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Hayley Watson
Deby Jizi
UWRT 1102-09
30 March 2016
Vaccinations: Correlation between
Mercury and Autism, Maybe or Maybe Not.
Annotated Bibliography
Kirby, David. Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: a Medical
Controversy. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. Print.
Chapters three and thirteen in this book talk about the mercury that the
vaccinations contain. Agencies set limits of the amount of mercury that people are
allowed to consume on a daily basis but upon investigation the vaccinations children
consume are way more than the daily allowance. Chapter three also talks about the
similarity between autism and mercury poisoning. Chapter thirteen mentions that a
mercury-free vaccine is now available but IOM claims that studies are inadequate and
will not say whether or not the mercury in vaccines cause autism or other developmental
disabilities.
This book by David Kirby was extremely interesting. It had a lot of good
information about studies done with mercury, the different agencies stance on mercury,
and what researchers have to say about mercury in vaccinations. This book is relevant to
my research because it talks about mercury and some of the studies being done to see if
the levels in vaccines are harmful. I have wondered if there were studies being done and

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if they could just take out the mercury and the vaccines would still be reliable. This book
answers these questions and a lot more.
I believe this book is a reputable source because it is part of the library of
congress. If you look up David Kirby he is a journalist and has wrote many things for the
New York Times. He has wrote a lot of books but this one was his most famous book. I
believe he is qualified to write this book because it has a lot of data from other sources
that compare studies. I have been able to find other research that back up things in his
book. This book has also been modified multiple times which I find to be another
characteristic of reputability.
Knopf, Alison. "MMR Vs. Autism: a False Choice." The Brown University Child and Adolescent
Behavior Letter. 31 (2015): 1-2. Print
This article discusses the doctor who published the study that linked
autism to vaccinations. He was discredited and his license were taken. This is where the
big battle between parents and giving their children vaccinations all began. Even though
this doctor made a huge impact people still tried to advocate for vaccines such as a
childrens book writer because of his losing his daughter to a horrible disease that could
have been prevented. Lastly this article talks about her immunity is no longer a thing and
how dangerous not getting vaccinations can really be.
The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter caught my interest
because I wondered where this allegation ever came from. I also learned a lot about how
the lack of vaccinations can harm others. This article is relevant to my paper because I am
able to talk about where this issue stemmed from, what will happen if we do not get out

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children vaccinated, and a first-hand experience of a man who lost his daughter from a
disease that a vaccine can cure but they have no treatment for.
I found this article to be reputable because it is peer reviewed. It was also last
updated April 2015. She is a journalist for many different areas including mental illness
and child behavior. I feel as though she is qualified to talk about this topic because she
researches illness and children. I have also been able to verify her thoughts with other
data and research.
Largent, Mark A. Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2012. E-book.
In this book the CDC found many studies verifying that there is no correlation
between autism and the thimerosal in the vaccines. Even though these studies were found
the FDA reports that infants vaccinations have little to no thimerosal in them expect for
the flu vaccines. Most public health and vaccination advocates point out the studies done
were with methylmercury when the thimerosal in vaccines contain ethylmercury.
Methlmercury is the one that cause developmental disabilities and other problems so this
is the type of mercury health care professionals want you to stay away from. These types
of mercury break down differently in the body so more research is still needed.
Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America allows me to talk about another study
done that shows no correlation between autism and mercury. This book also breaks down
the type of mercury in the vaccines and how the FDA assures us that there is little to none
in infant vaccines. This book caught my attentions because it actually explains the
different types of mercury and the effects they have on the body. I am able to use this in

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my paper by talking about the different types of mercury as well as what different
agencies have to say about vaccines.
One thing that stood out to me about creditability is the John Hopkins University
Press published his work. This is a huge childrens research area, for them to publish this
book they had to find some creditability in his work. Mark Largent is an associate
professor in history as well as a director of many things including science and public
policy specialization. This makes him more than qualified to talk about the science
aspects of vaccines. Many accredited people such as doctors and medical journals had
positive things to say about his book and his findings.
Rimland, Bernard. "The Autism Epidemic, Vaccinations, and Mercury." Journal of Nutritional &
Environmental Medicine. 10.4 (2000). Print.
This article is about the connection between vaccinations and autism. Many
parents believe that autism contracted at the age of eighteen months is due to the MMR
vaccination. There has been an increase in the amount of autism cases since the rise of
vaccinations but not in any other disabilities. A student began to wonder about the
similarity of autism and mercury poisoning so she began to do some research. They found
that mercury was in vaccines at high concentrations. She has found that some autistic
children have shown high amounts of mercury in their hair, urine and blood. Parents
began to look into this study and have begun to fight these mercury injected vaccinations.
The Autism Epidemic, Vaccinations, and Mercury article interested me because it
talks about a doctor who has seen first-hand the rise of autism in his office and the
concerns that he and parents share about the rise in autism correlating with vaccinations.
Another interesting point in this is that they began to wonder about the similar

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characteristics of autism and mercury poisoning. This is relevant to my paper because this
is the article I branch out from. From this article I begin to research the mercury in the
vaccinations, if others agree with the statement that autism and mercury poisoning are
similar, and what others things people have to say about vaccinations.
I believe this article is a reputable source because it is peer reviewed. This article
was also published in a medical journal. When you search the author, Bernard Rimland
you find that he is a research psychologist that is an advocate with children who have
developmental disorders. I believe that he is qualified to write this article. I was also able
to find some of his findings in other parts of my research.
The Vaccine War. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 2010. E-video.
The Vaccine War talks about the history of vaccinations, how it has saved many
lives, eradicated some diseases and trying to eradicate many others. The scare of the
mercury in vaccines came from a Doctor Wakefield which was later discredited and
resulted in the loss of his license. Even though he was discredited a lot of people believed
his work and ever since then doctors and researchers have conducted a variety of studies
trying to put parents at ease but it is not working. Even autism experts do not see a need
to be concerned but non-vaccinated children are becoming more and more which is
causing a huge problem. Doctors talk about how some diseases that were almost
eradicated are coming back and that if parents would vaccinate their children eventually
we wouldnt have to vaccinate anymore because all diseases would be eradicated.
This video is extremely informational. I learned a lot from this video. This is
extremely relevant to my research. It answered my question of how did this vaccination
scare came about. I also learned a lot about vaccinations history as well as how dangerous

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it is to not get your children vaccinated. This video will allow me to talk about the
dangers of not getting vaccinated and it also allows me talk about studies done
throughout the world as well as what autism experts say about this accusation.
When you look up the contributors to this video they are accredited film groups
that are used for education. They are teaching people about many different subjects and
problems in the world. Another thing that I believe makes this video accredited is the
different people used throughout it. This video contains doctors, an expert in autism, and
parents going through this first-hand. I believe this shows extreme credibility because it
allows the facts to be told from the doctors, experts, and researchers as well as being able
to get the parents side of it.