Continuing use of mercury in vaccines questioned.(Brief Article)

2003 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Parents and advocates met recently on Capitol Hill to ask the nation's leaders and pharmaceutical companies to stop using the mercury preservative thimerosal in all vaccines, to inform Americans about vaccines with mercury, and to recall existing thimerosal stocks from healthcare facilities.

Mercury is a known neurotoxin and has been linked to brain disorders including autism, Alzheimer, and other chronic neurological dysfunction.

"Why are vaccine makers still using thimerosal and unnecessarily exposing infants, pregnant women and unsuspecting Americans - including members of Congress - to mercury?" asked Michael Bender, director, Mercury Policy Project. "Vaccines are supposed to help prevent health problems and not create them. Continued use of mercury in medical products for any human use, where avoidable, is simply irresponsible and not worth the risk."

U.S. health and governmental officials seem to agree. In 1982, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expert panel recommended that mercury be eliminated from over-the-counter health products. In 1999, the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) urged manufacturers to remove thimerosal from childhood vaccines. In 2001, the Institute of Medicine recommended that children and pregnant women avoid thimerosal whenever possible.

While today, most, but not all, infant vaccines are mercury-free. The preservative is still added to formulations for influenza (flu vaccines), diphtheria-tetanus, tetanus, hepatitis B, pneumococcal, and rabies. This year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended for the first time that healthy children receive influenza vaccine. No influenza vaccines are available that are completely mercury-free, although two brands only contain trace amounts.

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