The MMR vaccines controversy was brought up in the past in the various media.
The problem is however that all of them did not adequately raised the question why the MMR and many other vaccines can be dangerous.
Vaccines by definition are toxins, they always have been, and they probably always will be.
But someone in the pharmacy industry long time ago in order to save more money hit upon an idea to sell multiple use vaccine containers, and to preserve such vaccines with organic mercury compound called thimerosal, which caused the vaccines to be much more toxic than they would be without the preservative. Single use vaccines in fact do not need preservation, only multiple use containers need it, because when needle is inserted many times into the container it could transfer there fungi, and bacteria, which could grow in the vaccine solution.
However, it was really fiendish, completely irresponsible idea to use as preservative a mercury compound! How can we trust pharmacy scientists when apparently, as seen in this example, all they care is money. Mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive heavy metal! There do not exist non toxic soluble mercury compounds! And even those non soluble in water or fat, like HgS can give local allergic reactions, skin rashes and inflammation, when used for example as red pigment in tattoos.
There are many claims that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or cot death and autism are caused by the thimerosal preserved vaccines injected to infants.
Mercury, unlike some other toxins, is not a simple toxin, its influence on organism, on each organ in the body is greater, more extensive than most of other toxins. It is thought that main reason why mercury is so toxic is because it has very high affinity to sulphur, and sulphur is ingredient of all proteins in our body (including all enzymes, and almost all hormones).
Mercury, unlike some other heavy metals, is not a microelement, which could be essential for activities of some enzymes. That means that not a single atom of mercury is needed in our body. Each and every atom of mercury is toxic, but obviously because there are billions of cells in our body, there have to be accumulated some number of such atoms before any visible symptoms appear. However, mercury accumulates in the body easily, particularly in the nervous system. In the brain half life of mercury, depending on publication, is said to be from 21 to more than 80 years, that means that after such long period of time only half of the mercury will be removed naturally by the body.
There is an interesting article recently published about mercury in vaccines:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0616-31.htm
Another link to the same article in case the first one wouldn't work:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/06/16/thimerosal/
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/061605HA.shtml
Excerpt from the article:
""You couldn't even construct a study that shows
thimerosal is safe," says Haley, who heads the chemistry department at the
University of Kentucky. "It's just too darn toxic. If you inject thimerosal into
an animal, its brain will sicken. If you apply it to living tissue, the cells
die. If you put it in a petri dish, the culture dies. Knowing these things, it
would be shocking if one could inject it into an infant without causing damage.""
Transcript of the CDC meeting mentioned in the article:
Short version:
http://www.nomercury.org/science/documents/simpsonwood%20overview.pdf
Full
version:
http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2005/06/16/thimerosal_links/
Toxicity of Thimerosal, An Organic Mercurial Added To Vaccines:
http://www.altcorp.com/DentalInformation/thimerosal.htm
Another danger in vaccines is that some are contaminated with dangerous
viruses:
http://www.ccid.org/stealth/publications/braindamage.htm
It's really
worth reading.
Another significant trouble is that only in cases of acute poisoning every man reacts similarly to mercury poisoning (that is he/she dies), but in cases of low doses of mercury, and/or chronic poisoning with low doses, reaction of our bodies is different in different people - this is the result of our biological diversity, we differ not only by different appearance, but also by different biochemistry, which is in each of us slightly different. In case of mercury it is particularly visible, in radical cases some people because of exposure to relatively low doses of mercury can be very ill, while others with the same doses might not have any visible symptoms. That fact and because mercury symptoms in low doses are not specific, causes that only minority of mercury poisoned people are diagnosed correctly, most are not aware what is the reason of their health problems, and doctors are baffled with their diseases, diagnosing them incorrectly.
There has never been established a safe threshold of mercury levels. Safe threshold is not known. There has been established though, for practical and legal reasons, industry level of mercury in air for workers, it should be not greater than 0.01 mg/m3 (old value 0.05). However, there were many scientific reports, that below that threshold some workers had symptoms of the so called micromercurialism.
