Never get FLU shots

The following is 9 years old, but just as relevant today – maybe more-so!  Was sent to me as part of someone else’s newsletter.

Why I Never Get Flu Shots

(Posted by: Dr. Mercola )
November 26 2000 | 36,068 views

by Chet Day
Reprinted with permission from Chet Day’s Health & Beyond

Every year about this time, quite a few people write me and ask, “My Doctor tells me to get my annual flu shot. Should I do it?”  Well, I don’t diagnose or prescribe, and what you do with your body remains entirely up to you and your doctor (if you still go to a doctor), but I’ll gladly tell you what I do regarding flu shots…

I avoid them like the plague.

In fact, at age 52, I’ve never had a flu shot, and it would take a Marine nurse and at least four burly wrestlers the size of Jessie Ventura to hold me down and give me one.

Perhaps you already sense I have strong feelings about flu shots?

These feelings stem from personal opinion, reading, and dramatic personal experience.

First off, I don’t think toxic chemicals and virus strains grown on living tissue belong in the human body, even when they’re packaged in sterile glass vials.

Since my family and I don’t rely on doctors anymore, I don’t have access to an insert that reveals the composition of this year’s flu vaccine, but I did find some general information at the Concerned Parents for Vaccine Safety web site, where I learned about some of the ingredients used to make vaccines.

Do you want any of the following vaccine constituents in YOUR bloodstream?

Ethylene glycol (antifreeze)

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid (this is used as a disinfectant, dye)

Formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent

Aluminum, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and seizures and also cancer producing in laboratory mice (it is used as an additive to promote antibody response)

• Thimerosal (a mercury disinfectant/preservative) can result in brain injury and autoimmune disease

• Neomycin and Streptomycin (used as antibiotics) have caused allergic reaction in some people.

Vaccines are also grown and strained through animal or human tissue like monkey kidney tissue, chicken embryo, embryonic guinea pig cells, calf serum, and human diploid cells (the dissected organs of aborted human fetuses as in the case of rubella, hepatitis A, and chickenpox vaccines).

Well, I refuse to put all of the above in my body, and I hope when your doctor starts telling you it’s time for your annual flu shot that you’ll require him to defend the annual injection. You or your insurance company’s probably paying eighty bucks for a visit, so get your money’s worth.

Have your doctor read you the insert that comes with the vaccine.

Then have him/her explain why it makes sense to inject toxic chemicals into the human body and how such substances can aid the delicate immune system.

Chances are he/she will fall back on questionable statistical and demographic explanations that the medical establishment has used for decades to justify immunization.

Try to engage your doctor in a non-confrontational discussion because this is an opportunity for him/her to actually give some serious thought to what he/she is injecting into bodies of patients day after day after day.

Many traditional doctors who haven’t studied diet and lifestyle aren’t going to change unless we help to educate them to what drugs and vaccines may really be doing long-term to people.

Okay, to speak from personal experience for a moment, let’s look over our shoulders to 1990, a time period before the Day family turned to natural methods of building health.

In February of 1990, right after my wife’s major cancer surgery in January, her doctor recommended a flu shot.

Almost immediately after the injection, my wife started feeling ill.

Overnight she came down with the worst case of flu she’d ever had.

She went to bed and literally didn’t get up again for more than a few hours at a time for years afterwards. Only now, almost a decade later, is she finally regaining full health and energy.

I don’t have space or enough heart yet to tell my wife’s entire story, though I’ll do it one of these days, but if you’ll click here, you can read an article written by another CFIDS sufferer, an article that shows the cause and effect connection between flu vaccines and terrible immune disorders.

Okay, I’m a realist so if was still thinking traditionally, part of me would almost buy into the typical rationale for flu vaccines, that so many people are spared the annual flu and only a few die or have their lives ruined after being injected.

I’d buy into that if I were convinced that injecting a filthy substance into the body actually made sense.

Unfortunately, once I stopped buying into the big medical lies about their drug, cut, and burn system, I started questioning all of it.

And when one digs into the vaccine history (check out the Swine Flu vaccine if you want a real horror story) and scientific research (especially in Europe), it quickly becomes apparent that nobody really knows what these toxic stews of chemicals and microorganisms do in the human body.

Well, readers and a few medical professionals have called me a simple-minded dolt on more than one occasion, but since 1993 I’ve approached the yearly flu shot hype with the understanding that if I eat and live properly, I won’t have to worry about catching the flu.

The flu vaccine I use — eating and living as close to nature as I can — actually works.

Not only that, but it doesn’t cost a dime, and nobody’s going to have his/her life ruined because of a “bad batch” of vaccine that triggers some mysterious autoimmune disease that lays a person out of commission for years.

But let’s say you don’t want to eat and live close to nature.

