aluminum in vaccines and study of aluminum in IV solutions of preterm infants

[Guest guest]

I haven't posted here in a while, but I found something doing some

research I thought would be of interest to this group.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/336/22/1557

I found this article, showing how aluminum in IV feeding solutions

given to preterm infants resulted in neurological deficits, at

levels averaging 45 micrograms per kg per day. This study was

repeated for babies of many gestational ages with same result. This

type of study is only one to study aluminum exposure from injection

(although not intramuscular like vaccines) at levels lower than or

comparable to amounts found in vaccines. In this study, there was a

measurable decrease on cognitive tests performed at 18 months of age

for each day the infant received the contaminated aluminum feeding

solutions.

Also, for those who aren't familiar with autism's related

issues...these babies with higher aluminum exposure also had higher

rate of gastrointestinal problems and some other problems very

common in autistic children and known symptoms of aluminum poisoning

as well.

I think preemies' kidney and liver functions are different than full

term or older infants and children, but looks like aluminum exposure

from vaccines is several times harmful aluminum levels found in this

study up through vaccines recommended for 15-18 month olds.

Studies the CDC uses to prove injected doses of aluminum in vaccines

are safe are based on oral doses, which are a poor comparison. Oral

doses of aluminum are absorbed very poorly (as little as 0.2%)

across the intestinal barrier, but injected doses are not studied by

ATSDR in aluminum's toxicological profile. The FDA does not

regulate aluminum additives in foods or medications at all as

aluminum was grandfathered out of required safety trials since it

has been used for decades as vaccine adjuvant and long ago it was

considered Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS). The EPA and OSHA both

regulate aluminum as neurotoxin and immune toxin, though.

At birth average baby is 7.4 lbs, receiving 250 mcgs aluminum in hep

B vaccine or 34 micrograms per kg body weight.

At 2 months well check, average baby is 4.2 kg...getting as much as

1200 micrograms aluminum or roughly 285 micrograms per kg from

various combinations of recommended vaccines from different

manufacturers in one day from Prevnar, DTaP, Hep B, HiB, what is

risk?

At 4 months, average baby is 5.2 kg; again with as much as 1200

micrograms aluminum in one well baby visit or 230 micrograms per kg

from combined recommended vaccines, could there be a neurological

effect from this exposure?

Average 15 month old...almost 11 kg...potential dose 1200 mcg

aluminum or 109 mcg aluminum per kg in one day.

17 kg = average 4 yo weight... aluminum exposure from DTaP is 330

mcg or 19 micrograms per kilogram

37 kg = weight of average 11 yo girl / aluminum exposure is 615

micrograms or 16 mcg per kg for recommended Gardasil and TDAP

vaccines.

125 micrograms aluminum in each dose prevnar

330 micrograms aluminum in daptacel

800 micrograms aluminum in DTaP Hib

250 micrograms aluminum in hep b

225 mcg aluminum in each dose Gardasil

250 mcg aluminum in Hep A vaccine/ or 20 mcg/kg for avg 2 year old

who gets this vaccine

TDaP 390 mcg aluminum

Amount of time for these doses of aluminum to be eliminated by

kidneys is unknown, as are times for aluminum to transfer from

muscular tissue to bloodstream and ultimately into the brain.

Thanks,

Michele

Aluminum Neurotoxicity in Preterm Infants Receiving Intravenous-

Feeding Solutions

J. Bishop, M.D., Ruth Morley, M.B., B.Chir., J. Philip Day,

Ph.D., and Alan Lucas, M.D.

ABSTRACT

Background Aluminum, a contaminant of commercial intravenous-feeding

solutions, is potentially neurotoxic. We investigated the effect of

perinatal exposure to intravenous aluminum on the neurologic

development of infants born prematurely.

Methods We randomly assigned 227 premature infants with gestational

ages of less than 34 weeks and birth weights of less than 1850 g who

required intravenous feeding before they could begin enteral feeding

to receive either standard or specially constituted, aluminum-

depleted intravenous-feeding solutions. The neurologic development

of the 182 surviving infants who could be tested was assessed by

using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 18 months of age.

Results The 90 infants who received the standard feeding solutions

had a mean (±SD) Bayley Mental Development Index of 95±22, as

compared with 98±20 for the 92 infants who received the aluminum-

depleted solutions (P = 0.39). In a planned subgroup analysis of

infants in whom the duration of intravenous feeding exceeded the

median and who did not have neuromotor impairment, the mean values

for the Bayley Mental Development Index for the 39 infants who

received the standard solutions and the 41 infants who received the

aluminum-depleted solutions were 92±20 and 102±17, respectively (P =

0.02). The former were significantly more likely (39 percent, vs. 17

percent of the latter group; P = 0.03) to have a Mental Development

Index of less than 85, increasing their risk of subsequent

educational problems. For all 157 infants without neuromotor

impairment, increasing aluminum exposure was associated with a

reduction in the Mental Development Index (P = 0.03), with an

adjusted loss of one point per day of intravenous feeding for

infants receiving the standard solutions.

Conclusions In preterm infants, prolonged intravenous feeding with

solutions containing aluminum is associated with impaired neurologic

development.

________________________________________

Aluminum toxicity occurs in adults and children with renal

insufficiency who are treated by dialysis with aluminum-contaminated

solutions or oral phosphate-binding agents that contain

aluminum.1,2,3,4,5,6,7 The clinical manifestations of aluminum

toxicity include hypochromic, microcytic anemia; bone

disease3,5,8,9,10; and progressive dementia with increased

concentrations of aluminum in the brain.7,11,12

Aluminum accumulates in the body when protective gastrointestinal

mechanisms are bypassed, renal function is impaired, and exposure is

high. These conditions are met in intravenously fed preterm infants,

whose renal function is frequently compromised during their initial

course; some have had high plasma aluminum

concentrations.13,14,15,16,17 We previously reported on a preterm

infant who died unexpectedly and whose brain aluminum concentration

was similar to that of adults who died with aluminum intoxication.18

We hypothesized that increased aluminum exposure in this vulnerable

population would probably have detrimental effects on neurologic

development in the long term. We undertook this prospective study in

preterm infants to compare the effect on the infants' subsequent

neurologic development of standard intravenous-feeding solutions,

similar to those used in routine practice in the United States and

Europe, and solutions whose aluminum content had been reduced.