ATLANTA (Reuters) - The parents of a group of children with autism on Wednesday sued several drug companies and dental associations in the United States for allegedly causing their kids to develop the neurological disorder through exposure to vaccines and dental fillings containing mercury.

The American Dental Association, Georgia Dental Association and drug firms American Home Products Corp., now known as Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Johnson & Johnson and Armour Pharmaceutical, were accused of, among other things, negligence in 11 lawsuits filed in an Atlanta court.

Georgia Power, a unit of utility giant Southern Co., was also listed as a defendant in the suits for allegedly releasing harmful mercury-containing emissions into the environment. The families are seeking unspecified damages on behalf of their children. A similar lawsuit was filed against the companies and dental groups in the same court late on Tuesday. Six other suits are expected later this week.

Shawn Khorrami, an attorney for the families, said the dental groups had misled consumers by not telling them that amalgam fillings contained mercury and could, when implanted in women's mouths, expose fetuses and nursing infants to toxic levels of mercury.

The drug companies are being sued because they failed to warn parents that children receiving vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal were at higher risk for mercury poisoning, according to the suits.

Some scientists have linked mercury, a naturally occurring element, to autism, a neurological disease that can cause severe learning disabilities, impaired motor skills and repetitive behavior.

Amalgam fillings typically contain about 50% mercury.

'HIDING THE BALL'

"These companies have been hiding the ball from the American public," said Khorrami, who noted that the nine children he represents, who range in age from 3 to 12, suffered from disabilities that would require lifelong care.

In a statement released to Reuters, the American Dental Association (ADA), which claims more than 141,000 members across the country, described the lawsuits as an "egregious" abuse of the legal system and said the claims had no merit.

"Actions like these mislead vulnerable people, using information with no scientific basis to give false hope to those with chronic, often incurable illnesses," it said.

Johnson & Johnson and Georgia Power said they had not yet had a chance to review the complaints in the lawsuits.

The ADA noted that questions about the safety of amalgam fillings had been answered to the satisfaction of major US and international health organizations, including the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.

Earlier this year, the FDA reported that US Public Health Service scientists had concluded that recently collected data did not support claims that people with amalgam fillings experienced problems, other than rare allergic or hypersensitivity reactions.

The Atlanta lawsuits came on the heels of another suit filed last month in Los Angeles on behalf of an autistic child against the ADA and the California Dental Association. Previous lawsuits had usually targeted drug companies.

Khorrami, one of the lawyers involved in the California case, did not rule out expanding future lawsuits to include individual dentists and other manufacturers of mercury-containing products.

Source: www.abcnews.com