Fw: Fears Raised Over Preservative In Vaccines

[Guest guest]

From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 11:16 AM

Subject: Fears Raised Over Preservative In Vaccines

> http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/21291/328506.html

>

>

> Fears Raised Over Preservative In Vaccines

> July 17, 2001

>

> BOSTON (Boston Globe) -- Lyn Redwood, a registered nurse, thought she was

> doing the right thing when she took her healthy son, Will, to get

> vaccinated for measles and other childhood diseases. But soon afterward,

> she saw a change in her 1-year-old.

>

> " He lost speech, " the Atlanta resident said of her son, now 7. " He lost "

> the ability to make " eye contact. "

>

> It was only after her son was diagnosed with a form of autism that she

> found a Food and Drug Administration study warning that a preservative

used

> in some vaccines may have exposed children to levels of mercury higher

than

> recommended under federal guidelines. A check of her son's vaccine records

> confirmed her fears: The vaccines contained the toxic ingredient, called

> thimerosal.

>

> " My son had 125 times the allowable exposure in one day, " she said,

> referring to the maximum daily dosage for mercury exposure recommended by

> the Environmental Protection Agency.

>

> Redwood was one of more than a dozen parents of autistic children from

> around the country who yesterday urged a committee from the Institute of

> Medicine to oppose the use of any mercury compound as a preservative in

> vaccines. The panel, a branch of the National Academy of Science, gathered

> at the Hotel in Cambridge to hear scientific testimony on the link

> between mercury in vaccines and neurological problems in children.

>

> Dangerous side effects from children's vaccines have long been a sensitive

> subject for public health officials - and a parent's nightmare. While

> vaccinations are responsible for the virtual elimination of such crippling

> diseases as polio, in rare cases vaccinations themselves can cause severe,

> even life-threatening reactions.

>

> The form of mercury in vaccines and other medical products, thimerosal,

has

> been used as a preservative since the 1930s. Though mercury has long been

> known to be a neurotoxin, vaccine makers and federal officials alike

argued

> that it was harmless in the small doses found in vaccines.

>

> However, mercury in vaccines has been an issue of growing debate in recent

> years as anecdotal evidence increasingly shows that some children develop

> autism after receiving vaccinations for mumps, measles, and rubella as

well

> as hepatitis B. Though its causes are not well understood, the effects of

> autism are quite clear: Sufferers have great difficulty in social

> interactions and some can't even speak.

>

> As a result, children's vaccines became part of the broader controversy

> over mercury pollution in the environment. Because mercury is so toxic,

> governments have pledged to virtually eliminate mercury emissions from

> power plants and other sources, and states have warned children and young

> women to limit consumption of freshwater fish because of their mercury

> content.

>

> Against that backdrop, the US Public Health Service has recommended that

> the use of thimerosal should be " reduced or eliminated from vaccines as

> soon as possible to minimize the exposure of infants and young children to

> mercury, " said Dr. Bernard Schwetz, the agency's acting principal deputy

> commissioner.

>

> In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes

of

> Health have formed a scientific committee to study the health effects of

> thimerosal more closely and recommend what more should be done to limit

> exposure.

>

> " Parents research the best car seat to put their children in, " said

> Redwood, president of the Coalition for Sensible Action for Ending

> Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders. " I want parents to know that they

> have to research vaccines, too. "

>

> Over the past year, the FDA has approved several thimerosal-free forms of

> childhood vaccines, including a hepatitis B vaccine. In March, for

example,

> the FDA approved a low-thimerosal version of Tripedia, a vaccine against

> diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, and acellular pertussis.

>

> " Now, all routinely recommended pediatric vaccines will be available as

> either completely thimerosal-free or without any significant amounts of

> thimerosal, " Schwetz said at the time.

>

> But many other products contain the preservative - including children's

> nasal drops, ear drops, and flu vaccines, said Dr. Jane M. El-Dahr, head

of

> the Pediatric Allergy, Immunity, and Rheumatology Section at Tulane

> University Health Science Center, who was a speaker at yesterday's

hearing.

>

> " These products are sitting on the shelves " in drugstores, El-Dahr said.

>

> Sallie Bernard, executive director of Safe Minds, said that although the

> FDA moved in the right direction by phasing out thimerosal in children's

> vaccines, parents still need to beware, because it will take up to a year

> for current stocks of vaccines with mercury to be used up.

>

> She also said that a strong statement from the committee can have

> far-reaching application. " It's still in tetanus shots, " she said of

> thimerosal. " It's still in many vaccines given to the elderly, to

> children, " groups that are at greatest risk of developing neurological

> problems.

>

> Most of the doctors and scientists who spoke at the hearing presented

> evidence that showed at least a correlation between vaccines containing

> mercury and the incidence of neurological disease. But since the sample of

> autistic children in most of the studies was so small, and because of a

> general lack of data, most specialists recommended more tests to

> conclusively determine a scientific link.

>

>

>