Okay, I can understand that, but my next question would be “Which is better? Some rest time with the flu or having toxic chemicals injected into your bloodstream?”

I mean, seriously, before I got healthy I almost looked forward to a yearly bout with influenza because it meant I could go to bed and get some rest instead of working practically every waking moment of my life.

I might add that I haven’t missed more than two consecutive days of work from an illness for almost five years, so a non-vaccine approach does work for me. This non-drug approach has resulted in a level of health that continually amazes me, especially when I see other men and women my age who are miserable and without energy. Men and women who spend all too much of their time drifting from doctor to doctor in endless pursuit of solutions that don’t get to the cause of their problems — diet and life style.

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Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Chet Day is right on target here. He is one of the few newsletter writers that I am in virtual 100% agreement with.I have heard some authors state that there is a direct correlation of the number of flu shots one has and the incidence of Alzheimer’s. This would be due to the aluminum and mercury that is put in every flu shot.

I could not agree more with his recommendations. I am fond of providing the following answer to people who ask me if they should get a flu shot.

I tell them “Only if they want to get the flu”.

I am glad to see Chet has gone for five years without missing two consecutive days of work. In the last 20 years though, I have not missed one day of work due to an illness. Now my diet and lifestyle program has NOT always been perfect, far from it. But for the most part I am following an optimized program.

The only miracle here though is that God has given us such wonderful bodies that if even come close to following an optimal diet, exercise and rest, we will have a high likelihood of immunity from illness.
Apr 27, 2008

Plea to Pelosi for “Right to Choose”

American Association of Health Freedoms

47 Members of Congress Support Consumers’ Right to Choose Their Health Practitioners

The legislators have sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a letter proposing a ban on discrimination against integrative MDs, DOs, chiropractors and other well-trained and credentialed healthcare providers who have not previously been discriminated against under federal law. If discrimination is not forbidden, conventional licensed practitioners will try to use federal law, as they have used state law, to restrict competition from alternative and integrative sources.

The letter, dated September 14, 2009, urged that any healthcare reform legislation passed include “a provider non-discrimination provision at the federal level, and make it applicable to all plans.” Although the letter does not mention any particular healthcare disciplines, it was supported by the American Chiropractic Association. The association notes that “while ACA remains focused on many chiropractic-specific legislative initiatives, there are certainly some areas where the profession shares concerns with a larger body of health care providers.” Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, and Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., led the drafting of the letter, which focuses on the importance of patients’ being able to choose the type of healthcare provider who will treat them. It also stresses the need to prevent insurance plans from discriminating against entire classes of healthcare providers. A third focus is on maintaining any hard-won rights providers have gained at the state level.

October 27, 2009

H1N1 vaccine

This is from our Letters to the Editor in our Columbus Dispatch  10-27-09   And he is responding to a past article.            Jan

Better think before getting H1N1 vaccine

I am just one of thousands of doctors, scientists and parents who do not think that mass vaccination with H1N1 swine-flu vaccine is a good idea. Patients should make an individual decision with their doctor (“H1N1 vaccine available for at-risk groups,” Dispatch article, last Tuesday).

The risk of autism, brain damage and immune dysfunction is high, especially for children, pregnant women and elders.

There are five antiviral drugs for use in persons who contract influenza (e.g. Rimantadine and Tamiflu) to have on hand instead of administering this risky vaccine to 300 million people.   We will see more autism, dementia and immune dysfunction (Guillain-Barré syndrome) from mass administration of the H1N1 vaccine, especially with the recommendation to give it with straight flu vaccine.

The major networks are doing the bidding of pharmaceutical companies daily on every morning TV show while saying over and over that vaccines do not (in their view) cause autism or any problems; our government agrees by purchasing 250 million H1N1 vaccines with our tax dollars. My hope is each doctor and family member is aware of the risks, and that it’s not a no-brainer.

DR. PHILLIP DeMIO
President
American Medical Autism Board
Seven Hills

Inroads in Education, finally

Obama is making a difference in education

DAVID BROOKS      writes for the New York Times

A few weeks ago, Saturday Night Live teased President Barack Obama for delivering great speeches but not actually bringing change. There’s at least one area where that jibe is unfair: Education.   When Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to office, they created a $4.3 billion Race to the Top fund. The idea was to use money to leverage change. The administration would put a pile of federal money on the table and award it to a few states that most aggressively embraced reform.   Their ideas were good, and their speeches were beautiful. But that was never the problem. The real challenge was going to be standing up to the teachers unions and the other groups that have undermined nearly every reform effort.

