Former ACIP member spreads misinformation about Thimerosal

[Guest guest]

Here's what former ACIP member Stinchfield of Minnesota recently told a

parenting website sponsored by the St. Pioneer Press, www.MinnMoms.com :

" Parents should not have concerns about thimerosal. ... ecause

thimerosal is such a hot topic in the news, many clinics have ordered

thimerosal-free vaccine so they don't have to take up precious clinic time

discussing the pre­servative.

" Here are the details: There are two kinds of mercury; ethyl mercury and

methyl mercury. Methyl mercury is what people are concerned about accumu­lating

and causing problems. It is not contained in influenza vaccines. ...

" Multidose influenza vaccine is the only vaccine that contains ethyl

mercury. It prevents abscesses at the injection site. Ethyl mercury is processed

very rapidly in the human body, excreted and does not accumu­late like methyl

mercury. The amount of ethyl mercury in vac­cines is 15 times less than the

amount of methyl mercury con­tained in human breast milk. "

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