There's a lot of buzz this week regarding Dr Andrew Wakefield and the controversy over the vaccine studies that were published by the BMJ (British Medical Journal). All of the sudden (and mysteriously) some of his supporters have withdrawn their endorsement of the findings regarding thimerosal and autism.
What's to debate?
Some people are stuck on labeling diseases, creating names for new diseases, or just have a jones for 'labeling' in general. Any way you slice it, disease is disease. Illness is illness. Pollution is pollution.
Plain and simple:
• There's no doubt that mercury (Hg) is the #1 most hazardous non-radioactive substance on earth.
• There's no doubt that mercury is a health risk and environmental hazard.
These facts have been acknowledged/reported/confirmed by US EPA, FDA, US Geological Survey and other global agencies and research organizations. Scandinavian countries have long banned the use of mercury dental amalgam. The US trails, even after the December 2010 FDA hearings which were specifically called to address mercury.
Want more? Here's the link to International Hazard Classifications for Mercury (Canada, US, EU):
And a link to a Lab Safety Bulletin from the Chemical Control Centre, University of Windsor:
According to US FDA, "Thimerosal is a preservative that has been used in some vaccines since the 1930's, when it was first introduced by Eli Lilly Company. It is 49.6% mercury by weight and is metabolized or degraded into ethylmercury and thiosalicylate. As a vaccine preservative, thimerosal is used in concentrations of 0.003% to 0.01%.
A vaccine containing 0.01% thimerosal as a preservative contains 50 micrograms of thimerosal per 0.5 ml dose or approximately 25 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 mL dose."
So, the FDA admits to allowing a known, documented hazardous substance and neurotoxin to be injected into unsuspecting citizens. Thimerosal has been around since the 1930's. I find it hard to believe that some pharmaceutical giant somewhere can't come up with a better, safer preservative. So here's more about the many ways thimerosal (mercury) makes you, and the environment, sick....
Thimerosal Toxicology
Thiomersal is very toxic by inhalation, ingestion, and in contact with skin (EC hazard symbol T+), with a danger of cumulative effects. It is also very toxic to aquatic organisms and may cause long-term adverse effects in aquatic environments (EC hazard symbol N). In the body, it is metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury (C2H5Hg+) and thiosalicylate.
Cases have been reported of severe poisoning by accidental exposure or attempted suicide, with some fatalities. Thiomersal rapidly dissociates to release ethylmercury after injection; that the disposition patterns of mercury are similar to those after exposure to equivalent doses of ethylmercury chloride; and that the central nervous system and the kidneys are targets, with lack of motor coordination being a common sign.
Fecal excretion accounts for most of the elimination from the body. Ethylmercury clears from blood with a half-life of about 18 days in adults. Ethylmercury clears from the brain in about 14 days in infant monkeys. Inorganic mercury metabolized from ethylmercury has a much longer clearance, at least 120 days; it appears to be much less toxic than the inorganic mercury produced from mercury vapor, for reasons not yet understood.
Risk assessment for effects on the nervous system have been made by extrapolating from dose-response relationships for methylmercury. Methylmercury and ethylmercury distributes to all body tissues, crossing the blood-brain barrierand the placental barrier, and ethylmercury also moves freely throughout the body.
FACT: All forms of mercury are toxic.
Here's a clip from Annette Fuentes' feature, Eli Lilly and Thimerosal:
"Thimerosal is an organic compound that is 49.6 percent ethylmercury. Eli Lilly and Co., the Indianapolis-based drug giant, developed and registered thimerosal under its trade name Merthiolate in 1929 and began marketing it as an antibacterial, antifungal product. It became the most widely used preservative in vaccines.
Thimerosal cannot be used with live-cell vaccines, such as MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) or polio, because it would kill the vaccine.
The only research looking into the safety of thimerosal was done in 1930 by Eli Lilly-sponsored doctors, who injected it into 22 patients with meningitis. The human experiments failed to prove that thimerosal was nontoxic.
Nonetheless, researchers H.M. Powell and W.A. Jamieson published a study in September 1931 in the American Journal of Hygiene that stated thimerosal had a “low order of toxicity” for humans, without mentioning that the human subjects were ill and subsequently died. Internal Lilly documents from the time, however, revealed that the company’s researchers were worried about Merthiolate’s “burning qualities” when used on the skin.
By 1935, Eli Lilly’s Jameison had further evidence of thimerosal’s toxicity when he received a letter from a researcher who had injected it into dogs and saw severe local reactions, leading him to state: “Merthiolate is unsatisfactory as a preservative for serum intended for use on dogs.”
Here's a not-to-be-missed video featuring Holly Riley, and what she endured and learned through vaccinating her child:
The bottom line:
• The number of cases mentioned in these studies are global, and include the largest populations from underdeveloped regions of the world where famine and malnutrition prevail.
• When the body receives whole food nourishment, pure water and adequate rest and exercise, it is naturally (and is better) able to fend off bacterial and viral infections. Vaccines do not replace a balanced lifestyle, nor should they be accepted as the mode of first line prevention.
• When people self-treat their daily lifestyle needs by optimizing their health choices, the cost of health care will plummet, and allopaths (medical doctors) and surgeons will be free to do what they are trained to do best....save lives -- not over-or-wrongly prescribe pharmaceuticals.
Opportunity
Join Autism One, Autism Research Institute, Generation Rescue, National Autism Association, SafeMinds, Schafer Autism Report, Talk About Curing Autism, Unlocking Autism and the Members of the Autism Collaboration by supporting Dr Andrew Wakefield here:
OC
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a federal law bars lawsuits against drug makers over serious side effects from childhood vaccines.
