A simple question: In this age of clean rooms and precision purification processes, why is there trace amounts of mercury (Hg) in vaccines? Where does it come from, and why can’t it be removed? And, should this make us wonder where else Hg is hiding, like in our food, maybe?
Your question is that you don’t know it’s used as a preservative, or you don’t understand why we’d use preservatives at all?
Here’s what the CDC says about it: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/thimerosal/index.html
Mercury is present in the environment and eating seafood (especially higher-level predators like tuna and swordfish) is probably the biggest exposure most people face.
A. It’s an additive to a few vaccines.
B. It’s a preservative.
C. It’s not the same type of mercury as in poisoned fish.
D. The bad kind of mercury is all over the place. From food, in the air from coal power plants, etc. You’re exposed to a much bigger amount of this than the lesser type.
D. Preserved vaccines are a good thing. It’s better to have a working vaccine with an incredibly small amount of mercury. The theoretic harm is insignificant compared to the proven benefits.
E. It doesn’t cause autism. In fact, since it’s been removed from childhood vaccines, autism rates have continued to climb.
See the CDC about this. (The first hit I got from Googling.)
It’s not “mercury”, it’s a compound that contains mercury, called thiomersal, or thimerosal. It’s used as a preservative, to prevent harmful bacteria growing in vaccines. It’s been phased out of most vaccines nowadays, basically because of public outcry rather than because of any actual risk. About the only place you’ll still find it is in flu-mist vaccines.
The “offending” compound is thimerosal, and organomercury preservative.
And even aside from that, there’s trace amounts of everything in everything.
Including Trump pee in your beer.
Moderator Note
Let’s avoid political jabs in GQ. No warning issued, but I am likely to warn the next gratuitous reference to Trump I see.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
And Clinton pee, and Stein and Johnson and Sanders and Bush and Kasich and Cruz pee. I don’t think Amateur Barbarian meant anything special about Trump.
Don’t forget my pee … and Round-Up {Cite}.
As common an element as mercury is, it’s not surprising that trace amounts are “hiding” in our food, water, soil etc.
The cost of removing microgram/picogram/really really tiny amounts of mercury (if it was even possible) would be prohibitive, not to mention nonsensical given the fact that such minute amounts are not harmful to humans.
Here’s an FDA article on the subject of thimerosal (mercury-based) preservative, which lists vaccines recommended for children aged 6 and under. The only vaccines still containing thimerosal preservative are multi-dose vial influenza vaccines. Single-dose flu vaccine vials do not contain thimerosal (with one exception having a trace amount) and are the form used to vaccinate most children in the U.S. against influenza. The list cites only one other vaccine that contains thimerosal in a trace amount (one of three formulations of DTaP). Everything else is thimerosal-free.
Thimerosal was removed from the vaccines that once contained it (again, with the exception of multi-dose vial flu vaccines) back in 2001, as a precautionary measure. No negative health effects have been demonstrated as a result of its use. Reported autism incidence actually rose in the years since thimerosal’s removal from vaccines (if it had actually caused autism, incidence should have plummeted).
The mercury-in-vaccines meme represents a dead controversy, an ex-kerfuffle and a non-entity, except for a group of antivax Toxin Warriors who just can’t let it go.
I wonder if the people who worry about mercury in thimerosal also worry about the highly reactive sodium and deadly chlorine in their table salt.
–Mark
Or the explosive components of their drinking water.
Coffee beans that come from a civet’s butt.