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clocker bob wrote:The responses to those two questions are the words of Dr. Laszlo Magos, author of the report, The Toxicology of Mercury, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Maybe you've heard of that publication, Wood Goblin? It's been around a while.

Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in many vaccines since the 1930s.45,46 At concentrations found in vaccines, thimerosal meets the requirements for a preservative set forth by the U.S. Pharmacopeia47 — that is, it kills the specified challenge organisms and can prevent the growth of the challenge fungi. It contains the ethyl mercury radical (CH3CH2Hg+) attached to the sulfur group of thiosalicylate and is believed to behave toxicologically like other ethyl mercury compounds. Early toxicity studies found no adverse health effects; recently, however, Ball et al. reevaluated thimerosal by applying the revised EPA guideline for methyl mercury to ethyl mercury.48 They calculated that infants undergoing the usual U.S. program of vaccines from birth to six months of age would receive more than 0.1 µg of mercury per kilogram per day.8 Steps were rapidly taken to remove thimerosal from vaccines by switching to single-dose vials that did not require any preservative. This process is now virtually complete in the United States. The decision itself is remarkable, and the speed of execution even more so49; however, the EPA guideline is based on epidemiologic data on prenatal exposure to methyl mercury rather than postnatal exposure to ethyl mercury. Ethyl mercury has some similarities to methyl mercury. They are closely related chemically, have a similar initial distribution in the body, and cause similar types of damage to the brain in toxic doses.

They also have differences. Methyl mercury is more potent. Ethyl mercury is metabolized more rapidly to inorganic mercury; perhaps this is why ethyl mercury, unlike methyl mercury, causes kidney damage in humans. Of greater importance is the recent finding that the half-life of ethyl mercury in the body is much shorter .50 The half-life of methyl mercury in blood, which is assumed to indicate the total body burden, is usually assumed to be about 50 days.51 In contrast, in children receiving thimerosal in vaccines, the half-life of ethyl mercury in blood was 7 to 10 days, or 1/7 to 1/5 as long as that of methyl mercury.50 Therefore, in the two-month periods between vaccinations (at birth and at two, four, and six months), all of the mercury should have been excreted, so that there is no accumulation.

Given the short half-life of ethyl mercury, any risks of its damaging either the brain or kidneys would seem remote. A World Health Organization advisory committee recently concluded that it is safe to continue using thimerosal in vaccines.52 This is especially important in developing countries, where the use of a preservative is essential in multidose vials. The known risk of infectious diseases far exceeds that of the hypothetical risk of thimerosal. Claims have been made that thimerosal in vaccines may be a cause of autism and related disorders, but studies testing that theory have yet to be performed.

All forms of mercury have adverse effects on health at high doses. However, the evidence that exposure to very low doses of mercury from fish consumption, the receipt of dental amalgams, or thimerosal in vaccines has adverse effects is open to wide interpretation. Moreover, attempts to reduce such exposure may pose greater health risks than those hypothesized to occur from mercury.

Wood Goblin wrote:

The known risk of infectious diseases far exceeds that of the hypothetical risk of thimerosal. Claims have been made that thimerosal in vaccines may be a cause of autism and related disorders, but studies testing that theory have yet to be performed.

Have there been any studies, including animal studies, which have looked specifically at infant ethylmercury exposure and the effect on neurological development?

"No, it has not been studied." - Dr. Magos.

clocker bob wrote:Looks pretty clear-cut to me- the jury is still out. In fact, the case hasn't even gone to trial.

It's the mercury in the vaccines. The parents know it. They have a normal child, and after the third round of shots, autism appears.

Wood Goblin wrote:

clocker bob wrote:Looks pretty clear-cut to me- the jury is still out. In fact, the case hasn't even gone to trial.

This is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the claim you made on page 1 of this thread. I'll remind you what it was here:

This is your argument:

A. There has been an increase in the number of diagnoses of autism in recent years.

B. The jury is still out re: whether mercury in vaccines causes autism.

Conclusion: Mercury in vaccines causes autism.

Your argument is neither sound nor true.

DazeyDiver wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/02/19/autism.study.reut/index.html

Some advocacy groups believe too little attention is given to environmental factors they believe may contribute to autism, like mercury.

U.S. federal health experts this month called autism an urgent public health concern that is more common than previously estimated. They said it affects about one in 150 U.S. children.

UPI article from 2005, noting Stoller's credentials wrote:The Age of Autism: Showdown in Santa Fe

A pediatrician had an appointment Monday with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy to deliver a blunt message: Its members need to warn state residents that the mercury in flu shots could be harmful to children -- or risk being remembered for failing to do their job.

The request by Dr. Kenneth Stoller, an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, opens a new front in an escalating war over the use of a mercury-based preservative in medical products.

Wood Goblin wrote:Bob, I read the scientific literature every day, and the autism-vaccine link has been thoroughly debunked.

The CDC site also doesn't tell us about a secret meeting that was held in June of 2000 where over 50 individuals from the CDC, WHO, NIH, American Academy of Pediatrics, and many representatives from pharmaceutical interests discussed data from the CDC Vaccine Data Sets showing that the increase in mercury exposure from the stepped-up vaccine schedule in the 1990's caused an 11 fold increase in neurobehavioral disorders

www.autismhelpforyou.com/Simpsonwood_An ... 20Rico.htm

What you will see on the CDC website is 'Several studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and autism. The weight of the evidence indicates that vaccines are not associated with autism.'

The CDC was put in the untenable position of helping to develop vaccines, mandate the vaccines, promote the vaccines, pay for their administration and be responsible for their safety . Ye olde fox watching the hen house scenario with the inevitable untoward result. There will always be a problem with vaccine safety until this responsibility is moved out of the CDC. Today, the CDC and its vaccine public-relation front group's answer to any criticism is that the motivations of those that are critical of any part of the vaccine program are because they really want to destroy the vaccine program.

Ty Webb wrote:Jesus, bob.


You overstate, exaggerate, and mask opinion as declaration of fact.