Professor illuminates vaccine debate 
November 2, 2009 by Victoria Gonzalez
Lecture to address the safety or potential hazard in vaccines
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A UNLV professor will probe the issue of high levels of mercury in vaccines and their link to autism spectrum disorders.
Danielle Roth-Johnson, a professor in the department of Women’s Studies, will speak in the University Forum lecture titled “Green Our Vaccines! Mercury Moms, Autism and the Immunization Wars” regarding the media coverage this controversy has received.
Roth-Johnson, who focuses on applied linguistics and intercultural communication in her studies, will examine the sociology of autism.
“I think it’s an important topic… a good intersection of research,” Roth-Johnson said.
She will talk about whether or not media is reporting the scientific aspects of autism and vaccines while also looking at scientific literacy.
Roth-Johnson explained her belief that researchers on the topic should communicate what they find to allow parents to make an informed decision on whether or not to vaccinate their children.
“Many parents are wondering ‘What’s causing this?’ and ‘Should I vaccinate my kid or not?’” Roth-Johnson said. “It’s a very complicated decision to make. I would say do your own research. It’s complex to explain.”
Feeling honored to be chosen to speak at the university forum, Roth-Johnson said that she accepted because she thinks UNLV needs to do a better job in speaking with the community about these issues.
She said she believes that sharing knowledge on the topic is important.
“We need to help the whole community, not just the campus. We need to see what use we can be to the community,” Roth-Johnson said.
Roth-Johnson is also set to present information on groups such as Generation Rescue, Moms Against Mercury and SafeMinds to members of the forum audience.
Amy M. Carson, co-founder of Moms Against Mercury, said she believes that most people in society today have no idea of the horrifying ingredients in vaccines, which she said people blindly allow to be injected in their bodies.
“I feel this is very important to have this discussed in a public forum so people can be educated from all sides and not just the propaganda on the news,” Carson said. “News stories are often one-sided and don’t tell the whole truth.”
Carson said that Moms Against Mercury continually works hard on legislation for what the organization says is an important topic.
“Knowledge is power. The more folks can learn about this, the more empowered they can be about their own health care decisions,” Carson said.
She also said she believes that families affected are in a constant struggle financially because insurance does not want to pay for therapies and schools cannot handle the huge influx of autistic children.
“There are those that want to say it is genetic, but they have yet to find an ‘autism gene.’ And since when can you recover from a genetic disorder? Oh, that’s right, you can’t,” Carson said.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has attempted to address the issue through studies and scientific papers linked on their Web page. One paper written by Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and linked on the CDC Web site supports the scientific belief that autism does have at least some type of genetic basis.
“The ethylmercury (the type of mercury in the influenza vaccine) is much less likely than methylmercury (the type of mercury in the environment) to accumulate in the body and cause harm,” Offit said in the paper, adding that ethylmercury, one of the metabolites of the mercury-based preservative found in vaccines, thiomersal, is more common.
Carson said she believes that there is strong evidence to show a causal effect of vaccines and neurological disorders, including a link to autism.
“Many autistic children have recovered and lost their autism diagnosis after being chelated for heavy metals and through biomedical treatment,” Carson said.
Carson also said she thinks that toxic ingredients hold warnings of neurological defects of exposure, like thiomersal.
“There are many studies that have been done to show that vaccines, because of toxic ingredients like mercury and the amount given, do in fact cause autism,” Carson said.
Both Carson and Roth-Johnson mentioned that the statistics of autism in the late 1980s include a statement that one in 10,000 children were considered autistic. “More than 20 years later, as the mercury increased in vaccines, one in 91 children are affected by autism,” Carson said.
“Truthfully, I do not believe these children are really autistic,” Carson said. “I believe they are vaccine injured.”
Roth-Johnson’s lecture will take place Wed., Nov. 4 in the Barrick Museum Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
“The ethylmercury (the type of mercury in the influenza vaccine) is much less likely than methylmercury (the type of mercury in the environment) to accumulate in the body and cause harm,”
This is complete bull. Ethylmercury is much more toxic than methylmercury. Why? Both of these short chain alkyl mercury compounds are equally distributed to the brain. Once in the brain, the more unstable ethylmercury compound rapidly converts to Hg++ which remains permanently trapped and has been identified as the form of mercury most responsible for degenerative brain diseases. Also, ethylmercury is injected directly into the bloodstream thus by-passing all the protective mechanisms of the gastrointestinal system. Vaccines contribute twice as much Hg++ to the brain as an equal dose of methylmercury.
Michael Wagnitz
Senior Chemist
University of Wisconsin
I am very happy that the Rebel Yell was interested in my talk that I gave last night, but I think that I must respectfully point out that some of the information I gave to the journalist who interviewed me is NOT what I said. For the record, I am NOT antivaccination and I am not an M.D. or a scientist, so whether people should or should get vaccines is not the actual topic of my research, but the sociology of autism and how health information is communicated to the general public. As one who has worked with both M. D.’s and scientists in my professional career, I think it’s important for people to understand that the issue is much more complex than what was printed in the article about my talk and thimerosal in vaccines was removed from childhood vaccines several years ago. For more information about the scientific and medical aspects of the debate, interested readers should consult peer-reviewed literature by those doing research in those particular areas.