Mercury Poisoning

in the News..........
(See Below)

Health Groups Join Suit Against U.S. EPA Over Mercury Emissions

June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Four U.S. Public health groups today said they joined a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by attorneys general from 13 states challenging a new rule limiting mercury emissions from power plants.

The groups are seeking to overturn a regulation they say fails to protect infants and children from the harmful effect of such emissions. The rule, adopted by the EPA in March, delays ``significant reductions in mercury pollution from power plants by at least 10 to 15 years,'' the groups said in a statement today on their motion to intervene in the lawsuit.

The groups include Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association and American Academy of Pediatrics. They said the motion would be filed in U.S. Circuit Court in Washington, D.C.

Mercury consumed by pregnant women stunts brain development in fetuses, potentially causing learning disabilities in 630,000 newborns a year, the groups said in the statement.

The EPA in March set the first limits on airborne mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants. The department wants to set up industry-supported markets for mercury so that utilities that don't meet pollution limits can buy credits from those that upgrade their equipment, known as a cap-and-trade system.

A lawsuit against the new rule was filed in late March by nine attorneys general. Four more joined the suit later.

Opponents of the rule say a cap-and-trade market will lead to ``hot spots'' of contamination near power plants that don't install controls. They want all power plants to install controls.

President Bush Should Remove Mercury from Vaccines Say Parent Advocacy Group

June 6, 2005

VIENNA, Va., June 6 / PRNewswire/ -- Two national parent organizations are calling on President Bush to issue an Executive Order to compel drug companies to remove mercury preservatives from vaccines in order to protect developing fetuses, infants and children from potential immune and brain system damage. Unlocking Autism (UA), a national, non-profit autism awareness organization, and the non-profit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the largest and oldest vaccine safety organization in the U.S., are asking the President to enforce a 1999 directive to drug companies by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove mercury from all vaccines.

Mercury is a known neurotoxin and drug companies removed mercury preservatives from over-the-counter products in the early 1990's but the FDA has not enforced its 1999 directive regarding vaccines. While mercury has been reduced in many childhood vaccines, some flu vaccines given to pregnant women and infants still contain so much mercury that a person would have to weigh 500 pounds to safely get a flu vaccination according to EPA standards.

During the fall Presidential campaign, Unlocking Autism asked both Presidential candidates if they supported removal of mercury from all childhood vaccines. President Bush said "yes" in writing but since the election has refused to take action despite repeated requests from parents.

"The drug companies have had six years to stop injecting mercury into our children's bodies and that is long enough. Giving mercury to kids on purpose is stupid. If the FDA won't make them get it out then nobody but the President can make them do it. We need the President to step up to the plate and protect our children and the unborn from harm," said Shelley Reynolds, Unlocking Autism (UA) President.

Barbara Loe Fisher, President of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), said, "The precautionary principle should prevail here: when in doubt, get it out. Whenever there is a safer product available, the more risky product should be removed from the market. This is like deja vu for those of us who watched the FDA fail to properly regulate the drug industry after the less reactive DTaP vaccine was licensed for babies in 1996. The FDA refused to recall the more toxic DPT vaccine and so it was injected into American babies for six more years, just like mercury has been injected into babies for six more years after the FDA told the drug companies to get it out of vaccines."

Unlocking Autism, the National Vaccine Information Center and other parent groups, who are concerned that the dramatic rise in autism and other neurodevelopmental delays in children in the past few decades is in part due to the use of multiple mercury-containing vaccines, are making ads and public service announcements available to parents in every state which ask President Bush to issue an Executive Order to get mercury out of vaccines. State and federal legislators are also being made aware of the request.

For more information, go to http://www.unlockingautism.org and http://www.nvic.org.

Can mercury in vaccines cause autism in children?

by David Kirby author of Evidence of Harm.

May 25, 2005

This hotly disputed question will only burn brighter as more biological evidence surfaces to suggest a link. But a definitive answer might take years. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sitting on a multi-million-dollar database - paid for by you and me - that could probably resolve this contretemps within weeks.

They have the data. We paid for the data. Yet we cannot see the data. The information is kept under lock and key within the massive health agency -- as jealously guarded as nuclear secrets.

The CDC tells us that they have looked at the data exhaustively and found "no evidence of harm." They implied that their own scientists are perfectly capable of analyzing the data, thank you very much, and outside researchers cannot be trusted to independently verify their analyses, nor to protect the confidentiality of patients whose numbers they would be crunching.

But, as any high school student can tell you, the replication of a study is the hallmark of all good science. Without access to the raw data originally used by the CDC researchers, it is impossible to verify their work. All we can do is trust that they got it right.

The CDC, which has budgeted nearly $200 million to operate the Vaccine Safety Datalink, spent four years analyzing data from children who received varying amounts of thimerosal in their vaccines. The study went through five different permutations before being published in November, 2003. Early study "generations," which were never meant to see the light of day, showed highly elevated, statistically significant increased risks for autism and other disorders among the kids receiving the most mercury.

But by the time the study was published, most of these associations had somehow disappeared entirely.

Only two outside researchers, Mark and David Geier, have managed to gain access to the raw CDC data. They faced daunting hurdles to get into the CDC computer center, and nearly crippling software malfunctions once they were inside. But among the data they did manage to mine, they reportedly found highly elevated risks for autism among children in the highest mercury exposure group.

So we now have two extremely different interpretations of the same data. It is way past time that the CDC allow a third team - outside researchers completely acceptable to all parties involved in this dispute - into the database to conduct any analyses they see fit. (Patients names are removed from the data, making it exceedingly hard for researchers to identify anyone, even if they desired, which is extremely unlikely in itself).

