Do you know what's in your child's vaccines?

Tampa, Florida - There's a push to "green our vaccines" and get the controversial preservative mercury out, as well as give parents the option of a flexible vaccination schedule.

Christina Lorences thinks it's a great idea. Tuesday evening, she pulled out an old box of VHS tapes that she hadn't watched in years. The tapes show her twin boys, Christopher and Michael, playing. The videos, she says, are too hard to watch. They bring tears to her eyes because they show Michael's development before his vaccine.

Michael was born first and Christopher was born three minutes later. She says her boys were alike in every way initially, but Michael was able to sit up, walk and even start talking about a month before his brother. But, things changed, and she stopped videotaping the boys.

She says a teacher and some of her friends started noticing changes in Michael when he was about 18 months old. That was five years ago, soon after he got a flu vaccine. He was already sick at the time and was taking antibiotics. Christina said "I remember asking the pediatrician do you think I should give him the flu shot now even if he's on antibiotics and she assured me and said sure as long as he's not running a fever."

"Within 30 days, we lost him," Christina added "He just didn't hear us anymore. He circled the perimeters of playgrounds. He didn't play with the children anymore. He lost his eye contact. He didn't speak." Michael was two years old when his parents learned he was autistic. Christopher took the same shoot though and he is fine.

The vaccination, Christina later learned, had thimerosal in it, which is mercury. As an Optician, Christina says she learned all about it back in the 1990's. "We had a recall for contact lens solution because of the thimerosal and we had to pull it from our shelves and getting the new product in there was a big stamp logo on it that said thimerosal free. " But she says she had no idea thimerosal was in Michael's shot.

That could change in the future, because Florida lawmakers are considering four proposed bills that would remove mercury from vaccines, make sure parents are informed on what's in the vaccines and what the risks are. Also, kids would no longer have to take all the shots at once and parents would have the right to opt out of giving the shots to their kids altogether.

Pediatrician David Berger has helped to write the legislation and is traveling to Tallahassee to appear in front of a Senate committee next Wednesday to share his medical expertise with lawmakers. Wednesday, April 1st, is Florida Autism Day.

"So, taking the autism discussion completely aside for a moment, there are other very significant reactions that seem to be happening in our children and we don't know why and, so, our feeling is if we want to have confidence in our vaccine system, parents should have a right to say 'Hey, I'm comfortable with this one. I'm not comfortable with this one.' he said.

While lawmakers hash it out, Christina has some important advice for all parents. She says never vaccinate your child when they're sick, always space those shots out and question what's in them. "I would have taken the flu all season long over autism every day." she said.

The Centers for Disease Control says there is no evidence that low doses of mercury in vaccines cause any harm, but Dr. Berger says, "There are over 1,500 studies and papers compiled over decades that document allergenicity and toxicity of ethylmercury."

Dr. Berger says "We don't want everyone to stop vaccinating either. We have to do what's safest for our children. We certainly don't want to see any of these diseases come back either but that's going to be happening if more people start doing away with the vaccines and just refusing them all together. The more chances are that we're going to start seeing these diseases come back."

For more details on House Bill 33 click here. For more details on Senate Bill 308 click here.

Dr. Berger says if you'd like to show your support for the legislation by traveling to Tallahassee or if you'd like to call or email lawmakers just click here to sign up for his e-newsletter.