The input below from VRAN (Vaccine Risk Awareness Network) (name changed to Vaccine Choice Canada) is extremely helpful in defining the actual problem. Anyone with children will want to read it, I think.
Edda West from VRAN expands our understanding:
Dear Sandra,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to CBC’s The Current and for the phone message you left on our voice mail yesterday (Monday). It’s always inspiring to hear from other Canadians who are concerned about environmental toxicity issues vis a vis mercury, and the vaccine issue.
It wasn’t clear however from reading your material below whether you are aware that MMR vaccine does not contain thimerosal. The issue around Wakefield does not focus on thimerosal, but rather on the fact that MMR vaccine contains 3 live virus vaccines which can cause neuroimmune injuries in susceptible children. Since there is no testing to pre-determine which children are potentially susceptible to injury, it’s a given there will be “collateral” damage in unidentified vulnerable children.
In Canada, with the advent of Pentacel in 1997 (5 vaccines contained in one shot), thimerosal was no longer used as a preservative. Influenza vaccine which wasn’t introduced into the infant schedule until recently is the exception and does contain thimerosal.
While background levels of mercury are increasing in the environment, the thimerosal issue in vaccines I believe takes a back seat to the neurodestructive role of aluminum adjuvants still used in many vaccines. See
- 2011-02-01 The Impact of Vaccines on the First Two Years of Life, by Edda West, VRAN
- 2011-02-01 Aluminum and Vaccine Ingredients: What Do We Know? What Don’t We Know?
A case in point are the 8 vaccines recommended in the Canadian Immunization Guide given to infants starting at two months of age, some of which contain aluminum adjuvants and are injected simultaneously into the baby. Starting in 1997, Pentacel which contains diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, Hib and Polio, was the first vaccine to contain five vaccines in one shot, is given to nearly all two month old babies in this country and does not contain thimerosal. It does contain aluminum.
Prevnar (7valent pneumococcal vaccine) is also started at two months and contains aluminum adjuvant but not thimerosal.
Menactra – Meningococcal vaccine does not contain aluminum, but is also injected starting at two months.
Hepatitis B vaccine, also started in many provinces at the two month mark is supposed to be thimerosal free for infant application, while adult multi-dose vials still contain thimerosal – this vaccine also contains aluminum adjuvant.
A pressing concern is the amount of aluminum adjuvant contained in the above 8 vaccines, and equally pressing is the concern that infants are exposed to this quantity of vaccine antigens so early in life when the immune system and brain are still so immature. See attached Editorial addressing this issue. No adequate safety testing has been done on this practice of combining so many vaccines together, and lays the ground for a cascade of damaging neuroimmune events to happen in vulnerable infants. And no one can assess which infants are more vulnerable than others. http://mothering.com/health/is-aluminum-the-new-thimerosal
The schedule is repeated at 4 and 6 months, then topped off with MMR and Varicella (chickenpox vaccine) at 12 months. The injection of four live virus vaccines at 12 months seems to create a tipping point of toxicity or intolerance in susceptible babies, which is why so many thousands of families report their child began to regress after the MMR shot. As well, the measles component of MMR is known to suppress the immune system at a critical juncture when the infant’s own cross placental immunity derived from its mother begins to wane.
Combine all this with the potential of this bolus of vaccines to disrupt the critical “windows of susceptibility” which mark specific milestones in brain development in the first two years of life and the die is cast for the kind of disaster we are witnessing in children’s health today.
We invite you to become a member of VRAN and join the many concerned families in Canada who support our work. We publish an acclaimed newsletter which our members receive and are happy to send you a sample issue if you wish – just let me know.
Best wishes,
Edda West
VRAN – Vaccination Risk Awareness Network
—– Original Message —–
From: Sandra Finley
To: tjames4 AT shaw.ca ; info AT vran.org
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 9:10 AM
Subject: Rebuttal. Slow poisoning by mercury (dental amalgams & vaccinations). Corrupt Big Pharma.
Hello Edda and Mary,
As per messages left for you, if you can use any part of the following please do.
I sent an email to The Current: the science they are using to back-up their position on vaccinations was sent to me. There are flaws in it. The flaws are discussed in the appended.
Best wishes,
See 2011-01-28 I am like a fish; I store mercury in my body.