Support the removal of thimerisol from childhood vaccines

[Cathy]

From Unlocking Autism President Shelly Reynolds

April 27, 2005

In September of 2004, President George W. Bush stated while on the campaign
trail that he would "support the removal of thimerosal from vaccines on the
childhood national vaccine schedule."

Today, April 27, 2005, in several conversations with White House Counsel on
Health Policy, Unlocking Autism got more clarification on what that means.

The semantics mean that The White House stated that President Bush thinks
that mercury should absolutely be removed from vaccines, inherently indicating
that his administration does find it to be a harmful substance, and while he
has the full authority to remove it from the shelves today, he refuses to act.
He wants to continue to allow the pharmaceutical companies the opportunity to
continue to voluntarily phase it out of vaccines. The White House
counsel further suggested that we be patient and give the pharmaceutical
companies
the time to accomplish this on their own.

So how long does that take? How long exactly did it take for Firestone to
recall their tires? How long did it take for Tylenol to pull their products off
the shelves and present safer packaging? Six years...at a minimum that the
government has known of the mercury problem...and it is still out there being "
voluntarily" injected into kids because not all of it has been "voluntarily"
removed.

In February of 2005, Unlocking Autism addressed a letter to President Bush re
questing that he issue an Executive Order banning the use of mercury in
vaccines for all children under the age of 18 and pregnant women. The only
shots
with more than a trace amount of mercury in them are some of the Flu
vaccines and a version of the DT vaccine but both of those contain 25 mcg of
mercury,
which far exceed EPA safety limits for small children.

Based on several conversations with White House legal counsel today, the
President does have the authority to issue such a ban and immediately recall the
mercury based vaccines on the shelves and in production, but he refuses to do
so. The White House counsel also stated that while Bush supports the removal
of mercury from vaccines in the childhood national vaccine schedule, he does
not think that any immediate action is necessary even though it may take 3 to 4
more years to phase mercury out of those shots remaining on the schedule
today. Nor does the President find it necessary to ban the use of mercury based
vaccines for pregnant women because, after all, they are adults, not children
and therefore, fall outside of his statement that he supports the removal of
mercury from the childhood vaccine schedule.

The White House asked us to consider all that they have accomplished in
reducing mercury in vaccines (yes...they said this.) They referred me to the
following three documents as proof of what they have done thus far for those
of you
concerned about this issue:

NIH - http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t041005d.html

CDC - http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t041005c.html

FDA - http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t041005e.html

I told them that credit doesn't go to anyone who sits by and allows bolus
doses of mercury to be knowingly injected into children until the pharmaceutical
companies "voluntarily" take it out.

Credit goes to the person with the intestinal fortitude to put a stop to it.

It was made clear to us that the removal of mercury from flu vaccine and the
DT vaccine would cause undue hardships on the pharmaceutical companies who
do not have the facilities in place to manufacture mercury free vaccines. It
takes 3-4 years to build these new facilities. (Who is doing math with
us here? 1999+4=2003? Is this..oh..it is...2005?) They would have to really
step up
the process (even though they haven't even started manufacturing flu vaccine
for this flu season.)

Undue Hardships? That is an interesting choice of words to tell the mother
of a vaccine injured child.

I asked for the White House counsel to put in writing that President Bush
does not support the immediate removal of mercury from childhood vaccines and
that while they realize that millions of children will be needlessly exposed to
it over the next several years, they are willing to allow that to happen.
They said that they would not put it in writing. Without a ban, it is our
opinion that President Bush is passively making that statement regardless of
whether
or not he officially puts it in writing.

We asked that President Bush publicly support legislation proposed by
Congressman Dave Weldon and make a statement to that effect on the House floor
to
encourage the expediency of the bill. This request is under review and we did
not receive a final answer on their position today.

The White House did indicate that President Bush may reconsider the
immediate removal of mercury from all vaccines in the future. We were told that
it
was not his final answer but that those concerned with the removal of mercury
should just be patient and wait.

We don't really feel like sitting and being patient. We don't think that
you should either. If you feel strongly about this and think maybe President
Bush should reconsider, we recommend that you not only call the White House
comment line, but that you contact Chief of Staff Andrew Card's office directly
at
202-456-6798. We think that you should call on Thursday, April 28th and
every day after that if you feel like it.

Or better yet, call, then fax President Bush via Andrew Card's office at
202-456-1907.

