Groups Sue to Stop Vaccines with Mercury

      [From an organizational press release.]
http://www.safeminds.org/

      Members of the national advocacy group "Coalition For SAFE MINDS" held
a press conference today, to announce that they are filing a brief in
Federal District court to obtain an immediate recall of all pediatric
vaccines containing thimerosal or other toxic mercury compounds.
      Thimerosal, a preservative used in some vaccines contains 49.6%
ethylmercury by weight, and has been scientifically associated with a number
of neurological disorders including autism, attention deficit disorder
(ADD), speech delays, and tics. Thimerosal was originally determined to be
dangerous in the 1970's, and was recommended to be withdrawn from the
non-prescription products by the FDA's own experts in 1982. With typical FDA
sluggishness, the chemical was finally banned for use in "over-the-counter"
pharmaceuticals in 1998 yet it continues to be used in pediatric vaccines.
      Vaccines are the worst possible venue for the use of thimerosal-based
preservatives. Due to the rapid growth of fetal and infant neurological
tissues, and the low body weights of the young patients, dangerously high
levels of mercury are being routinely injected into children. By following
the Centers for Disease Control recommended immunization schedule, during
the first eighteen months of life, American children may be exposed to 237.5
mcg of mercury from the thimerosal in vaccines. This results in a body
burden that exceeds federal exposure guidelines by a factor of thirty or
more times the permissible limit. The effects of mercury toxicity are
cumulative, and in many cases multi-shot regimens can result in daily
exposure levels hundreds of times in excess of the legal limit. In 1999, the
FDA itself announced that the amount of mercury in vaccines exceeds
government safety guidelines and "encouraged" manufactures to eliminate
mercury from their pediatric products, without imposing a requirement or
deadline to do so.
      Meanwhile, the health and well being of American children continues to
be compromised. Currently, as many as 1 in 150 children suffer from autism,
and 1 in 5 show signs of learning disabilities. This needless epidemic of
mercury induced neurological disorders is being perpetuated by the
unwillingness of the FDA to fulfill its mission of ensuring the safety of
pharmaceutical agents. At this time, parents are not being informed that
pediatric vaccines carry a deadly neurotoxin and that the safety of these
products has never been established through clinical testing. Through
government mandated vaccination programs, our children are being used as an
unwilling test group for reckless experimentation that borders on criminal
negligence. Not since the days of the "Tuskegee Experiment" has the
government shown such reckless disregard to the health of certain citizens.
Parents are not given an opportunity to give informed consent, and the
mercury content is not even listed on the vaccine data sheet shown to
parents. The most tragic fact is that thimerosal is not necessary! Parents
do have choices of which they are not being made aware, and mercury free
vaccines are widely available. In fact, in July of 1999 the American Academy
of Pediatrics issued a notice to its members stating a preference for
thimerosal-free vaccines.
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