[Dryerase] Alarm raised over issue of mercury in vaccines

[Asheville Global Report]

Alarm raised over issue of mercury in vaccines

By Elizabeth Allen

Aug. 3 (AGR)—  Recently, concern has been on the rise that mercury in 
childhood vaccines may cause autism.
Mercury poisoning can display outward traits, a neuroanatomy, 
neurotransmitters and biochemistry similar to autism. A major source of 
mercury -- second only to uranium as the most toxic metal known to humans 
-- is Thimerosal, used in vaccines as a preservative. The Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) determined 
that on an individual and cumulative vaccine basis the amount of mercury 
injected into young children exceeds government safety standards.
Data collected from the US government and medical literature suggests 
Thimerosal has induced many cases of idiopathic autism, which represents an 
unrecognized mercurial syndrome. Observations are based on the existing 
similarities between mercury poisoning and autism and the known exposure to 
mercury through vaccines. The connection also reflects a causal 
relationship with, among many other factors, symptoms appearing shortly 
after vaccination, increases in Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cases 
corresponding to increases in vaccinations, and parental reports of 
children with autism as also having elevated levels of mercury.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder conceived primarily of a 
psychiatric condition with a threefold diagnostic criteria including social 
impairment, communication impairment, and preservative or stereotypic 
behaviors, or a need for sameness. Autism may have differential diagnoses 
including obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety disorder and 
schizophrenia. Mercury vapor poisoning shares autism’s characteristics of 
neurosis, problems with inhibition of preservation, stereotyped behaviors 
and, as in the case of one twelve-year-old girl, eye contact. Symptoms of 
both conditions have a lot of inter-individual variation but disorders of 
physical movement are present in nearly all cases of ASD and mercury 
poisoning. Also common to both conditions are a general aversion to touch 
and heightened sensitivity or insensitivity to pain.
Parents can request vaccines that do not contain Thimerosal, whose 
production was halted a little over a year ago but without recalling 
existing products. Government committees, under pressure from the AAP, 
ordered pharmaceutical companies to stop using Thimerosal by March of 2001, 
but as far back as 1982 the FDA said Thimerosal is “not safe for ‘over-the- 
counter’ topical use because of the potential for cell damage.”
Organic mercury readily crosses the blood/brain barrier and targets nerve 
cells and fibers. Primates are shown to accumulate the highest levels of 
mercury in the brain as opposed to other body organs. Further highlighting 
the link, autistic brains and those with mercury poisoning show virtually 
identical types of neurotransmitter irregularities.
Epilepsy is another possible consequence of both conditions. One study 
estimates that 34­45% of autistic people develop epilepsy and another study 
found that half of the participating autistic children who experienced 
epileptiform activity during sleep, another trait that is shared with 
mercury poisoning.
The amount of Thimerosal exposure found in babies more than doubled in the 
early 1990’s when government regulators added the Hepatitis B and HiB 
vaccines to the roster of mandatory immunization requirements for children 
entering school. Mercury expert Dr. Boyd Haley, who has testified before 
Congress and the Pentagon as a leading expert on Thimerosal and mercury 
poisoning explains, “If you take a ten pound baby in, and it gets four 
shots in one day, which is common practice, that’s equivalent to giving a 
one hundred pound person forty shots that day.”
There now are a greater number of individuals with autism than with Downs 
Syndrome, childhood cancer, and childhood diabetes combined.
Studies show that in 1992 one in ten thousand children had developed 
autism, in 1998 one in five hundred, in 2000 one in two hundred and fifty 
and most recent studies are estimating one in one hundred fifty children 
have autism. Over a five-year period Florida and Maryland have had, 
respectively, a 571% and 513% increase in statewide autism rates. Autistic 
children require specialized care, which California’s Department of 
Developmental Services estimates will cost taxpayers two million dollars 
for every child who has autism until they turn twenty-one. The study does 
not include projections for the amount of money needed after the person 
turns twenty-one. The financial burden is likely to strain Social Services.
Thimerosal is controversial because alternatives to it have been known for 
years. Eli Lilly is a pharmaceutical company that is currently being 
examined for its use of Thimerosal in vaccines. Despite evidence dating 
back as early as the 1960’s that the company was aware of Thimerosal’s 
toxicity, they continued to produce the metal until as late as 1999. That 
year they changed their packing insert to identify Thimerosal as “toxic” 
and warned it may cause “fetal changes, decreased offspring survival and 
lung tissue changes.” Children have a predisposition to Thimerosal’s 
adverse effects based on genetic and non-genetic factors.
Marleen Gaynor, autism expert with many years of experience working with 
special education children, commented, “Remember there are undoubtedly a 
combination of causes for autism, with mercury in inoculations possibly 
being a part of the puzzle. Also of concern is the MMR vaccine. Some argue 
that cases of autism increased drastically when the three components of 
this inoculation were combined into one vaccine. The MMR vaccine does not 
have mercury in it as a preservative.” Currently, Congressional Committees 
are scheduled to be hearing debate on the use of Thimerosal in vaccines.