Safe Vaccines For Tennessee's Children - And Response
<<< Back to Vaccines
www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_84301.asp
April 24, 2006
Safe Vaccines For Tennessee's Children - And Response
by Rep. Susan Lynn
posted April 22, 2006
�Excuse me, you may not have heard of me but I�m kind of a big deal.� I�m
kidding of course, but that�s close to the typical attitude displayed by
representatives of the large research hospitals and associations as they
show up in committee to fight a common sense bill to ban mercury from
childhood vaccines.
The Safe Vaccines for Tennessee�s Children Act states that no vaccine given
to a child eight and under, or to a pregnant woman, may contain mercury �
the second most poisonous element on the planet. Used for decades as a
preservative in vaccine, it is commonly known that mercury should never be
consumed, breathed, applied to the skin or injected into the human body.
Although armed with impressive credentials, their arguments against the bill
are weak. They contend:
First, if the Tennessee Legislature passes this bill, parents won�t have a
choice. A choice to inject their child with mercury? What parent would make
that choice?
Second, if we pass this bill, parents will be afraid to vaccinate their
children. I don�t know if they�ve read the morning paper but parents are
already very concerned. Many choose not to vaccinate due to the uncertainty
over mercury. This bill will reassure parents and provide public confidence
that Tennessee vaccines ARE mercury free or trace only.
Third, if we pass this bill, we risk vaccine shortages. They make this
statement even though the vaccine manufacturers are voluntarily removing the
mercury compound from vaccines for children. Most vaccines are now
considered mercury free or trace only.
This bill recognizes that the industry�s mercury removal is only voluntary.
After passage, if the industry decides to produce vaccine with mercury they
can�t send any to Tennessee. The federal government should have mandated
this two decades ago. With large states like California and six others
passing similar legislation this bill provides incentive to the industry to
manufacture only mercury-free vaccine to sell nationally.
However, this bill is not unrealistic, if there is ever a TRUE shortage,
perhaps due to a pandemic, and for some reason (a) vaccine must be used that
contains mercury, the commissioner of health can wave the restriction and
parents will have informed consent. They will be told that the vaccine
contains mercury, that mercury is a neurotoxin, and that children and the
fetus of pregnant women are especially vulnerable to its dangers.
With this bill the legislature will assure the citizens of Tennessee that
vaccines can be important to overall health, especially for the well-being
of children. We support children and pregnant women being given the safest
vaccines possible. And, it is our desire to reinforce the need for �safe
vaccines.�
For more information on the Safe Vaccines for Tennessee's Children Act
please go to www.legislature.state.tn.us. Click on legislation. Type in
HB956.
* * *
Rep. Susan Lynn wrote an opinion piece, Safe Vaccines For Tennessee's
Children, that should be getting everyone's attention.
She thinks that mercury, the second deadliest element on Earth and a known
neurotoxin, has no place in our children's vaccines. One has to wonder why
this is even an issue. How do you argue FOR MERCURY? How many parents were
even aware that something this dangerous could be used in vaccines?
The American Academy of Pediatrics has spoken out about the dangers of
mercury exposure and they announced in July, 2001:
Mercury in all of its forms is toxic to the fetus and children and efforts
should be made to reduce exposure to the extent possible to pregnant women
and children as well as the general population."
Seven states, California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New York and
Washington, have passed such bans and legislation is pending in dozens more
due to the failure of the federal government to mandate that children's
vaccine be mercury-free. The science is overwhelming in this issue. The
research of Dr. Mady Hornig, Columbia University, Dr. Thomas Burbacher,
University of Washington, Dr. Jill James, University of Arkansas, and Dr.
Boyd Haley, University of Kentucky shows that thimerosal is a deadly
additive with no place in medical products.
The actual history of thimerosal is shocking. This mercury-based vaccine
preservative, was invented and introduced by Eli Lilly in 1930. Thimerosal,
was tested only once, by Eli Lilly itself on 22 adult patients suffering
from meningitis. There was no chance for follow-up to observe long-term
effects, as all of the patients in this "study" died. Even if follow-up had
been possible, damage to the developing brains of very young children would
have remained an unknown. Eli Lilly said it was safe and the medical
community accepted it. After the creation of the FDA, its use was simply
continued. The federal government has never tested the type of mercury in
vaccines for toxicity. This is an unconscionable oversight failure and the
states need to ban thimerosal to protect America's children.
Anne McElroy Dachel
Chippewa Falls, WI
[email protected]
* * *
Thank you for Rep. Lynn�s editorial, Safe Vaccines for Tennessee�s Children.
As a chemical engineer with a background in FDA regulations, I�m well verse
in the science of this issue, but increasingly aware of the politics. I�m
also the parent of a parent of a child whose neurological impairment is
connected to mercury in prenatal and childhood vaccines. He was born in
2001, 2 years after the 1999 AAP �recommendation� to remove thimerosal from
childhood vaccines. I believe that the science was available then for
thimerosal legislation and I believe that even more science is available now
for thimerosal legislation. It�s been, 7 years since the 1999 recommendation
and there are health authorities fighting to keep thimerosal in vaccines.
Releases of new studies and evidence continue to support the link between
the use mercury in vaccines and the epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders
in children.
The representatives of the large research hospitals and associations who
fight to keep mercury in vaccines use weak and distortive arguments. Since
the 2004-2005 season, there has been no increase in the amount of pediatric
thimerosal-free flu vaccine used, even though the manufacturer can double
production. In 2003, childhood vaccines were at trace mercury levels and
totaled 3.2 micrograms up to age 5. Now with the flu vaccine recommended for
children age 6 months to 5 years, this level has risen up to 103.2
micrograms. In 2004, the flu vaccine was recommended for healthy pregnant
women anytime during pregnancy, without a recommendation for the mercury
free version. It will take legislation to change the status quo keeping
mercury in vaccines.
Heather O�Brien
St. Paul, Minn.
[email protected]
Back to top of Document
