| melbye said: The big question is why is there mercury in vaccines? I never really understood that |
"Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that has been used for decades in the United States in multi-dose vials (vials containing more than one dose) of some vaccines to prevent their contamination with germs, bacteria and fungi."
"Thiomersal's main use is as an antiseptic and antifungal agent. In multidose injectable drug delivery systems, it prevents serious adverse effects such as the Staphylococcus infection that, in one 1928 incident, killed 12 of 21 children inoculated with a diphtheria vaccine that lacked a preservative.[7] Unlike other vaccine preservatives used at the time, thiomersal does not reduce the potency of the vaccines that it protects.[8]Bacteriostatics like thiomersal are not needed in more-expensive single-dose injectables.[9]"
Morris Kharasch, a chemist at the University of Maryland, filed a patent application for thiomersal in 1927;[34] Eli Lilly later marketed the compound under the trade name Merthiolate.[8] In vitrotests conducted by Lilly investigators H. M. Powell and W. A. Jamieson found that it was forty to fifty times as effective as phenol against Staphylococcus aureus.[8] It was used to kill bacteria and prevent contamination in antiseptic ointments, creams, jellies, and sprays used by consumers and in hospitals, including nasal sprays, eye drops, contact lens solutions, immunoglobulins, and vaccines. Thiomersal was used as a preservative (bactericide) so that multidose vials of vaccines could be used instead of single-dose vials, which are more expensive. By 1938, Lilly's assistant director of research listed thiomersal as one of the five most important drugs ever developed by the company.[8]
- The fact that it's been used for decades, doesn't really jive with the purported autism link, the other thing is, many, many, many more people would be showing up with autism, if vaccines were truly the cause. However, autism has only really exploded since 2000, and Thimerosal has been in use for over 8 decades.
