Why do doctors and hospitals eliminate the use of Hg Thermometers but give Flu shots with Mercury contents.?

Question

Protect children from mercury

Kenneth Stoller, MD, FAAP, Moms Against Mercury and Nomercury.org are presenting this announcement to alert the public to the unconscionable levels of toxic mercury still in the flu shot and other vaccines. It's been seven years since the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control called for the immediate removal of mercury from children's vaccines. Mercury is deadly, in fact the second deadliest element on Earth. It's still used as a cheap preservative in the flu vaccine recommended for babies and pregnant women. The 25 mcg of mercury a pregnant woman receives can only be processed by someone weighing 550 pounds according to the EPA. It quickly passes the blood-brain barrier and enters the developing baby's brain.
We need the public to demand mercury free vaccines. There is no possible reason to continue to expose our children to a known neurotoxin. One in every six schoolchildren has a diagnosis of a learning disability li

Answer 1

I love soapbox questions.

We already have for the most part mercury free vaccines:

From the CDC:

Today, with the exception of some flu vaccines, none of the vaccines used in the U.S. to protect preschool aged children against 12 infectious diseases contain thimerosal as a preservative.

And they are working on getting it out of the flu vaccines.

Answer 2

C.J. Clements, et al write that without a preservative, such as thiomersal (known as thimerosal in the US), multi-dose liquid presentations of vaccine are vulnerable to bacteriological contamination that can result in death or serious illness of the recipient. Concerns about levels of mercury exposure from thiomersal-containing vaccines were first raised in the US during 1999 in the context of Hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. Since then, a large body of evidence from animal and epidemiological studies has accumulated on the safety of thiomersal. Ironically, these data have become largely irrelevant in wealthy countries, where mono-dose, thiomersal-free vaccines have been introduced as a precautionary measure in almost all childhood vaccines, in part related to residual public scepticism. In poor countries, multi-dose vials remain important for vaccine delivery. There is a real danger that this controversy may result in the loss to the world of thiomersal as a preservative, simply from popular pressure. In reality, it would be impossible to cease overnight using thiomersal and maintain the supply of vital vaccines. This paper reviews and summarises the data available from published studies on mercury toxicity, and thiomersal in vaccines in particular, that overwhelmingly indicate continued use of thiomersal is safe in those countries where it is most needed

M. Bingham, et al write that a number of affluent countries are moving to eliminate thiomersal (thimerosal), an ethylmercury preservative, from vaccines as a precautionary measure because of concerns about the potential adverse effects of mercury in infants. The WHO advocates continued use of thiomersal-containing vaccines in developing countries because of their effectiveness, safety, low cost, wide availability and logistical suitability in this setting. The guidelines for long-term mercury exposure should not be used for evaluating risk from intermittent single day exposures, such as immunisation using thiomersal-containing vaccines. Similar or higher mercury exposures likely occur from breast feeding and the health benefit of eliminating thiomersal from a vaccine, if any, is likely to be very small. On the other hand, the benefits accrued from the use of thiomersal-containing vaccines are considerably greater but vary substantially between affluent and developing regions of the world. Because of the contribution to overall mercury exposure from breast milk and diet in later life, the removal of thiomersal from vaccines would produce no more than a 50% reduction of mercury exposure in infancy and <1% reduction over a lifetime. Different public policy decisions are appropriate in different settings to achieve the lowest net risk, viewed from the perspectives of the individual vaccinee or on a population basis. In developing regions of the world, at least over the next decade, far more benefit will accrue from protecting children against widely prevalent vaccine-preventable diseases by focusing efforts aimed at improving infant immunisation uptake by using current, inexpensive, domestically-manufactured, thiomersal-containing vaccines, than by investing in thiomersal-free alternatives.

The FDA claim there is no link between the preservative and autism. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/504_iom.html

These results are echoed by SK Parker, et al who published a review articule in Pediatrics in 2004. OBJECTIVE: The issue of thimerosal-containing vaccines as a possible cause of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) has been a controversial topic since 1999. Although most practitioners are familiar with the controversy, many are not familiar with the type or quality of evidence in published articles that have addressed this issue. To assess the quality of evidence assessing a potential association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism and evaluate whether that evidence suggests accepting or rejecting the hypothesis, we systematically reviewed published articles that report original data pertinent to the potential association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD/NDDs. METHODS: Articles for analysis were identified in the National Library of Medicine's Medline database using a PubMed search of the English-language literature for articles published between 1966 and 2004, using keywords thimerosal, thiomersal, mercury, methylmercury, or ethylmercury alone and combined with keywords autistic disorder, autistic spectrum disorder, and neurodevelopment. In addition, we used the "related links" option in PubMed and reviewed the reference sections in the identified articles. All original articles that evaluated an association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD/NDDs or pharmacokinetics of ethylmercury in vaccines were included. RESULTS: Twelve publications that met the selection criteria were identified by the literature search: 10 epidemiologic studies and 2 pharmacokinetic studies of ethylmercury. The design and quality of the studies showed significant variation. The preponderance of epidemiologic evidence does not support an association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD. Epidemiologic studies that support an association are of poor quality and cannot be interpreted. Pharmacokinetic studies suggest that the half-life of ethylmercury is significantly shorter when compared with methylmercury. CONCLUSIONS: Studies do not demonstrate a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD, and the pharmacokinetics of ethylmercury make such an association less likely. Epidemiologic studies that support a link demonstrated significant design flaws that invalidate their conclusions. Evidence does not support a change in the standard of practice with regard to administration of thimerosal-containing vaccines in areas of the world where they are used.

In sum it appears to be an issue that has controversy surrounding it with no clear concensus. In the meanwhile most developed countries have moved toward individual vaccinations that eliminate the need for the preservative.

I hope this helps. Good luck.