San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Protecting Against the Protectors
Mercury-laced vaccines are a danger to our children's health
Dan Hamburg
A commonsense bill to rid childhood vaccines of the mercury-laced preservative thimerosal
now sits on the governor's desk awaiting his signature. While the bill appears to be a
no-brainer, the pharmaceutical industry and the state Department of Health Services are
urging a veto.
Thimerosal, a preservative that is 49 percent ethyl mercury by weight, is present in many
vaccines today, and will be in most of the flu vaccines given to babies, toddlers and pregnant
women in 2005. Ethyl mercury, a mercury compound, and thimerosal are known neurotoxins,
considered by the state of California as chemicals known to cause reproductive and
developmental harm.
Because of thimerosal's toxicity, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public
Health Service urged vaccine manufacturers in 1999 to remove it from all regular childhood
vaccines, and the vaccine manufacturers appear to have done so. However, thimerosal is still
added to pediatric doses of flu vaccine. Next year, as many as 800,000 California infants and
toddlers could receive a mercury-containing flu shot because the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention is now recommending that all children between the ages of 6 and 24 months
receive flu vaccines.
It is common knowledge that mercury and ethyl mercury can damage developing
nervous systems in fetuses, infants and toddlers. The California Environmental Protection
Agency recently reported that the scientific evidence that thimerosal causes reproductive and
developmental toxicity is "clear and voluminous." The U.S. House of Representatives'
Government Reform Committee found that "thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines
is likely related to the autism epidemic" and charged that the federal Food and Drug
Administration has been "asleep at the switch" with respect to thimerosal. A 2003 study
published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons found "strong epidemiological
evidence for a link between mercury exposure from thimerosal- containing childhood vaccines
and neurodevelopment disorders."
So why does the governor appear hesitant to sign AB2943, the Mercury-Free
Vaccine Act of 2004? Drug companies, led by the Bayer Corporation and Aventis Pasteur, claim
that the bill is unnecessary, that it may cause thousands of children to contract influenza, that it
will undermine public confidence about vaccine safety and that it is too costly. Let's briefly
dispense with these specious arguments.
Despite the FDA's and the vaccine manufacturer's assurances, California children are still
receiving vaccines that contain mercury. As the U.S. House committee pointed out, the FDA
has never required industry to conduct extensive safety studies on thimerosal. Vaccine
manufacturers have the capacity to produce sufficient doses of mercury-free flu vaccines by
the date the bill takes effect (July 2006). AB2943 will actually increase public confidence in
vaccine safety by giving parents certainty that their infants and toddlers will not be injected with
mercury. According to the state Department of Finance, the bill would cost the state of
California $40,000 and save untold dollars by decreasing the possibility that
California's children develop autism and related disorders.
Between late 1999 and late 2002, thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines.
Because of this, California now has a population! of children nearing age 3 and 4 who received
a significantly lower dose of mercury than children born before 2000. Preliminary studies show
that the rate of increase in the number of children over age 3 with autism has been in decline
for nine months now. This is the first time autism rates have fallen in the entire 35 years
California has been collecting this data in the Department of Developmental Services.
Perhaps the reason that the drug companies want thimerosal-containing vaccines to be used
up rather than destroyed has more to do with potential legal liability than it does with safety.
More than 5,000 American families are seeking compensation in the U.S. Court of Claims for
damage to their children allegedly caused by mercury-containing vaccines. If drug companies
are found to have knowingly participated in risking the health of our
children, these parents could become just the head of the line and damage awards could
reach into the billions.
The question is: Will Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger listen to the well-founded
concerns of thousands of parents with developmentally disabled children? Or
will he bend to the powerful pharmaceutical lobby? This is an opportunity for the governor to
prove that he's a real hero, not just acting. Parents for generations to come will thank him for
his leadership.
Dan Hamburg, a former U.S. representative from Northern California, is executive director of
Voice of the Environment (www.voiceoftheenvironment.org), a nonprofit based in Marin.