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The real questions were these: Would the administration water down their reform criteria in the face of political pressure? Would the Race to the Top money end up getting doled out like any other federal spending program, and thus end up subsidizing the status quo? Would the administration hold the line and demand real reform in exchange for the money?
There were many reasons to be skeptical. At the behest of the teachers unions, the Democrats had just shut down a successful District of Columbia voucher program. Moreover, state legislatures around the country were moving backward. They were passing laws prohibiting schools from using student performance as a criterion in setting teacher pay.  But, so far, those fears are unjustified. The news is good. In fact, it’s very good. Over the past few days I’ve spoken to people ranging from Bill Gates to Jeb Bush and various education reformers. They are all impressed by how gritty and effective the Obama administration has been in holding the line and inciting real education reform.

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Over the summer, the Department of Education indicated that most states would not qualify for Race to the Top money. Now states across the country are changing their laws: California, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Tennessee, among others.
It’s not only the promise of money that is motivating change. There seems to be some sort of status contest as states compete to prove they, too, can meet the criteria. Governors who have been bragging about how great their schools are don’t want to be left off the list.

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These changes mean that states are raising their caps on the number of charter schools. When charters got going, there was a “let a thousand flowers bloom” mentality that sometimes led to bad schools. Now reformers know more about how to build charters and the research is showing solid results. Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University recently concluded a rigorous study of New York’s charter schools and found that they substantially narrowed the achievement gap between suburban and inner-city students.

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The changes also will mean student performance will increasingly be a factor in how much teachers get paid and whether they keep their jobs. There is no consensus on exactly how to do this, but there is clear evidence that good teachers produce consistently better student test scores, and that teachers who do not need to be identified and counseled. Cracking the barrier that has been erected between student outcomes and teacher pay would be a huge gain.

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Duncan even seems to have made some progress in persuading the unions that they can’t just stonewall, they have to get involved in the reform process. The American Federation of Teachers recently announced innovation grants for performance-pay ideas. The New Haven school district has just completed a new teacher contract, with union support, that includes many of the best reform ideas.    There are still many places, like Washington, where the unions are dogmatically trying to keep bad teachers in the classrooms. But if implemented well, the New Haven contract could be a sign of perestroika even within the education establishment.
“I’ve been deeply disturbed by a lot that’s going on in Washington,” Jeb Bush said on Thursday, “but this is not one of them. President Obama has been supporting a reform secretary, and this is deserving of Republican support.” Bush’s sentiment is echoed across the spectrum, from Newt Gingrich to Al Sharpton.

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Over the next months, there will be more efforts to water down reform. Some groups are offering to get behind health-care reform in exchange for gutting education reform. Politicians from both parties are going to lobby fiercely to ensure that their state gets money, regardless of the merits. So will governors who figure they’re going to lose out in the award process.
But Obama understood from the start that this would work only if the awards remain fiercely competitive. He has not wavered. We’re not close to reaching the educational Promised Land, but we may be at the start of what Rahm Emanuel calls The Quiet Revolution.

McDougall Choice

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FDA can’t do it’s job!

GAO STUDY OF ‘ACCELERATED APPROVAL’

Ineffective drugs never pulled by FDA

By Matthew Perrone
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has allowed drugs for cancer and other diseases to stay on the market even when follow-up studies showed they didn’t save lives, congressional investigators say.  The agency also has never pulled any drug off the market because of a lack of required follow-up about its actual benefits — even when such information is more than a decade overdue, according to a report due out today from the Government Accountability Office.  When pressed about that policy, agency officials said they have no plans to get more aggressive.

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The GAO found that the FDA does little to track whether drugs approved based on preliminary results actually have lived up to their promise.  In 1992, the FDA began granting “accelerated approval” to novel drugs based on so-called surrogate endpoints, or laboratory measures that suggest the drug will make real improvements in patient health.  HIV drugs, for example, are cleared based on their virus-lowering power, a predictor of survival.   Drugmakers favor the program because it allows them to get products to market sooner, without conducting long-term patient studies that can take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

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However, a condition of the quicker approvals requires drugmakers to conduct follow-up studies to show that the drug actually helped patients live longer.   But the GAO report identified several drugs still on the market that never lived up to their initial promise.

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Further, in the 16 years that the FDA has used accelerated approval, it has not once pulled a drug off the market, even when companies went more than a decade without submitting follow-up data.  “The FDA has fallen far short of where it should be for patient safety,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who requested the report.

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Of the 144 studies the FDA has required under the program since 1992, more than one-third are pending, the GAO said. Investigators said the FDA does not regularly check whether companies are making progress on their required studies, although the agency is improving its oversight. “According to FDA officials, this task was a lower priority,” the report says.
In the case of Shire Laboratories’ low blood-pressure treatment ProAmatine, the required study has gone incomplete for more than 13 years. The GAO found that ProAmatine has generated more than $257 million in sales, even though “the clinical benefit of the drug has never been established.”  Shire did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

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In other cases, the FDA has failed to act even when company studies show that drugs did not improve patient outcomes. The FDA approved AstraZeneca’s Iressa in 2003 based on early results showing that it reduced the size of tumors. But later studies showed the drug did not help patients live longer. The FDA has left the drug on the market, despite side effects including hundreds of reports of a sometimes-fatal pneumonia.   AstraZeneca PLC said the drug is sold only through a limited-access program and “is not available to new patients.”

