The Bush administration assembled a group of leading scientists on Tuesday in yet another attempt to quash public fears over a purported link between a mercury preservative once used in childhood vaccines and the mysteriously neurological malady called autism, the Associated Press reported.
One scientist with a 12-year-old autistic daughter joined U.S. officials in urging that the focus shift to finding the real culprit.
"We need a war on autism, not a war on childhood vaccines," said Dr. Peter Hotez of George Washington University.
The microbiologist said he's sure that his daughter's condition had "absolutely nothing to do with vaccines she received," the AP quoted him as saying.
The preservative thimerosal had been used to preserve certain pharmaceuticals since the 1930s, the wire service said.
Critics say studies that have found no connection between the preservative and autism are flawed.
Thimerosal is no longer used in most vaccines, although some flu inoculations still contain the preservative.
Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to speed its phase-out from flu vaccines, the AP said.