Comments About My Email

I’ve been engaged in a back and forth in my comments on I Called Out Dr. P. It was getting kind of long so I brought it over here. I wasn’t thrilled to have to back up some of my assertions but I have to thank him for keeping me honest and compelling me to try to put my money where my mouth was.

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I’d never heard of any relationship between carrots and HIV so I googled it and I can assure you that there is more evidence supporting a link between vaccines and autism than there is between carrots and HIV.

But taking your point seriously, the onus is on drug companies to prove that their products are safe. In the US, vaccines and other drugs have to be approved by the FDA. And unfortunately, that doesn’t always weed out unsafe products. The rotavirus vaccine approved in 1998 was withdrawn from the market about a year later because of serious reactions. I’m sure you’ve heard of the recalls of Vioxx and Meridia. Pharmaceutical companies, too, concede that their products cause harm. They try to downplay risks but list side effects on their packaging materials.

“The VICP was established to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, stabilize vaccine costs, and establish and maintain an accessible and efficient forum for individuals found to be injured by certain vaccines. The VICP is a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines.”

Consumers pay a little extra for every shot, that money is collected. If you’re interested in finding out more here is a link. http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/

Thus pharmaceutical companies and the American government both agree that vaccines can cause harm. I think the real question is how much disability/deaths are acceptable based on value provided/lives saved.

I’m grateful that when someone is sick often there is an antibiotic or medicine that can potentially save their life. One of my friends would have died last Sunday without antibiotics and first world medicine. But the opposite sometimes happens, the drug or vaccine, given with good intentions, causes damage or death.

I don’t see vaccines as an either/or issue. Vaccines are not good OR bad. I see more value in some vaccines than others. I live in Massachusetts. Malaria vaccines aren’t needed here but they are desperately needed in other parts of the world. On certain islands 93% of the population has or has had hepatitis B. The risk factors for children developing hepatitis B are very high. In the US, it is spread primarily though sexual activity and drug use. Risk factors are different. Is it logical to treat children in both places identically?

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hepatitis-b/DS00398/DSECTION=risk-factors

This is the part of the discussion that I think gets drown out. We know that certain members of society have genetic predispositions to developing Tay Saks, Wilsons Disease or other genetic disorders. I think there is very strong evidence that autism has a genetic component.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/publications/healthy_dev_partb_8-eng.php

Based on genetic differences in individuals it is logical to assume that people will react differently to drugs, toxins, foods, vaccines, etc. I argue that a small subset of the population because of genetic factors and other environmental influences react differently to vaccines than typical children. Parents began suspecting vaccines when children began regressing into autism shortly after receiving them. (I understand coincidence and that correlation doesn’t equal causation.) But I’ll also say that for both my sons to become autistic two weeks after the same series of shots is one hell of a coincidence! It’s also interesting that their cousins reacted to vaccines (developed ASD) and both the doctor and parents agreed they shouldn’t get that vaccine again.

As for Bernadine Healy former head of the NIH stating that she found credible published, peer-reviewed scientific studies that support the idea of an association between vaccines and autism. In listening to her again I think she may be referring to the mice study out of Columbia University and Burbacher’s primate study.

Neurotoxic effects of postnatal thimerosal are mouse strain dependent.

“Autoimmune disease-sensitive SJL/J mice showed growth delay; reduced locomotion; exaggerated response to novelty; and densely packed, hyperchromic hippocampal neurons with altered glutamate receptors and transporters. Strains resistant to autoimmunity, C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ, were not susceptible. These findings implicate genetic influences and provide a model for investigating thimerosal-related neurotoxicity.”

Here’s the link. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15184908

Comparison of Blood and Brain Mercury Levels in Infant Monkeys Exposed to Methylmercury or Vaccines Containing Thimerosal

“There was a much higher proportion of inorganic Hg in the brain of thimerosal monkeys than in the brains of MeHg monkeys (up to 71% vs. 10%). Absolute inorganic Hg concentrations in the brains of the thimerosal-exposed monkeys were approximately twice that of the MeHg monkeys. Interestingly, the inorganic fraction in the kidneys of the same cohort of monkeys was also significantly higher after im thimerosal than after oral MeHg exposure (0.71 ± 0.04 vs. 0.40 ± 0.03). This suggests that the dealkylation of ethylmercury is much more extensive than that of MeHg.”

