Honey Colony - Apr 24, 2020 - Elton Mwangi
Vaccines have been around for more than two centuries. While the question on vaccine effects has been present since its inception in 1796, the debate is at an all-time high.
The resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough is further fueling the perceived need for vaccinations. Nevertheless, the implication of the potential adverse effects of vaccines continues to linger.
What’s clear is that parents are concerned. The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan recently published a study concluding that 40 percent of parents would be more likely to switch to a pediatrician who accepts unvaccinated children.
It is generally accepted that mild adverse effects following vaccination are not uncommon. However, it has been demonstrated that vaccines may also result in severe adverse events. For instance, in 2001, the vaccine court awarded Porter $2.7 million for a claim of the brain injuries he suffered from a DPT shot.
Concerns About Thimerosal
When Robert Kennedy started looking at the information on thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative used in many vaccines, he realized that the findings as reported by the media differed significantly from the findings of the scientific literature.
While health officials assure the public that no study suggests thimerosal in unsafe for children, numerous studies on PubMed suggested otherwise. More than 400 studies warn of the dangers of the toxic substance that is thimerosal.
World Mercury Project
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental attorney and member of the famous Kennedy family, launched the World Mercury Project in 2016. His goal is ending the exposure to neurotoxic mercury in vaccines, medical products, fish, and dental amalgams. Today, the company is known as the Children’s Health Defense. The change is in line with Kennedy’s broadened claim that every child who receives a vaccine is injured differently.
World Mercury Findings
Before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Modernization Act of 1997, no one investigated the effect of mercury exposure in infants from vaccinations. After the passing of the Act by Congress, the FDA now had a requirement for maintaining a list of the pharmaceutical products that contain mercury.
The findings? More than 30 of the FDA licensed inactivated vaccines contained thimerosal. Thimerosal is a preservative that is used in vaccines that are typically administered to children between the date of birth and 18 months of life such as DTaP and hepatitis vaccines.
In his research, Kennedy determined that vaccines were not subjected to the safety rigors that are required for other pharmaceuticals to be approved by the FDA. Additionally, he uncovered a 1930 Eli Lilly-sponsored experiment on thimerosal tested in patients with meningitis. The experiment failed to prove that thimerosal was non-toxic.
Another study, published in 1931, suggested the low toxicity profile of thimerosal in humans; however, it neglected to disclose that the human subjects were ill and subsequently died. Congress charged the FDA with determining the quality and quantity of mercury in the vaccines and the analysis of the effects. It was determined that thimerosal contains close to 50 percent of ethyl mercury by weight.
In 1999, the FDA released a statement after a review, addressing the possibility that infants who received numerous thimerosal preserved vaccines might have been exposed to a cumulative excess of mercury when compared to the federal safety guidelines.