Many blame autism on multi-dose vaccines which contain
mercury. Banned in the West, does the fact that they are cheap justify
their use in India?
Mihir
Srivastava
New Delhi |
 |
What
caused it? An autistic child
Photo: Lakshman Anand |
| |
Most vaccines
administered under the Universal Immunisation Programme contain
mercury |
There is no conclusive
scientific evidence yet, but many parents are convinced that the presence
of mercury in vaccines administered to infants is responsible for their
children’s autism. Mercury acts as a poison in the human body.
The controversy over mercury content in vaccines first arose in the
West 25 years ago. Multi-dose vaccines contain Thimerosal — a
potent neurotoxin with 50 percent mercury content used to stem fungi
and bacterial growth in vaccines. These multi-dose vaccines are still
being administered in India. Multi-dose vaccine vials are 10 times cheaper
than single-dose vials — which do not contain any mercury —
and hence preferred by the international agencies for vaccination programmes
in developing countries.
The body of research
which supports proscribing multidose vaccines is growing, as is apprehension
among many parents about administering these vaccines. “I did
not get the mmr vaccine administered to my second daughter,” says
Rekha, a Delhi resident. Her 11-year-old daughter Saumaya suffers from
autism. “My second child is normal. We have no family history
of any disorder like this. I have no scientific reason for it. I did
this out of gut felling,” she says. She has reasons to believe
that her first child’s complications stem from the vaccines administered
to her in her infancy.
Forty-four-year-old
Jagannath Chatterjee, a health activist who suffers from autism, has
no doubts about what caused his condition. “I regressed at the
age of 17. I had taken either the mmr or the DPT, I don’t know
simply because in India you are never told, but it was a 3-in-1 vaccine.”
Within a couple of weeks he started experiencing spasmodic tics, electric-shock
like jerks, loss of coordination of limbs, extreme weakness, memory
loss, insomnia, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and a fear of travelling.
His was reduced to a wreck. “I experienced a total change in personality.
Now, in retrospect, I know that autism is certainly is not genetic.”
Detoxification
of heavy metals present in the system and in the brain (mercury is a
heavy metal) has proved to be the most effective treatment to limit
the disability caused by autism. It proved very beneficial to 11-year-old
Shikar who is autistic. “My son has benefited a lot by the three-month
long detoxification course,” says his father Deepak Varma. Shikar
now replies in yes or no when he is asked if he is hungry, and makes
his food preference known. “Three months ago this kind of a response
was unthinkable for us,” says Varma.
“Mercury laden
vaccines are now banned in the West but most of the Indian paediatricians
have no clue about it,” says Cherry Mishra, a schoolteacher and
autism awareness activist.
The possible link
between mercury in vaccines and the unprecedented growth in the number
of autism cases among children in the West caused great concern among
parents there. This led to a ban on such vaccines in many developed
countries. But millions of children in India every year are still indiscriminately
administered these vaccines.
Dr Veena Kalra,
head of paediatrics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,
agrees that mercury in vaccines is harmful. But she does not call for
any further action on this front. “It is still not proved…
(Highlighting the presence of mercury) will act as a disincentive for
people to get their children vaccinated,” she says. “If
it’s a choice between mercury and vaccine, I would for sure go
for vaccine.”
However the choice
is not between saying yes or no to vaccines, but between vaccines with
mercury or without it. Alternative vaccines that do not use mercury
as a preservative are available, but they are costly. The thimerosal
used in multi-dose vials is cheap and makes them last longer.
It is no surprise,
therefore, that international health organisations like World Health
Organisation (WHO) and Unicef promote the use of these vaccines in developing
countries, including India.
Vaccine manufacturers
in developed countries make mercury-free vaccines for the domestic market,
but the same companies supply vaccines with thimerosal to developing
countries.
In India most vaccines
which used in the universal immunisation programme contain mercury.
Mercury is present in DPT, Hepatitis B, Haemophililus influenza and
combination of vaccines to the extent of 25-50 micro grams per 0.5 ml
paediatric dose.
A child who has
undergone a full vaccine schedule in India receives a total of about
375 to 450 micrograms of Thimerosal. This is 50,000 times more than
the limit prescribed in drinking water by WHO.
On the other hand,
WHO is promoting the Hepatitis B vaccine in India, which has high levels
of mercury. India is still waiting for a study that would establish
the link between mercury-laden vaccines and autism, despite the fact
that the toxicity of mercury is a well-known and established fact. Till
such time as a definite link is established Indian children just might
unknowingly be risking autism every time they are vaccinated.
