Group Must Petition Congress, Not Court, To Remove Mercury Preservative in Vaccines

A coalition that opposes the use of thimerosal-preserved vaccines and several of its members lack standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the mercury preservative, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held March 13 (Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs v. Sebelius, D.C. Cir., No. 11-5035).

Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s opinion for the court repeatedly went out of its way to show it respected the Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs’s (CoMeD) “genuine concern” regarding thimerosal. However, Kavanaugh also said the coalition was required to seek a ban through the executive or legislative branches, ...