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Anti-vaccine nonsense

Anti-vaccine nonsense – Robert F Kennedy Jr and Robert De Niro jump in

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Robert De Niro just had a press conference to push their anti-vaccine nonsense on the public. This time, they’re offering US$100,000 to anyone who can show that mercury in vaccines are safe. Well, they can write me the check today, since there is NO mercury (really, there never was) in vaccines, so based on their lame accusations, it’s safe.

I’m starting to think that the anti-vaccine forces think that the wind is blowing in their direction. This so-called press conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, an important venue for announcements. The National Press Club ought to be embarrassed – how could a prestigious institution allow such junk “news” at their site. But that’s a story for another day.Read More »Anti-vaccine nonsense – Robert F Kennedy Jr and Robert De Niro jump in

Exposure to mercury does not cause autism–another myth debunked

Mercury PoisoningOne of the tropes of the antivaccination crusade is that mercury in vaccines cause autism. Of course, this myth of the vaccine deniers is based on several assumptions, all of which are more or less facetious, if not outright fabrications. For example, few vaccines actually contain mercury in the form of thiomersal, and the few that have it (typically, the flu vaccine), have single dose injections that don’t contain it. Furthermore, there is no evidence that thiomersal causes autism. And there is no evidence that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have higher blood or urine levels of mercury. Of course, mercury can cause numerous neurological deficits, but that’s almost always from the methylmercury form, not the ethyl-mercury form (including thiomersal), and certainly not in the tiny quantities delivered in a vaccine.

In a new, and very extensive, study examining the link between environmental mercury, which is usually found in the methylmercury form, and ASD, the results appear to rule out any connection between the two. Basically, the research showed no correlation between high levels consumption of fish, which bioaccumulate methyl mercury, during pregnancy and ASD diagnoses in children. Presumably, if methyl-mercury had a neurological effect on the developing fetus, mothers who consumed a lot of it would have put their children at risk of ASD, if we go with the hypothesis that mercury causes autism.Read More »Exposure to mercury does not cause autism–another myth debunked