It sounds reasonable, it sounds nice. But don't hold your breath. The CDC is hardly issuing engraved invitations to come trawl its mainframes, despite a harshly written report earlier this year from the Institute of Medicine. The IOM complained of CDC foot dragging, and even insolence, on this matter, and suggested that vaccine officials at the health agency seek "legal counsel." Why? Because the original datasets of children used by the government have, as they say, gone missing. (Actually, the official explanation was that they "were not archived in a standard fashion.") The intentional loss or destruction of taxpayer funded data or datasets is a violation of the Federal Data Quality Act. It is a felony, and someone could go to jail for it.

Meanwhile, the data just sit there. Our data, not theirs. CDC officials insist they have an "open mind" on this issue, and that thimerosal has not been ruled out as a possible cause of autism and other disorders. But they also insist that the vaccine safety database yielded no evidence of harm.

If that is true, then why are they so reluctant to let someone else in to verify this claim? I cannot answer that question, because the CDC is not talking to me. But I do know that people with nothing to hide are unencumbered by doubts of what others will find if they rifle through their closet.

If the data can prove that injecting a known neurotoxin into infants at levels up to 125 times over federal safety limits was a safe and sane thing to do, then why isn't the CDC having an open house for all researchers worth their salt to come on down and have a look-see for themselves?

Without access to the raw data, parents who support the thimerosal theory and their allies in Congress, academia and law - are falling back on other recent studies that show a possible link between mercury and autism. They may not have the epidemiology on their side, yet, but the mounting evidence emerging from the fields of biology and toxicology is becoming too urgent to ignore. Recent published studies have shown:

+ Autistic children retain mercury at much higher rates than non-autistic kids.

+ Autistic children lack certain sulfur-based proteins that bind to heavy metals and remove them from the body.

+ Autistic children have a dysfunctional immune profile generally consistent with mercury toxicity.

+ The rate of increase in reported autism cases peaked between 1987 and 1992, the same years that new mercury-containing vaccines were added to the U.S. schedule.

+ Mice with autoimmune disorders react horrifically to mercury exposure from vaccines, whereas typical mice of the same species do not.

+ In primates, mercury from vaccines was more likely to become trapped in the brain than mercury from fish.

+ Children who live near mercury spewing power plants have an elevated risk of developing autism.

These are all intriguing, to be sure. But what we really need is to get our hands on the raw CDC data - our data.

David Kirby is ( St. Martin's Press) www.evidenceofharm.com

New York , Other States Sue EPA Over Mercury Rule

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- New York, California and seven other states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today to challenge new rules on mercury emissions from power plants that the states say fail to protect the public.

``It is an established medical fact that mercury causes neurological damage in young children, impairing their ability to learn and even to play,'' New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said in a statement.

The EPA two weeks ago set the first limits on airborne mercury pollution from coal-fired plants, the largest man-made source of the poison. Under the EPA's new rules, utilities that don't meet pollution standards can buy credits from those who do rather than upgrade equipment.

``EPA's emissions trading plan will allow some power plants to actually increase mercury emissions, creating hot spots of mercury deposition'' across the country, Harvey said.

New Jersey filed the petition for review on behalf of the nine state attorneys general in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for Harvey, said in an interview.

Other states that joined the suit are Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Vermont.

The states argue that Clean Air Act rules require power plant operators to install the most effective technology to reduce mercury emissions at all coal-fueled plants. Supporters of the industry-backed ``cap and trade'' system favored by the Bush administration say market forces are the most efficient way to cut pollution.

The states outlined their arguments against the mercury rule in comments to the agency in June. Environmentalists prepared lawsuits against the March 15 EPA rule in advance of its release. Details of the trading program haven't yet been announced.

Mercury in fish poses heart risk for middle-aged men, study says
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Eating fish high in mercury puts middle-aged men at a greater risk for coronary heart disease and may offset the protective effects of omega-3 fatty acids in some seafood, according to an important new Finnish study.

The study is significant because it could trigger new advisories that protect the general population from mercury in seafood. At present, government warnings focus on protecting fetuses and children from neurological damage.

The findings, published in a recent issue of an American Heart Association journal, show that men with the highest levels of mercury in their hair had a 60 percent increased risk of an acute coronary event and a nearly 70 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death compared with men with lower mercury levels.

Men with the highest levels of mercury in their hair, which is a standard method of measuring mercury in the body, consumed more than two times the amount of fish as those with the lowest levels.

The findings were based on an ongoing 14-year study by the Research Institute of Public Health at the University of Kuopio of 1,871 men ages 42 to 60 and free of previous heart disease or stroke.

Mercury, highly toxic to the neurological system, is released into the environment from power plants, factories using chlorine, mining and rock formations. The metal ends up in oceans and lakes, where long-lived fish consume it.

Fetuses and children are particularly vulnerable. But physicians report memory loss, headaches, abdominal pain, behavioral problems, fatigue, hair loss and arteriosclerosis among adults.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns pregnant and nursing women --

and all women of childbearing age -- not to eat swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tile fish. The FDA cautions that albacore tuna has three times the mercury of chunk light tuna.

In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a mercury guideline to protect the most sensitive populations. And the American Medical Association has advised that mercury can harm the heart.

In the new study, researchers found that high mercury concentrations in the body reduced the heart-protective effects of the fatty acids in fish oils.

They hypothesized that mercury promotes free radicals in the body, which can harm cell membranes and tissues, and at the same time reduce the body's ability to protect against the formation of the free radicals, increasing the vulnerability to heart attack and death.

San Francisco physician Dr. Jane Hightower -- who found a correlation between high mercury levels in her patients and the consumption of swordfish, ahi tuna, Chilean sea bass and other fish -- on Monday called the study an important research contribution.

"There appears to be a threshold at which the risk of mercury outweighs the benefit of omega-3 fatty acids in regard to cardiovascular disease,'' said Hightower. The literature indicates the threshold is near the guideline set by the EPA, and would correspond to a hair level of 1 microgram per gram, she said.

In the Finnish study, the average mercury content of hair was 1.9 micrograms per gram with a high of 15.7 micrograms per gram.