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The GAO concluded that the FDA has no policy for withdrawing drugs approved using surrogate endpoints. The FDA reportedly told the GAO it would be “difficult, if not impossible,” to draft a standard policy for withdrawals because drugs vary case by case.

. .never get it done…Abraham

In these hurried days where serenity and peace seem threatened, it is so rewarding to read in my morning emails, an uplifting message from Abraham.  Perhaps we already know,  but so encouraging to read and ponder, and smile at the potential. Ah h h

All is well, and you will never get it done. Life is supposed to be fun. No one is taking score of any kind, and if you will stop taking score so much, you will feel a whole lot better — and as you feel a whole lot better, more of the things that you want right now will flow to you. You will never be in a place where all of the things that you are wanting will be satisfied right now, or then you could be complete — and you never can be. This incomplete place that you stand is the best place that you could be. You are right on track, right on schedule. Everything is unfolding perfectly. All is really well. Have fun. Have fun. Have fun! — Abraham Excerpted from the workshop in Tucson, AZ on Tuesday, February 20th, 2001 #239

HPV, trouble in FDAville

American Association for Health Freedom

Protecting the right of the Consumer to choose,  and the Practioner to practice.       October 2009

Adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine (one death; one left brain damaged) spark demand for Inquiry!

The Alliance for Natural Health-UK has called for an urgent scientific inquiry into the HPV (human papilloma vaccine) being used in the United States. Pulse of Health Freedom recently wrote of the British teenager denied U.S. citizenship after she refused the Gardasil vaccine, which is required of all female immigrants applying for citizenship.

British health authorities are now investigating the death of a 14-year old British schoolgirl a few hours after she received Cervarix vaccine at her school. Just days after another 17-year-old British teen received the vaccine, she suffered seizures and damage to her left brain. As reported in the September 29, 2009 issue of this newsletter, the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail revealed in August 2009 that 23 million doses of the HPV vaccine have been administered to young women in the United States, resulting in 32 deaths and 12,424 adverse reactions, including 772 severe reactions (blood clots, pancreatic failure, motor neuron disease and anaphylaxis).

ANH-UK points out that  “until the known risks are properly communicated to the public, informed choice does not exist. We call on recipients of this eBlast to communicate with your parliamentary representative, whether in the UK, other European countries, the US, Canada, Australia or elsewhere, and put pressure on your government to release all the known facts over the risk of this controversial vaccine or initiate a scientific inquiry.
According to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, only 52 percent of Americans are willing to be given the H1N1 vaccine. It seems that people are getting the message that vaccines, while worthwhile, are neither 100 percent safe nor 100 percent effective. Consumers want to make important healthcare choices for themselves, rather than be coerced by government mandates.

As for the British teen, who lives with her grandmother in the United States and seeks U.S. citizenship, there is hope. According to vaccine lawyer Patricia Finn, there is a provision in immigration law that allows rejection of vaccination on all kinds of moral or religious grounds  Attorneys like Finn help to defend the rights of those who choose to opt out of vaccinations, such as Gardasil and its British version, Cervarix, with its imperfect record of safety.

October 2009

FDA needs transparency? ya think?

I am compelled to display this request from American Association for Health Freedom in the hope that some of you are less jaundiced than I on the subject.   I truly believe that the FDA should be dismantled and thrown out as they have usurped authority to dominate what goes on medically in our country.  Oh the Power has been granted and yielded to them, but to what end?  They were never set up as a public agency to protect the American population from basic harm and to make the insightful decisions necessary to protect us from fraud, worthless products and medications that do  harm.  They do not help us  because they are nothing more than a tool for the pharmaceutical industry, for corporate greed.  Pure and simple.   Over and over, they prove this.  Thousands have been injured and slain by dangerous chemicals that some Corp interest has said would help us, cure something and so on.    They have allowed  unproven pharmaceuticals onto the scene to wreak havoc repeatedly – too many times to count.   They are nothing more than an extension of the GREED of Big PhRMA.

So, in my opinion, there is ” no fixin” which could take place which in the end would leave a creditable agency whose main function would be to indeed, protect our citizens from harm.  An agency who would be fair minded, scientifically oriented which is to say with an intelligent, open mind capable of clear judgment of that which would serve the greatest good – for all of us, not the chosen ‘corporate’ few.   So help me, I don’t know whether I should pray to God,  write to Obama or assemble an army for a full on rebellion.  We are so lost in this country on the medical front.   People, doctors with methods which work to heal us are run out of the country as frauds and quacks.  Anyone with a new method or simple, but natural technique which allows the body to heal itself is ridiculed  and defrocked or de-certified to practice medicine.    So, it is clear, my thinking precludes me from participating on this simple request.   But most of you are more charitable, I’m sure.           Jan

Weigh in on transparency at the FDA.