Swedish Government report:
http://www.dentalmaterial.gov.se/Mercury.pdf
regarding mercury use in fillings in dentistry, estimates that the number of
people, which bodies are particularly sensitive to mercury is probably less than
10%, but that is still a significant number of people, who might suffer various
symptoms of mercury poisoning from dental amalgams, not knowing what is the
reason of their illness. The reasons of their sensitivity might be very various,
like genetic predisposition, lower tripeptide glutathion levels in cells, kidney
and liver diseases, and many others, most of which we still don't know,
therefore in most cases it is not possible to tell who is oversensitive to
mercury.
We should worry about dental amalgams. They contain more than 50% of mercury, which
is not bound permanently, but is leaking from the amalgam continuously, what
could be even seen when dental amalgam is examined in the UV light using mercury
UV lamp on the background of a fluorescent screen.
Have a look yourself:
http://www.iaomt.org/merc_release.swf
This is possible, because the UV light spectrum from mercury UV lamp is absorbed
by mercury vapours released from the dental amalgam.
The Swedish Government report shows that the levels of mercury which are leaking from dental amalgams can cause illness symptoms in mercury oversensitive people.
This movie:
http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
shows how very diluted (10-7
mol/dm3) mercury compound solution causes instant brain neuron degeneration.
OSHA article regarding fatal poisoning with just one or several drops of
dimethyl mercury, which instantly penetrated latex gloves:
http://www.osha-slc.gov/dts/hib/hib_data/hib19980309.html
Very curious in the case of methyl mercury compounds poisoning is the "quiet
period" when from a few weeks to usually several months no symptoms are observed
at all, even in acute poisoning cases, only after the "quiet period" symptoms
develop, and as in that case even one or several drops can be fatal.
Even if somebodys body is dealing well with mercury leaking from amalgams
there is no need to knowingly endanger itself, since as I said before mercury is
not a microelement, so every mercury atom is not good for our body. Mercury is
suspected to be causing or enhancing many old age diseases, like Alzheimer,
Multiple Sclerosis, etc. So even when someone is not oversensitive to mercury it
is better to avoid it. Particularly because mercury dental amalgams are worse in
every regard but price comparing to composite amalgams.
Mercury amalgams are bad
because:
1. they leak toxic mercury
2. they can cause galvanic effect
3. their
colour is not natural
4. they make teeth sensitive to warmth and cold, because
of high thermal conductivity of the amalgams
5. they can make local gum and
mucous membrane inflammation, and allergic reactions
6. they are as the
composite fillings durable only 3-4 years (though of course there might be many
exceptions, but both in cases of amalgams and composites 3-4 years is usually
the durability defined by manufacturers)
7. there is need to remove more healthy
tooth tissue in order for amalgam to keep in the tooth firmly comparing to
composites.
8. they swell causing sometimes tooth to fall apart
In fact no substance, no medicine is totally indifferent to our bodies. Even excess of water, sugar or salt can kill. Some composite fillings also may initially cause some changes in the immune system, which can be measured. However, even if something is released from the composites it is not that toxic as mercury, and it is organic, so it might be decomposited by biochemical reactions in body to less toxic substances, while mercury atom will always be mercury atom, it can be bound to various proteins and other compounds building our body, but all organic mercury compounds are toxic, so it does not help that mercury is binding to various compounds, mercury atom in our bodies cannot be decomposited or annihilated, only elimination from the body can remove danger. That however is not easy, if at all possible with high yield.
Dental amalgam, some say it's 150 years of Russian roulette. Mercury dental
amalgams controversy is not new. First criticism was expressed when they were
introduced into dentistry. Then again before the Second World War, famous German
Prof. of chemistry Alfred Stock and his colleagues became chronically poisoned
with mercury, and he published several dozens of papers regarding that subject.
