In 2002, the US Department of Health asked vaccine manufacturers to remove thimerosal from the vaccines used in its mass vaccination programme. In 2004, the UK Department of Health announced that all of its vaccination programme vaccines, including its new five-in-one Pediacel jab* would shortly be thimerosal-free, but campaigning organisation Health Advocacy in the Public Interest discovered that, in the US at least, thimerosal-free did not mean mercury-free, the point of the exercise.

Mercury specialist Professor Boyd Haley quickly discovered why. To save costs, the vaccine manufacturers had continued to use thimerosal when manufacturing the vaccines, then tried to filter it out afterwards. Sadly, filtering out the thimerosal did not remove all the mercury it contained because mercury binds persistently to proteins in the vaccine. Independent analyses also discovered that all four vaccines tested contained aluminium compounds,** which increase the toxicity of mercury still further and have been implicated in brain cell death in people with Alzheimer’s disease. The UK Department of Health accepts that its new five-in-one jab will still contain aluminium compounds as well as formaldehyde (which was banned from children’s mattresses to reduce cot death).

Ed.- Although all the principal US health authorities agreed that thimerosal should be removed from all vaccines to be used on US children, they decided not to recommend its removal from vaccines destined for use in less industrially developed countries. Apparently, the powers that be decided that the increased need for preservatives in vaccines due to worse hygiene and hotter climates outweighed the risk posed by the mercury thimerosal contains. The World Health Organisation representative present at the meeting at which the decision was made raised no objection. [1]

Magda Taylor, founder of the vaccination awareness organisation The Informed Parent, pointed out that malnourished children will be even more susceptible to mercury. She wondered whether mass vaccination and thimerosal had already weakened their immune systems further, and been a major factor in the 1300 children dying of AIDS every day in Africa.

* against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) and polio

** aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate

A previously unreleased confidential report from the US Centers for Disease Control stated that an exposure to more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury within the first three months of life more than doubled a child’s risk of developing autism. The US legal firm Waters & Kraus, who are representing many families in a class action, indicated that in many of the cases the firm evaluated, the affected child had received more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury through paediatric vaccines in the first three months of life. A public version of the report suggested that its findings were inconclusive on the issue of whether the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal has contributed to the US’s epidemic of regressive autism and other neurological disorders in small children.

More information is available on: www.autismfraud.com

Ed.- In 2000, Sally Bernard and colleagues linked the mercury based preservative thimerosal (ethyl mercury thiosalicylic acid) to both autism and to related syndromes such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Thimerosal is used widely as a preservative in vaccines, antitoxins, tuberculin tests and desensitisation solutions. It is also found in soap-free cleansers, nose, eye, and ear drops, eye ointments, topical medications, antiseptic sprays, cosmetics (including makeup removers, eye moisturisers, and mascaras) and cleaning fluids for contact lenses. UK regulators have recommended phasing out its use in vaccines.

For further information write to Sally Bernard, Safe Minds, 14 Commerce Drive, PH Cranford, NJ 07016, USA

40% of the 200 cases of claimed vaccination damage referred to the legal firm Dawbarns are for children who now have autism. Dawbarns' researchers found that many of the children's present levels of autism were far higher than could be explained by genetic predisposition. Cases of autism have increased considerably since 1988, the date when MMR was first introduced.

• In most of the cases referred to Dawbarns, the children concerned showed no indication of autism before having an MMR jab. This challenged the ‘Coincidence Hypothesis' (autism is often finally diagnosed at two years old, the age many children are given their first MMR jab). Cases after a period of normal development are very rare.

• Children becoming autistic following an MMR jab have high levels of antibodies to myelin basic protein, the white, fatty substance that covers certain nerve fibres. Myelin protein is also found in the chick embryos in which the vaccine is cultured

• The production of antibodies against traces of myelin in the vaccine can set up an allergic response against the body's own myelin. Without the myelin sheath neural networks cannot develop properly and existing nerves will not work correctly resulting in regression of development.

• Under a similar mechanism babies exposed to high levels of rubella (German measles) antibody in the womb may inherit these antibodies and be sensitised to a rubella vaccine. The rubella antigen in the vaccine may combine with the babies existing antibodies, triggering an allergic response against their own brain components, causing damage to the myelin sheath