Thimerosal-Free Vaccines
I still find it strange that, although the experts state that there is no harm in using mercury containing preservatives in vaccines, they are being phased out. First of all, with the sheer volume of vaccines that a infant receives by the age of 4, a substantial amount of mercury is actually delivered to the developing child. Is it any wonder that some parents opt not to have their child vaccinated?? Second, this change away from thimerosal is not a cheap process…there is NO way the pharmaceuticals would undertake such a drastic change without good reason…
Clinician Reviews 10(8):95-96, 2000 How much mercury will our infants continue to absorb from vaccines that contain the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal? A recent joint statement from an alliance of four major health organizations reports the progress drug manufacturers have made in eliminating or reducing thimerosal content in the vaccination regimen. Findings from research to determine infant blood levels of mercury from vaccines that contain thimerosal have been contradictory. Preliminary data from one collaborative investigation involving the National Institutes of Health, the University of Rochester in New York, and the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland indicated that “a very small number of term infants who had received thimerosal-containing vaccines had mercury blood levels less than 2.0 µg/L. Yet another recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics revealed mercury levels exceeding 2.9 µg/L in nine of 15 premature, very low—birth weight infants who were immunized against hepatitis B before age 1 week.