Thimerosal and Your Child

It has been recently discussed by many heath care organizations and the FDA the affects of Thimerosal, a preservative used in may vaccinations for children. Specifically MMR combinations for infants 12-18 months. Many pediatricians use this combo. drug due to it being less expensive. The FDA is investigating the link to the preservative and an increase in autism cases in children under 4 years old. You can request to have each individual injection from your pediatrician. It wil have to be ordered, so call in advance according to your child's vaccination schedule. The rate of autism is in the U.S. is 1 in 166. Before this preservative was utilized in MMR vaccines, it was 1 in 600. Your child has to suffer with a few more shots, but I would rather them suffer a little now, then take the chance with a preservative we still are unsure of. This is JUST MY OPINION. Talk to your pediatrician and don't let them blow you off. This is your child. It's your responsilbility to protect them. The following is a little bit of information about the preservative, Thimerosal:



Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound (an organomercurial). Since the 1930s, it has been widely used as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines, to help prevent potentially life threatening contamination with harmful microbes. Over the past several years, because of an increasing awareness of the theoretical potential for neurotoxicity of even low levels of organomercurials and because of the increased number of thimerosal containing vaccines that had been added to the infant immunization schedule, concerns about the use of thimerosal in vaccines and other products have been raised. Indeed, because of these concerns, the Food and Drug Administration has worked with, and continues to work with, vaccine manufacturers to reduce or eliminate thimerosal from vaccines.
Thimerosal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and younger, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine (see Table 1). A preservative-free version of the inactivated influenza vaccine (contains trace amounts of thimerosal) is available in limited supply at this time for use in infants, children and pregnant women. Some vaccines such as Td, which is indicated for older children (≥ 7 years of age) and adults, are also now available in formulations that are free of thimerosal or contain only trace amounts. Vaccines with trace amounts of thimerosal contain 1 microgram or less of mercury per dose.