To the editor:

Pete Rowland’s recent letter listed four “facts” regarding mercury and vaccines. Unfortunately, all four “facts” were wrong or irrelevant. To summarize:

“Fact” one: Vaccines save lives. Reality: The efficacy of vaccines is not the question. The question is whether the mercury in thimerosal (a vaccine additive) causes childhood neurological disorders. Vaccines do not require thimerosal; Japanese, Danish, and U.S. pet vaccines are all thimerosal-free due to safety concerns.

“Fact” two: Vaccines contain mercury in safe, FDA-approved, amounts. Reality: The flu vaccine can contain over 32 times the FDA safe mercury limit for a 6-month-old, 17-pound infant! (The FDA limit for methyl mercury is 0.1 mcg/kg/day. A flu vaccine contains 25 mcg of ethyl mercury. Even worse, the FDA limit is for oral ingestion, and mercury via vaccination is more dangerous since the GI tract is bypassed.)

“Fact” three: The mercury in vaccines (ethyl mercury) is safer than methyl mercury. Reality: Published studies show ethyl and methyl mercury have equivalent toxicity. Methyl mercury guidelines are cited in vaccine safety discussions because no safety studies exist on the ethyl mercury in vaccines. That’s right, we are injecting our children with a neurotoxin that has no known levels of safety.

“Fact” four: The recent Danish study is the only relevant peer-reviewed published epidemiology. Reality: In 2003, three epidemiological studies (using U.S. data) were published in peer-reviewed journals. The conclusions were clear in all three: More thimerosal in childhood vaccines means more childhood neurological disorders, including autism.

Ben Price,

Lawrence