Seize the opportunity to share your suggestions on how the FDA can improve its currently opaque “transparency policy.“ A second public meeting will be held November 3, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the National Transportation Safety Board Conference Center at 429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC (https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=431). The three discussion groups are: Emerging safety issues concerning FDA-regulated products.  What principles should the FDA employ in deciding whether to issue an early alert about a potential problem with an FDA-regulated product? Product applications abandoned or withdrawn by the applicant before approval.  What guidelines should the FDA follow regarding disclosure of data contained in abandoned or withdrawn product applications? Communicating agency decisions about pending product applications.  What information regarding pending product applications should be disclosed? If interested in attending, you must email to register by October 27, 2009.  You may also submit electronic or written comments by November 6, 2009.  To post electronic comments, please use the Web form; to submit written comments, please address the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food & Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD  20852. ANH-USA will attend the meeting, actively participate in one of the discussion panels and provide written comments for the remaining two panels. To view the full Public Hearing Notice, click here.  As always, thank you for being involved! October 20, 2009

FLU – Fears or Facts?

Washington Health Department Suspends Mercury Restrictions for Swine Flu Vaccine

October 17 2009 |Posted by Dr. Mercola

In preparation for swine-flu vaccinations next month, the state of Washington’s Health Department has temporarily suspended a rule that limits the amount of a mercury preservative in vaccines given to pregnant women and children under the age of 3.

Thimerosal has been eliminated from most vaccines in the United States, and the compound may  be linked to autism. But it will be added to the bulk of swine-flu vaccines.

Thimerosal will be added to the vaccine because it is being produced in vials that contain enough medication for 10 shots. The mercury compound kills bacteria, lowering the risk that the drug will be contaminated by needles used to withdraw separate doses.

A smaller amount of mercury-free vaccine will be produced in single-dose vials. Nasal sprays do not contain mercury but are not recommended for children under the age of 2 and pregnant women, because they contain live, weakened virus.

Five biopharmaceutical companies have been awarded massive contracts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for development and production of more than 195 million doses of swine flu vaccine.

The companies — Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Australian drug maker CSL, and Sanofi-Pasteur — will likely make a great deal of money.

Drug companies have sold $1.5 billion worth of swine flu shots, in addition to the $1 billion for seasonal flu they booked earlier this year.

These inoculations are part of a much wider and rapidly growing $20 billion global vaccine market.

“The vaccine market is booming,” says Bruce Carlson, spokesperson at market research firm Kalorama, which publishes an annual survey of the vaccine industry. “It’s an enormous growth area for pharmaceuticals at a time when other areas are not doing so well,” he says, noting that the pipeline for more traditional blockbuster drugs such as Lipitor and Nexium has thinned.

As always with pandemic flus, taxpayers are footing the $1.5 billion check for the 250 million swine flu vaccines that the government has ordered so far and will be distributing free to doctors, pharmacies and schools. In addition, Congress has set aside more than $10 billion this year to research flu viruses, monitor H1N1’s progress and educate the public about prevention.

Drugmakers pocket most of the revenues from flu sales, with Sanofi-Pasteur, Glaxo Smith Kline and Novartis cornering most of the market.

But some say it’s not just drugmakers who stand to benefit. Doctors collect copayments for special office visits to inject shots, and there have been assertions that these doctors actually profit handsomely from these vaccinations.

Sources:

Seattle Times September 29, 2009

The Scientist September 23, 2009

ABC News October 14, 2009

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

As reported by the Seattle Times, Washington’s Department of Health (DOH) has decided to suspend the rule that limits the amount of thimerosal in vaccines that can be administered to pregnant women and infants under the age of three.

Thimerosal contains 49.6 percent mercury by weight, and is added to vaccines as a preservative. It also helps kill germs, so it prevents multi-dose vials from spreading infection.

As of July 1, 2007, pregnant women and children under the age of three were prohibited from receiving vaccines with a mercury content exceeding:

• 1.0 mcg per 0.5 ml dose for influenza vaccines (which equals 2 mcg/ml)
• 0.5 mcg per 0.5 ml dose for all other vaccines (which equals 1 mcg/ml)

The rule includes a suspension of limits clause, authorizing the Secretary of the Washington State DOH to temporarily suspend these limits if the Secretary or local health officer declares an outbreak of vaccine-preventable disease, or a shortage of a vaccine that meet the statutory requirements above.

