Is ethyl-mercury in thimerosal vaccines safe?

Check out this video to see with your own eyes the damage that even a tiny amount of mercury can cause to nerve cells. All types of mercury are toxic and can rapidly cause neural tubule and mitochondrial damage even in extremely low concentrations. Mercury is rapidly taken up by our nerve endings and transported inside the axon of nerves to the spinal cord and brain stem. The clinical manifestation of these defects in mitochondria and neural tubules can take years to manifest.




Thimerosal is a mercury-based compound used as preservative in many vaccines including most H1N1 flu shots. There are many expert opinions on both sides of the fence when it comes to thimerosal safety. I think that the best argument that I’ve seen for thimerosal safety is that mercury’s removal from vaccines in California didn’t stop the rise of autism there, and that despite the decrease in mercury containing vaccines, autism rates continue to grow at an alarming rate. Therefore, the argument goes, it’s not likely the thimerosal causing autism rise. This would be convenient, however is contrasted by the fact that autism is not reported among Amish children who go unvaccinated. This strikes me as a very interesting counter-argument. The truth is that despite its continued rise in prevalence, modern medicine has no explanation for autism.

Is it possible that the ethyl-mercury in thimerosal vaccines is safe? To quote is directly from the CDC on mercury: “Exposure to high levels of metallic, inorganic, or organic mercury can permanently damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus.” This means all types of mercury including the ethyl-mercury in thimerosal can cause harm. Effects on brain functioning may include irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, attention, language, and memory problems. Effects of short-term exposure to high levels of metallic mercury may include lung damage, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, increases in blood pressure or heart rate, skin rashes, and eye irritation.” (CDC link)


None of the “safety” studies in that I’ve seen for thimerosal examine mitochondria or neural tubules that are associated with autism and other nervous system diseases in conjunction with thimerosol. What the “safety” studies are saying goes something like: “there is no link between thimerosal and autism”.

A very important and critical point is that nobody is making the argument that injecting the ethylmercury in thimerosal is safe! There have been very few true safety studies done at all on flu vaccines, and none that I’ve seen for pregnant women and very small children. To quote from the vaccine manufacturers own literature: “Safety and effectiveness of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine have not been established in pregnant women or nursing mothers or children 6 months of age.” (CDC link, see page 2)

When discussing thimerosal vaccine safety, many people point to a number of scientific studies, including a very recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine titled: “Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years”. It is important to note that despite looking at over 40 outcomes, this study did not examine autism spectrum disorders, mitochondria, or neural tubule dysfunction including tubulin and actin fibers post-vaccination. These omissions are curiously the areas where many parents have the most worries.(NEJM link)

There are definitely reasons parents should be concerned about thimerosal and vaccines. In a very recent study published in the journal Neurotoxicology, the leading scientific journal in its field, discovered brain damage in newborn monkeys who were given a vaccine containing the mercury preservative thimerosal. The vaccine caused a significant delay in the acquisition of key primate survival reflexes essential for life in the wild. Mercury is especially toxic to the developing brain and immune system. (PubMed)

Another study from the Journal of Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, Volume 91, Issue 4 June 2009 , pages 735 – 749, shows that Thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines have become significant sources of Hg exposure for some fetuses/infants. Thimerosal-induced cytoxicity is similar to that observed in AD pathophysiologic studies. Thimerosal was found to be significantly more toxic than the other metal compounds examined! (LINK)



Thimerosal was eliminated in many countries over 20 years ago due to safety concerns. In 1977, a Russian study found that adults exposed to ethylmercury, the exact form of mercury injected with thimerosal, suffered brain damage years later. Studies on thimerosal poisoning also describe tubular necrosis and nervous system injury, including obtundation, coma and death. As a result of these findings, Russia banned thimerosal from children’s vaccines in 1980. Denmark, Austria, Japan, Great Britain and all the Scandinavian countries have also banned the preservative.

It’s not just the toxic metal mercury that is in vaccines, but a host of other toxins as well, including aluminum, contaminate viruses, and many others. What we are really discussing with thimerosol vaccines is the injection of known neurotoxins into our children despite no real studies of safety. There seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors going on around this issue.

The toxicity of mercury has never been in question. The real question is: how much mercury-laced thimerosal is safe, and what are the consequences for our children at low doses? These issues have truly not been studied in depth.

Over-vaccination is a common practice now in America. American children are subjected to multiple vaccines by the age of two. Meanwhile, veterinarians have backed off of repeat vaccination because of observed side effects. Thousands of families say they can demonstrate with videotapes and photos that their children were normal prior to being vaccinated, reacted badly to the vaccines, and became autistic shortly thereafter. There’s a lot of power and influence of money in this debate. Gather the available evidence, and by all means, do your own thinking!



Recourse:
Matrix Harmon-ix, Is ethyl-mercury in thimerosal vaccines safe?, http://connectivetissue.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/thimerosal-in-vaccines-safe-who-are-we-kidding/, 11/16/09.