By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.

Very Little Knowledge

This conference is concerned with the effects of mercury in the form of thimerosal on infant brain development, yet throughout this conference, our experts, especially the "vaccinologists" seem to know little about mercury except that limited literature shows no toxic effects except at very high levels.

None of the well-known experts were invited, such as Dr. Ascher from Bowman Grey School of Medicine or Dr. Haley Boyd, who has done extensive work on the toxic effects of low concentrations on the CNS. They were not invited because they would be harmful to the true objective of this meeting, and that was to exonerate mercury in vaccines.

Several times throughout this conference, Dr. Brent reminded everyone that the most sensitive period for the developing brain is during the early stages of pregnancy. In fact, he pinpoints the 8-18th weeks as the period of neuromaturation.

In fact, the most rapid period of brain maturation, synaptic development and brain pathway development is during the last three months of pregnancy continuing until two years after birth. This is often referred to as the "brain growth spurt." This is also not mentioned once in this conference, again because if mothers knew that their child's brain was busy developing for up to two years after birth, they would be less likely to accept this safety of mercury nonsense these "vaccinologists" proclaim.

The brain develops over 100 trillion synaptic connections and tens of trillions of dendritic connections during this highly sensitive period. Both dendrites and synapses are very sensitive, even to very low doses of mercury and other toxins. It has also been shown that subtoxic doses of mercury can block the glutamate transport proteins that play such a vital role in protecting the brain against excitotoxicity.

Compelling studies indicate that damage to this protective system plays a major role in most of the neurodegenerative diseases and abnormal brain development as well.

Recent studies have shown that glutamate accumulates in the brains of autistic children, yet these experts seem to be unconcerned about a substance (mercury) that is very powerful in triggering brain excitotoxicity.

It is also interesting to see how many times Dr. Brent emphasizes that we do not know the threshold for mercury toxicity for the developing brain. Again, that is not true: We do know, and the Journal of Neurotoxicology states, that anything above 10ug is neurotoxic. The WHO, in fact, states that there is no safe level of mercury.

Concrete Thinking

On page 164, Dr. Robert Davis, associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Washington, makes a very important observation. He points out, in a population like the United States, you have individuals with varying levels of mercury from other causes (diet, living near coal burning facilities, etc.). By vaccinating everyone, you raise those with the highest levels even higher and bring those with median levels into a category of higher levels.

The "vaccinologists" with their problem of "concrete thinking" cannot seem to appreciate the fact that not everyone is the same. That is, they fail to see these "uncertainties."

To further emphasize this point lets take a farming family who lives within three miles of a coal-burning electrical plant. Since they also live near the ocean, they eat seafood daily. The fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides used on their crops contain appreciable levels of mercury.

The coal-burning electrical plant emits high levels of mercury in the air the family breathes daily and the seafood they consume has levels of mercury higher than EPA safety standards.

This means any babies born to these people will have very high mercury levels.

Once born, they are given numerous vaccines containing even more mercury, thereby adding significantly to their already high mercury burden. Are these "vaccinologists" trying to convince us these children don't matter and they are to be sacrificed at the altar of the "vaccine policy?"

Recent studies by neurotoxicologists have observed that as our ability to detect subtle toxic effects improves, especially on behavior and other neurological functions, we lower the level of acceptable exposure. In fact, Dr, Sinks brings up that exact point, using lead as an example. He notes that, as our neurobehavioral testing improved, we lowered the acceptable dose considerably and continues to do so.

Dr. Johnson had the audacity to add, "The smarter we get, the lower the threshold." Yet, neither he, nor the other participants seem to be getting any smarter concerning this issue.

Dr. Robert Chen, chief of Vaccine Safety and Development at the National Immunization Program at the CDC, then reveals why they refuse to act on this issue. "The issue is that it is impossible, unethical to leave kids unimmunized, so you will never, ever resolve that issue. So then we have to refer back from that." (page 169) In essence, immunization of the kids takes precedence over safety concerns with the vaccines themselves.

Genetic Susceptibility

If the problem of vaccine toxicity cannot be solved, he seems to be saying, then we must accept that some kids will be harmed by the vaccines.

Dr. Brent makes the statement that he knows of no known genetic susceptibility data on mercury and, therefore, assumes there is a fixed threshold of toxicity. That is, that everyone is susceptible to the same dose of mercury and there are no genetically hypersensitive groups of people.

In fact, a recent study found just such a genetic susceptibility in mice. In this study, they found mice susceptible to autoimmunity developed neurotoxic effects to their hippocampus, including excitotoxicity, not seen in other strains of mice. They even hypothesize that the same may be true in humans, since familial autoimmunity increases the likelihood of autism in offspring. (Hornig M, Chian D, Lipkin WI. Neurotoxic effects of postnatal thimerosal are mouse strain dependent. Mol Psychiatry 2004; (in press).

For the next quotation, you need a little discussion to be able to appreciate the meaning. They are discussing the fact that, in Dr. Verstraeten's study, frightening correlations were found between the higher doses of thimerosal and problems with neurodevelopment, including ADD and autism.

The problem with the study was that there were so few children who had received no thimerosal-containing vaccines, a true control group could not be used. Instead, they had to use children getting 12.5ug of mercury as the control and some even wanted to use the control dose as 37.5ug. So the controls had mercury levels that could indeed cause neurodevelopmental problems.

Even with this basic flaw, a strong positive correlation was found between the dose of mercury given and these neurodevelopmental problems.

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