The first time I heard about the danger of mercury in vaccines was when I saw Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on The Daily Show about a year ago (2007). RFK, Jr. discussed the causal link between vaccines laced with thimerosal and increased rates of autism, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, speech and language delays, and other childhood neurological disorders. In fact, children born from 1989 to 2003 are referred to as the Thimerosal Generation.
Watching the show and listening to RFK, Jr. talk about mercury in vaccines, I felt as if I had been hit in the stomach. Then, after considering that the pharmaceutical industry is every bit as powerful as the oil and gas industry in the USA, I was physically ill. I did not want to believe that pharmaceutical companies would poison our young, but I knew that, in all probability, our young were being sacrificed to the god of pharma, just like our wilderness areas are currently being sacrificed to the god of oil and gas.
My Story
You see, my son was born in November of 1989 and is part of the Thimerosal Generation. He has learning differences (processing difficulties) that have plagued him since birth.
He did not talk by the age of two years old, so I had his hearing tested at the State School for the Deaf in Austin, where he was diagnosed as being profoundly deaf in both ears. After a brainstem auditory evoked response test, something I would not have known about if my sister did not work for an ENT specialist, his hearing was found to be perfect.
This was the beginning in a series of assessments that would continue until he was twelve years old and diagnosed with processing difficulties by the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at Texas State University.
Luckily, I had the money to purchase, and the ability to administer, a software program that trained his eyes, ears and brain to work together. It took about four months, but the results were as if a switch was thrown in his brain. He began reading and learning at an appropriate grade level and school was not such a struggle.
To this day, he has test anxiety and I believe it is due to be subjected to batteries of testing as a young boy. He graduated high school a year early and is now attending college.
Autism in America
My son's story has a happy ending; not so for the million of other children, born between 1989 and 2003 in the USA. Of these, 1 in 166, or 1 in 80 boys, have been diagnosed with autism. In addition, 1 in 6 children were diagnosed with a related neurological disorder. A decade before, the rate was 1 in 2500 children. What changed?
Vaccinations Increased
Before 1989, preschoolers received only three vaccinations, comprised of up to eleven injections: DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), polio, and MMR (measles/mumps/rubella). In the early 1990s, hepatitis B, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis) and Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae type b) were added. Next, it was made law that hepatitis B vaccination be given to newborns within 24 hours of birth.
Mercury Poisoning
All these vaccines were tainted with thimerosal. The ethyl mercury released from thimerosal is a known toxin. If a six-month-old child was administered the shots on schedule, they received a dose of mercury that was 87 times more than allowed under existing safety standards. In fact, most of the 95+ symptoms of autism are identical to the symptoms of mercury poisoning, including hand-wagging and toe walking. The hepatitis B vaccination is given within 24 hours of birth, when the brain is most sensitive to neurotoxins.
Controversy
If mercury is to blame, why did not ALL children who were vaccinated develop autism or other neurogical disorders? Many children are genetically deficient in their capacity to produce glutathione, an antioxidant that helps remove mercury from the body. This is no problem unless they are exposed to massive doses of mercury.
Are the Children Safe Now?
Thimerosal in children’s vaccines was decreased beginning in 1999, but it was not removed from most until late 2002 and early 2003. Many vaccines still contain thimerosal, including Chiron’s and Aventis’ pediatric flu vaccines as well as meningitis, diphtheria and tetanus given as boosters at age 11.
Conspiracy
From the research report:
During the 1990s, there were a significant number of reports filed into VAERS (The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) from doctors, public health regulators, and parents of children whose autism seemed directly linked to the vaccines. In response, in the autumn of 1999, the CDC asked its employee Thomas Verstraeten to perform the first large study of over 100,000 American kids whose vaccine and medical records were stored in CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD). Verstraeten provoked alarm within the vaccine industry community when his data showed clear causative links between thimerosal and neurological damage, including autism. “The harm,” Verstraeten observed, “is done in the first month of life by thimerosal in vaccines.”What followed is very similar to the tobacco industry's attempts to cover up the causal link between smoking and cancer. Researchers were told what their findings should be, researchers studied European studies not relevant to levels of mercury in the vaccines given in the US, data was manipulated and lost, and even the Department of Homeland Security became involved. You may read it in the research report by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Continuing Problem
In 1999, the federal government began purchasing tens of millions of dollars of vaccines that contain thimerosal for export to developing countries. At that time autism was virtually unknown in the developing world. As would be expected, rates of autism in these countries skyrocketed.
Our Government at Work
Parents and interested individuals, PLEASE download and read RFK Jr.'s original research paper: Tobacco Science and the Thimerosal Scandal (PDF).
Read of the horror of a scandal that should have rocked our nation, but was covered up by pharmaceutical companies, disreputable researchers and members of our government.
It is a story of greed, cover up and complete disregard for our most precious resource, our children. You will be shocked and sickened, but you should be aware.
This post is made in support of Autism Awareness Month.
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4 comments:
What a powerful post! Very happy to know things improved for your son. Reckless irresponsible behavior from those we trust to protect our children should never happen.
First of all, I am so glad your son's story has a happy ending and you were able to get him help before it was too late.
My niece was born in 1986, and diagnosed with autism between her 2nd and 3rd birthday. She didn't show these autistic tendencies until after she had her battery of vaccines and shots that you speak of. Unfortunately she also has retardation and has never spoken. All the studies in the world claiming the vaccines are safe will never convince my family that it wasn't brought on by the series of shots she received, and they wonder why parents are more and more chosing not to vaccinate their children! Big Pharma is poisoning all of us little by little for their profit. When will we as a nation wake up to see what they're doing to our food and water supply, and our health care. Thank you for posting about this important topic.
This is very interesting! I have enjoyed reading this very insightful post. Very engaging and informative. Thanks for sharing. :)
I'm going to go ahead and take a look at that paper. Although I've read all sorts of explanations as to the actual cause of Autism (assuming it's caused by one particular thing like vaccinations as you suggest), I've also read that studies that suggest it's caused by weak synapses or the mother's immune system. I'm sure we'll learn more as time goes on.
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