Burton Requests Vaccine Recall

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October 26, 2000

Chairman Burton Requests Vaccine Recall

Washington, DC - In an October 25, 2000 letter to HHS Secretary Donna

Shalala, Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman of the House Committee on

Government Reform, requested a recall of all vaccines containing

Thimerosal. The mercury-based product Thimerosal is added to vaccines as a

preservative. On July 18, 2000 the Committee conducted a hearing

entitled, " Mercury in Medicine: Are We Taking Unnecessary Risks? " During

the hearing, the FDA admitted that children are being exposed to unsafe

levels of mercury through vaccines containing Thimerosal. It was also

determined that symptoms of mercury poisoning mimic symptoms of autism -- a

disease that has reached epidemic levels in the United States. However, the

FDA has chosen to allow pharmaceutical companies to merely phase out their

use of Thimerosal, leaving mercury-containing vaccines at public and private

health facilities.

In his letter to Secretary Shalala, Chairman Burton stated:

" We all know and accept that mercury is a neurotoxin, and yet the FDA

has failed to recall the 50 vaccines that contain Thimerosal...On their own

website, the FDA states, 'lead, cadmium, and mercury are examples of

elements that are toxic when present at relatively low levels'... " Our

children are the future of this country. As a Government we have a

responsibility to do everything within our power to protect them from harm,

including ensuring that vaccines are safe and effective. Every day that

mercury-containing vaccines remain on the market is another day HHS is

putting 8,000 children at risk. Given that Thimerosal-free vaccines are

available, and the known risk of mercury toxicity, to leave

Thimerosal-containing vaccines on the market is unconscionable. "

Testimony from the July 18, 2000 hearing is available at

http://www.house.gov/reform.

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New EPA Draft Report on Methylmercury Risks

Reference Dose for Methylmercury

[Thanks to Steve Koyosako.]

http://www.epa.gov/ncea/pdfs/methmerc.pdf

ABSTRACT: In 1997, U.S. EPA issued the Mercury Study Report to

Congress (MSRC). Among the assessments in the MSRC was a

state-of-the-science evaluation of the health effects of methylmercury.

There has been considerable discussion within the scientific community

regarding the level of exposure to methylmercury that is likely to be

without appreciable risk of adverse health effects. Congress directed EPA

through the House Appropriations Report for FY99 to contract with the

National Research Council to evaluate the body of data on the health effects

of methylmercury, with particular emphasis on new data since the 1997

Mercury Study Report to Congress, and provide recommendations regarding

issues relevant to the derivation of an appropriate RfD for methylmercury.

EPA has thoroughly reviewed this document, and concurs with the NRC findings

and recommendations. The NRC document is used as the basis for the current

EPA derivation of the RfD for methylmercury.

Methylmercury is a highly toxic substance; there are a number of

adverse health effects associated with methylmercury exposure. Most

extensive are the data for neurotoxicity, particularly in developing

organisms. Therefore the brain is considered to be the most sensitive target

organ for which there are data suitable for derivation of an RfD. The NRC

considered three epidemiological longitudinal developmental studies suitable

for quantitative risk assessment: the Seychelles Islands, the Faroe Islands,

and New Zealand. The Seychelles study has yielded no evidence of impairment

related to methylmercury exposure, while both the other studies have found

dose-related adverse effects on a number of neuropsychological endpoints.

The Faroe Islands study, the larger of the latter two studies, has been

extensively peer-reviewed and is used for the derivation of the RfD. The

NRC's major finding is that the results of the Faroe Islands study provide

scientifically credible basis on which to base EPA's RfD.

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For the Vaccine Injured Reminder

If you believe your child is autistic due to a vaccine reaction,

please file with the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) through

the FDA at 800 822-7967 (24 hour toll-free line) or P.O. Box 1100,

Rockville, MD 20849-1100

Parents can file for their children. It is a one page form and patient

identity is kept confidential....you are assigned a VAERS number. The form

comes with instructions and no postage necessary if mailesd in the US or

APO/FPO.

The RfD derived in this assessment is 0.1 ug/kg per day. This is the

same as the RfD derived by EPA in 1995 based on an earlier study of a

poisoning episode in Iraq, in which data on adverse neurological effects in

infants was used as the point of departure for derivation of the RfD.

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