One of them is available in English in internet:
http://www.stanford.edu/~bcalhoun/AStock.htm
We can read for example:
"Dental medicine should do without the application
of amalgam as means for filling teeth altogether or, at least, wherever at all
possible. There is no doubt that many complaints such as fatigue, memory
weakness, oral inflammation, diarrhea, lack of appetite, chronic runny nose and
sinusitis are sometimes caused by mercury that has been directed to the body
from amalgam fillings, maybe only in small quantities, but constantly. The
physicians should give this fact the most serious attention. Then it will
probably become apparent that the frivolous introduction of amalgams as tooth
filling device was a nasty sin against humanity. Insidious mercury poisonings
are certainly much more common than ordinarily thought. This is true
particularly for chemists and physicists who so often have to work with it. The
great danger here is being noted much too little, and the true cause of symptoms
and illness is often not recognized. In literature you find almost nothing about
this.16) Since the discovery of our misfortune I have found out about a dozen
certain cases of insidious mercury poisoning, just in the circle of my
acquaintances. They almost always have the same symptoms. Often the correct
cause was missed and therefore the correct treatment was missed as well. An
important example is that of a foreign colleague who had been working with
mercury apparatus' for a long time. When he visited me and I asked him whether
he had ever felt any mercury poisoning, he decidedly said that he had not. Upon
further questioning about his health he then admitted: "I am in bad shape. For
years I have been suffering from neurasthenia and had to stay away from the
laboratory from time to time." The doctors had tried all kinds of things with
him. They had treated him for stomach, intestinal, and ribcage disease with a
special diet etc. In reality what he had been dealing with was full-blown
mercury poisoning without doubt.
Why were our illnesses not recognized sooner as
being mercury poisoning? I have often asked myself this question, not without
self-accusations. The first signs, those that preceded the oral signs of slow
mercury poisoning, are hardly known by the medical profession.13) They consist
only of fatigue, lowering of thinking and memory skills, slight headaches and
drowsiness and rare occasional diarrhea. In the same way, it was little known
until now that the nose and remaining breathing passages are being compromised
in the form of a runny nose and sinusitis. But exactly these symptoms brought me
and the physicians who treated me on the wrong track, and have been misleading
in other cases that I have come to know about. Thus one of my assistants was
treated for a long time for a sinus infection before the true cause came to
light. By the way, balanced judgment of the bad situation becomes impaired in
those who are affected exactly because of the existing drowsiness: "Quem
Mercurius perdere vult, dementat prius!" [Whom Mercury wants to destroy, he
first robs of his mind!]"
The Second World War diverted attention from the problem, and Prof. Stock's warnings were forgotten. Only about 20 years ago the safety of dental amalgams has been questioned again, and it is still an ongoing controversy. Though in my opinion it shouldn't be. The evidence against use of mercury in dentistry or medicine is overwhelming. I cannot understand how anyone knowing how toxic element it is can honestly think that it is safe.
Mercury symptomatology:
http://www.mercuryexposure.org/index.php?page_id=61
Article: Our Preferred Poison:
http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-05/features/our-preferred-poison/?page=1
UK amalgam page:
http://www.amalgam.ukgo.com/Homepage.htm
According to WHO the first source of mercury in our body are dental amalgams, second is contaminated fish (most of the predator, long living fish are contaminated, they have high tendency to accumulate mercury). The first source of mercury in environment though is burning coal to produce electricity.
An article regarding dangers of eating fish for pregnant women:
http://www.pirg.org/toxics/reports/brainfood/brainfoodreport.pdf
Trachtenberg in his monograph "Chronic Effects of Mercury on Organisms":
http://www.mercuryexposure.org/index.php?page_id=74
describes that urine and
blood Hg concentrations do not correlate to damage mercury has done, and also
these concentrations can vary because of natural irregular excretion of mercury
with the urine.
Also here it is written that blood and urine Hg test are useful only in
recent exposures:
http://www.cem.msu.edu/~cem181h/projects/97/mercury/#anchor247912
"How can we detect mercury in the body? The standard methods for determining the
concentration of mercury compounds in the body involve urine, blood, and hair
samples. The problem with these methods is that they only show a recent history
of mercury exposure, whereas mercury is a cumulative toxin. Since these tests
cannot account for past exposures, they are only valid indicators of recent,
acute exposure. This is part of the reason that there is so little known about
chronic, low-level MeHg contamination."
Besides in these papers they claim that "amounts of Hg in urine and TLV- TWA
(50 micrograms/g creatinine and 50 micrograms/m3 respectively) accepted by most
authors as innocuous should be reduced.":
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8767866
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=3767430
It is surprising how often researchers try to find correlation between
symptoms and mercury levels in blood, urine and hair (showing levels in blood
really in time scale), and do not take into account that what is important, what
really counts are mercury levels in organs (brain, nerves, liver, thyroid,
kidneys, lungs, alimentary canals, testicles), since mercury is cumulative toxin.
