US court knocks thimerosal scare on the head

VACCINES containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal can not cause autism on their own, the special US Court of Federal Claims ruled overnight, according to Reuters.

The ruling ended reimbursement demands of the family of an autistic boy who had filed a civil lawsuit in an Oregon state court against pharmaceutical companies claiming thimerosal, an additive in many pediatric vaccines, contributed to their son’s autism.

While the state court ruled William Mead’s autism was related to the vaccines he received, Special Master George Hastings ruled that the Meads did not present a "scientifically sound theory" linking the disease to the preservative, Reuters reported.

Special Master Hastings said the theory presented by the Meads and the experts who testified on their behalf “was biologically implausible and scientifically unsupported.”

In February 2009, the court ruled against three families who claimed vaccines caused their children’s autism, saying the families had been "misled by physicians who are guilty…of gross medical misjudgment,” Reuters reported.

The three families represented thousands of other families who had petitioned the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

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The Coca-Cola tax? New York mayor proposes 12 cents-a-can levy on sugary soft drinks

New Yorkers who enjoy sugary soft drinks face paying an extra tax after the city’s mayor proposed a levy of 12 cents per can. Michael Bloomberg says tax could raise $1billion of much-needed money for schools and health care. He suggested New York’s state legislature adopts a levy of 1 cent per fluid ounce (around 30ml) of sweetened soda such as Coca-Cola.

That would mean a can, which in the U.S. typically measure 12fl oz, would cost an extra 12 cents, or 8 pence. It is uncertain whether New York state sales taxes, which range between 7 and 8.875 per cent, will be calculated on the price of a can with or without the levy included.

Mr Bloomberg said the soda tax would promote good health by discouraging people from buying soft drinks that are loaded with sugar. Mr Bloomberg, a billionaire and former smoker, had already forced through a ban on smoking in bars in New York while the state also has a ban on unhealthy 'transfats' in food.

He said in his weekly radio address yesterday: ‘In these tough economic times, easy fixes to our problems are hard to come by. ‘But the soda tax is a fix that just makes sense. It would save lives. It would cut rising health care costs. ‘And it would keep thousands of teachers and nurses where they belong: in the classrooms and clinics.’

The city’s health commissioner, Dr Thomas Farley, and his predecessor, Dr Thomas Frieden, have advocated such a move. Last year, after state governor David Patterson proposed the idea, public anger over the plan meant that it was eventually dropped. At the time Mr Bloomberg said the idea was ‘just not one that we’re going to be pursuing’ after noting the ‘enormous outcry’.

But now the mayor is throwing his weight behind the controversial tax after calculating that public opinion has shifted due to New York’s dire public finances. The renewal of the plan also comes at a time when the governor has been weakened and distracted by scandal.

During testimony about the budget before the state legislature in January, Mr Bloomberg - whose history of using his office to tackle public health issues includes an anti-soda advertisement campaign and banning smoking in bars - called the proposal ‘far-sighted.’

Dr Richard Daines, the state health commissioner, said he had noticed a difference. ‘What I think you’re seeing is really a momentum shift in favor of doing it,’ he told the New York Times. Dr Daines added that the new tax differed from the one proposed last year in that it would be levied directly on soda producers and the estimated $1billion in annual revenue would be dedicated to the health care budget, rather than to the general fund.

Mr Bloomberg said the tax would also benefit education.

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