A claim that the mercury based preservative thiomersal used in some vaccines can cause autism has been decisively rejected by the US Court of Federal Claims as “scientifically unsupportable.”

The rulings in three test cases deal a blow to the third of three theories put forward by parents to link their children’s autism to vaccines.

Last year the court ruled against claims that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which has never contained thiomersal, in combination with vaccines such as that for diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT), which did contain the preservative, causes autism. A separate claim—that the MMR vaccine itself causes the disorder—was withdrawn by parents.

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