Legal Glossary T

Tasmar: A drug used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease. There have been  reports of fatal liver injury associated with use of Tasmar.

Thalidomide: A medicine that was used as a  sleep aid and for treatment of morning sickness during pregnancy. It was  discovered that thalidomide causes birth defects and fetal death.

Thimerosal: Thimerosal is the most common  preservative that is used in vaccines and biologics that are marketed in the  United States. Thimerosal is used to help prevent a vaccine from spoiling, for  inactivating bacteria used to formulate several vaccines, and in preventing  bacterial contamination of the final product. Several of the vaccines  recommended routinely for children in the United States contain thimerosal.  However, reports have surfaced linking thimerosal to mercury poisoning in  infants often causing autism. On July 7, 1999, the American Academy of  Pediatrics (AAP) issued with the US Public Health Service (USPHS) a joint  statement alerting clinicians and the public of concern about thimerosal, a  mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines. The reason for the  warning is that thimerosal contains a related mercury compound called ethyl  mercury. Mercury is a toxic metal that can cause immune, sensory, neurological,  motor, and behavioral dysfunctions. The Food and Drug Administration suggested  that some infants, depending on which vaccines they receive and the timing of  those vaccines, may be exposed to levels of ethyl mercury that could build up to  exceed one of the federal guidelines established for the intake of methyl  mercury. Symptoms of mercury toxicity in young children are extremely similar to  those of autism. This can explain the recent increase in the numbers of children  diagnosed with autism since the early 1990's. The numerous amount of children  diagnosed with autism seems to directly correlate with the recommendation of  both the hepatitis B and HIB vaccine to infants in the early 1990s. Autism is a  neurological disorder that is characterized by impairments in language,  cognitive and social development. Autism symptoms are usually encountered in the  first two years of life. In the past autism was considered a rare disorder with  an incidence of occurrence of approximately 1-3 per 10,000 births. More recently  however, Autism is being diagnosed much more frequently with an incidence of  occurrence of 20-40 per 10,000 births and reports of 1 per 150 births have been  reported in several states including New Jersey and California.

Third Party Litigation: When a lawsuit is  brought against a defendant and that defendant wants to add another party to the  suit, the original defendant may file a "third party complaint" which  results in a third party litigation or lawsuit.

Tort: A civil wrong or injury to a  person's property. There are three types of torts: intentional, negligence and  strict liability.