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Japan in the 1950s and 60s and considered to down into two different forms of mercury, forming the following reac-
be one of the most toxic mercury compounds. 4 tion:
Methyl mercury is the type of mercury that pol-

lutes bodies of water and is found in the sh that Hg Cl + 2 NH → Hg + Hg(NH )Cl (Mercuriammonium chloride) +
2 2 3 2
we consume. It is different from another organic NH Cl (ammonium chloride)
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mercury compound, ethylmercury thiosalicylate,
also known as thimerosal, which has been used Thus, if any calomel reaches the kidneys for excretion, the mercury
since the 1930s as a preservative in vaccines. could be rendered even more poisonous after coming into contact with
(See below.) Straight mercury is most poisonous ammonia.
as a vapor which forms when liquid mercury is By the 1950s scientists understood that calomel could decompose in
exposed to air; this is why one must be so careful the intestines when it came in contact with substances such as sucrose and
when a mercury thermometer or compact uores- lactose as well as alkaloids like cocaine; this would create the “more toxic,

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cent light bulb breaks, and why dental amalgams mercuric derivative” mercuric chloride. The 1967 edition of the United
are dangerous. States Dispensatory and Physicians’ Pharmacology, still listing calomel
Another factor involved in the absorption as a medicine rather than a poison, challenges claims that large amounts
of calomel into the tissues is ammonia, which can be absorbed in the gut: “Most of a dose of calomel is probably elimi-
is a byproduct in the kidneys. Ammonia (NH ) nated from the bowel; only the dissolved portion, some of which is in the
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also causes calomel to disproportionate, or break mercuric state, is absorbed. Because of the danger of absorption of toxic

THIMEROSAL: RESPONSIBLE FOR AN EPIDEMIC?

Since the 1930s, ethylmercury thiosalicylate, also known as thimerosal, has been used as a preservative in vaccines
and injection compounds worldwide due to its antifungal and antibacterial properties. Comprised of 50 percent mercury,
thimerosal is an organic mercury compound that breaks down in the body into ethyl mercury and thiosalicylate and is
thought by many parents and scientists to be primarily responsible for the epidemic of autism and other neurological
disorders in children over the last 20 years.
According to Boyd Haley, a researcher at the University of Kentucky, the mercury in thimerosal acts as an enzyme
inhibitor that can negatively affect the immune system’s ability to deal with toxins introduced in the body, such as the
various diseases in the vaccines themselves. When combined with other heavy metals present in vaccines, the toxic ef-
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fect of the metals is intensified, the same way it is enhanced after exposure to multiple forms of mercury, such as methyl
mercury (in fish), ethyl mercury (thimerosal), and mercury vapors (from air pollution and amalgam fillings). Mercury has a
particularly synergistic relationship with aluminum. Mercury “eats away” at aluminum, potentially releasing more mercury
into the environment or tissues. Consequently, scientists believe that the aluminum present in vaccines may exacerbate
the toxicity of the thimerosal.
2
Many children experience external allergic reactions such as hives and eczema because of the repeated doses of
thimerosal in the childhood vaccine schedule. Of far greater concern is the fact that the nervous system can become
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“intoxicated” or overwhelmed from exposure to mercury. Symptoms of mercury intoxication include memory loss, un-
controllable shaking and loss of balance—some of the same symptoms exhibited by children after receiving a vaccine (or
two or three) containing thimerosal. Many of these symptoms do not appear until some time after the vaccine has been
administered, which may explain some of the learning problems and mental disorders that could potentially be associ-
ated with vaccines. The fetus is also at risk of mercury intoxication if the mother receives thimerosal-containing injections
while pregnant.
Currently the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is “working with” vaccine manufacturers to remove the thimerosal
from vaccines on a voluntary basis. However, at the time of this writing, it is still present in some stocks of hepatitis B,
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DPT and other vaccines on the recommended pediatric vaccination schedule; all influenza vaccines; and vaccines ad-
ministered in Third World countries. In 2001 it was removed from the RhoGam shot given to pregnant women with Rh
blood incompatibility, although lawsuits against its manufacturer, Johnson and Johnson, are still pending.

1. http://www.mothering.com/articles/growing_child/vaccines/toxic.html, accessed March 8, 2008.
2. http://www.informedchoice.info/cocktail.html, accessed April 9, 2008. This site lists all of the ingredients in most available vac-
cines.
3. Neustadter, Randall, The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Choice. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1996, 51.
4. www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm. For a list of drugs containing mercury and thimerosal, see http://www.fda.gov/cder/.

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