A modern mystery deepens Observations on autism At a
congressional inquiry in Washington into autism, five of
America's most senior public health officials have been grilled
about whether vaccines might be causing what the government
reform committee chairman, Dan Burton, called an "epidemic" of
autism in children. They were presented with a dossier of
exhibits comprising copies of e-mails, confidential minutes of
meetings and other incriminating documents, which one
congressman, Dave Weldon, said amounted to evidence of a cover-
up. The public health authorities knew of the possible health
risks from mercury in vaccines years ago, the documents showed,
and had an emergency plan to remove it. A secret study by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was
never published, showed children who had received vaccines
containing thimerosal - a preservative that is almost 50 per
cent mercury - were more than twice as likely to develop autism
as children who had not. The hearing, on 19 June, was par