In a move likely to stoke an already raging debate over the safety of the vaccines routinely given to children, America’s largest organization for pediatricians is strongly objecting to a proposal by the United Nations to ban a mercury-containing preservative from the world’s vaccine supply.
Thimerosal has not been found to be harmful, and removal of thimerosal-containing vaccines would needlessly jeopardize the lives and health of millions of children in underdeveloped countries, said commentaries in Monday’s issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Thus, the AAP has endorsed the recommendation of a panel of specialists at the World Health Organization (WHO), who say thimerosal should be excluded from a ban on mercury-containing products and processes.
Thimerosal, which has been used in vaccines since the 1930s to prevent bacteria and other pathogens from growing in multidose vials of vaccines, is implicated in the ban because it contains ethyl mercury.
The bans on mercury products, such as thermometers, and processes is being developed at meetings organized by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). The goal is to create a binding global treaty in which countries agree to end mercury pollution and toxic mercury exposures to humans and the environment.
Groups such as the Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs have presented studies to the UNEP showing that there is “serious danger” in using mercury in vaccines and mercury-silver amalgam in dental fillings.
The UNEP is correct in its plans to “phase down” use of thimerosal, Eric Uram, executive director of the Coalition for SafeMinds, which is dedicated to eradicating autism and other health disorders “induced by mercury and other man-made toxicants.”
Only a treaty like this will pressure the vaccine industry to pursue alternatives to thimerosal, said Mr. Uram, who has attended numerous UNEP sessions and plans to attend the next one in January.
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