Hightower's Bay Area patients had even higher levels. The average mercury content of hair was 3.5 micrograms per gram. A patient who ate lots of swordfish had a level of 22 micrograms per gram.

"Our high-end consumers who eat swordfish and ahi tuna are just as high as the populations being seen around the globe for mercury problems -- in the Faro Islands, the Seychelles and among the Inuits,'' said Hightower.

She found atherosclerosis in many of her patients, including coronary artery disease, heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease and stroke, but she said she wouldn't be able to prove that mercury had caused their disease.

Hightower has written to the FDA advising that if the scientific literature continues to find a link between mercury and atherosclerosis, it should expand its advisories to protect the general public ..

A mercury calculator compares fish consumption to the EPA guidelines at www.gotmercury.org

Older men with high mercury levels are at risk

By JOAN LOWY
Scripps Howard News Service
February 01, 2005

WASHINGTON - Middle-aged men should avoid eating fish high in mercury because it could put them at greater risk for heart attacks and other heart ailments, a Finnish researcher told U.S. scientists and public health advocates Tuesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration currently advise pregnant women and children to avoid fish high in mercury because the contaminant can interfere with brain development in the fetus and young children, leading to a loss of intelligence and learning difficulties.

Neither agency offers any specific advice on eating mercury-contaminated fish to men. However, several studies have found that middle-aged men with higher levels of mercury in their bodies had significantly higher rates of heart attacks and heart disease than men with lower levels.

The accumulating evidence that eating fish high in mercury can increase a man's risk for heart attacks and other heart ailments, while "still inconclusive," is strong enough to warrant urging middle-aged men to avoid eating high-mercury fish, said Jyrki Virtanen with the Research Institute of Public Health at the University of Kuopio in Finland.

"High consumption of fish increases the mercury (level) in the body, especially if the fish are caught from waters known to be high in mercury," Virtanen said. "Larger, older, predatory fish are the worst kind and should be avoided."

Virtanen is the lead author of a study published this month in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a journal of the American Heart Association. The study found a 50 percent to 70 percent greater risk of heart attacks, heart disease and cardiovascular disease in men ages 42 to 60 who had elevated levels of mercury in their bodies.

The study, which is following the health of 2,682 Finnish men, found that a third of study participants who tested highest for mercury also reported eating an average of twice as much fish as the rest of the men in the study.

The men least likely to experience heart problems were those who had both low levels of mercury and high levels of fatty acids found in fish that are known to reduce the risk of heart disease, Virtanen said.

However, the health benefits of fatty acids, also known as Omega 3s, appeared to be more than offset by the disadvantages of high levels of mercury in the men who tested highest for mercury, Virtanen said.

"In terms of the type of evidence we often use to evaluate health risks from toxics, this is a pretty good basis for concluding a likelihood of a relationship between mercury and cardiovascular disease," said Alan Stern, a toxicologist who was a member of a landmark National Academy of Sciences committee that evaluated the health risks of mercury in 2000.

EPA scientists who attended Virtanen's presentation said the agency is studying the new research.

The fish that tend to be the highest in mercury are large predators at the top of the food chain, such as shark, swordfish, pike, perch and some species of tuna.

On the Net: www.uku.fi/nutritionepidemiologists/mercury.htm

Too much mercury
EPA should insist that chlorine plants abandon technology that pollutes

January 29, 2005

Every bite of fish, especially fish higher in the food chain, carries the possibility of contamination by mercury, a toxic metal that can do nasty things to the central nervous system. For years, environmentalists have worked to cut mercury emissions from power plants. Now, the advocacy group Oceana is focusing on less obvious culprits: factories that produce chlorine using outdated, mercury-spewing technology. With mercury-free technology already available and widely used, there's no excuse for that.

A new Oceana report points to nine plants in eight states that use a 19th-century mercury-cell process to make chlorine, a building-block chemical with a vast array of uses, from swimming pools and water purification to plastics.

The law requires the plants to report emissions of mercury to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Using those reported figures, Oceana argues that the average mercury-cell chlorine plant is worse than the average power plant in dumping mercury into the environment.

Power plants send mercury out of the stacks. Chlorine plants also emit mercury through stacks, which the plants must monitor. In addition, they give off "fugitive" emissions through evaporation. These fugitive emissions are not monitored, but the plants must submit an estimate of them.

Taken together, the Oceana report says, the two forms of mercury emissions in the chlorine plants averaged 1,097 pounds a year in 2002, compared with an average of 186 pounds in the power plants. Beyond those emissions, these plants "lose" immense amounts of mercury. The difference between what the industry consumes in the process and what it reports releasing in emissions is worrisome. In 2000, Oceana says, the lost mercury came to 65 tons - well over the 49 tons released by all the nation's power plants.

Meanwhile, newer technologies account for roughly 90 percent of the chlorine produced in this country. Conversion to those methods can lower a plant's energy and waste disposal costs. So, aside from the Bush White House's aversion to forcing industry to do anything, there's no real reason why EPA should not push hard to get these chlorine plants to abandon this health-threatening technology soon.

Mercury Amalgam Report Bogus; Released as Feds Investigate Wrongdoing in Contract Award

Thursday December 9, 2004

A consultant for the National Institutes of Health today issued a report on the health risks of mercury amalgam while NIH investigates wrongdoing in the process to award the firm the research contract.

"The consultant's report is 'bogus' because it draws inappropriate conclusions from flawed research," says Charles Brown, counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice.

Washington-based Consumers for Dental Choice said the report, issued by LSRO, Inc., Bethesda , MD , under contract to the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is "the worst kind of deception on American families" because it rejects abundant evidence that mercury dental amalgam may cause serious health problems.

After Consumers for Dental Choice filed a lawsuit in July challenging the contract, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni began an investigation of the entire process.

"This federal investigation," Brown continues, "is necessary because NIDCR handpicked LSRO without a competitive bid, announced the desired result in advance, and mandated that the research panel be devoid of mercury researchers."

