"Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982."

CONTACT:
Barbara Loe Fisher, NVIC
703-938-0342
Sallie Bernard, SAFEMINDS
908-276-8032  

Embargoed For Release at 1 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2001

NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER SAYS IOM REPORT CONFIRMS 1999 FDA/EPA ORDER FOR MERCURY-FREE VACCINES  

Washington, D.C. - The nation’s oldest and largest vaccine safety advocacy organization, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), today called the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report evaluating whether mercury preservatives in vaccines have caused developmental delays in children a “confirmation” that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were justified in ordering drug companies to take mercury out of childhood vaccines in 1999.  Although the IOM’s Immunization Safety Review Committee concluded there is not enough evidence to prove or disprove the hypothesis that mercury-containing vaccines have caused children to develop learning disabilities, ADHD and autism, the IOM Committee found enough evidence that mercury can damage the human brain to recommend that mercury preservatives be removed from all vaccines and over-the-counter consumer products. 

   “This IOM report confirms the obvious: mercury is bad for you and we shouldn’t be injecting our babies with it. Even though there have been too few controlled studies to confirm the relationship between mercury-containing vaccines and various kinds of brain dysfunction, the bottom line is that drug companies should have come up with a non-toxic way to preserve the stability of vaccines a long time ago. Now we need a comprehensive analysis of the potential toxicity of all other vaccine additives, starting with aluminum,” said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of NVIC. 

   NVIC today joined with SAFEMINDS, founded in 2000 by parents who believe their children were harmed by mercury in vaccines, in calling for the removal of all mercury-containing childhood vaccines from the market in the U.S. and for doctors to warn pregnant women that the flu vaccine contains mercury.  

   The National Vaccine Information Center, a non-profit organization founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine injured children, has long advocated a systematic evaluation of vaccine preservatives, adjuvants and other components by industry and government to confirm vaccine purity and safety. NVIC worked with Congress to create the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 and now represents more 35,000 parents and grandparents nationwide.  

The National Vaccine Information Center is a non-profit educational organization founded by parents of vaccine-injured children in 1982.