On November 25, 2002, President Bush signed the Homeland Security bill containing a slipped in provision with no one taking responsibility for it in Washington and parents believing their children have autism due to thimerosal that used to be contained in vaccines angered.
Despite any skepticism regarding the link between thimerosal and autism, experts, studies, and parents continue to maintain there is a link between the two as displayed with the dramatic increase in cases of autism that followed the increased in vaccines containing thimerosal in the 90s. Eli Lilly & Co. was named the target of the majority of thimerosal lawsuits, and thimerosal was viewed to be the largest litigation issue in history prior to the Homeland Security bill.
The last minute changes in the bill left parents enraged and have put a hold on any thimerosal-related lawsuits. The Homeland Security bill provision was originally written by Senator Bill Frist. Frist has been identified as having controversial ties to Eli Lilly.
When writing the bill, Frist consulted with Eli Lilly, as well as other interested parties. In 2002, Eli Lilly and the company's employees contributed $226,250 to the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee that Frist has led. When Frist wrote a book on bioterrorism that was published following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Eli Lilly bought 5,000 copies of it and distributed the book to doctors around the U.S.
December 2002
Mitch Daniels, White House budget director and former Eli Lilly & Co. executive, denies any involvement in the Eli Lilly vaccine liability protection that was slipped into the homeland security bill in November 2002 mysteriously. Thimerosal has been the subject of controversy because it is a mercury based preservative found in vaccines that has a possibly link to children developing autism after vaccination. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, whom is also retiring, later claimed sole responsibility for the provision, however the investigation is still being conducted to find out how the Eli Lilly thimerosal protection was added.
View Dan Burton's speech before Congress from November 22, 2002 regarding his disbelief that special provisions regarding thimerosal in the homeland security act.
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