"LSRO is the tobacco industry's consultant of choice," Brown added. "We can no longer tolerate acceptance of so-called research designed to enhance the position of the organization funding the study. LSRO, has a history of building panels with conflicted members whose findings favor industry." http://neuro-www.mgh.harvard.edu/forum_2/ADHDF/6.6.998.55AMWashingtonPos.html

"To us, the evidence is clear," Brown said. "No one should accept the risk of putting a highly toxic metal in their teeth. Exposure to mercury damages the developing brain; pregnant women and parents should be vigilant to avoid this source of potentially dangerous mercury that can harm the fetus or the child."

Senator Frank Lautenberg has called for NIH to abolish the "inherent conflict of interest" of designating organized dentistry -- which endorses mercury fillings -- to be in charge of the research.

A House Subcommittee, led by Chairman Dan Burton and Ranking Member Diane Watson, also is investigating this contract.

The results are "the polar opposite of the direction of the science," said Dr. David Kennedy, former president, International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. Professor Boyd Haley, University of Kentucky, said the consultant's release clearly has false information.

Source: Consumers for Dental Choice

Autism – Mercury Poisoning in Thousands of Children. U.S. Congress Probing Relationship Between FDA & Big Pharma

The U.S. Congress is finally starting to investigate the possible conflict of interest connection between big pharma and the FDA. Thousands of children have been vaccine injured from mercury laden baby vaccines that were required for all school age children.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 24, 2004

The U.S. Congress has begun to investigate conflict of interest concerns between big Pharma and the FDA. In a move to keep up public confidence, the U.S. Congress has begun raising questions about the drug approval process. Recently, questions began to surface about a host of drugs that are now being pulled from the market because of cardiovascular damage that can occur from continued use.

The U.S. congress is examining in particular the relationship that exists between the FDA, big pharma and the rapid approval process that was employed in order to get these drugs to market. The U.S. congress indicated that a “cozy” relationship exists.

In cases of vaccine injuries to children from injections containing Thimerosal, (a deadly neuro-toxin mercury compound) Congressman Burton of Indiana called the relationship between big pharma and the FDA, a violation of the “public trust”. It was obvious to many that not enough safety was incorporated into the approval process for these vaccines. Any deadly compound containing 49.6% MERCURY should never have been injected into millions of children.

Autism has become an epidemic where children have been damaged for life. The pharmaceutical industry and now the FDA will be required to answer questions about what they knew about this problem and when they knew it.

Autism and mercury poisoning are identical in symptoms and the damage is permanent. The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on Thimerosal confirms toxicity fears. The rush to get these vaccines to market has compromised the safety of our children. Thousands of innocent children are now permanently handicapped.

This is a terrible tragedy. Thousands of our children are now brain damaged. This will cost our society billions of U.S. dollars.

Flu Vaccines Come With Risks and Chemicals

10-Nov-2004
by Roxanne Gregory

Flu Vaccines Come With Risks and Chemicals. Grahame Arnould illustration

In May 1796, milkmaid Sarah Nelmes had a rash. She consulted English country doctor Edward Jenner, who diagnosed cowpox, rather than the often-fatal smallpox.

At the time, local midwives counselled that if a woman caught cowpox she couldn't get smallpox. Jenner decided to test that theory. He needed someone who had never had either disease, and he chose James Phipps, his gardener's eight-year old son. In mid-May, Jenner made a few scratches on Phipps's arm and rubbed Nelmes's scabs into them. The boy became mildly ill with cowpox but recovered within a week. Two months later, Jenner again scratched the lad and contaminated the wound with smallpox. He remained well.

Never in his wildest dreams could Jenner have envisioned the multibillion-dollar business that vaccination would become 200 years later.

Today, there is more to vaccines than the live or dead viruses in them. Vaccines are a complex mix of viral proteins stewing in a chemical broth of "excipients".

Excipients are additives and the residuals of chemicals used in manufacturing vaccines. Those allowed by Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration include thimerosal, formalin and other formaldehyde preparations, as well as aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, and aluminum potassium sulfate, all three of which are used to cause an inflammatory response at the injection site so that there is an increased blood supply in the area.

Dyes, antibiotics, viral inactivators, glycerine solvents, hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid, sodium bisulfite, sodium hydroxide, polysorbate 80, streptomycin, neomycin, and a host of phosphate buffers are just a few of the excipients in common use. Monosodium glutamate is used as a stabilizer in the chickenpox vaccine. Chick embryos, monkey kidney, lung tissues of fetal rhesus monkeys, mouse brain, cow substrates, and human tissues are also used as vaccine growth mediums.

In 2001, Reuters reported the FDA's approval of the use of tumour cells as vaccine growth media. Researchers and physicians raised concerns last June at a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIAID division) conference that the use of bovine (cow) substrate in the manufacture of some common childhood vaccines might lead to a future rise of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease because the vaccines were cultured in cow serum not tested for BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), or mad-cow disease.

Prior to the 2002 passage of the U.S.'s post­9/11 Homeland Security Act, plaintiffs from Canada and 25 states filed class-action lawsuits against the makers of thimerosal. Thimerosal is an ethylmercury derivative used as a preservative in many vaccines. Eli-Lilly won approval to use thimerosal as a preservative based on a single, flawed 1930 safety study conducted on 22 patients suffering from fatal cases of meningococcal meningitis. Removed in 1999 from most Canadian childhood vaccines, thimerosal remains in shots for hepatitis B and the flu. Some researchers have linked autism in infants and young children to thimerosal, while other studies claim the link is unsubstantiated.

In the 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called for the elimination of thimerosal, as repeated immunization could result in unacceptable mercury levels in infants. Four years ago, the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons unanimously called for a moratorium on mandatory vaccination, citing inadequate safety trials, lack of informed consent, and conflicts of interests in the vaccine-approval process.

