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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert F. Kennedy, Jr. parties like it’s 1999 over thimerosal and autism
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/06/17/robert-f-kennedy-jr-parties-like-its-1999-over-thimerosal-and-autism/Oddly enough, even though autism prevalence shows no signs of decreasing 12 years after it was removed from most childhood vaccines (some flu vaccines still contain thimerosal; but theyre not often used in children anymore, at least not in the US), Kennedy still likes to party like its 1999, which is around the time that thimerosal fear mongering reached the consciousness of the nation and lead to the recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Public Health Service to remove thimerosal from childhood vaccines. Indeed, as recently as last year, Kennedy was, in his usual subtle way, likening US immunization policy and autism to Nazi death camps. Even more amusingly, at his appearance at the autism quackfest known as Autism One in 2013, RFK, Jr. made a threat. He claimed that he had a book nearly written that would blow the lid off the thimerosal conspiracy and demonstrate that mercury in vaccines causes autism. He went on to threaten:
Kennedy has put together a book-length treatment on the dangers of ethylmercury, given every year to 84 million children around the world including the United States (in prenatal and infant flu shots). He wants to get meetings with the CDC, AAP, FDA, etc., and get a commitment by the end of this summer to finally remove thimerosal from vaccines in one year. ONE year. If not, he said, hell publish the book.
If they dont do this, he said, this is what Im going to do with my life. Since theyre not going to do it, it looks like weve got a friend for life.
Thats right. If the government didnt do exactly what he wanted, RFK, Jr. was threatening to (unleash hell) write a book. Yes, write a book. Actually, he threatened to publish a crank book full of autism fear mongering, quackery, and pseudoscience if the government doesnt do what he demands. True, he didnt say that, but the crankiness, quackery, and pseudoscience go without saying whenever RFK, Jr. writes anything about vaccines. But a book-length pseudoscience-laden screed? Thats going to turn the crankery up to 11.
Ill give RFK, Jr. credit, though. He does appear to keep his promises. I just learned that, true to his word, a little more than a year after making his promise, RFK, Jr. is apparently actually publishing his book. Its written by Robert F. Kennedy (Author), Jr., Mark Hyman, MD (Preface), Martha Herbert, MD (introduction) and is entitled Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: Mercury Toxicity in Vaccines and the Political, Regulatory, and Media Failures That Continue to Threaten Public Health.
On this subject, Kennedy is a fucking loon.
Sid
Godhumor
(6,437 posts)Absolute shame a person with influence copies to use it for the forces of evil.
Igel
(35,356 posts)Just a few years after the anti-vaccine wars started, somebody finally asked the smart question: "All the anti-thimerosal reports measure blood Hg levels and assume that the Hg-half life of all forms of organic mercury are the same. Are they?"
Methymercury is toxic. If you have a certain concentration of methylmercury after exposure, the mercury levels decrease very slowly. Methylmercury is organic mercury.
Therefore, the logic continued thus: Ethylmercury is also organic mercury. Organic mercury is toxic. If you have a certain concentration of organic mercury after exposure, the mercury levels decrease very slowly.
There was even the claim that ethylmercury had to be more toxic than methylmercury. But it was begging the question. Since ethylmercury caused autism when at the same concentrations methylmercury did not, it had to be more toxic than methylmercury. Since it was obviously more toxic than methylmercury, it was able to cause autism.
Except that ethylmercury is excreted at a far higher rate than methymercury. It stays in the infant's body for far less time. And apart from studies that assume the conclusion, it's unclear if it's equally, less, or more toxic than methylmercury.
postulater
(5,075 posts)Guess this makes him a fucking loon too. (On this subject.)
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid