A court case in Oregon will be getting a lot of attention.

Families claiming that a mercury-based preservative in vaccines triggers autism will challenge mainstream medicine Monday as they take their case to a federal court.

They seek vindication and financial redress from a government fund that helps people injured by shots.

Two 10-year-old boys from Portland, Ore., will serve as test cases that determine whether the children and their families in similar situations should be compensated. Attorneys for the boys will attempt to show the boys were happy, healthy and developing normally. But, after being exposed to vaccines with thimerosal, they began to regress and show symptoms of autism.

The CDC has this to say about autism spectrum disorders (ASDs):

By current standards, ASDs are the second most common serious developmental disability after mental retardation/intellectual impairment, but they are still less common than other conditions that affect children’s development, such as speech and language impairments, learning disabilities, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The CDC estimates that about 1 out of every 150 kids are affected by an autism spectrum disorder. There are many theories to explain the rise in autism. The possibility of a link between thimerosal and autism has been around for a while. 

Thimerosal is out of most vaccines by now, but it is still a part of most flu shots.

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