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    1991 Memo Warned of Mercury in Shots. Page 1 of 2

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    A 1991 internal memo from a Merck executive warned that the mercury level in vaccines given to 6-month-old children was 87 times higher than recommended safety guidelines for daily mercury consumption. The memo showed that vaccine makers were aware of mercury concerns in vaccines years before publicly disclosing the issue in 1999. It has become key evidence in lawsuits alleging that thimerosal in vaccines caused neurological disorders in children.

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    1991 Memo Warned of Mercury in Shots. Page 1 of 2

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    A 1991 internal memo from a Merck executive warned that the mercury level in vaccines given to 6-month-old children was 87 times higher than recommended safety guidelines for daily mercury consumption. The memo showed that vaccine makers were aware of mercury concerns in vaccines years before publicly disclosing the issue in 1999. It has become key evidence in lawsuits alleging that thimerosal in vaccines caused neurological disorders in children.

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    A 1991 internal memo from a Merck executive warned that the mercury level in vaccines given to 6-month-old children was 87 times higher than recommended safety guidelines for daily mercury consumption. The memo showed that vaccine makers were aware of mercury concerns in vaccines years before publicly disclosing the issue in 1999. It has become key evidence in lawsuits alleging that thimerosal in vaccines caused neurological disorders in children.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    93 views5 pages

    1991 Memo Warned of Mercury in Shots. Page 1 of 2

    Uploaded by

    guytr2
    A 1991 internal memo from a Merck executive warned that the mercury level in vaccines given to 6-month-old children was 87 times higher than recommended safety guidelines for daily mercury consumption. The memo showed that vaccine makers were aware of mercury concerns in vaccines years before publicly disclosing the issue in 1999. It has become key evidence in lawsuits alleging that thimerosal in vaccines caused neurological disorders in children.

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    YOU ARE HERE: LAT Home Collections Health Hazards


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    '91 Memo Warned of Mercury in Shots


    February 08, 2005 | Myron Levin | Times Staff Writer

    A memo from Merck & Co. shows that, nearly a decade before the first public disclosure, senior
    executives were concerned that infants were getting an elevated dose of mercury in vaccinations
    containing a widely used sterilizing agent.
    The March 1991 memo, obtained by The Times, said that 6-month-old children who received their shots
    on schedule would get a mercury dose up to 87 times higher than guidelines for the maximum daily
    consumption of mercury from fish.

    FROM THE ARCHIVES


    Battle Lines Drawn Over Mercury in Shots
    April 10, 2006

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    June 23, 2004

    "When viewed in this way, the mercury load appears rather large," said the memo from Dr. Maurice R.
    Hilleman, an internationally renowned vaccinologist. It was written to the president of Merck's vaccine
    division.
    The memo was prepared at a time when U.S. health authorities were aggressively expanding their
    immunization schedule by adding five new shots for children in their first six months. Many of these
    shots, as well as some previously included on the vaccine schedule, contained thimerosal, an
    antibacterial compound that is nearly 50% ethyl mercury, a neurotoxin.

    Mercury and Fish: A Disquieting New Study : Food


    Safety ...
    May 13, 1993

    Federal health officials disclosed for the first time in 1999 that many infants were being exposed to
    mercury above health guidelines through routine vaccinations. The announcement followed a review by
    the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that was described at the time as a first effort to assess the
    cumulative mercury dose.
    But the Merck memo shows that at least one major manufacturer was aware of the concern much earlier.
    "The key issue is whether thimerosal, in the amount given with the vaccine, does or does not constitute a
    safety hazard," the memo said. "However, perception of hazard may be equally important."
    MORE STORIES ABOUT
    Health Hazards
    Vaccines
    Merck & Co Inc
    Mercury (metal)

    Merck officials would not discuss the contents of the memo, citing pending litigation.
    Separately, the drug giant is trying to fend off a legal onslaught over Vioxx, the popular painkiller it
    introduced in 1999. The company, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., faces hundreds of lawsuits
    claiming that the drug caused heart problems and that Merck concealed the risks. Merck, which in
    September pulled Vioxx off the market, has denied the allegations.
    The legacy of thimerosal, meanwhile, also is causing problems for Merck and other drug companies.
    More than 4,200 claims have been filed in a special federal tribunal, the Vaccine Injury Compensation
    Program, by parents asserting that their children suffered autism or other neurodevelopmental
    disorders from mercury in vaccines. A handful of similar claims are awaiting trial in civil courts. The
    plaintiffs cite various scientific studies that they say prove the dangers of thimerosal, including at the
    levels found in vaccines.
    Thimerosal has been largely removed from pediatric vaccines in recent years in what health officials
    have described as a precautionary measure. (This has been accomplished as drug makers have
    voluntarily switched from multi-dose vials of vaccine, which require a chemical preservative like
    thimerosal, to single-dose containers.)
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    In September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation prohibiting vaccines with more than trace
    amounts of thimerosal from being given to babies and pregnant women. Iowa has a similar ban.
    For their part, Merck and other vaccine makers, along with many government health officials and
    scientists, say there is no credible evidence of harm from the amounts of mercury once widely present in
    kids' shots. They cite a report in May by a committee of the national Institute of Medicine concluding
    that the evidence "favors rejection of a causal relationship" between vaccines and autism.
    The seven-page Merck memo was provided to The Times by James A. Moody, a Washington lawyer who
    works with parent groups on vaccine safety issues. He said he obtained it from a whistle-blower whom he
    would not name.
    The memo provides the "first hard evidence that the companies knew -- or at least Merck knew -- that
    the children were getting significantly more mercury" than the generally accepted dose, the lawyer said.

    He also provided a copy to attorneys for Vera Easter, a Texas woman who blames thimerosal for the
    condition of her 7-year-old son, Jordan, who is autistic and mentally retarded. The Easter lawsuit is
    pending in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The defendants include Merck; rival
    vaccine makers GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis Pasteur Inc. and Wyeth; and thimerosal developer Eli Lilly &
    Co.
    Easter's lawyer, Andy Waters, described the memo as "incredibly damning and incredibly significant."
    After receiving it in the fall, he confronted Merck lawyers about why he hadn't seen it earlier.
    In a letter to Waters in October, Merck attorneys said they had in fact made available 32 boxes of records,
    but that the copying service hired by the plaintiffs for some reason had failed to copy several of the boxes
    -- including the one with the Hilleman memo.
    "The memo," said company spokeswoman Mary Elizabeth Blake, "was produced voluntarily by Merck in
    the ordinary course of discovery proceedings."

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