THE House of Lords is to debate the use of mercury
in vaccines, breaking the political silence which has surrounded the toxic
substance since it was introduced to British medicine in 1939.
Lord Hodgson, a Tory peer, is planning to have Lord Hunt of Kings Heath,
one of Alan Milburns health ministers, explain why Britain has not joined
the United States in switching to the new generation of preservative-free
child vaccines.
The debate will seek to establish whether mercury vaccines were waved into
Britain by civil servants unaware that they had been removed from the US
child vaccines amid evidence of their links to autism.
Lord Hodgson has laid down questions on the use of thimerosal, a
mercury-containing preservative used in the DTwP vaccine, which is given
three times to babies aged eight, 12 and 16 weeks old. "My view is that,
if other countries have been taking mercury out of vaccines, then why
arent we?" he said. "There must be a good reason. I would like to know
what it is."
His motion is to "call attention to the impact of Attention Deficit
Disorder" - one of the child neurological conditions linked to thimerosal
in the US.
The debate is due to be held late February or early March. A motion has
also been laid down in Holyrood.
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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
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