Update: To Further explain the study:

This study shows that yes, as expected, ethyl mercury leaves the blood stream sooner. But where does it go? It’s not all excreted. The interesting part of the study is what happens to the mercury within the body. Within the body thimerosal is broken up and turns into inorganic mercury in the brain! The proportion of inorganic mercury in the brain is up to 71% in the monkeys who received thimerosal vs. 10% in the monkeys that received methyl mercury. This means that thimerosal left the bloodstream sooner and more of it changed into inorganic mercury in the brain. The study also mentions the inorganic fraction in the kidneys of the same cohort of monkeys was also significantly higher after im thimerosal than after oral MeHg exposure (0.71 ± 0.04 vs. 0.40 ± 0.03). This suggests that the dealkylation of ethylmercury is much more extensive than that of MeHg.” (Dealkylation refers to the process of removing the ethyl or methyl chain thus transforming it to its inorganic form.) The monkeys are excreting more of the methyl mercury than the ethyl mercury. More of the mercury from the thimerosal is deposited in the brain and kidneys.

“Although the initial distribution volume of total Hg is similar for the two groups, a biphasic exponential decline in total blood Hg is observed only after im injections of thimerosal. This suggests continual distribution into and localization in tissue sites over time. It is relevant to note that the kidney-to-blood concentration gradient of total Hg is much higher in the thimerosal monkeys than in the MeHg monkeys (mean ± SE, 95.1 ± 10 vs. 5.8 ± 0.6). The second slower phase of washout could also represent the gradual biotransformation of ethylmercury (the presumed principal organic form of Hg after thimerosal administration) to Hg-containing metabolites that have a different tissue distribution or are more slowly eliminated.”

Once the thimerosal has changed into inorganic mercury it is deposited in tissues. Where it remains to causes damage. Once in the inorganic form it cannot cross the blood brain barrier.

This is very important because humans cannot excrete inorganic mercury once it is deposited in the brain tissue. We can only excrete organic. Thus because ethylmercury (thimerosal) leaves the bloodstream more quickly than methlmercury less of it can be excreted before attaching as inorganic mercury to the brain, nervous system, wherever. Most studies on mercury have been done on methlmercury rather than ethylmercury.

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280342/

An explanations of inorganic and organic mercury:

The distinction is the type of chemical bonding. Inorganic mercury refers to mercury that is in the metallic state or is a charged ion (a ‘salt,’ such as mercury chloride). Organic mercury is mercury that is chemically bonded to a carbon chain molecule – methylmercury and ethylmercury being the simplest organic mercury compounds (which also include thimerosal). Inorganic mercury forms (metal, vapors, mercury salts) are less toxic than organic mercury because it doesn’t absorb easily into the body – if ingested most passes through the digestive tract. Organic mercury is readily absorbed by tissues and transported around the body.

I don’t know that these were the studies Dr. Healy was referring too, but I suspect they might be among them. Did you notice that Dr. Healy said in the interview that a memo went around the NIM in 2004 saying, “Do not pursue susceptibility groups. Don’t look for those patents, those children, who may be vulnerable.”? She takes issue with that, as do I. She said that the NIH believed that parents would be scared away from vaccination if they were found to cause autism in a group. I guess I don’t sound like as much of a crackpot for saying studies looking into the connection between autism and vaccines really haven’t been done if the former head of the National Institutes of Health agrees!

And for your question of if I intended to use the paper as evidence that there are safety concerns with vaccines. No, I think you proved your point. I knew from the beginning it wasn’t the one I was looking for but I got lazy.

And I will check out the website you recommend. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=466

If you are honestly interested in finding out more read David Kirby's Evidence of Harm.