U.S. researchers said on Monday that they had found no significant link between childhood vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal and neurological problems such as autism and attention-deficit disorder in a study of more than 140,000 kids. But critics charged that the study, which was published in the November, 2003 issue of Pediatrics, had been manipulated to protect the federal government and vaccine manufacturers from embarrassment and potential lawsuits.
