The Chemistry of Mercury
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered at the end of July that the remaining uses of ethylmercury in vaccines be removed, it was political. For years before President Trump appointed Kennedy cabinet head to oversee our nation’s top health agencies, he was a vaccine skeptic who blamed this form of mercury for autism.
Yet study after study has debunked this claim, so let’s get a short chemistry lesson to explain why. Ethylmercury is also known as thimerosal, and, for years, was safely used to preserve some vaccines.
This is one of four forms of mercury. In its raw form, elemental mercury is one of two liquid elements and only becomes highly toxic in vapor form.
There are mercury salts, which are deadly neurotoxins and have no medical uses. The third form, methylmercury, is also toxic and accumulates in the body and the brain. It’s found in fresh and saltwater fish such as bass and tuna.
Finally, ethylmercury. Even though it sounds like methylmercury, its effect on the body is far different and safe. While ethylmercury can clear the body in days, methymercury takes months and accumulates in the body.
Yet, political pressure removed its use in vaccines over two decades ago, and now even the few exceptions are gone. Since then, autism numbers have continued to rise. Kennedy’s new order again conflates the connection where none exists. Vaccines prevent deadly and harmful diseases, full stop. Talk with your doctor about which ones to get.
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Badly-Needed Mercury Chemistry Lesson for RFK Jr., and His ACIP Picks
Mercury, the element, is no longer used in thermometers, but it remains at the center of a decades-long debate over vaccine safety, despite the science being crystal clear. At the heart of this confusion is thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative wrongly accused of causing autism. What follows isn’t a rehash of that conspiracy theory, but rather a crash course in chemistry. It's something RFK Jr. and his CDC picks need to know.
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HHS Adopts ACIP Recommendation to Remove Thimerosal from All U.S. Influenza Vaccines
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took action in July signing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations to remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from all influenza vaccines distributed in the United States.