Mercury in Childhood Vaccines: What Did
the Government Know?
By
Valeri Williams / WFAA-TV Dallas
It's a question that has
divided doctors, parents and government scientists for more than a decade:
Do childhood vaccines or additives cause neurological damage?
Next month, a congressional
committee will hear testimony on the subject. A California university has a
huge government grant to research it.
And the possible link has been
the focus of a three-month News 8 Investigation.
At the center of the
investigation: a preservative put into many vaccines. It's called thimerosal,
and it's made from mercury, the second most toxic metal known to man.
Uranium is the most toxic. For years, thimerosal has been extremely
controversial because there were alternatives to preventing vaccine
contamination. And, questions remain about how pharmaceutical companies
conduct vaccine research and how the government regulates those companies.
Centuries ago, the shimmering
properties of mercury captivated the philosopher Aristotle, who called it
"quicksilver" - and the name stuck.
Starting in the early nineties,
government regulators dramatically increased the amount of Thimerosal
exposure to babies by adding two new vaccines to the roster of mandatory
immunizations children must have before enrolling in school.
The combination of the
Hepatitis B vaccine and the HiB vaccine more than doubled the amount of
mercury children. "If you take a ten-pound baby in, and it gets four shots
on that one day, which is a common practice - that's equivalent to giving a
100-pound person forty shots in one day," said mercury expert Dr. Boyd
Haley.
Haley has testified before
Congress and the Pentagon as one of the nation's leading experts on
Thimerosal and mercury poisoning. The research he's done at the University
of Kentucky leads him to believe that some children are genetically
predisposed to storing mercury in their brains.
It's the cumulative effect of
the mercury which Haley and other scientists say leads to neurological
disorders, including autism.
Under pressure from the
American Academy of Pediatrics, these government committees ordered
pharmaceutical companies to stop putting thimerosal in vaccines by March
2001.
The FDA questioned thimerosal's
safety again in 1982 - this time, noting that it was "not safe for
'over-the-counter' topical use because of its potential for cell damage".
Despite that evidence, however, the government regulatory committees did
nothing to question its use in childhood vaccines.
Meanwhile, measures were taken
to remove the compound from pet inoculations. More internal company
documents and memos show that Eli Lilly began revising its claims about
thimerosal starting in the 1960s, changing package inserts from stating
"non-toxic" to "non-irritating to body to issue".
Then, in November 1973, the
company's legal division suggested adding the statement: "Do not use when
aluminum may come in contact with treated skin". Aluminum is a compound
added to many vaccines as a catalyst. But even with this warning, the
government committees did nothing.
Haley said any good biochemist
knows that thimerosal and aluminum react dangerously when combined together.
Officials at Eli Lilly declined
to interview with News 8. However, they did send an e-mail, which said in
part that the company's "primary concern is for patient safety". The e-mail
also stated "Lilly discontinued its sale or use of (thimerosal) about ten
years ago".
However, that did not stop
other pharmaceutical companies from taking over the production of the
vaccine preservative.
In December 1999, shortly
before Eli Lilly quit producing thimerosal, the company changed its
packaging insert again. This time, Lilly warned that thimerosal was "toxic".
Additionally, it stated that effects of exposure may include "fetal changes,
decreased offspring survival, and lung tissue changes".
However, the government's
vaccine committee continues to insist that thimerosal has never been
dangerous to American children.
So, the 1999 Eli Lilly package
insert was shown to Dr. Jane Siegel for her reaction:
"I cannot comment on this
unless I have clarification," Siegel said. "You will have to interview the
public. I don't know - I just know that if you show me this piece of paper I
cannot make a comment on this - I find it uninterpretable."
Haley said the government
should have taken action.
"There should have been an immediate recall of the vaccine,"
Haley said. "We would do that with an automobile if it had a bad brake
system. If we just suspected it had a bad brake system, they would do that.
The government has no problems - they'd do it immediately."
The congressional hearing on
the use of thimerosal in vaccines begins in June. While production of the
preservative was stopped a year ago, as Dr. Haley pointed out,
existing doses were not recalled.
Now, it needs to be re-stated
that the easiest solution for parents who are concerned about upcoming
immunizations is to simply ask your doctor in advance for thimerosal-free
vaccines.
Vaccine Preservative's Effects
May Have Been Known
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