Fwd: Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) Presentation Regarding Mercury ...

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From: mgeier@...Sent: 11/2/2011 4:32:44 A.M. Eastern Daylight TimeSubj: Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) Presentation Regarding Mercury in Vaccines to the United Nations Meeting on the Mercury Treaty

This email is to report that on Tuesday, November 1, 2011, an international delegation from the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) continued its second day of participation in the third intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC3) meeting of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya to develop a global legally binding instrument on mercury.

It was during this second day of negotiations that detailed discussions were undertaken by diplomatic representatives from over 150 participating nations to discuss the language of the newly revised instrument on mercury with respect to mercury added products (the treaty document is attached to this email saved as New draft text for a comprehensive and suitable approach to a global legally binding instrument on mercury1.pdf in Adobe Acrobat Format). Material relating to mercury added products is described starting on page 43.

As previously described, it was CoMeD's tireless lobbying efforts in January 2011 with diplomatic representatives from over 150 participating nations, and most especially the Africa Group (54 members [28% of all UN members]), in Chiba, Japan that lead to the revision of the mercury instrument to include language to ban Thimerosal (mercury) in vaccines as described starting on page 43.

During the general discussions significant support with specific reference to the need to eliminate mercury from vaccines was heard from numerous diplomatic Representatives, including most especially references by the Africa Group, Kenya, Oman, among others.

Subsequently, Dr. Mark Geier made the following presentation on behalf of CoMeD to the general session:

"Most Honorable Chair Lugris, members of INC, and our host country of Kenya, I would like to thank you for this momentous opportunity to address this esteemed gathering. I am Dr. Mark Geier, a physician and medical researcher, and a director of the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD).

To begin, I would like to quote from Dr. Schwartz of the National Immunization Program of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He spoke on August 12, 1999 at a closed-door meeting between government officials and representatives of the vaccine industry. Here is what this US health official said in 1999, quote, “The cat is out of the bag, the horse is out of barn, and Thimerosal is going to be out of the vaccines.†(end quote)

The present question is not if Thimerosal will be removed from vaccines, but when will it be removed from vaccines. The question is also how many children must suffer learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders before we end the unnecessary use of Thimerosal, a known neurotoxin, in vaccines and other pharmaceuticals.

As a vaccine expert who handles both Thimerosal and 2-phenoxyethanol in the lab, I can attest to the fact that 2-phenoxyethanol is better than Thimerosal for not interacting with the different components of a vaccine. It is more stable.

As a scientist, let me say this clearly: 2-phenoxyethanol is a much safer, less toxic, and cost-effective replacement for Thimerosal, licensed and listed by the FDA as an acceptable vaccine preservative. In its analysis of the cost differential for switching to vaccines with 2-phenoxyethanol, my organization estimates that this improvement in vaccine safety will cost less than a cent a dose, a small price to pay to avoid the known adverse health effects of mercury in developing and vulnerable children. 2-phenoxyethanol has been successfully used in tens of millions of US vaccine doses for more than fifty years.

Opponents of a switch-over to a safer vaccine formulation may argue that clinical trials will be necessary if 2-phenoxyethanol is used to replace Thimerosal. In the US, in 1999, when Thimerosal began to be drastically and urgently reduced in our childhood immunizations, the FDA did not require any such clinical trials for this preservative with an excellent record of safety and effectiveness.

The same cannot be said for Thimerosal. As the US Congress officially published in 2003, (quote) “Manufacturers of vaccines and Thimerosal have never conducted adequate testing on the safety of Thimerosal. The (US) FDA has never required manufacturers to conduct adequate safety testing on Thimerosal…†(end quote)

Today, the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs has submitted a list of 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles published since the year 2000 showing harm from Thimerosal and implicating it in learning disorders and developmental disabilities in our children.

In addition to those articles, there is another by my esteemed colleagues, Dr. Majewska of the Marie Curie Chairs Program in Warsaw, Poland. She recently published in the peer-reviewed journal of Neurochemical Research, (quote) “On the whole, the current study provides further empirical evidence that exposure to Thimerosal leads to neurotoxic changes in the developing brain, arguing for urgent and permanent removal of this preservative from all vaccines for children (and adults) since effective, less toxic and less costly alternatives are available. The stubborn insistence of some vaccine manufacturers and health agencies on the continuation of use of this proven neurotoxin in vaccines is testimony of their disregard for both the health of young generations and for the environment.†(end quote)

Of the hundreds of studies, never acknowledged by public health officials, the latest one to indict Thimerosal as unacceptable for use in vaccines comes from Harvard.

Even in the face of this evidence, the World Health Organization has openly acknowledged in its submissions to this body that annually over 300 million doses of mandatory vaccines are administered with high levels of mercury from Thimerosal.

If we, the INC, fail to address the presence of this toxic preservative in our vaccines and other drugs through our legally binding instrument, we will be crippling this treaty, even as mercury cripples our children.

Members of the INC, I entreat you to bring urgently needed and lasting historic reforms to the safety and manufacture of vaccines by banning mercury from human pharmaceuticals.

Thank you."

In describing the presentation by Dr. Mark Geier, it was met with a very high level of attention from everyone in the auditorium (it received among the highest level of attention of any presentation made so far during the meeting). One could literally hear a pin-drop in the auditorium during the presentation. Delegates from every nation or organization for/against removal of Thimerosal (mercury) from vaccines were intently focused on every word said. Pictures were taken by many in the auditorium. Some in auditorium faced the comments with much disgust on their face, others were dumbfounded at the extent of such a large-scale, ongoing mandatory mercury exposure in infants, and finally there were those who met the comments with a facial expression of satisfaction. It appeared that it even took the Chair of the entire meeting a few moments after Dr. Geier's comments to recompose himself and proceed on with the meeting agenda.

At the ending of the meeting on Tuesday, Dr. Mark Geier was specifically asked to participate on a Contact Group of the general session (a Committee) specifically focusing on mercury added products. This is a major victory for keeping the banning of Thimerosal (mercury) from vaccines a topic of major negotiation at this meeting.