It’s worth noting that, fortunately, the Washington DOH routinely purchases mercury-free flu vaccines for infants under the age of three. However, pediatric patients aged 3-18 get flu vaccines that contain mercury…

According to Secretary of Health, Mary Selecky, the rule will be suspended for six months, and applies only to vaccines against the swine flu.

But then it gets interesting. The Seattle Times quotes Selecky as saying that “the preservative, thimerosal, has never been linked to any health problems.” The article goes on to state that a “vocal minority” believes the compound could be linked to autism.

When a state Secretary of Health doesn’t even acknowledge the truth (or is ignorant of the facts as they relate to health), you know something’s seriously wrong.

Below I will show you just how many ways there are to prove they’re not speaking the truth…

Why were Mercury Limitations Suspended?

According to Health Secretary Selecky, “pregnant women and young children are considered at high risk for swine flu, and lifting the mercury limits will give them quicker access to the vaccine.”

Folks, this is insanity on top of madness.

Infants and pregnant women may be at higher risk of suffering complications from the flu, but they’re also the absolute most vulnerable to damage from mercury exposure!

Why would you want to risk neurological dysfunction to potentially avoid a bout of the flu?

And I say “potentially,” because it’s also been proven again and again that flu vaccines do NOT reduce the occurrence of the flu! In short – they do not work.

As it stands, only about 15 percent of the vaccine supply will be made available as mercury-free single-dose vials, but those shipments are slated to arrive later. The first flu vaccine shipments are in the form of a nasal spray (FluMist) containing live virus’, which are not recommended for pregnant women or infants under the age of two.

Massive Profiteering Underway

As reported by The Scientist, five biopharmaceutical companies have been awarded massive contracts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for development and production of more than 195 million doses of swine flu vaccine.

The Seattle Times puts the total estimated number of vaccine doses to be manufactured at 250 million.

Either way, according to Business Week, wealthier countries like the U.S. and the U.K. will pay just under $10 per dose, while developing countries would pay less.

Do the math.

Is it any wonder you’re being bombarded with apocalyptic messages about the significant threat posed by swine flu?

• CSL has contracts to supply $180 million worth of bulk antigen to the U.S.
• MedImmune will supply 40 million doses of its live attenuated nasal spray swine flu vaccine for more than $450 million
• Sanofi-Pasteur is providing more than 100 million doses of monovalent swine flu vaccine, a $690 million order
• Glaxosmithkline is estimating sales of its swine flu vaccine and its anti-viral medication, Relenza, will reach about $5 billion by January 2010.

The swine flu vaccines stand poised to be incredible blockbusters if this hyped up vaccine drive is successful.

Already, drug companies have sold $1.5 billion worth of swine flu shots, in addition to the $1 billion for seasonal flu they booked earlier this year.

ABC News quotes Bruce Carlson, spokesperson at market research firm Kalorama, as saying, “The vaccine market is booming. It’s an enormous growth area for pharmaceuticals at a time when other areas are not doing so well.”

And who’s footing the $1.5 billion bill for the 250 million swine flu vaccines that the government has ordered so far and will be distributing free to doctors, pharmacies and schools?

You are! In addition to that, Congress has set aside more than $10 billion this year to research flu viruses, monitor H1N1’s progress and educate the public about prevention.

High Time to Put an End to Bold-Faced LIES!

Part of the propaganda that allows this vaccine drive to move ahead at full speed is to make statement like: “Thimerosal has never been linked to any health problems.”

Unfortunately, for everyone out there who believes that state health officials are reliable sources of information, this is a flat out lie.

So let’s put an end to this worn-out arbitrary catch-phrase used by people who either don’t know better, or don’t want YOU to know better.

Writing for GenerationRescue.org, Teresa Binstock, a researcher in Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy, also addresses this fallacy.

“Once again, a highly placed public figure has presented a misleading or inaccurate statement wherein thimerosal is erroneously described as harmless,” she writes, and proceeds to list some of the most recent studies showing the exact opposite of what the Health Secretary puts out as “truth.”

Studies CONFIRMING Thimerosal as a Health Hazard

You deserve to know the facts, so here’s a compilation of recent studies and research clearly showing that thimerosal DOES HAVE a very real, detrimental impact on health, and that mercury toxicity is a reality in those suffering from the type of neurological damage seen in autistic children.

Most of these are from GenerationRescue.org and Fourteenstudies.org’s websites, which are great resources as they provide copies of the full studies so you can review all the evidence for yourself:

1. Environmental Health Perspectives, August, 2005Fourteenstudies.org states: “This study demonstrates clearly and unequivocally that ethyl mercury, the kind of mercury found in vaccines, not only ends up in your brain, but leaves double the amount of inorganic mercury as methyl mercury, the kind of mercury found in fish.This work is groundbreaking because little is known about ethyl mercury, and many health authorities have asserted that the mercury found in vaccines is the “safe kind.”
   
