For those who thought the plague of thimerosal (the 50 percent ethylmercury by weight preservative found in infant vaccines) was strictly limited to vaccines -- think again.
It turns out this deadly toxin was used by mega-drug maker Wyeth in their formulation of its nasal decongestant spray, Dristan. Worse yet, the spray was distributed in most of the United States until 1999.
Let's Back it Up ...
California Proposition 65 forced Wyeth to make a choice between getting rid of thimerosal from Dristan or repackaging it with a warning label. According to a senior scientist for Wyeth, in an effort to bypass placing a mercury warning label on Dristan, the company launched a project in 1990 to develop a substitute for thimerosal.
Thimerosal-free Dristan was introduced nationwide in 1994; however, consumer complaints about irritation from the new version motivated Wyeth to resume its use of thimerosal in Dristan sold outside California until 1999.
What's more, the company continued using the chemical in two of its pediatrics vaccines until 2000, stopping only after pressures from federal health authorities. (Because prescription drugs approved by the FDA are excused from Proposition 65, vaccine makers weren't forced to choose between using warning labels in California and reformulating their products.)
Protesting Parents
Despite the fact thimerosal has been reduced or eliminated from many products, it remains the focus of a heated debate over possible health effects from mercury exposures during the 1990s -- when federal health authorities significantly expanded the number of required childhood immunizations.
After federal officials concluded a study on the issue in 1999, parents were finally aware of the excessive amounts of mercury exposure their children had been exposed to via vaccines. Now, more than 4,200 claims have been filed by parents in a special federal tribunal -- the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program -- claiming their children suffered (at least partially due to tainted vaccines):
It wasn't until the appeal by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1999 to eliminate thimerosal from pediatric vaccines that Wyeth again began supplying thimerosal-free Dristan nationwide.
Los Angeles Times June 7, 2005 (Registration Required)
Dr. Russell Blaylock, a noted neurosurgeon and associate editor for the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons and a frequent contributor to this newsletter, has stated that mercury is a unique poison in that it incapacitates numerous enzymes in cells, including those used to neutralize free radicals.
Documents from the archives of Eli Lilly and Co., the original manufacturer of thimerosal, clearly demonstrate that the mercury-based vaccine preservative, implicated in a number of recent lawsuits as causing neurological injury to infants, was known as early as April 1930 to be dangerous.
It seems the drug companies are absolutely oblivious to the damage they are doing by continuing to use a proven neurotoxin in many of their products.
We really need to question the ethics and integrity of any organization that would knowingly poison innocent infants and children for the mere sake of increasing their bottom line. Merck is notorious for this.
It is not in your best interest to trust the conventional medical system, as its primary motivation is quite simply not in your favor long-term. The pharmaceutical companies and the FDA would also seem to fall into this category.
So, if for any reason you are using nasal spray, it is imperative that you examine the list of ingredients for an item called 'thimerosal." If you see it listed please dispose of the dangerous product immediately.
The next step would be to follow the Total Health Program, which is a non-specific way to improve any allergy program you may be following. I have had a comprehensive allergy program in my office for over 10 years, and the very first step we do is to clean up the diet as that frequently results in enormous improvement in even seasonal pollen allergies.
There are many effective natural allergy treatment programs available, but that is beyond the scope of this comment.
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