There are several cases described in medical literature of autopsies of the
bodies of people who were exposed to mercury about 20 years before they died,
and all their organs during autopsy had massive levels of mercury despite the
time that passed since their exposure.
For example:
"A German man occupationally
exposed, whose chelation control tests were clean 1-2 years later. He died 19
years later from cancer, and when he was autopsied, he had MASSIVE levels in his
organs and brain left, i.e. only the extracellular mercury levels are gone in
few months, the rest accumulates to stationary cells, sulf-hydryl-protein rich
tissues, and fat-soluble neural and other tissues and hang in there and won't
easily come out, as DMPS or DMSA do not access those tissues practically at all,
or DMPS does not, DMSA does some (10 % effectivity over years of chelations) and
LA has some access, as well as NAC does, yet, even removal of the mercury does
not repair the damage already done overnight, and those with low HGH due to
mercury pituitary/liver damage won't necessary heal that much even if mercury is
removed, unless their HGH/IGF- 1 levels are brought closer to normal levels from
the low levels."
"Demonstration of mercury in the human brain and other organs 17 years after
metallic mercury exposure."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8793247
"A male subject became exposed to metallic mercury
vapor at work in 1973. He excreted 1,850 mg Hg/l urine initially. Controls of
urine mercury excretion after D-penicillamine administration led to the
assumption of a total body clearance of mercury latest since 1976. Subsequently
he developed an organic psychosyndrome without detectable signs of classical
mercurialism. He never returned to work again and died of lung cancer in 1990.
In different organs (brain, kidney, and lung) which were sampled at autopsy
elevated levels of mercury were documented by atomic absorption analysis."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=5535917&dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10392564
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8210224
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2562539
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11022856
Not surprising then that findings trying to find correlation between blood/urine/hair do not show positive correlation. They just do not measure the mercury that counts: mercury in organs.
Most recently (2005) "Texas researchers have found a possible link between
autism and mercury in the air and water.":
http://www.slpjob.com/lougne/forum/index.php?showtopic=88
Three other links, in case the first one wouldn't work:
http://eces.org/KoyaanisqatsiNews/20050317
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002210097_autism17.html
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7218182/
"Studying individual school districts in Texas, the epidemiologists found that those districts with the highest levels of mercury in the environment also had the highest rates of special education students and autism diagnoses." ""Mercury is a known neurotoxin," said Dr. Isaac Pessah of UC Davis' MIND Institute, who was not involved in the study. "It's rather intriguing that the correlation is so positive," meaning that there was a strong, direct relationship between mercury and autism levels. "It makes one worry.""
However "Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciatto and her colleagues at the MIND Institute, meanwhile, have begun a potentially more definitive study in which they are measuring the levels of mercury and other toxic metals, such as cadmium and lead, in children with autism to see if they are higher than in healthy children. Results will be available in a couple of years."
If they are going to measure the levels of mercury only in blood/urine/hair and based on these findings try to find correlation with symptoms they would most likely fail, since their research would not take into account accumulative nature of mercury poisoning.
How responsible researchers can make such mistakes? I know that there does not exist reliable method of showing mercury levels in organs of alive people (apart perhaps from the very invasive biopses; sometimes used chelation challenge techniques with DMSA or DMPS mercury chelators only show intercellural mercury, not intracellural, and also they do not cross blood-brain barrier well, and are not that strong mercury chelators (i.e. binders) as we would like them to be), but that should not be the reason to draw false conclusions from such research, which try to find correlation between blood/urine/hair levels of Hg in chronically exposed people.
Some researchers though are aware about that problem:
http://www.garynull.com/Documents/Dental/Amalgam/MercuryDental0902Pt1.htm
"The ADA maintains that mercury levels in the blood and urine of people with
amalgams generally are not high, and therefore amalgam fillings do not cause
harm. This common defense of amalgam demonstrates a lack of understanding of
mercury. The small amounts of mercury that leach from a filling stay in the
bloodstream for only a short time before depositing in body tissues, according
to Dr. Sandra Denton, a board member of the International Academy of Oral
Medicine and Toxicology. "Instead of looking at the symptoms of mercury (poisoning),
the doctors are looking for the mercury and therefore are missing the diagnosis,"
she says. Urine tests measure the amount of mercury being expelled from the
body; therefore, an elevated level means a person is getting rid of mercury. It
does not reflect the amount of mercury present in body tissue. Mercury toxicity
is a retention toxicity, which means that a good percentage of what goes into
our bodies does not come out. Mercury never leaves the system entirely because
the amalgam is continuously leaching the substance into our systems. If mercury
has damaged the kidneys, this will further prevent its release into the urine."
