 
55 and older are going to suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's. So the 
mercury in our vaccines is not just damaging our kids and hurting our 
society for future generations, but it is hurting seniors as well.
  Something has to be done about it. We have to get mercury, which 
everybody knows is a toxic substance, out of anything that goes into 
the human body, especially vaccines.
  Now because of our hearings and raising cain over the past 4 years, 
we have been able to get it out of all children's vaccines except two, 
but they are still putting it in two children's vaccines. We need to 
get it out of all of them.
  Adults, for my friends in Congress, if you are interested, when you 
get your flu vaccine, it has mercury in it; and almost every 
vaccination you get when you go overseas to visit Iraq and every place 
else has mercury in it. Our troops in the Persian Gulf were getting as 
many as 11 shots in one day that had mercury in it; and those people, 
if these researchers are correct, are going to suffer at some point in 
their life neurological damage.
  So I would like to say to my colleagues who may be paying attention 
tonight, these are pictures of children who have been damaged who are 
autistic. Their parents have to deal with them on a daily basis. Many 
of them grow up to be 14 or 15 years old, and they go into fits because 
of their mental disorder and because of autism. The parents are scared 
to death of them, but they do not want to put their kids in a mental 
institution, they want to keep them at home, and they do not have the 
funds to deal with it.
  It is just an American tragedy, a tragedy that does not need to occur 
if we would just get mercury out of all vaccines, especially children's 
vaccines. We need to do it now, and the people at HHS and FDA and the 
pharmaceutical industry need to come to the truth and tell the American 
people that there is a problem.
  I would like to end with a quote from a prominent scientist. His name 
was Charles Sanders Pierce. He was a renowned American scientist. He 
said, ``There is one thing even more vital to science than intelligent 
methods; and that is the sincere desire to find the truth, whatever it 
may be.''
  So I say to my friends at HHS and the pharmaceutical industry, get 
with the program. Let the American people know the truth and get 
mercury out of vaccines.

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