Portfolio Entry 3
Review and translate the following passage from the book Evidence of Harm. Identify and underline at least two words or phrases for which you could not find an exact formal equivalent. Compare your translation with the entry immediately before yours. What strategies did you use to achieve dynamic equivalency in the absence of a formal equivalent?
Does mercury in vaccines cause autism in children? A definitive answer has proven elusive, and it remains so to this day. No one can say with certainty that thimerosal, the vaccine preservative made with 49.6 percent mercury, helped fuel an explosion in reported cases of autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD), speech delay, and other disorders over the past decade. But no one can say for certain that it did not.
On May 18, 2004, the respected Institute of Medicine issued a much heralded report stating that the bulk of evidence “favors rejection of a causal relationship” between thimerosal and autism. The independent panel, commissioned by the government to investigate alleged links between vaccines and autism, delivered a harsh blow to advocates of the thimerosal-autism hypothesis. But despite its authoritative certainty, the report failed to close the books on this simmering medical controversy. Indeed, recently published animal and test tube studies provide compelling biological evidence of harm (though certainly not proof) from thimerosal-containing vaccines.
Exactly five years ago, the federal government disclosed in a “Joint Statement” that some American children were being exposed to levels of mercury in vaccines above one of the federal safety limits. Since then, officials have moved to phase out mercury from childhood vaccines, and to determine if thimerosal exposure in infants could cause autism and other neurological development disorders. To date, neither goal has been fully attained.
Thimerosal has been removed from most routine vaccinations give to American children. But it is still found in the majority of flu shots, which the U.S. government now recommends for pregnant women and children between six months and twenty-three months of age. In 2004, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined to state a preference for mercury-free flu shots in infants. Mercury is also found in some tetanus, diphtheria-tetanus, pertusis, and meningitis vaccine, which are sometimes, though not routinely, given to children. It is also used in many over-the-counter products including nasal sprays, ear and eye drops, and even hemorrhoid treatment.
Meanwhile, the CDC has been unable to definitively prove or disprove the theory that thimerosal causes autism, ADD, speech delays, or other disorders. Several studies, funded or conducted by the agency have been published in the past year, all of them suggesting that there is no connection between the preservative and the disease. The CDC insists that it has looked into the matter thoroughly and found “no evidence of harm” from thimerosal in vaccines.
But “no evidence of harm” is not the same as proof of safety. No evidence of harm is not a definitive answer; and this is the story that cries out for answers.
From David Kirby No Evidence of Harm (New York: St. Martins, 2005)
