Shots worse than mercury emissions


http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/columns/guests/x09-guc3.htm


Shots worse than mercury emissions
Wednesday, August 9, 2006

We read your July 27 guest column entitled "State must adopt strong
mercury controls to protect kids, moms" by Dr. Ed Pont and James
Nelson. We would normally applaud the acknowledgment of a major
environmental health risk in Illinois, but the authors' prior
failings to protect Illinois citizens from another form of mercury
were not as admirable.

While environmental mercury exposure can be easily sidestepped by
dietary restraint, mercury-laced flu vaccines are much more
difficult to avoid in Illinois. Pont and Nelson represent the
Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Illinois
Department of Public Health, respectively, the very organizations
that have taken decisive steps to assure Illinois citizens —
particularly children, pregnant women and the unborn fetus — will
continue to be exposed to another toxic form of mercury contained in
most flu vaccines: thimerosal — an ethylmercury containing compound.

The IDPH, at the urging of the ICAAP, filed an exemption from the
Illinois Mercury-free Vaccine Act on Jan. 1, 2006, an act that would
have assured no one in Illinois received toxic doses of mercury by
direct injection. The exemption was filed under the erroneous
pretense that there were not enough mercury-free flu vaccines
available. In fact, public health departments in
California and New Mexico were able to order tens of thousands of
flu vaccines for their citizens, yet Illinois agencies failed to
even inform vaccine providers of the new law signed by Gov. Rod
Blagojevich on Aug. 29, 2005.

Both ethyl- and methylmercury are organic forms of mercury, the most
toxic class of mercury. The methyl form of mercury found in fish
from environmental sources such as coal burning is a much safer form
of mercury. It is already bound to fish proteins when ingested and
therefore is not readily absorbed. In contrast, the chemical form of
mercury found in vaccines is injected directly into the body,
bypassing the defense mechanisms of the gastrointestinal tract.
Even the manufacturers of thimerosal are aware of its toxic potential:
"Exposure in utero and in children can cause mild to severe mental
retardation and mild to severe motor coordination impairment,"
according to Eli Lilly's Manufacturer Safety Data Sheet.

Current scientific studies published in peer-review have strongly
linked the vaccine mercury, thimerosal, to autism and other
developmental disorders.

The only studies which ever attempted to measure mercury content in
children with autism showed statistically significant greater levels
of mercury than in neurotypical children.

The biochemical aberrations in autistic children are identical to
those produced experimentally in the lab when cell cultures are
exposed to thimerosal.

Glutathione, a protein required to remove mercury, is depleted in
many autistic children.The enzyme that is critical in the neurochemical pathway of
attention is also depleted when exposed to mercury, thus providing a
biochemical basis of attention disorders.

There are nine published epidemiology papers looking at three
different U.S. databases, demonstrating a dose-dependent association
between vaccine mercury and a variety of neurodevelopmental
disorders, including autism and ADHD.

A congressional committee concluded in 2003 that vaccine mercury was
the likely cause of the autism epidemic in America.
Thimerosal, injected into mice at equivalent doses of that given
American children before 2003, resulted in behavioral and
pathological brain changes similar to autistic children.

Most importantly, recent research on juvenile primates proved that
the safer mercury found in vaccines does accumulate in brain tissue
at levels over twice as high compared with methymercury proving its
potential for neurotoxicity.

Pont and Nelson ignore the fact that receiving a single flu shot
will result in an exposure to mercury 11 to 16 times greater than
what the EPA considers safe and for the fetus, several times above
that level.

Is it any coincidence that since the late 1980s when the CDC
expanded the childhood vaccine schedule, autism rates in Illinois
have increased by over 1,500 percent? Currently, 1 in 166 children
suffer from a form of autism, and 1 in 6 from a learning disability.

It is time to stop blaming coal-burning plants when the blame should
squarely lie on the shoulders of those who are in charge of public
health oversight. A recent international organization assessed
infant mortality rates among industrialized nations. By no surprise
the United States ranked 32nd out of 33 participating nations.
 It is time for parents, researchers, legislators and physicians to demand
that mercury be removed from all healthcare products. Organizations
such as the ICAAP and IDPH should be held responsible for such an
oversight failure. The fishy story being spun here has little to do
with the fish-eating citizens of Illinois but by agencies with close
ties to pharmaceutical industry influence. Stop injecting children
with mercury and stop this hypocrisy.

David Ayoub, M.D.
Springfield
Medical director
Prairie Collaborative

Karen E. McDonough
Arlington Heights
Illinois State coordinator
Advocates for Childrens Health
Affected by Mercury Poisoning

Erik Nanstiel
Hoffman Estates
Founder
Foundation for Autism and
Information Research

Teresa Conrick
Elmwood Park
Board member
Advocates for Children's Health
Impaired by Mercury Poisoning