Titre :
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Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism : One Controversy, Three Histories. (2008)
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Auteurs :
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BAKER (Jeffrey-P) : USA. Trent Center for Bioethics. Humanities. And History of Medicine. Duke University School of Medicine. Durham. NC.
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Type de document :
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Article
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Dans :
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American journal of public health (vol. 98, n° 2, 2008)
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Pagination :
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244-253
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Langues:
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Anglais
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Mots-clés :
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Mercure
;
Vaccin
;
Prévention santé
;
Autisme
;
Histoire
;
Historique
;
Homme
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Résumé :
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[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST-CNRS tmlR0xmj. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. The controversy regarding the once widely used mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines has raised many historical questions that have not been adequately explored. Why was this preservative incorporated in the first place ? Was there any real evidence that it caused harm ? And how did thimerosal become linked in the public mind to the "autism epidemic" ? I examine the origins of the thimerosal controversy and their legacy for the debate that has followed. More specifically, I explore the parallel histories of three factors that converged to create the crisis : vaccine preservatives, mercury poisoning, and autism. An understanding of this history provides important lessons for physicians and policymakers seeking to preserve the public's trust in the nation's vaccine system.
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