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The Coalition for SafeMinds (Sensible Action For Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders) is a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating the risks of exposure to mercury from medical products. SafeMinds was founded in 2000 and is led by the parents of autistic children.^[1]

The organization contends that mercury in vaccines, in the form of thiomersal, is related to the development of autism. Medical research has refuted any causative link between thiomersal and autism.^[2] This research has not been accepted by SafeMinds, which has continued to pursue the issue in the political and judicial arenas.^[1][3][4][5]

[edit] Principals

Lyn Redwood, the president and co-founder of SafeMinds, is a nurse practitioner specializing in pediatrics and women's health care. Her son Will was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Redwood is co-author of Autism: A Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning, and has testified before the United States House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, where she presented Mercury in Medicine: Are We Taking Unnecessary Risks?^{[citation needed]}

Sallie Bernard, based in Summit, New Jersey, is the executive director and co-founder of SafeMinds, and a co-author of research papers on the links between vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders.^{[citation needed]} Her son Bill was diagnosed with autism in 1993. She was a member of the panel that issued a 2007 federally-funded study that found no link between thimerosal exposure and neurological problems, but she did not agree with the findings.^[6]

[edit] Evidence of Harm

Several members of SafeMinds are discussed in the book Evidence of Harm (2004), by David Kirby.

[edit] See also

• Controversies in autism
• List of autism-related topics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Pervasive Developmental Disorders portal

• SafeMinds.org - The Coalition for SafeMinds homepage