B.C. uses two flu vaccines: Fluviral and Vaxigrip. Both are grown in chick embryos and both contain thimerosal. Vaxigrip contains less thimerosal than Fluviral and contains viral proteins of influenza A/New Caledonia, influenza A/Wyoming, and influenza B/Jiangsu, as well as sodium phosphate buffered, isotonic salt, formaldehyde, trace amounts of neomycin (an antibiotic), sucrose (a sugar), and Triton X-100 (aka polyethylene glycol p-isoctylphenyl ether).

On the Winlaw, B.C.­coordinated Vaccine Risk Awareness Network's Web site (64.41.99.118/vran/), U.S. doctor Sherri Tenpenny claims that Triton X-100 is for research purposes only and should not be used for human or drug use.

B.C. Centre for Disease Control epidemiologist Dr. Danuta Skowronski calls that claim "nonsense". "Triton X has been used for years," Skowronski told the Straight in a phone interview. "It's a very important part of manufacturing vaccines used to chemically disrupt the virus so people have fewer reactions."

According to Health Canada, since 2000/01 an "ocular-respiratory syndrome" characterized by coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, red and itchy eyes, and/or facial swelling within 24 hours has been noted following flu vaccination in healthy adults, but such reports seem to be on the decline.

The list of potential adverse reactions for all vaccines is long, and a September 2004 study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health has even raised the spectre of a link between hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis, although a 2001 study seemed to show no such link.

"Nothing in life is 100 percent safe and you must weigh the benefits versus the risks," Skowronski said. "Immunization saves lives and is one of the most successful public-health policies worldwide."

She claimed that concerns about thimerosal are unfounded but admitted that public pressure led to the elimination of thimerosal from childhood vaccines in Canada . "A breastfed baby will get more mercury from its mother in the first six months of life than from a flu shot. Most of the mercury we get is from our diet," she added.

Judging by recent media reports, you'd think Canada and the U.S. are on the verge of a global disease disaster. People from as far away as Florida flocked to B.C. for flu shots because the of the much-noted U.S. vaccine shortage.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has a weekly on-line flu watch that provides information on the flu around the world. Between August 22 and October 16, of 5,297 Canadian tests for the virus, only 28 were positive for influenza A and two for influenza B.

Mercury Dental Fillings to be Banned in Sweden

11/14/2004 3:11:00 PM  
Source : Science and Technology News Onlypunjab.com

The Swedish National Chemicals Inspectorate recommends in a newly published report that dental amalgam, also called silver fillings, should be banned for environmental reasons. From a health point of view there is also every reason to adopt a precautionary approach. There are other dental filling materials on the market, meeting the needs encountered in dental care. If approved, Sweden will be the first country introducing a general ban on mercury, including dental amalgam.

I’d Like a Tuna On White — Hold The Mercury!

November 11, 2004
by Arianna Huffington

I’d Like a Tuna On White — Hold The Mercury!

To the list of Campaign 2004’s make-or-break issues — Iraq, homeland security, lost jobs, tax cuts — we can now add tuna fish sandwiches. I’m not kidding.

I was recently at a dinner filled with smart, passionate, politically active guests. When the talk inevitably turned to the presidential campaign I was surprised to find that the issue that really set the table humming was the Bush administration’s outrageous undermining of efforts to curtail mercury pollution — and stop the increasing contamination of America’s air, water and fish-of-choice.

The administration’s lies — and ongoing rationalizations — about WMD are utterly contemptible, but messing with people’s tuna salad hits them right in the gut.

And this is not some theoretical menace whose effects won’t be felt for decades. After a recent medical checkup, I was shocked to discover that I have elevated levels of mercury in my bloodstream — as do my sister and four of my closest girlfriends.

The primary source of mercury emissions is coal-fired power plants, which pump out 48 tons of the highly toxic pollutant a year. A second important source is the chemical industry. This mercury pollution drifts into our lakes, rivers and oceans, and ends up in the fish we eat. Which means it ends up in us. As a result, over 600,000 babies a year may be born with unsafe levels of mercury in their blood, putting them at risk for mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. How’s that for a security issue?

In adults, exposure to mercury can cause infertility, high blood pressure, tremors and memory loss, which perhaps explains Jessica Simpson’s befuddling inability to remember if Chicken of the Sea had fins or feathers.

Later this year, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue new mercury emission standards, setting a limit for the first time on the amount of mercury the nation’s 1,100 coal-burning power plants are allowed to release into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Bush administration is clearly intent on subverting the process by which those standards are set.

Back in 2001, the EPA created a taskforce made up of state air quality officials, environmentalists and representatives of the utility industry to determine the best way to reduce mercury emissions. But after working diligently on the issue for close to two years, the group was unceremoniously disbanded before completing its work — and its recommendations scuttled in favor of a plan that was, surprise, surprise, more to the liking of the White House’s buddies, benefactors and cronies in the power plant industry.

Without getting shrouded in a toxic cloud of technical mumbo-jumbo, the bottom line is that current technology offers a way to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent over the next four years — but the Bush administration has opted for a plan that would, at best, lower the noxious output by just 50 percent over the next 14 years, while setting no meaningful limits on the tons of mercury released by the chemical industry. All of which will save the power, coal and chemical industries billions.

Choke on that for a minute: Big Power gets a tasty multibillion-dollar treat, while everyone else is served up a Toxic Tuna Surprise.

Of course, cooking up distorted scientific findings and dishing out political favors at the expense of the public good has become something of a blue plate special at the Bush White House.

So has allowing lobbyists extraordinary input on legislation and regulations affecting the industries they represent. In the case of the administration’s proposed mercury rules, no less than a dozen paragraphs were directly lifted, often word for word, from memos prepared by lobbying and advocacy groups representing power and energy companies with a major financial stake in the outcome of the regulatory process.

