By Mark F. Blaxill In his best-selling book Evidence of Harm, our Age of Autism colleague David Kirby saved his “final note” for a comment on the global legacy of thimerosal exposure in vaccines. In the book’s closing passage, he wrote: “If thimerosal is one day proven to be a contributing factor to autism, and if U.S. made vaccines containing the preservative are now being supplied the world over, the scope of this potential tragedy becomes unthinkable. “The United States, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, is not exactly the most beloved nation on earth. What if the profitable export of our vaunted medical technology has led to the poisoning of hundred of thousands of children? What then?” As Bush Administration officials have moved with surprising determination to defend the safety both of the current flu vaccine program (which targets expectant mothers with injections of ethyl mercury) and past vaccine program recommendations (which permitted the injection of unintentionally excessive amounts of ethyl mercury in infants), one often overlooked implication of the Administration’s policy has been to make Kirby’s nightmare suggestion a reality. U.S. vaccine manufacturers have continued to ship thimerosal containing vaccine formulations all over the world, in effect offering a defiant double standard of mercury risk for infants from rich countries as compared to poor countries......... http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/06/sick-hamsters-m.html