Mercury

Mercury and Thimerosal in Vaccines

Thimerosal, a mercury containing preservative which was widely used but later removed from many pharmaceutical products, lingers on in some vaccines including ones injected into some of the most vulnerable recipients – pregnant women, babies, children and seniors. As of 2011, Canadian vaccines which contain thimerosal as a preservative are multi-dose vials of the influenza vaccines, Fluviral® and Vaxigrip®; Tetanus Toxoid vaccine; Recombivax HB® multi-dose vials of hepatitis B vaccine and Menomune® A/C/Y/W-135 multi-dose vials of meningococcal vaccine. Those which contain trace amounts remaining from the manufacturing process are Infanrix™-hexa (the six-valent vaccine given to babies as young as 6 months and children up to 2yrs old), Engerix®-B multi-dose vials of hepatitis B vaccine and Twinrix® hepatitis A/hepatitis B vaccine.

A 2007 statement on thimerosal by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) informs us that a considerable amount is known about methylmercury, the form of mercury found in fish but little is known about the ethylmercury from thimerosal. It admits that, compared to methylmercury, “By contrast, little is actually known about ethylmercury metabolism in humans, including whether it has the same potency as a neurotoxin, whether the blood concentration is ever significant and even whether it crosses the blood-brain barrier. It is presumed that the majority of ethylmercury metabolized from thimerosal is rapidly excreted in the stool.” Then the statement sums up with: “The risk, at best, can be described as theoretical.” We suspect that, because some of Canada’s vaccines still contain thimerosal, this sentence was meant to convey the thought that its risk is negligible or nil. Apparently, the PHAC makes the completely illogical assumption that, because nobody has bothered to thoroughly investigate possible health effects of ethyl mercury, its risk is merely “theoretical”, and therefore unlikely to exist! This assumption violates the Precautionary Principle, an ethical guideline incorporated into the Rio Declaration at the 1992 UN Conference on the Environment. This principle is often used in medicine to ensure that absence of full scientific certainty will be not be used to postpone appropriate measures against possible serious health risk.

Because science on ethyl mercury is absent, there are no established guidelines regarding exposure safe limits as there are for methylmercury. A methylmercury standard proposed by Health Canada’s Food Directorate in 1998 was a maximum daily intake of 0.20 micrograms/kg body weight and a cumulative limit of 162 micrograms. This was half as cautious as the methylmercury standard of the Environmental Protection Agency upon which the US FDA had based its request for vaccine manufacturers to phase out thimerosal.

Prior to 1994, DPT vaccines containing thimerosal were injected into children and many subsequently suffered neurological disabilities. But the 5-valent PENTA vaccine (DPT plus polio and Hib) introduced in 1994 and Pentacel (DPT, polio and Hib) introduced in 1997 contained a different preservative. The thimerosal was replaced not because of concern about mercury toxicity, but because it would have inactivated the polio portion of these new vaccines. Yet the devastating effects of mercury poisoning are well documented and have been known since the 1930′s. To protect their unborn infants from mercury poisoning, pregnant women are advised against eating fish contaminated with high levels of methylmercury and are cautioned about the risks of mercury-containing dental amalgam fillings. But despite absence of proof that ethylmercury is safe, these same women are encouraged to receive injections of mercury-containing flu shots. A synopsis of a discussion about mercury at the October 2001 US Defeat Autism Now Conference informs us: “There are many similarities in symptoms between mercury toxicity and autism, including social deficits, language deficits, repetitive behaviors, sensory abnormalities, cognition deficits, movement disorders, and behavioral problems. There are also similarities in physical symptoms, including biochemical, gastrointestinal, muscle tone, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, EEG measurements, and immune system/autoimmunity.” And now we learn of data manipulation in a Danish study which has been flaunted as indisputable evidence that thimerosal doesn’t cause autism!

Related VCC Links

• This Expert Says: The American Government Can’t be Trusted About Vaccine Safety (11/25/2015)
• Chile thimerosal ban (1/31/2014)
• CDC autism studies flawed (4/15/2013)
• Autism rate: 1/50 (4/11/2013)
• MMR Vaccine and Autism – A Mother’s Journey to Heal Her Child (2/27/2013)
• UN treaty will exempt vaccine mercury (2/5/2013)
• Flu shot science trashed (10/28/2012)
• Forced Flu Vaccination of Healthcare Workers Threatens Health and Liberty (9/14/2012)
• Autism Epidemic (4/3/2012)
• Can We Trust Them? (11/13/2011)
• Flu Shot Unchanged, Program Expanded (10/19/2011)
• Swine Flu Vaccine – A Public Health Experiment (8/18/2009)
• ‘Pandemic’ Vaccine Risk (7/13/2009)
• Lawyers Claim CDC Cooked Books on Mercury: Secret Report Reveals (4/7/2009)
• IOM Scrutinizes Link Between Vaccines, Neurological Problems (4/7/2009)
• Thimerosal Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopment Outcomes (4/7/2009)
• New Research Suggests Link Between Vaccine Ingredients and Autism, ADHD (4/7/2009)
• Thimerosal, found in childhood vaccines, can increase the risk of autism-like damage in mice (4/7/2009)
• Biomarkers supporting mercury toxicity as the major exacerbator of neurological illness… (4/7/2009)
• CDC Data Links Vaccine Mercury to Autism (2/3/2009)
• Health officials in denial over uselessness of flu shots (12/9/2008)
• The Truth Behind the Vaccine Cover-Up (12/9/2008)
• Vaccines, Mercury and Genetic Change (9/30/2008)
• The True Story of Pertussis Vaccination: A sordid Legacy? (7/1/2002)

Related External Links

• Licensed Vaccines in Canada & Ingredients
• What You Need to Know About the Different Forms of Mercury, the Next Generation of Mercury Testing, and How to Detox Safely – Mercola.com
• Public Health Agency of Canada – July 1, 2007 – Thimerosal: Updated Statement
• SafeMinds – Leading Organization Examining the Role of Mercury in Child Neuro Disorders
• Comparison of Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to Methylmercury or Vaccines Containing Thimerosal
• The Coalition for Mercury Free Drugs
• Boyd Haley, Ph.D., Leading World Expert on Mercury Toxicity
• Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute CMSRI – published research Mercury
• Commentary on Mercury in Vaccines – Vaccine Papers
• Thimerosal – studies with links to various disorders (pdf) – Thimerosal – GreenMedInfo
• US Pediatricians Endorse Continued Injection of Mercury into Children in Developing Countries
• Deadly Immunity, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• How Mercury Causes Brain Neuron Degeneration – Film produced by University of Calgary
• Autism Research Institute/Mercury Detoxification
• Thimerosal Linked to Autism in Confidential CDC Study
• Report on General Causation: Thimerosal Exposure, Neuroinflammation, and the Symptoms of Regressive Autism – Autism Omnibus Proceedings – Marcel Kinsbourne, M.D. (PDF)
• Thimerosal Goes to Court
• Autism and Mercury Testimony Presented By Stephanie Cave, M.D. to Congress July 18, 2000
• Mercury in Medicine – Taking Unnecessary Risks – Chairman Dan Burton (pdf)
• More Articles on Mercury/Thimerosal