On that page:
http://www.mercuryexposure.org/index.php?page_id=86
can be read:
"These studies showed that mercury is excreted from the body irregularly.
Between the degree of excretion of mercury from the body and the evidence of a
mercury effect there is no definitive relationship. As a rule, elimination of
mercury from animals subjected to the action of low mercury concentrations,
begins quickly (within one to two weeks) from the beginning of the experiment
and continued for some time (two to four months and longer) after cessation of
mercury contact. This elimination o a background of the chronic effect of
mercury and its compounds in concentrations on the order of hundredths of a
mg/m3 is characterized by rising and falling periods, in the dynamics of which
regularity could not be observed. The absence of a correlation between the
urinary mercury content and evidence of mercury damage was also noted in tests
at higher mercury concentrations. Experimental observations on the dynamics of
mercury elimination from the body of animals confirms conclusions on the
irregular excretion of mercury with the urine and of the absence of a definite
relationship between the degree of elimination and evidence of a toxic effect
observed by us in our studies of mercury workers.
Analogous conclusions come from results of determining mercury in feces of experimental animals: its content for the duration of the experiment increased sharply and then fell markedly. In this, as in preceding observations, on the dynamics of urinary mercury excretion, much dependence between these fluctuations in the course of intoxication could not be proved.
Even in the first days of the mercury effect, as a rule, mercury is observed in higher concentrations, than at the end of exposure. We couldn't show a relationship between the course of intoxication and the blood mercury content. Indeed, there is a tendency towards an inverse relationship, in which in the first days of exposure, when clinical intoxication was not evident, the mercury content in the blood was significantly higher than in the later period when signs of poisoning were evident. It is possible that upon the entry of mercury into the body, it is adsorbed to a great degree by the organs and forms depots in them. "
Mercury levels measured in a hotel. Levels in air increased when people gathered (result
of mercury leaking from amalgams):
http://web.archive.org/web/20030327003604/http://www.tekran.com/special/fred.html
Chronic Insomnia in workers poisoned by inorganic mercury
Full text:
http://www.scielo.br/cgi-bin/fbpe/fbtext?pid=S0004-282X2000000100005&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=es
A page regarding various concerns, including mercury in amalgams, and
vaccines:
http://whale.to/
The Scientific Case Against Amalgam:
http://www.iaomt.org/articledetails.cfm?artid=99
That's how smelting dental amalgams ends:
"A clinical pathologic study of four adult cases of acute mercury inhalation
toxicity. Author Kanluen S; Gottlieb CA Address Wayne County Medical Examiner's
Office, Detroit, Mich. Source Arch Pathol Lab Med, 115: 1, 1991 Jan, 56-60
Abstract We report four cases of fatal mercury vapor inhalation, a rare
occurrence. The mercury vapor was released at a private home, where one of the
occupants was smelting silver from dental amalgam containing an unknown amount
of mercury. Within 24 hours of the incident, all occupants began having
shortness of breath necessitating hospital admission. The clinical courses are
briefly detailed; however, all included rapid deterioration with respiratory
failure. Chest roentgenograms in all four cases were consistent with adult
respiratory distress syndrome. All patients were treated with dimercaprol, a
mercury chelator, but all died, with survival varying from 9 to 23 days
postexposure. Autopsies were performed on all four patients. The lungs in all
cases were heavy, firm, and airless. Histologic examination revealed severe
diffuse alveolar damage, with variable amounts of fibrosis, conforming with
acute lung injury in various stages of organization. Additional postmortem
findings included acute proximal renal tubular necrosis, vacuolar hepatoxicity,
and a spectrum of central nervous system alterations including multifocal
ischemic necrosis, gliosis, and vasculitis."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1987914
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1984951
Similar cases:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1307401
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11896667
Andrzej Kasperowicz
05-08-2005
