The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Modernization Act of 1997 called for the FDA to review and assess the risk of mercury containing food and drugs. In line with this review, U.S. vaccine manufacturers responded to a December 1998 and April 1999 FDA request to provide more detailed information about the thimerosal content of their preparations which include this compound as a preservative. Thimerosal has been used as an additive to biologics and vaccines since the 1930's... Some but not all of the vaccines recommended routinely for children in the United States contain thimerosal.
...some children could be exposed to a cumulative level of mercury over the first six months of life that exceeds...federal guidelines...
...there is the...risk...of neuro-developmental effects...
...the Public Health Service, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agree that thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible. Similar conclusions were reached this year in a meeting attended by European regulatory agencies, the European vaccine manufacturers, and the US FDA which examined the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines produced or sold in European countries.
The US public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics are working collaboratively to assure that the replacement of thimerosal-containing vaccines takes place as expeditiously as possible...
...Clinicians and parents can take advantage of the flexibility within the existing schedule...to postpone the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine...
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