> Offhand comment led reporter to write about vaccine-autism link
>
 By KRISTI L. NELSON, 
KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL
 October 24, 2005
>
> The man virtually canonized by parents of autistic children and
> vilified by "angry pediatricians" said he had no agenda beyond  
> documenting questions that need to be answered.
>
> In fact, before doing the research that led to the book "Evidence
> of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical  
> Controversy," published in April by St. Martin's press, freelance  
> writer and sometime New York Times contributor David Kirby "knew  
> nothing" about autism, he said.
>
> Kirby, who lives in Brooklyn, doesn't have an autistic family
> member or loved one. In 15 years as a reporter, he'd never done a  
> single story on autism.
>
> "I knew nothing about it," he said. "I didn't even know it was an
> issue."
>
> Then, late in 2002, scoping out a possible feature for a women's
> magazine, Kirby visited some parents in Southern California who  
> were using alternative medicine to treat their autistic children.  
> One of the mothers "offhandedly" mentioned many parents believe  
> mercury in vaccines was tied to their children's autism.
>
> "I thought to myself, 'You're crazy,'" Kirby said. "'There's no
> mercury in vaccines.'"
>
> Or even if there were, he reasoned, the Centers for Disease Control
> and Prevention would be monitoring it: "'They would never let it  
> get to dangerous levels.'"
>
> In fact, many vaccines were made with the preservative thimerosal,
> which is almost 50 percent mercury. However, repeated  
> epidemiological studies failed to prove a connection between  
> thimerosal and autism. While the CDC, FDA, American Academy of  
> Pediatrics and others remain firm that there is no evidence that  
> the "trace amounts" of mercury in vaccines cause any harm, a  
> growing number of parents, advocates and researchers have become  
> increasingly convinced thimerosal is linked to what they call an  
> "epidemic" of autism. In 1999, the CDC called for pharmaceutical  
> companies to "phase out" the use of thimerosal in routine childhood  
> immunizations, but it's still present in flu shots and some other  
> medications.
>
> It's estimated as many as one in 166 children today is diagnosed
> with an autism spectrum disorder. That's up from one in 250 five  
> years ago, one in 500 in the 1990s - and one in 10,000 in the  
> 1980s. Up for debate is how much of that increase is attributable  
> to better public awareness and more definitive autism diagnoses.
>
> But when a rider that would effectively dismiss all current and
> future civil-court thimerosal lawsuits was anonymously attached to  
> the Homeland Security Act of 2002 just before it went to vote,  
> Kirby began to see a political controversy he wanted to put to paper.
>
> He pitched a story on the vaccine-autism controversy to several
> magazines but was turned down. So Kirby pitched his idea to a book- 
> publisher agent, who helped him write a proposal. By last October,  
> Kirby was writing his first book.
>
> Kirby heavily researched the book, intending to write it from a
> political perspective. Instead, on the advice of his agent, he  
> rewrote it with a large focus on parents looking for answers.
>
> But, Kirby said, he worked to balance the book, siding with neither
> the public health officials and pharmaceutical industry who state  
> there is no link between vaccines and autism, nor with those who  
> advance theories of a mercury-autism cover-up.
>
> "Each side accuses the other of being irrational, overzealous,
> blind to evidence they find inconvenient, and subject to  
> professional, financial or emotional conflicts of interest that  
> cloud their judgment," he writes in the book's introduction. "In  
> some ways, both sides are right."
>
> In the book, Kirby outlines scientific evidence that supports and
> that discredits a theoretical vaccine-autism link. But he also  
> sought to tell a compelling story of a group of parents on a  
> mission - without inserting his own bias.
>
> "This isn't my opinion; this isn't my essay," Kirby said.
> "Everything's documented."
>
> Still, upon the book's release, it garnered mostly positive
> response from parents and some media, with negative response coming  
> largely from some in the scientific and medical communities. But  
> the book has sold well, and Kirby has also sold its movie rights  
> and is writing an update for the paperback edition, due out in  
> March 2006.
>
> Kirby recognizes parents of autistic children will make up the bulk
> of his audience when he speaks in Knoxville Nov. 5, during the  
> Autism Society of America East Tennessee chapter's annual fall  
> conference. That bothers him only because he believes the issue  
> should be on all Americans' radar.
>
> "This story affects everybody, whether you have an autistic child
> or not," he said. "This is a growing problem that affects our  
> children and it's incumbent on us to find out what's going on."
>
> Kirby will speak from 9:05-10:15 a.m. at the conference, giving an
> overview of scientific evidence "for and against" a vaccine-autism  
> connection. He'll also give an update of current federal research.
>
> "Until we can completely prove or disprove causation, this argument
> is going to continue," Kirby said, "and it would be extremely  
> helpful to settle it - one way or another."
>
> Kristi L. Nelson may be reached at 865-342-6434. She is health
> writer for the News Sentinel.