[This letter was not published by the Globe and Mail. That's not unusual for me. But what was interesting is that no letters were published in response to an extremist pro-vaccination op-ed by one Timothy Caulfield, which illustrates that mainstream media have indeed become propagandists for the vaccine industry.]
Dear Editors;
I don’t know on what basis Timothy Caulfield (“Stop those naturopaths who spread anti-vaxxer myths”) was criticizing BC naturopaths for criticizing thimerosal, the vaccine preservative. Was he trying to say that it is no longer used in vaccines? It still is, in multi-dose flu vaccines, for example. That it doesn’t contain mercury? It is about 50% mercury by weight. That there’s no evidence that the form of mercury it contains, ethyl-mercury, is not toxic? There’s lots of evidence.
If we are going to have an adult conversation about vaccines we cannot pretend that all vaccines, under all circumstances, no matter what ingredients they contain, are safe, effective and necessary, and we need to stop using the childish pejorative, “anti-vaxxer”, to describe all their critics, whether they are parents who have seen adverse reactions with their own eyes, doctors who have seen patterns of damage from vaccines and changed their opinion, or scientists researching vaccine additives, such as mercury or aluminum.
- David Crowe
What other vaccines besides multi-dose flu have thimerosal? The chances of getting a severe side effect from a vaccine is less than the chance of getting killed by lightning. Calling that unsafe is like calling it unsafe each time you drive somewhere in your car. True, but a bit sophist as arguments go. Saying they aren't necessary flies in the face of the fact that they've saved billions of lives. If pretty much everyone gets them, we'll be able to completely phase some of them out, like was done with smallpox.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Ted. Thimerosal is also in Td (Tetanus?) and Meningococcal vaccines. See the CDC list of vaccine ingredients: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf
ReplyDeleteI only emphasized thimerosal because of the blatant falsehood regarding this compound in the article. I wish he had said something about aluminum in vaccines, because there's lots of evidence that it is also toxic, and I'm sure if he'd said anything he would have whitewashed the possibility for toxicity of this metal.
I do not understand the logic behind raising again and again the issue related to flu vaccine. Whether you add thimerosal with the vaccine or not, it is secondary. The primary fact is with vaccine one is bound to develop cancer in the long run, say after twenty years. If we could pursue a case for two to three decades then very easily my contention will prove right. For arresting flu symptoms one does not need any vaccine, simply a few doses of appropriate homeopathic remedy will easily arrest the symptom just within a few hours, at least the harsh symptoms become mild and within two to three days the symptoms are totally arrested.
ReplyDeleteDr. Chhetri. I was responding to one blatantly false statement in a pro-vaccine article, to illustrate that a discussion is needed. I've never seen evidence that everyone who is vaccinated with any vaccine will get cancer. That seems as extreme as saying that all vaccines, in all people, at any time, are safe.
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