Government Investigation Finds Autism Vaccine Related

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By Evelyn Pringle (about the author) Page 2 of 5 page(s)

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"What took the FDA so long to do the calculations? Why didn't CDC and the advisory bodies do these calculations when they rapidly expanded the childhood immunization schedule?"

An internal company memo that surfaced in a lawsuit against vaccine maker, Merck, proves the company knew infants were being injected with unsafe amounts of thimerosal back in 1991.

The memo says a 6-month-old baby receiving shots on schedule would receive mercury 87 times higher than established safety guidelines:

"If eight doses of Thimerosal-containing vaccine was given in the first six months of life (3 DTP, 2 HIB, and 3 Hepatitis B) the 200 micrograms of mercury given, say to an average size of 12 pounds, would be about 87 times the Swedish daily allowance of 2.3 micrograms for a baby of that size."

On September 8, 2004, Dr William Egan, then acting Director of the FDA's Office of Vaccines Research and Review, told the House Government Reform Committee that prior to the mercury reduction initiative in vaccines, children may have received 187.5 micrograms of mercury by 6 month's of age through routine childhood vaccinations.

People often ask why some children become autistic when so many do not. As a neurotoxin, thimerosal, has been linked to the depletion of the protective anti-oxidant, glutathione, which helps rid the body of mercury. People with autism seem to be more susceptible to this effect and most have low levels of glutathione. Therefore, their bodies have difficulty excreting mercury.

A December 2004 report by the independent Environmental Working Group determined that autistic children have less glutathione than normal children. The study, led by Dr Jill James, a professor of biochemistry and pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said a glutathione deficit "may contribute to the development and clinical manifestation of autism."

In 1999, many drug companies claimed they were reducing the amount of thimerosal in vaccines. Some even provided product inserts that claimed that only a trace amount of mercury still existed in the final product. Others even claimed to be producing vaccines that were completely mercury-free.

For instance, a September 1999, press release by vaccine maker Merck declared: "Now, Merck's infant vaccine line is free of all preservatives."

However, On March 8, 2005, the LA Times reported that "Merck & Co continued to supply infant vaccine containing a mercury preservative for two years after declaring that it had eliminated the chemical."

In fact, Merck continued to distribute vaccines containing thimerosal until October 2001, according to a June, 2003 letter from the FDA to Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL), a doctor by calling, in response to an inquiry. Dr Weldon called what Merck did "misleading."

"You had people literally into 2002," he told the Times, "getting shots with mercury, having been told it was all taken out in 1999."

To see if vaccines were indeed thimerosal free, last year the group, Health Advocacy in the Public Interest (HAPI), sent four vials of different vaccines to be tested for mercury content to Doctor's Data, an independent lab, which specializes in heavy metal testing.

The tests found that all four contained mercury, despite the claim by 2 companies that their vaccines were completely mercury-free. According to HAPI, all four vaccines also contained aluminum which greatly increases the toxicity of mercury for causing neuronal death in the brain.

In fact, during further investigation, HAPI discovered that thimerosal was still being used during the production process for most vaccines. The drug makers claim that after production, they filter the preservative out of the final vaccines.

However, heavy metal expert, Dr Boyd Haley, PhD, the Chemistry Department Chair at the University of Kentucky, told HAPI that its not possible to remove all of the thimerosal because mercury binds to the antigenic protein in the vaccine and cannot be filtered out completely.

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