   This study also delivers a strong rebuke of the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation in 2004 to no longer pursue the mercury-autism connection. Excerpt:

   “A recently published IOM review (IOM 2004) appears to have abandoned the earlier recommendation [of studying mercury and autism] as well as back away from the American Academy of Pediatrics goal [of removing mercury from vaccines].

   This approach is difficult to understand, given our current limited knowledge of the toxicokinetics and developmental neurotoxicity of thimerosal, a compound that has been (and will continue to be) injected in millions of newborns and infants.”

2. Cell Biology and Toxicology April 9, 2009 [Epub Ahead of Print]Exerpt: “In conclusion, MT-1 and MT-3 mRNAs but not MT-2 mRNA are easily expressed in the cerebellum rather than in the cerebrum by the injection of low-dose thimerosal. It is thought that the cerebellum is a sensitive organ against thimerosal.As a result of the present findings, in combination with the brain pathology observed in patients diagnosed with autism, the present study helps to support the possible biological plausibility for how low-dose exposure to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines may be associated with autism.”
3. Annals of Epidemiology September 2009: 19(9);659Male infants who received thimerosal-containing hepatitis-B vaccinations had a three-fold risk of developing autism.
4. Neurotoxicology October 1, 2009The above findings are confirmed in this study wherein infant primates injected with just ONE dose of thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine manifested significant developmental delays.
5. Brain Research September 9, 2009 [Epub Ahead of Print]Study concluded that injecting thimerosal into suckling infant rats, and adult rats, impairs sensitivity to pain, apparently due to activation the endogenous opioid system.
6. Toxicology & Environmental Chemistry September-October 2008: 90(5);997-1008Male infants who received thimerosal-containing hepatitis-B vaccinations were nine times as likely to be receiving special education services
7. Generation Rescue Survey of 9,000 boys, aged 4-17, in California and Oregon, found that vaccinated boys had a 155 percent greater chance of having a neurological disorder than unvaccinated boys. Vaccinated boys were 224 percent more likely to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and 61 percent more likely to have autism.For boys in the 11-17 age bracket, the results were even more pronounced. Vaccinated boys were 158 percent more likely to have a neurological disorder, 317 percent more likely to have ADHD, and 112 percent more likely to have autism.
8. Report to the Legislature on the Principle Findings from The Epidemiology of Autism in California: A Comprehensive Pilot Study by the MIND Institute, October 2002, concluded that the rise in autism cannot be explained by better diagnosis and expanded diagnostic criteria, but rather is a real event, likely propelled by “environmental exposures to substances such as mercury; viral exposures; autoimmune disorders; and childhood vaccinations.”
9. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 2006: 214; 99-108This French study used a new, sophisticated measurement for environmental toxicity by assessing porphyrin levels in autistic children. It provides clear and unequivocal evidence that children with autism spectrum disorders are significantly more toxic than their neurotypical peers.
10. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeon, 2003Exerpt: “The data from this study, along with emerging epidemiological data showing a link between increasing mercury doses from childhood vaccines and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, increases the likelihood that mercury is one of the main factors leading to the large increase in the rate of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. It is hoped that removing thimerosal from all childhood vaccines will contribute to a decline in the numbers of new cases of autistic spectrum disorders.”
11. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health 2007: 70; 837-851This study reviewed the case histories and medical profiles of nine autistic children and concluded that eight of the nine children were mercury toxic and this toxicity manifested itself in a manner consistent with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
12. Neuropediatrics, August 2006
    
