I'm inclined to think that aluminium hydroxide is not used in routine childhood vaccines.The wikipedia page says it's used in some vaccines, and mentions the Anthrax vaccine. It would be odd to pick that one out if it was also used in the vaccine against, say, measles. Anthrax is a likely thing to be vaccinated against in the gulf war, too.
It might be in the HPV vaccine, which is going to be given to all 16 year old girls in the UK this autumn. The possible side effect of being injected with aluminium is that it might be neurotoxic, if your kidneys don't just get rid of it, as seems likely. Getting rid of HPV is a Good Thing, though, and it presumably isn't very neurotoxic or we'd notice, and most 16 year old girls will imbibe neurotoxic substances recreationally every weekend anyway.
(,
Thu 23 Apr 2009, 22:04,
archived)
It might be in the HPV vaccine, which is going to be given to all 16 year old girls in the UK this autumn. The possible side effect of being injected with aluminium is that it might be neurotoxic, if your kidneys don't just get rid of it, as seems likely. Getting rid of HPV is a Good Thing, though, and it presumably isn't very neurotoxic or we'd notice, and most 16 year old girls will imbibe neurotoxic substances recreationally every weekend anyway.
I need to look into this in a LOT more detail, butas an appetiser:
1. There's some evidence that the aluminium hydroxide may remain as inclusions in the muscle where the injection was: see Gherardi's work on macrophagic myofasciitis. (Though I haven't checked: perhaps he's a nutjob).
2. It may not be directly neurotoxic. Though I don't believe adjuvants are thoroughly understood, clearly they change the way the immune system reacts to the antigen. If they keep on doing that, long after the injection of antigen, then all sorts of auto-immune damage could conceivably (speculate, waffle, hand-wave) result.
3. When did you last hear of what adjuvants are used, let alone safety trials? They just aren't discussed. They aren't mentioned in NHS pamphlets. "MMR" has been very widely used and observed, but what is MMR? Do all the manufacturers use exactly the same adjuvant types and amounts? What if the studies showing 'MMR is fairly safe' came from a country using only one of various different brands of MMR, and different manufacturers of MMR vaccines use a different adjuvant system?
All this is rather too nebulous: as I say, I need to look further. Perhaps there are safety studies and it's all fine, or is not used routinely by NHS any more (cf. thiomersal), etc.
But, once again, my scoffing thoughts about friends who are dead-set against vaccines now ring rather hollow in my ears. (But to be clear: I expect that MMR will probably still turn out safer than the alternative of risking deafness or death from measles).
(1. There's some evidence that the aluminium hydroxide may remain as inclusions in the muscle where the injection was: see Gherardi's work on macrophagic myofasciitis. (Though I haven't checked: perhaps he's a nutjob).
2. It may not be directly neurotoxic. Though I don't believe adjuvants are thoroughly understood, clearly they change the way the immune system reacts to the antigen. If they keep on doing that, long after the injection of antigen, then all sorts of auto-immune damage could conceivably (speculate, waffle, hand-wave) result.
3. When did you last hear of what adjuvants are used, let alone safety trials? They just aren't discussed. They aren't mentioned in NHS pamphlets. "MMR" has been very widely used and observed, but what is MMR? Do all the manufacturers use exactly the same adjuvant types and amounts? What if the studies showing 'MMR is fairly safe' came from a country using only one of various different brands of MMR, and different manufacturers of MMR vaccines use a different adjuvant system?
All this is rather too nebulous: as I say, I need to look further. Perhaps there are safety studies and it's all fine, or is not used routinely by NHS any more (cf. thiomersal), etc.
But, once again, my scoffing thoughts about friends who are dead-set against vaccines now ring rather hollow in my ears. (But to be clear: I expect that MMR will probably still turn out safer than the alternative of risking deafness or death from measles).
Bee Nice |-|,
Thu 23 Apr 2009, 22:43,
archived)