But that’s not the half of it. It turns out that two of the key EPA regulators overseeing the development of the mercury guidelines, Jeff Holmstead and William Wehrum, used to represent utility industry clients before Bush tapped them for high-ranking posts in the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. They were both attorneys at Latham and Watkins — a high-powered D.C. law firm that’s been lobbying the administration to adopt the less stringent mercury standards, and which authored one of the memos cribbed in the EPA proposal.

Here’s a thought: Maybe the White House can save taxpayers some money and have Holmstead and Wehrum put back on the Latham and Watkins payroll, seeing how they continue to be such devoted company men. Call it the privatization of the EPA.

This kind of fox-guarding-the-henhouse cronyism is fortunately being challenged by almost 200,000 citizens, who’ve signed a MoveOn.org petition opposing this blatant payback to Bush’s utility industry contributors. And later this week, MoveOn will launch a hard-hitting television and print ad campaign designed to stoke public outrage over the Bush mercury proposal, which the EPA’s own Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee declared, “does not sufficiently protect our nation’s children”.

Here’s a suggestion: Perhaps the president should take a page from Don Rumsfeld and keep a shard of tin from a can of contaminated tuna on his Oval Office desk as a daily reminder of the havoc his irresponsible environmental policies are wreaking on the health of America’s kids. Bush wants this election to be a referendum on his performance as guardian of our safety. I couldn’t agree more.

U.S. Should Stop Exposing Poor to Mercury in White Tuna, Say Advocates

10/26/2004

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to a new Institute of Medicine proposal, advocates are calling on the federal Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program to stop exposing America's most sensitive, low income populations to mercury in white tuna. The IOM Report is considering " ...dietary guidance from federal agencies and panels of the National Academies regarding food safety" and suggests that "the types of fish/shellfish that are intermediate in methylmercury contamination (be) limited" in the WIC program. "Since last year, FDA has known that white canned tuna has three times as much mercury as light tuna," said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. "So why is the federal WIC program continuing to subsidize the tuna industry and, in effect, the poisoning of low-income Americans with mercury from white albacore tuna?

FDA and many state health departments now recommend that pregnant women and children limit consumption of canned tuna due to mercury contamination. This is not only because of the moderately high levels of mercury found especially in white tuna, but because of the volume of canned tuna consumed each year, especially among sensitive populations. On average, 20 percent of the fish consumed in America is canned tuna.

"According to the US Department of Agriculture, canned tuna is the most heavily consumed fish that pregnant women and children eat-hence it is likely to be their largest exposure source of mercury," said MPP director Bender. "Therefore, we strongly recommend that white albacore canned tuna be eliminated from the WIC food package."

Currently, canned tuna is the only animal meat protein source offered by WIC programs, except in Hawaii. Earlier this year, Hawaii became the first state authorized by USDA to offer canned salmon-which contains far less mercury-in place of tuna. The request was justified primarily due to high rates of exposure to mercury by indigenous populations who eat above average amounts of fish. But even for those Americans who eat far less fish, mercury exposure from canned tuna raise serious concerns.

Based on new FDA data, a typical 130 pound American women consuming an average 6 ounce can of "white" tuna per week would be exposed to mercury 1.5 times over the EPA's safe level, called a reference dose. In addition, a 22-pound toddler who eats just 2 ounces of albacore white tuna a week would ingest nearly three times the EPA's safe level, and an 88-pound child eating 6 ounces would be exposed to twice EPA's safe level.

Methylmercury is an increasingly well-understood threat to healthy brain and nervous system development. Fetal or early childhood exposure to methylmercury can lead to neurological and developmental problems such as learning disabilities, attention and fine motor skills deficits, and delays in walking and talking.

One in six women of childbearing age carry mercury in their blood above the level that would pose a risk to a developing fetus, according to EPA scientists. Thus, an estimated 630,000 newborns are threatened every year by neurological impairment from exposure during pregnancy.

Institute of Medicine Report: http://www.iom.edu/WIC2005

FDA/EPA Fish Consumption Advisory for Mercury: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html

Letter to IOM From Health and Environmental Advocates: http://www.mercurypolicy.org

http://www.usnewswire.com/

Eating fish can raise mercury levels, report shows

October 21, 2004

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - (KRT) - People who eat a lot of fish are the most likely to have potentially unsafe amounts of mercury in their bodies, say the early results of a national study by University of North Carolina at Asheville researchers.

The results are most troubling for women of child-bearing age. Contaminated fish eaten by mothers can cause irreversible memory, attention and language problems in fetuses and babies.

Twenty percent of 1,449 hair samples analyzed by the university's Environmental Quality Institute had more mercury than the government says is safe for children and women of child-bearing age.

The environmental group Greenpeace paid for the study.

Mercury, which is toxic, accumulates in fish. Hair samples indicate how much of it is present in the people who eat them.

The highest mercury levels were found in people who eat the most canned tuna, fish from stores or restaurants and locally caught fish.

"There's obviously a serious public health problem here," said Richard Maas, who reported the study findings with colleague Steven Patch. "The more fish you eat, the more risk you run of being exposed to unsafe levels of mercury."

Greenpeace used the findings to criticize President Bush's proposal to control mercury from coal-fired power plants. Those plants emit about 40 percent of the mercury U.S. industries release.

The administration expects to complete a rule in March that it says would eventually reduce mercury emissions by 70 percent. Greenpeace and other environmental groups say emission cuts of up to 90 percent are feasible years sooner.

Despite their differences, EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the rules will be the nation's first attempt to clean up mercury emissions from power plants.

A previous study, by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 12 percent of women of child-bearing age had elevated mercury levels. That study was based on samples collected in 1999 and 2000.

The CDC hasn't seen the Greenpeace study, a spokeswoman said, and doesn't comment on research in which it is not involved.

California bans mercury-containing vaccines for pregnant women, kids

Oct 1, 2004

Pregnant women and children younger than 3 in California will soon no longer receive vaccines containing more than a trace of mercury, under a law approved this week.