Tuesday, September 7, 2004
Protecting Against the Protectors
Mercury-laced vaccines are a danger to our children's health
Dan Hamburg
A commonsense bill to rid childhood vaccines of the mercury-laced preservative thimerosal
now sits on the governor's desk awaiting his signature. While the bill appears to be a
no-brainer, the pharmaceutical industry and the state Department of Health Services are
urging a veto.
Thimerosal, a preservative that is 49 percent ethyl mercury by weight, is present in many
vaccines today, and will be in most of the flu vaccines given to babies, toddlers and pregnant
women in 2005. Ethyl mercury, a mercury compound, and thimerosal are known neurotoxins,
considered by the state of California as chemicals known to cause reproductive and
developmental harm.
Because of thimerosal's toxicity, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public
Health Service urged vaccine manufacturers in 1999 to remove it from all regular childhood
vaccines, and the vaccine manufacturers appear to have done so. However, thimerosal is still
added to pediatric doses of flu vaccine. Next year, as many as 800,000 California infants and
toddlers could receive a mercury-containing flu shot because the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention is now recommending that all children between the ages of 6 and 24 months
receive flu vaccines.
It is common knowledge that mercury and ethyl mercury can damage developing
nervous systems in fetuses, infants and toddlers. The California Environmental Protection
Agency recently reported that the scientific evidence that thimerosal causes reproductive and
developmental toxicity is "clear and voluminous." The U.S. House of Representatives'
Government Reform Committee found that "thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines
is likely related to the autism epidemic" and charged that the federal Food and Drug
Administration has been "asleep at the switch" with respect to thimerosal. A 2003 study
published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons found "strong epidemiological
evidence for a link between mercury exposure from thimerosal- containing childhood vaccines
and neurodevelopment disorders."
So why does the governor appear hesitant to sign AB2943, the Mercury-Free
Vaccine Act of 2004? Drug companies, led by the Bayer Corporation and Aventis Pasteur, claim
that the bill is unnecessary, that it may cause thousands of children to contract influenza, that it
will undermine public confidence about vaccine safety and that it is too costly. Let's briefly
dispense with these specious arguments.
Despite the FDA's and the vaccine manufacturer's assurances, California children are still
receiving vaccines that contain mercury. As the U.S. House committee pointed out, the FDA
has never required industry to conduct extensive safety studies on thimerosal. Vaccine
manufacturers have the capacity to produce sufficient doses of mercury-free flu vaccines by
the date the bill takes effect (July 2006). AB2943 will actually increase public confidence in
vaccine safety by giving parents certainty that their infants and toddlers will not be injected with
mercury. According to the state Department of Finance, the bill would cost the state of
California $40,000 and save untold dollars by decreasing the possibility that
California's children develop autism and related disorders.
Between late 1999 and late 2002, thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines.
Because of this, California now has a population! of children nearing age 3 and 4 who received
a significantly lower dose of mercury than children born before 2000. Preliminary studies show
that the rate of increase in the number of children over age 3 with autism has been in decline
for nine months now. This is the first time autism rates have fallen in the entire 35 years
California has been collecting this data in the Department of Developmental Services.
Perhaps the reason that the drug companies want thimerosal-containing vaccines to be used
up rather than destroyed has more to do with potential legal liability than it does with safety.
More than 5,000 American families are seeking compensation in the U.S. Court of Claims for
damage to their children allegedly caused by mercury-containing vaccines. If drug companies
are found to have knowingly participated in risking the health of our
children, these parents could become just the head of the line and damage awards could
reach into the billions.
The question is: Will Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger listen to the well-founded
concerns of thousands of parents with developmentally disabled children? Or
will he bend to the powerful pharmaceutical lobby? This is an opportunity for the governor to
prove that he's a real hero, not just acting. Parents for generations to come will thank him for
his leadership.
Dan Hamburg, a former U.S. representative from Northern California, is executive director of
Voice of the Environment (www.voiceoftheenvironment.org), a nonprofit based in Marin.
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