(Reuters) -A former leader of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense is set to present on flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal at a CDC vaccine advisory panel meeting, CNN reported on Monday, citing a CDC official not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The presenter, Lyn Redwood, is the president emerita of Children’s Health Defense, an organization that aims to “end childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure”, according to its website.
The group was previously known as the World Mercury Project, which was founded by current U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Redwood previously served as president of the World Mercury Project in 2016, according to a biography on the Children’s Health Defense website.
Kennedy, who has a long history of casting doubt on the safety of vaccines contrary to scientific evidence, wrote a book in 2014 claiming that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, causes brain damage.
Thimerosal has long been used in the United States in multidose vials of medicines and vaccines, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Aside from minor reactions such as redness and swelling at the injection site, there is no evidence that the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines cause harm, the agency says.
The CDC panel, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, is scheduled to meet on June 25 and 26.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
Comments