Vaccines for those groups will contain no more than a trace of thimerosal (termed thimerosal-free in the industry)—a preservative in some vaccines that contains ethyl mercury. The law takes effect in July 2006, according to news services.

Parent-led activist groups attribute increased rates of autism and other neurological disorders in children to mercury, although scientific studies have failed to confirm any clear link.

California becomes the second state, after Iowa, to ban the agent in vaccines.

In signing the bill, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "I believe that an abundance of caution merits the acceleration of the process already under way to remove thimerosal from the last few vaccines that contain it," according to a Los Angeles Times story.

The bill's author, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, said, "Any time we can reduce public exposure to mercury or any other neurotoxin and there is an alternative readily available, we should be promoting the alternative."

Vaccine producers have voluntarily reduced thimerosal levels in vaccines, except for Aventis Pasteur, sole supplier for flu inoculations for children younger than 2, the Times story said. The company was the only vaccine manufacturer to openly oppose the bill. The agent is used to control bacteria and fungi in multiple-dose vials, the usual and most cost-efficient vehicle for distribution of flu vaccine.

An Aventis statement expressed disappointment over the law and concern that it might discourage people from getting flu shots for kids. A UPI story from Aug 27, right after the California Senate passed the bill, said Aventis saw the bill "as unnecessarily frightening at a time when the industry is not yet equipped to satisfy demand without using thimerosal."

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Public Health Service joined in calling for removal of the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal from vaccines about 5 years ago. By 2001, all the vaccines recommended at that time for children under age 7 were available without thimerosal or with only trace amounts.

But this year, in recommending for the first time that 6- to 23-month-old children routinely get flu shots, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in May did not go on record in favor of a thimerosal-free formulation of the vaccine.

The CDC's position is that the risk of flu complications far outweighs the risk from thimerosal in the vaccine.

Fish in many Michigan lakes have unsafe mercury levels.

9/22/2004

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Some popular game fish species in more than 170 Michigan rivers and lakes have high enough mercury levels to raise safety concerns, environmentalist groups said Wednesday.

That doesn't mean people should stop eating fish caught in those waters, the activists said. But they urged caution, and called for tougher regulation of mercury emissions from coal-fired electricity plants.

The groups released a list of 218 inland waterways where the state Department of Environmental Quality has tested mercury levels in four types of game fish: walleye, northern pike, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. The tests were conducted between 1984 and 2003.

Mercury levels averaged at least .23 parts per million in fish from 173 of the waterways. That is the threshold at which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advises that children and pregnant women limit their fish consumption.

"That's not a very good batting average for the state," said David Gard, energy policy specialist with the Michigan Environmental Council.

Mercury, a toxic metal, accumulates in fish and can be passed to people who eat them. It can cause neurological and developmental problems, particularly in fetuses and young children.

Primary sources include coal-burning power plants, the burning of hazardous and medical waste and production of chlorine. It also occurs naturally in the environment.

Environmentalists around the country are pressuring the EPA to order steep cutbacks in mercury emissions from coal-fired plants.

The agency is developing a plan that would require a 70 percent cut by 2018. Critics contend the federal Clean Air Act requires a 90 percent reduction by 2008.

The Michigan Department of Community Health issues a yearly advisory about eating fish from the state's waters. Because of mercury contamination, it suggests that people eat no more than one meal a week of certain fish from inland lakes.

"The last thing we're suggesting is to avoid these lakes," said Keith Reopelle, coordinator of the State Environmental Leadership Program. "The answer is not to fish less — it is for the EPA to do more to curb mercury pollution."

Jeff Holyfield, spokesman for Consumers Energy, said existing technology would not allow the cutbacks that environmentalists are seeking, although research continues.

Demand is rising in Michigan , where 57 percent of electric power is generated by coal, he said.

"Customers are voting with their light switches," Holyfield said. "They want more electricity."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has appointed a task force to develop a plan for reducing mercury emissions in Michigan . A report is expected in about a month, DEQ spokesman Bob McCann said.

The environmental groups compiled a "top 10" list of the lakes and rivers with the highest mercury levels in fish. Seven were in the Upper Peninsula , but other high-ranking waters were located around the state.

Atop the list was Deer Lake in Marquette County , where tests of 125 fish showed an average mercury level of 1.88 parts per million.

Emissions from coal-fired plants aren't the only source of mercury in Deer Lake , said John Rebers, a professor of molecular biology at Northern Michigan University . The lake also was contaminated by a mercury from a gold mine and a municipal sewer system, he said.

Michigan Environmental Council: http://www.mecprotect.org

September 2, 2004

Mercury Warning Issued For Lower American Fish

Study Prompts State To Issue Consumption Guidelines

SACRAMENTO , Calif. -- A new study finds that mercury levels from fish in the lower American River are dangerously high -- so high that some fish should not be eaten.

The study by the state Environmental Protection Agency involved several species found in the river from Nimbus Dam to Discovery Park.

"The most prudent thing people can do is watch how much fish they eat," EPA spokesman Allan Hirsh said.

The toxins in the river date back to the gold rush.

"Miners used mercury to separate gold from other sediments and the mercury got into the river, got into the sediments, and over time has worked it's way up to the fish," Hirsh said.

State officials have issued consumption guidelines.

Officials said for women of childbearing age and children under 17, channel catfish should not be eaten. White catfish, all bass, pike minnow, and sucker fish should be eaten just once a month. Bluegill, sunfish and other sport fish should be eaten just once a week.

For women beyond childbearing age and men, the recommendations are to eat channel catfish and all bass no more than once a month. White catfish, pike minnow and sucker fish should be eaten just once a week, and bluegill, sunfish and other sport fish are safe to eat up to three times a week.

State officials said because the problem is so widespread, there is no way to clean up the mercury, and that the problem does not affect boating and swimming in the lower American River .

