OKLAHOMA SENATE VOTES TO REDUCE MERCURY IN VACCINES
March 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Senator Jay Paul Gumm
State Capitol: (405) 521-5586
Email: [email protected]
Oklahoma Senate Votes to
Reduce Mercury in Childhood Vaccines
OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill to reduce the amount of mercury allowed in childhood vaccinations was approved by the Oklahoma Senate today on a bipartisan 27-17 vote. Senator Jay Paul Gumm, author of Senate Bill 1407, said the purpose of the bill was to remove a substance that causes some parents to have concern about childhood vaccinations.
“I believe strongly that vaccination is the greatest medical success story of the 20th century,” said Gumm, a Democrat from Durant. “Vaccinations have saved untold lives and prevented untold suffering. We should do everything possible to promote childhood vaccinations.
“However, the presence of mercury in the form of thimerosal causes great fear for some because of the growing belief there is a link between mercury and the near-epidemic growth of autism. That justifiable and understandable fear is keeping kids from getting vaccinated, and that is a risk we dare not take.”
The bill would limit the amount of mercury to 0.5 micrograms per 0.5 milliliter dose. For influenza vaccine, the amount would be 0.625 micrograms of mercury per 0.25 milliliter dose.
The bill would allow the Commissioner of Health to suspend the limit in cases where large quantities of vaccine are needed in a public health emergency like a real or potential epidemic. SB 1407 mirrors a similar law on the books in Missouri. Six other states have similar laws, and in each of those states the vaccination rate of children increased.
Most vaccine manufacturers are already removing mercury from vaccines, the lawmaker said. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatricians recommended removing the chemical from vaccinations in 1999.
While the Centers for Disease Control reports many studies show no link between autism and mercury in vaccine, the federal government – through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program – recently made a landmark decision to pay compensation to a family that claimed childhood vaccines caused their daughter’s autism.
“Whether is scientifically proven, many Oklahoma parents are convinced there is a link,” Gumm said.
“By phasing out the use of mercury in Oklahoma vaccines, more parents will feel safer about having their children vaccinated, better protecting those children and all of us from the diseases the vaccines prevent.”
The measure now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
There is no excuse in March 2008 for people to feign ignorance or to actually be ignorant on the subject of the toxins in vaccines and what has happened to millions of children as a result of them.
This Oklahoma legislation is not a solution or even a step in the right direction. It is a pacifier dipped in Thimerosal!
My suggestion would be the same and Jenny McCarthy's and others -
GET THE CRAP OUT OF VACCINES.
Posted by: biomedmama7 | March 13, 2008 at 08:07 AM
Below is an e-mail that I just now sent to Senator Gumm. (It appears after a few other thoughts!)
I think we would all do well to encourage him, and his colleagues, because they have certainly taken a step in the right direction, and that continues to be so very rare.
And Biomedmama7, while I completely share your sentiments regarding the evil that has been done to our children, not all that has been done has been done in evil, but much of it in mere ignorance.
When I vaccinated my little boy completely according to his pediatrician's recommendations, right up through his 18th month, I was not doing something evil, only something very, very ignorant.
I should have known better, my husband should have known better, but we didn't. We are college-educated people, we both question many accepted ideas and practices both in medicine and in other areas, we were (even at the time) informed about the importance of prenatal nutrition, breastfeeding vs. bottlefeeding, and even cloth vs. disposable diapers.
But many otherwise intelligent and informed people, even now, simply do not want to question the vaccination program in any way. It is truly a sacred cow in current, mainstream U.S. culture.
To this day, I don't know precisely what vaccination decisions we would have made if we had it all to do over again, but I do know that I would have informed myself to a much greater degree before his very first shot.
I would never have taken the "all-or-nothing" approach that I mistakenly saw as my only choice at the time.
So in the sheer interest of moving things forward, and as a little break from beating my head against the wall, I share here my note to Senator Gumm:
Dear Senator Gumm,
I hope I can be one of the first to congratulate you, and your like-minded colleagues, for your bravery in the face of widespread cowardice and foolishness regarding vaccine reform.
Your action in introducing Senate Bill 1407, to reduce the amount of mercury allowed in childhood vaccinations, is especially noteworthy in this day of powerful, seemingly unstoppable greed and corruption.
Senate Bill 1407 is a step in the right direction, and one that should have been taken nationwide in 1999, at the very latest. Instead, we--as a nation, as a society--have actually encouraged pediatricians everywhere to inject babies with unsafe, and often life-destroying, quantities of a neurotoxin!
Since you've shown a willingness to speak up on this topic, I would strongly encourage you to study the issue further. The science is actually quite clear on this point, and it's not too hard to find.
Many parents of autistic children have done so after the medical establishment left us high and dry, and we figured out how to start healing our children, something most mainstream doctors are unwilling and unable to do to this very day.
You will also find, as you begin to look, that the vaccination issue goes far beyond mercury, to include aluminum and other toxic vaccine components; a bloated schedule of too many vaccinations given way too early in life; a history of lies and intimidation so that few parents would dare to question any aspect of vaccination; and finally, a crime of incredible proportions, when it was decided at a CDC conference in Simpsonwood, California, in the year 2000 to continue to poison babies into vaccine-induced autism (and other neurological disorders) with the full knowledge of doing so.
I refer you to www.putchildrenfirst.org as just one possible source of reliable information.
Again, I applaud the step forward that you and your colleagues have taken, and would like to personally thank all of them, the 26 good and brave souls who voted with you, and I do encourage you with all my might to continue to seek the truth in this area and to continue to do what is right.
Posted by: Terri Lewis | March 12, 2008 at 10:53 PM
To biomedmama7
I understand your concern. We worked very hard to get this far. There are only 7 states in the US that have similar legislation. No one has thimerosal free across the board.
What would you suggest that would be acceptable to you?
Thanks
Wayne
Posted by: Wayne Rohde | March 12, 2008 at 08:57 PM
Gosh, I hope those Oklahoma folks don't think this is an acceptable piece of legislation. There is no safe level of Thimerosal! It is the second most toxic substance known to man. There is no need whatsoever for multi-use vials.
The powers that be are so insistent on keeping this known neurotoxin in vaccines....it reminds me of a crack addict clinging to crack. Are they getting off on the thought of that poison being injected into babies - salivating over the revenue that will be generated by the damage it causes, in future years?
Somebody please offer another theory for me. Please.
Posted by: biomedmama7 | March 12, 2008 at 06:31 PM