Lack of Evidence: Vaccine additive not linked to developmental problems

A mercury-containing vaccine preservative is not associated with problems in speech, intelligence, memory, coordination, attention, or other measures of childhood development, a large new study finds.

Child-health experts say that the results should allay concerns that thimerosal, a preservative first added to vaccines in the 1930s, affects children’s brains.

“The study was enough to convince me that this small amount of mercury … was not harmful to the children,” says Michael Goldstein, vice president of the St.