--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/immu/thimerosal.html > > Misconception: Thimerosal Causes Autism: Chelation Therapy Can Cure It > > A few physicians have been promoting the idea that the mercury content > of vaccines is a cause of autism and that autistic children should > undergo chelation therapy to be detoxified. Lawsuits have been filed, > and several attorneys are advertising on the Internet for more clients. > The situation arose because until recently, certain vaccines contained > thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative that is no longer used in > tmost of the vaccines not recommended for children. However, there are > several reasons why concerns about the use of thimerosal in vaccines > are misguided: > • The amounts of mercury involved were very small. > • No link between mercury and autism has been proven. > • There is no logical reason to believe that autism has a toxic > cause. > > Thimerosal has been used as preservative in biologics and vaccines > since the 1930s because it prevents bacterial and fungal contamination, > particularly in multidose containers. In 1999, an FDA review noted that > with the increased number of vaccines then recommended for infants, the > total amount of mercury in vaccines containing thimerosal might exceed > the levels recommended by other federal agencies [1]. The mercury > limits imposed by these agencies have a wide margin of safety; and > there was no information suggesting that any infant had been harmed. > Nevertheless, to be super-cautious, the U.S. Public Health Service > (PHS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) asked doctors to > minimize exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines and manufacturers > to remove thimerosal from vaccines as soon as possible [2]. > > By mid-2000, thimerosal-free vaccines against hepatitis B and bacterial > meningitis were widely available. A combination vaccine for diphtheria, > pertussis, and tetanus is also available today without thimerosal. > Measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), chickenpox, inactivated polio, and > pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have never contained thimerosal. Thus, > except for some influenza vaccine, none of the vaccines now used to > protect preschool children against 12 infectious diseases contain > thimerosal as a preservative. Certain flu vaccines and > tetanus-diphtheria vaccines (Td) given to children age 7 and older > still contain thimerosal as a preservative. > > Before the recent reductions, the maximum cumulative exposure to > mercury via routine childhood vaccinations during the first six months > of life could have been 187.5 micrograms (which averages to about 1 > microgram per day. With the newly formulated vaccines, the maximum > cumulative exposure during the first six months of life should now > total no more than 3 micrograms of mercury [3]. No studies have shown > that either the old or the new amounts have any toxic effect. > > The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has compared the > incidence of autism with the amount of thimerosal received from > vaccines. Preliminary results indicated no change in autism rates > relative to the amount of thimerosal a child received during the first > six months of life (from 0 micrograms to greater than 160 micrograms). > A weak association was found with thimerosal intake and certain > neurodevelopmental disorders (such as attention deficit hyperactivity > disorder) in one study, but was not found in a subsequent study [4]. > Additional studies are planned, but it is unlikely that any significant > association will be found. > > An Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee, which issued a comprehensive > report in October 2001, found no proof of a link between > thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism, attention > deficit-hyperactivity disorder, speech or language delays, or other > neurodevelopmental disorders [5]. > > A study published in 2002 of infants who were 6 months of age or > younger compared the levels of mercury in the blood, hair, urine, and > stool of 40 who received vaccines containing thimerosal and 20 who > received vaccines without thimerosal. The study found: > • Mercury levels in blood and urine were low in all infants > studied > and in many cases too small to measure. There was no observed > dose-dependent relationship between the level of thimerosal received > through vaccination and the level of mercury in the body. > • Mercury levels in blood did not exceed, at any time, the > blood > levels that correspond to Environmental Protection Agency guidelines > for exposure. > • Mercury levels in the stool of infants receiving vaccines > containing thimerosal were relatively high compared to mercury levels > in the stool of infants who were not exposed to thimerosal, providing > evidence that mercury from thimerosal is eliminated in the stool of > infants. > > The researchers concluded that, "Administration of vaccines containing > thiomersal does not seem to raise blood concentrations of mercury above > safe values in infants." [6]. > > The use of chelation therapy to treat autistic children is completely > bogus. One lawsuit has been filed by parents who believe they were > victimized in this way [7].
There are many more than "a few" physicians claiming thimerosal is a causative agent in autism. In addition the subset of children susceptible to damage is not addressed properly. Below a summary and link to the full article addressing mercury's and autism in vaccines. Scientists have identified a signature metabolic impairment or "biomarker" in autistic children that strongly suggests that these children would be susceptible to the harmful effects of mercury and other toxic chemical exposures (James 2004a). This impairment manifests as a severe imbalance in the ratio of active to inactive glutathione, the body's most important tool for detoxifying and excreting metals. Glutathione works as an antioxidant, keeping in check the potentially destructive process of oxidative stress caused both by normal metabolism and environmental contaminants. Autistic children showed a significant impairment in every one of five measurements of the body's ability to maintain a healthy glutathione defense. These findings raise serious concerns about children's overall exposure to environmental contaminants. Mercury is of particular concern, however, because of its proven toxicity to the developing brain and nervous system, and documented high exposures from a variety of sources. One of every six pregnancies is exposed to methyl mercury above EPA's safe level from maternal consumption of contaminated seafood (CDC 2002, Mahaffey 2004). Thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines that is 49 percent ethyl mercury, was a major source of mercury exposure from 1988 through 2002 when it was removed from childhood immunizations at the urging of the Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Elemental mercury from dental amalgams is another potentially important source, but its contribution to overall mercury exposure is less well studied. The incidence of autism increased 10-fold from 6 in 10,000 in the 1980s (Blaxill 2004), to about 60 in 10,000 today (Autism Alarm, PDF file). These new findings significantly strengthen the possibility that mercury could cause or contribute to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders by identifying a metabolic imbalance common to nearly all autistic children that would make these children poorly equipped to mount a defense against a number of neurotoxic compounds, including mercury. These findings could have major implications for public health protections from toxic chemicals in the environment. They identify a subgroup of people at increased risk of harm, and provide important new evidence that policies designed to protect the average person, or even the average child, from chemical exposure, are insufficient to fully protect the public health. Environmental and health officials must evaluate the adequacy of current laws and policies to protect individuals with a heightened sensitivity to chemical exposure. Finally, these findings raise serious concerns about the studies that have allegedly proven the safety of mercury in vaccines. The epidemiologic studies used to dismiss a causal relationship between autism and thimerosal have assumed that all children have the same resistance to chemical exposure. To properly investigate the potential harm from mercury- containing shots researchers would have to compare autism rates in children with the same type of vulnerability. Full article http://www.ewg.org/reports/autism/execsumm.php To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