Regardless of the plausibility of an autism/mercury connection, we believe
knowingly and purposefully exposing children, and fetuses, to mercury is
stupid. There really isn't another word. It is stupid. Mercury is toxic in
every
other capacity on the face of the earth and yet, the US Government would have
you believe that as soon as it slips beyond the epidermis of a child, it
becomes harmless.

We told them at 3pm today to start hiring temps to help answer the phones.

Lynn Notgrass sounded the alarm, gave all of us a time and a date and
inadvertently gave them a deadline. We think she is right.

Pick up the phone. Write that fax and show the White House what millions of
people can do when their patience runs out after six years.

Shelley H. Reynolds
President, Unlocking Autism

www.unlockingautism.org

P.S. If you are a George Bush fan or a staunch republican and think that
this letter has intonations of a "liberal, left wing" slant, let me clear this
up for you before you send me an email. My personal party preference has no
bearing on the way this notice was written. If a democrat was in the White House
and the same thing had happened as happened today, I would have sent the exact
same letter with someone else's name. The only reason it is directed at
George Bush is because, well, he is wearing the shoes of the Executive Office at
this point in time.

Neither party is in the clear. The Clinton Administration was, to use their
own terminology, "asleep at the switch." The Bush Administration was on
notice before they set foot in the White House and they have been awake and
driving the bus. I don't personally know which legacy is worse.

[Grizzly]

Party affiliations have no concern when there is a RIGHT THING TO DO.

Robin and I have asked our pediatrician's office specifically to use only those injectables which do not contain thimerosal.

I'm making the call now.

_____________________
Grizzly

Hold my hand... we'll jump together.

[Cathy]

Grizzly,
You ROCK!

[BC-DixieMom]

Cathy,

Thanks for posting this! With my oldest dd, I never really considered the vaccines as being dangerous. Luckily, she made it through all the shots. However, with my youngest, I have been so hesitant to give her the same immunizations. My ped assures me that he only uses thimerisol free vaccines but I'm still apprehensive.

Will get a call or fax in today!!

Rebecca

[Doreen]

Wonderfully put...thanks.

Rebecca, I would advise YOU reading the label on the vaccines. (My prev. ped said they were thermisol free, and they weren't)

*sigh*

[LandJ]

Frankly, I don't see the big deal. My peds office has signs all over the waiting room and in the exam rooms that state they only use thimerosol free vaccines. Can't people just find peds that use thimerosol free on their own.

And I agree with W not "using his authority" to tell the pharm. companies what to do. That's called big government, of which Bush is not fond of. Parents should be responsible enough to do their own research, decide for themselves and then act in accordance to their beliefs.

Now all that being said....I have to admit I didn't read the entire thing, just about half.

[Cathy]

Dear Leigh,
I used to sound just like you. That was before August 19th 2002 when my son was diagnosed with autism. I sincerely hope you never have to eat those words or feel that kind of pain.

[Natalie Rose]

Originally Posted by Leigh2

Frankly, I don't see the big deal.

You would if you had a vaccine injured child and you never knew that vaccines could cause it.

Originally Posted by Leigh2

My peds office has signs all over the waiting room and in the exam rooms that state they only use thimerosol free vaccines. Can't people just find peds that use thimerosol free on their own.

Probably 90% of the child-bearing population wouldn't even know to ask for thimerasol-free vaccines. Your argument presupposes that people know that is harmful to begin with and therefore will research pediatricians who don't use it.

Originally Posted by Leigh2

And I agree with W not "using his authority" to tell the pharm. companies what to do. That's called big government, of which Bush is not fond of. Parents should be responsible enough to do their own research, decide for themselves and then act in accordance to their beliefs.

Again, that assumes that people are even aware that mercury can cause vaccine injury. The point of all of this is to protect people who are unaware. If protecting people from harm is beyond the scope of "big government", what exactly *is* the government there for?

[LandJ]

I'm not going to apologize for my previous statements....I do not believe in Big Government. I have no problem with the government educating people, but do not think we should expect the President to "yank" a product off the market. That's what the FDA is for after much consideration/research. But I do apologize if I offended you ladies...that was not my intent.

[BC-MAV]

Actually the nurse has us examine the bottles to see what they are and she writes down the number on the bottle on the paper and we check the bottle to make sure she has written the number down correctly. There is no guessing what the vaccine is or what it contains!