    Exerpt: “There was significant difference in blood mercury levels between cases and controls, which persists after adjustment for age, gender and parental occupational status. The geometric mean blood mercury level was also significantly higher in children with inattentive and combined subtypes of ADHD. CONCLUSION: High blood mercury level was associated with ADHD. Whether the relationship is causal requires further studies.”
13. International Journal of Toxicology 2003: 22; 277-285Fourteenstudies.org states: “This recent study demonstrates that the levels of mercury in the birth hair of autistic children were significantly lower than their control peers. While this may at first appear contradictory, it highlights one of the critical insights to understanding mercury poisoning and autistic children: many autistic children are non-excretors of mercury. This means their capacity to excrete mercury is significantly lower than their neurotypical peers and contributes to their condition.”
14. Journal of Pediatrics, May 2000: 136; 679-681This study measured mercury levels in infants before and after the administration of a Hepatitis B vaccine containing thimerosal and found that a “comparison of pre and post-vaccination mercury levels showed a significant increase in both preterm and term infants after vaccination.”
15. Neurotoxicology January 2005: 26; 1-8Study demonstrates that thimerosal lowers or inhibits your body’s ability to produce glutathione, an antioxidant and your body’s primary cellular-level defense against mercury.Excerpt: “Thimerosal-induced cytotoxicity was associated with depletion of intracellular Glutathione in both cell lines…The potential effect of Glutathione or N-acetylcysteine against mercury toxicity warrants further research as possible adjunct therapy to individuals still receiving Thimerosal-containing vaccines.”
16. Environmental Health Perspectives, July 2006Study demonstrates that very low-levels of Thimerosal can contribute to immune system disregulation.
17. Molecular Psychiatry July 2004; 1-13Study demonstrates how thimerosal inhibits methylation, a central driver of cellular communication and development.Exerpt: “The potent inhibition of this pathway [methylation] by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum, and thimerosal suggests it may be an important target of neurodevelopmental toxins.”
18. Molecular Psychiatry September 2004; 1-13Fouteenstudies.org states: “This work by Columbia University Doctors explores whether genes are important in determining if mercury exposures akin to those in childhood immunizations can disrupt brain development and function.It is the first known scientific study done specifically on ethlymercury administered in a way similar to the vaccine schedule. Dr. Hornig discussed the study before Congress in September 2004.”Excerpt: “The premise of our research is that if mercury in vaccines creates risk for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, genetic differences are likely to contribute to that risk. Earlier studies, however, did not use the form of mercury present in vaccines, known as thimerosal, and did not consider whether intramuscular, repetitive administration during early postnatal development, when the brain and immune systems are still maturing, might intensify toxicity.Our predictions were confirmed. Using thimerosal dosages and timing that approximated the childhood immunization schedule, our model of postnatal thimerosal neurotoxicity demonstrated that the genes in mice that predict mercury-related immunotoxicity also predicted nuerodevelopmental damage. Features reminiscent of those observed in autism occurred in the mice of the genetically sensitive strain.”
19. Toxicological Sciences 2003: 74Study demonstrates the potent toxicity of thimerosal on brain cells.
20. Autoimmunity Reviews June 2005: 4(5):270-275Study demonstrates the clear link between ethylmercury [from thimerosal] and autoimmune responses.
21. Congressional Record – Extensions of Remarks by Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Committee on Government Reform, May 21, 2003Fouteenstudies.org states: “This extensive report was prepared by the staff of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness and was the result of a three-year investigation. The Committee on Government Reform, chaired by Congressman Dan Burton, initiated the investigation and compiled the testimony of hundreds of researchers and physicians, as well as representatives from the FDA and CDC, who presented to the committee.”Excerpt: “Mercury is hazardous to humans. Its use in medicinal products is undesirable, unnecessary and should be minimized or eliminated entirely. Manufacturers of vaccines and thimerosal, (an ethlymercury compound used in vaccines), have never conducted adequate testing on the safety of thimerosal. The FDA has never required manufacturers to conduct adequate safety testing on thimerosal and ethlymercury compounds…Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines is likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding injected thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure to this known neurotoxin. Our public health agencies’ failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry.”
22. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 2006; 11(1); 8-13

    Upon analysis of the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), researchers reported significantly increased odds ratios for autism, speech disorders, mental retardation and thinking abnormalities following vaccination with thimerosal-containing vaccines (DTP and Hib), compared to children who received a vaccine containing half the amount of thimerosal (DTPH).

    The American Academy of Pediatrics decided that this study was flawed because it relied on VAERS data, which as a “passive surveillance system” is no intended to be used for proving hypotheses.

I could go on, but by now I’m sure you get the picture.

To say that there is no evidence of link between thimerosal and biological damage is not a simple error or omission. It is an absolute lie, and you deserve better from your health officials.

Educational Resources

If you want even more than what I’ve included here, you can go to www.pubmed.com and search their medical database. Or look through Fourteenstudies.org’s site, which includes even more studies than I chose to include here. They have an impressive collection of evidence against thimerosal available.

I also strongly urge you to review the vast supply of information available on the NVIC site, and join Barbara Loe Fisher in her urging to take action against the potential threat of mandatory swine flu vaccinations.

Now more than ever, it’s imperative that you educate yourself about vaccinations, influenza, vaccine risks, and the public health laws in your state, so you know what you’re up against. You need to find out what your rights and options are under new public health laws that may require you and your children to get vaccinated or be quarantined.

Fighting Fire with Fire – Starting an Information Pandemic

If you can think of anyone who might benefit from this clarification of facts, please do not hesitate to forward this article. Share it with as many people as you can.

If our health officials refuse to see the truth, we will have to pry their blind eyes open.

Now YOU know a bit more about thimerosal.

What will you do with it?

Who will you tell?

Please continue to spread the message! Even the NY Times acknowledges that the readers of Mercola.com are playing a HUGE role, and are part of the reason why many parents are now actually refusing to vaccinate their children.

Related Links:

Warning: Swine Flu Vaccine Coming Soon

Flu Vaccine Exposed

Do NOT Let Your Child Get Flu Vaccine — 9 Reasons Why