Merck Under Fire Again Over Mercury In Vaccines

10/02/2005 - The bad press surrounding the pharmaceutical industry continues with claims that Merck & Co executives were concerned about infant exposure to mercury in vaccines several years before the US Food and Drug Administration made the issue public. The allegations, in yesterday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times, are based on a memo sent in 1992 to the head of the drugmaker’s vaccine division by consultant vaccinologist Maurice Hilleman. The memo points out the concerns raised in Sweden and elsewhere in the world about thiomersal – a preservative used in vaccines that contains 50 per cent ethyl mercury - and recommends that it should be removed where possible.

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