BMJ  2007;334:666-667 (31 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39146.498785.BE

Feature

Autism research

What makes an expert?

Brian Deer, journalist

London

Autism activists are behind a journal's decision to retract a paper claiming a preservative once routinely used in vaccines is responsible for the condition. Brian Deer examines the facts

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Last October, Autoimmunity Reviews published online the draft of a seven page paper by reporting laboratory and clinical tests suggesting that thiomersal, a mercury based preservative once routinely added to most vaccines, was the main culprit for a sharp rise in diagnoses of behavioural disorders.1 The paper was written by Dr Mark Geier, a self employed American geneticist, and his son David. The pair also reported treating autistic children with a hormone product, leuprorelin acetate, which is sometimes prescribed for precocious puberty. They claimed that the drug produced "very significant overall clinical improvements" with "minimal" adverse effects.1

But even before the journal posted its finalised contents page, Kathleen Seidel, an autism activist in Peterborough, New Hampshire, who runs the website neurodiversity.com, criticised the paper in a 2500 word email sent to the journal's editors-in-chief, Yehuda Schoenfeld of Tel Aviv University, and Eric Gershwin of the University of California, Davis, and . . . [Full text of this article]


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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Mercury the culprit?
George Dale
bmj.com, 14 Aug 2007 [Full text]
Don't Tell On SIDS
John C Fryer
bmj.com, 17 Oct 2007 [Full text]
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