Mercury additive OK for vaccines, study finds

CHICAGO The New England Journal of Medicine has published an article which discusses the lack of connection between a preservative found in vaccines and a child’s IQ, language and motor skills, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The study, which compared an infant’s exposure to thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, to a youth’s ability to carry out cognitive process at a later stage in childhood, indicated little difference between children who had low exposure to the preservative and those with high exposure. For the study, researchers evaluated 1,047 children ages 7 to 10 by determining their level of exposure to thimerosal in infancy by administering a three-hour set of tests.

“These are very reassuring findings,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunizations.