How much thimerosal is used in a typical application? A 500milihtsm dose of a drug that was 50% mercury by weight would be pretty horrid; a 1 picogram does of a drug that was 90% mercury by weight would be pretty harmless. So where does thimerosal fit in?
"How much thimerosal is used in a typical application? A 500milihtsm dose of a drug that was 50% mercury by weight would be pretty horrid; a 1 picogram does of a drug that was 90% mercury by weight would be pretty harmless. So where does thimerosal fit in?"
There are 25 mcg of mercury in the flu vaccines which are recommended for 6 month old babies and for adults, including pregnant women. The EPA "safe" limit for mercury is .1 mcg per kg of body weight. The average 6 month old baby weighs 16 lbs or 7.3 kg which would put that baby 34 times over the EPA safety limit for mercury.
But the exposure doesn't end there. Many of the vaccines given to babies contains "trace" amounts of thimerosal. This is because thimerosal is used in the manufacturing process. They attempt to remove the mercury after the process but they are not able to remove all of it. I've never seen any literature describing how much "trace" really is.
The amount of mercury our children were subjected to in 1999 and earlier via vaccines was 212.5 mcg in their first year of life. To put this in perspective they were about 50 times over the safety limit at birth, 138 times over at 2 months, 72 times over at 4 months, 68 times over at 6 months & 55 times over at 12 months. Receiving bulk doses like they did is much more dangerous than receiving it spread out evenly over the year.
In 1999 drug companies were advised, not mandated, to remove thimerosal from vaccines. Existing lots were not recalled. We know that thimerosal was in these vaccines as late as 2003 and still have no guarantee today since there is no mandate against it.