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AAP went even further in several articles in their hair as infants compared with normal, Manufacturers
Pediatrics, going on record in favor of exempting same-aged children also receiving these vac-
thimerosal from an international treaty on the cines, suggesting that the mercury had lodged in still preserve
elimination of avoidable mercury exposures. the autistic children’s brains and was hindering millions of
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neurological development. 30 flu shots with
THE FALLACY OF TRACE AMOUNTS
Even when vaccines do not contain thi- OPEN SEASON ON PREGNANT WOMEN massive bolus
merosal as a preservative, manufacturers use Thimerosal passes more easily from a doses of
it in some single-dose and multidose vaccines mother’s bloodstream through the placenta thimerosal,
to impede bacterial growth during the manu- than does methylmercury. Fetal cord blood
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facturing process. The CDC states that “when mercury levels are typically about double the meaning that
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thimerosal is used this way, it is removed later mother’s mercury blood levels. This is cause children born
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in the process” and only “trace amounts” remain for concern for developing babies in light of the since 2004
(no more than one microgram per dose). 25 CDC’s 2004 recommendation that all pregnant
The notion that “trace amounts” of a sub- women in any trimester get flu shots. By 2012– have been
stance as highly toxic as mercury might be 2013, uptake of flu shots during pregnancy had increasingly
benign is exceedingly misleading. In a seminal steadily increased to approximately 50 percent. likely to be
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2014 publication in the prestigious journal Manufacturers still preserve millions of flu shots
Lancet Neurology, toxicology experts Philippe with massive bolus doses of thimerosal (about exposed to
Grandjean and Philip Landrigan observed that thirty-six million flu shots containing twenty- thimerosal
the developing human brain is uniquely vulner- five micrograms of mercury in the 2017-2018 flu in utero.
able to mercury and other neurotoxins, often “at season), meaning that children born since 2004
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much lower exposure levels than had previously have been increasingly likely to be exposed to
been thought to be safe.” thimerosal in utero.
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Discussing methylmercury, the Lancet A 2017 CDC study reviewing data from
authors also noted that developmental neuro- the 2010–11 and 2011–2012 flu seasons linked
toxicity occurs at far lower exposure levels spontaneous abortions to flu vaccines, finding
than “the concentrations that affect adult brain that women vaccinated with the inactivated
function.” Other investigators have argued that influenza vaccine had 3.7-fold greater odds
there may be no meaningful safety threshold for of spontaneous abortion within twenty-three
methylmercury. Given the body of research days than women not receiving the vaccine.
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indicating that ethylmercury is more toxic than For women who received the H1N1 vaccine in
methylmercury and that both have comparable both seasons covered in the study, the odds of
mechanisms of toxicity, it stands to reason that spontaneous abortion in the month after receiv-
warnings about the risks of lower exposure levels ing a flu vaccine were 7.7 times greater. The vast
would also apply to ethylmercury. majority of flu vaccines available during the
A 2012 Italian study showed that ethyl- seasons studied were multidose formulations
mercury-containing thimerosal diminished containing twenty-five micrograms of mercury.
the viability of human cells in the lab at a
concentration one-fiftieth that of methylmer- THIMEROSAL WORLDWIDE
cury. Although thimerosal’s apologists like While the thimerosal debate has carried
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to state that ethylmercury disappears from the on in the United States, children around the
bloodstream more quickly than methylmercury, world have never stopped receiving thimerosal-
this is no evidence that it has cleared the body. containing vaccines. The mindset revealed by
Ethylmercury migrates more rapidly to and then Simpsonwood attendee John Clements of the
lingers in the organs. WHO—who described a “mandate” to vaccinate
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A study that analyzed hair samples from one hundred million children “this year, next year
babies’ first haircuts found that children with and for many years to come” with thimerosal-
autism who had received thimerosal-preserved containing vaccines—has not changed. In fact,
vaccines excreted lower levels of mercury into the medical community continues to argue

SPRING 2018 Wise Traditions 33