August 25, 2004

Lake , river pollution triggering fish-consumption advisories

By John Heilprin
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON – One of every three lakes in the United States and nearly one-quarter of the nation's rivers contain enough pollution that people should limit or avoid eating fish caught there.

Every state except Alaska and Wyoming issued fish advisories covering some and occasionally all of their lakes or rivers last year, according to a national database maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency and updated every year.

Although the number of advisories rose to 3,094, up from 2,814 in 2002, according to figures released yesterday, EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said the increase was due to more monitoring, not more pollution.

Nearly all the advisories involve contaminants such as mercury, dioxins, PCBs, pesticides and heavy metals, including arsenic, copper and lead. The advisories currently cover 35 percent of the nation's lake acreage and 24 percent of river miles.

Leavitt said mercury pollution from industry is decreasing, although he cited figures only as recent as five years ago. Primary sources of mercury pollution include coal-burning power plants, the burning of hazardous and medical waste and production of chlorine. It also occurs naturally in the environment.

The advisories cover fish caught during recreational and sport fishing, not deep-sea commercial fishing or fish-farming operations.

"It's about trout, not tuna. It's about what you catch on the shore, not what you buy on the shelf," Leavitt said. "This is about the health of pregnant mothers and small children. That's the primary focus of our concern."

He also acknowledged that virtually every acre of lakes and mile of rivers could eventually be covered by advisories.

Since pollution is found in fish nearly every time a state looks for it, the EPA assumes that whenever a state does that kind of monitoring it will wind up issuing a fish advisory, he said.

"I want to make clear that this agency views mercury as a toxin. Man-made emissions need to be reduced and regulated. There has been an appropriate, heightened public concern," Leavitt said.

This year, 44 states had a fish advisory for mercury, a persistent substance that affects the nervous system. Two more states, Montana and Washington , added statewide advisories to warn of the potential for widespread contamination of fish.

Servings of fish caught by family or friends and not covered by an advisory should be limited to one six-ounce portion a week, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The latest figures troubled frequent critics of the Bush administration, including environmentalist groups such as the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation and Natural Resources Defense Council. They want stricter limits imposed on mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Earlier this month an environmental advocacy coalition released a report citing EPA figures to contend that 76 percent of fish samples collected from 260 bodies of water exceeded the agency's mercury exposure limits for children under age 3.

"Sadly, America's women and children are paying for the administration's procrastination," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, which noted that state advisories now cover 13 million acres of lakes and 750,000 miles of rivers.

February 2004

Mercury a Threat to Twice as Many Unborn Children, EPA Analysis Finds
About 630,000 children are born each year at risk for lowered intelligence and learning problems due to exposure to high levels of mercury in the womb, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. That's nearly double the previous EPA estimate of 320,000 babies a year.

Scripps Howard News Service, "EPA raises estimate of newborns exposed to mercury"

Washington Post, "Mercury Threat To Fetus Raised"

According to the new estimate, one in every six women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her blood to pose a risk to her child, compared to previous estimates of one in every 12 women.

January 2004
EPA Proposes Relaxing Mercury Regs
A mercury pollution "cap and trade" system proposed by the Bush administration will allow utilities to release significantly more mercury into the environment than rules underway at EPA since 1998, according to a press release (PDF) from Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The EPA unveiled its new mercury rule in December 2003. A formal comment period on the rule opened on January 30. The U.S. EPA mercury website has a link to the "Proposed Utility Mercury Reductions Rule" on the federal register and supporting materials for the proposed rule.

In January 2004, a federal advisory committee questioned whether EPA's proposal would adequately protect children, infants and women of childbearing age.

December 2003
Draft FDA Tuna Warning Called "Vague"; Legal Challenge Filed
In December 2003, the FDA began circulating a draft advisory warning women who are pregnant, nursing, or who might become pregnant about the dangers of mercury in seafood. The draft advisory advises such women not to eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish "because they contain high levels of mercury." It also suggests that women may safely eat up to 12 ounces of "other purchased fish and shellfish" each week. Lower down, the advisory says "you can safely include tuna as part of your weekly fish consumption."

Washington Post, "Federal Warning On Tuna Planned"

The draft advisory has drawn criticism from those who say its tuna guidance is too vague. Critics like Environmental Working Group (EWG) point out that depending on what kind of tuna women consume -- white tuna and tuna steaks are more contaminated than light tuna -- it's actually possible to follow the FDA's advice and still be exposed to levels of mercury the FDA's own scientists consider unsafe. Accordingly, EWG filed a legal challenge on Dec. 22 alleging the FDA's draft advisory does not meet standards for accurate government science established by the Data Quality Act.

Earlier in December, test data obtained from the FDA under the Freedom of Information Act show that canned albacore, known as white tuna, had mercury levels twice as high as past FDA estimates for canned tuna, and three time the levels in light tuna.

November 2003
Florida Study Shows Fast, Local Benefits from Mercury Regulations
A decade-long study by Florida environmental officials, released in November 2003, finds that strict government controls of mercury pollution can reduce contamination of the environment and seafood in much less time than scientists once believed.

Aggressive anti-pollution policies by state and federal agencies in the late 1980s and 1990s brought about a 92 percent decline in mercury emissions from southern Florida's waste incinerators, which in turn resulted in 60 to 75 percent reductions in the level of contamination in largemouth bass and other wildlife, the study found.

The study is important because it shows that limiting pollution at the source can produce significant benefits for local communities and ecosystems. Previously it was thought that most mercury pollution from smokestacks was carried by wind hundreds of miles away and dispersed more evenly throughout the environment.

"It is true there is one atmosphere, and some of the mercury comes from other sources, but the local signature is substantially greater than the mercury that comes from far away," said Thomas D. Atkeson, a coordinator of the Florida study. "It is clear that to the extent you can lower the emissions of reactive mercury in your airshed, you will see the benefit in your local area -- and you will see it relatively quickly."