Bernard A. Schwetz, DVM, PhD
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fischers Lane
Rockville, MD 20852
Dear Dr. Schwetz:
The Cherab Foundation is supporting the Safe Minds letter of October 19 regarding the recall of infant vaccines containing thimerosal. The Cherab Foundation, headquartered in Gillette, New Jersey is devoted to verbal apraxia (or dyspraxia of speech) and related speech and language disorders. The condition can vary from severe speech restrictions to limited speech output, to speech which is unintelligible and difficult to decode, all depending on the level of difficulty experienced in coordinating oral movements required for sound and speech production.
The Cherab Foundation is concerned with the future of large numbers of students with disabilities who are in need of speech related services. For example, according to the New Jersey State Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, 38,797 students with disabilities between the ages of 3 to 21 were speech-language impaired during the year 2000. A total of 58,973 students from among preschool disabled, autistic, emotionally disturbed, multiply disabled, mentally retarded, etc., or 32.9% of total, required some form of speech-related service. These figures testify as to the high prevalence of some sort of verbal apraxia symptoms among a broad range of disorders involving the central nervous system.
Environmental organo-mercury compounds can cause deficits in speech and language, including complete loss of expressive language, articulation difficulties, sensory integration, and hypotonia, all common symptoms in apraxic children. Many of these symptoms are prevalent in children with autism. The CDC conducted a study based on a sample of 100,000 children in which they found a statistically significant correlation between thimerosal exposure and speech and language delays. (Verstraeten, T. “Risk of neurological and renal impairment associated with Thimerosal-containing vaccines”, National Immunization Program, CDC, presented at the IOM Thimerosal Review meeting, July 2001).
The Cherab Foundation feels that since there appears to be ample supply of non-mercury containing vaccines to fully immunize all children, prudence dictates that the mercury-containing vaccines be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Robert Katz, Ph.D.
Director of Research
Cherab Foundation
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