A neurotoxic mercury [49.6 percent ethylmercury (eHg)] used in many vaccines as a preservative but causes autism: There are 25 mcg in one average flu vaccine, and the EPA safety limit is 5 micrograms, so children who are vaccinated simultaneously with multiple vaccines receive over 10 times the safety limit of mercury in one day. Another study discovered that primates that got simply ONE vaccination including thimerosal had significant neurological disability when compared with those who got a saline option injection or no injection at all.
It is an established fact that exposure to mercury can cause immune, sensory, neurological, motor, and behavioral dysfunctions — all similar to traits defining, or associated with autism. Because of the ever increasing number of required childhood vaccines, thimerosal has become a major source of mercury in children. Within the first two years of life, a child may already have received a quantity of mercury that clearly exceeds safety guidelines. Genetic predisposition and a number of other environmental factors, such as exposure to other toxins, and diet, are likely major contributing factors that determine whether a child will be able to manage the toxic insult, or develop a neurological disorder like autism.
Thimerosal has been used in some vaccines as a preservative since the 1930’s. Thimerosal is effective in killing bacteria in opened multi-dose bottles. The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 called for an FDA review of all mercury containing food and drugs which included a review of vaccines that contain Thimerosal. This review was completed in 1999. The FDA recognized that some children could be exposed to a cumulative level of mercury over the first 6 months of life that exceed the federal guidelines on methyl mercury. Thimerosal contains 49.6% mercury by weight and is metabolized to ethyl mercury and thiosalicylate. All guidelines for safe mercury intake are related to methyl-mercury, not ethyl-mercury. Methyl mercury is associated with neurotoxicity in high doses. The Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the FDA had to assume that the toxicity of the two compounds were equivalent. CBER realized that Thimerosal was present in over 30 licensed vaccines in the United States. According to CBER calculations a 6-month old baby that received all the vaccines on schedule would receive 75 micrograms of mercury from three doses of DTaP, 75 micrograms of mercury from three doses of Hib and 37.5 micrograms from three doses of hepatitis B vaccine. The total of 187.5 micrograms exceeds the suggested safe limits published by the EPA.[2]
Four years ago, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote a must-read Rolling Stone article exposing the truth about the drug industry’s greed, and the secret gathering where a plan was hatched to cover up the dangers of thimerosal.
According to Kennedy’s account, in June of 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials — including high-level officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the top vaccine specialists from the World Health Organization (WHO), and representatives from every major vaccine manufacturer — secretly gathered to discuss the use of thimerosal in childhood vaccines.
Data indicated that the toxic heavy metal appeared to be responsible for a drastic increase in autism and other neurological disorders among children.
However, rather than taking every precaution to protect public health, they spent the majority of the next two days plotting how to protect the industry’s bottom line by getting rid of the troubling data.
The CDC played their part in the cover-up by:
- Paying the Institutes of Medicine to produce a new study that would debunk the link between thimerosal and brain disorders
- Withholding unflattering findings by claiming the original data had been “lost” and could not be replicated
- Handing its massive database of vaccine records over to a private company, effectively pronouncing it off-limits to researchers and preventing dissemination of the data through the Freedom of Information Act
Although thimerosal was eventually removed from the majority of childhood vaccines in 2001, it’s still used in some multi-dose vials, and is present in nearly all seasonal flu vaccines. And, thimerosal-containing vaccines already produced were not recalled, so children most likely continued to receive the tainted vaccines until stocks were depleted.
Other Issues Compounding the Dangers of Thimerosal
The timing of vaccines is also an important factor. According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, multiple vaccines given close together over-stimulate your brain’s immune system and, via the mechanism of “bystander injury,” destroy brain cells. He wrote an excellent, in-depth paper on this issue. If you have not already read it, I highly recommend you give it a moment of your time as it is incredibly informative. In it he presents compelling evidence of the link between excessive vaccinations and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Your immune system is very complex. Naturally, the immune system of a baby is not the same as that of an adult, as it is not yet fully formed. Both animal and human studies have confirmed that immune reactions to vaccinations differ at different ages. The rate of maturation of the immune system also differs considerably among babies and children, and when combined with variables such as other toxic exposures and diet, there’s no way of foretelling what effect a toxin like thimerosal will cause in ALL children. For example, fluoroaluminum formed in fluoridated drinking water also interferes with immune function and can significantly compound the damage incurred from mercury, as can many insecticides and herbicides used around your home.
As for diet, there’s substantial evidence that omega-6 oils are powerful pro-inflammatories and cause immune suppression when consumed in large amounts. These oils include corn, safflower, sunflower, canola, peanut and soybean oils. If you or your child eat a standard American diet, you’re consuming about 50 times more omega-6 fats than you need for health.
So it stands to reason that the average child is exposed to a number of substances both in their food and environment that can alter their immunity, hence making them more susceptible to vaccine complications. Unfortunately, the standard childhood vaccination schedule ignores all these variables.
How Many Vaccinations are Too Many?
There seems to be no maximum number of vaccines that a child can be exposed to in sight. Think about it: in 1983, before the autism epidemic began, children received 10 vaccinations before attending school. Today they receive 24 vaccines before the age of 1, and 36 by the time they attend school. And that’s not including the recommended seasonal flu shot each year.
Like smoking and lung cancer, there’s enough proof today to call a complete halt to the present excessive vaccine program and ban any level of mercury in vaccines. But just like the case of Big Tobacco, Big Pharma refuses to do what’s right and protect you and your children from unnecessary harm.
More Recent Evidence
There’s yet another recent study confirming the link between low-level mercury poisoning in children and diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Published in the Journal of Neurological Sciences in September 2008, the study was the first prospective, blinded cohort study to examine children diagnosed with an ASD using urinary porphyrin profile analysis (UPPA) to assess the physiological effects of mercury toxicity. They also used glutathione analysis to assess the children’s susceptibility to mercury poisoning.
Children with severe ASDs had significantly higher levels of mercury intoxication in comparison to participants with mild ASDs. It was also established that glutathione, a key biochemical in your body’s mercury detoxification pathway, was significantly lower in patients diagnosed with an ASD in comparison with the control group.
I’d like to point out, though, that although this study shows a relationship between lower glutathione levels and greater severity of autism, mercury is not the only toxin that can affect glutathione levels. There’s a plethora of toxins in your daily environment that contribute to your toxic load, so any number of toxins may be contributing to the problem.
Thimerosal is found in over-the counter products such as opthalmic solutions and skin ointments. The FDA has already evaluated the safety and effectiveness of many of the over the counter (OTC) uses of mercury compounds as part of its OTC drug review. Many have been found to be not generally recognized as safe and effective. [4] For many years Thimerosal was used in latex paint to prevent mold from growing in the can. Thimerosal has been eliminated from latex paints, and Merthiolate, a concentrated form of Thimerosal used as an antiseptic, is no longer used because of serious toxic effects from these products in infants.[5] The American Academy of Pediatrics state: “Mercury in all forms is toxic to the fetus and children, and efforts should be made to reduce exposure to the extent possible to pregnant women and children as well as the general population.”[6]
Chronological History of Events Related to Thimerosal
Polish Study Confirms Vaccines Can Cause Large Number of Adverse Effects
Scandal Exposed in Major Study of Autism and Mercury
Vaccines and Autism: a New Scientific Review
Pilot Study at Univ. of Pittsburgh on Infant Vaccines Shows Monkeys get Autism-like Reaction to MMR and Other Vaccines
Study: Autism, Mental Retardation and Personality Disorders Occurred more often in Children who Received Vaccines with Thimerosal
