The Case Against Aluminum in
Vaccines - Dr. Suzanne Humphries
March 31, 2015
Story at-a-glance
Aluminum is a known neurotoxin; it can play a
significant role in neurological diseases, including
dementia, autism, and Parkinson’s disease
When you orally ingest aluminum, your body will
absorb between 0.2-1.5 percent of it. When aluminum
is injected, your body absorbs 100 percent, which is
why aluminum-containing vaccines are suspected of
great harm
Today, American children end up getting a grand
total of 6,150 mcg of aluminum if they get all of
their recommended vaccines
By Dr. Mercola
Aluminum is a known neurotoxin, and scientific evidence shows
that it can play a significant role in neurological diseases,
including dementia, autism, and Parkinson's disease.
For example, a case study from Keele University in the UK1
published last year unequivocally showed high levels of aluminum in
the brain of an individual exposed to aluminum at work, who later
died from Alzheimer's disease.
Most people are not exposed to toxic levels of aluminum at work
however. Rather exposure occurs via common products such as
antiperspirants, food, aluminum-based household products, and
vaccines.
According to some experts, including Dr. David Ayoub, whom I've
interviewed on this topic, and Dr. Suzanne Humphries, featured in
the video above, aluminum in vaccines may pose very significant
health risks.
Dr. Humphries has written one of the best books (Dissolving
Illusions) out there documenting the historical framework
of why vaccines have been an overhyped miserable failure. The book
is loaded with hundreds of references, many of which document the
vaccine failures.
The toxicity of aluminum—found in a number of common childhood
and adult vaccines—may even exceed the toxicity of mercury in the
human body.
"Even if vaccines can prevent some infections,
considering what's in them, there's no way they can improve
overall health," Dr. Humphries says. "And now they want
to give vaccines to pregnant women, which in addition to these
animal cells and associated genetic material also have aluminum
in them."
Aluminum Is Toxic to All Life Forms
In 2013, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's (CHOP) vaccine
education center website stated that:
"Aluminum is considered to be an essential metal with
quantities fluctuating naturally during normal cellular
activity. It is found in all tissues and is also believed to
play an important role in the development of a healthy fetus."
This statement was reviewed by CHOP's Chief of Infectious
Diseases—the
staunch vaccine advocate and vaccine patent holder Paul Offit,
MD, who's also notorious for claiming that an infant can
theoretically tolerate 10,000 vaccines at once.
Such claims are in stark contrast to real-life incidents where
infants have died after receiving certain vaccines or combinations
of vaccines numbering in the single digits. In one recent case, a
five-month old baby boy died in his sleep after receiving a second
round of eight different vaccines.2
Since then, CHOP has revised this ridiculous statement, but still
claims that aluminum adjuvants are of no concern, saying that "the
aluminum contained in vaccines is similar to that found in a liter
of infant formula.3"
The site also says that:
"Given the quantities of aluminum we are exposed to on a
daily basis, the quantity of aluminum in vaccines is miniscule.
Aluminum-containing vaccines have been used for decades and have
been given to over one billion people without problem."
What they fail to note is that eating and injecting aluminum is
in no way equivalent. When you ingest aluminum, your body will
absorb between 0.2-1.5 percent of it, or roughly one percent,
according to Dr. Humphries.
A 2010 study published in Journal of Exposure Science &
Environmental Epidemiology4
also refutes Dr. Offits's and Keith's claims of Safety. Dr. Keith's
claim that vaccines do not add significantly to the load of total
aluminum is just false, especially because babies' kidneys are not
fully functional in the first months of life.
But the first vaccine in the USA, hepatitis B contains 225 mcg of
aluminum, which is five times the total exposure of orally absorbed
aluminum through the next six months. Premature babies have to deal
with this load with even lower kidney function and lots more
aluminum that comes from the medications given in the NICU.
When aluminum is injected, your body absorbs 100 percent of it,
compared to the miniscule amount of stable silicated aluminum that
is swallowed.
The cellular damage from aluminum exposure that Dr. Humphries
discusses here is related to intramuscular injection—not ingestion,
although the latter is certainly not going to boost your health
either, especially if you have impaired kidney function, low
albumin, or any underlying conditions for a relatively open
blood-brain barrier.
Moreover, CHOP clearly fails to address the reality that as
aluminum-containing vaccines—which are known to be neurotoxic—have
become increasingly plentiful, neurological diseases such as autism
and Alzheimer's have skyrocketed.
On the whole, it seems Dr. Offit has failed miserably in his
efforts to review the appropriate literature published on aluminum.
For example, the 2011 paper5
by Dr. Kawahara, cited in the featured lecture, states that:
"Whilst being environmentally abundant, aluminum is not
essential for life. On the contrary, aluminum is a widely
recognized neurotoxin that inhibits more than 200 biologically
important functions and causes various adverse effects in
plants, animals and humans."
In short, aluminum promotes cellular death, and Dr. Kawahara's
paper explains why the link between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease
failed to be noticed in some earlier studies.
How Aluminum Causes Harm
Aluminum is able to travel into places in your body where it can
do significant harm, and your brain is one of the organs that is
most sensitive to it. Adverse effects of aluminum exposure include:
DNA alterations, abnormal regulation of gene function,
and gene expression interference
It damages cell membranes, and causes your myelin—the
insulating layer around your nerves—to stiffen and become
dysfunctional
By binding to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), it affects
your energy metabolism
Increased vascular endothelial adhesiveness and
increased cardiovascular disease risk
Coagulation of proteins, which may alter their function
According to Dr. Humphries, molecular biologists have also
clearly demonstrated that exposure to aluminum skews your immune
system to the Th2, or antibody driven immune system, which drives
allergic responses.
Just How Much Aluminum Does an American Child Get from Vaccines?
While mercury preservative has been mostly removed from vaccines
because of its known neurotoxicity, the levels of adjuvant aluminum
have virtually no upper limit in the vaccine program. The number of
aluminum-containing vaccines children receive today6
has quadrupled over the past 30 years. In the 1970s, children got
only four aluminum-containing vaccines in their first 18 months of
life, but now they typically receive 17.
A chart in Dr. Humphries lecture shows just how much aluminum is
injected into an infant following the US vaccination schedule. By
the age of 18 months, that infant has already received 4,925
micrograms (mcg) of aluminum, 100 percent of which is absorbed since
it's given intramuscularly.
In the 1980s the amount of aluminum you got when following the
childhood vaccination schedule amounted to 1,120 mcg, and
importantly, it was given in more mature babies, not newborns.
Today, American children end up getting a grand total of 6,150 mcg
of aluminum if they get all of their recommended vaccines.
A 2002 study that set out to assess the minimal risk level for
aluminum from infant diet and vaccines7
ended up using research that is far from applicable. To assess
whether or not diet and vaccines in combination might result in
dangerously high aluminum levels, the researchers looked at studies
on rodents who ingested aluminum, and one study involving
ONE healthy man with normal kidney function who received 0.7 mcg
injected directly into his blood stream—a tiny fraction of
what babies get. Intravenous aluminum is much more easily handled
than intramuscular injection and Dr. Humphries describes exactly why
in her video.
The aluminum he got was also a less toxic form than that used in
vaccines. Several vaccines that are on the childhood vaccine
schedule were also left out of Dr. Keith's theoretical risk
calculation. Based on all this questionable data, it was concluded
that between diet and vaccines, the aluminum burden children are
exposed to is unlikely to do harm... Clearly, we need better
scientific evidence than this.
Kidney function is another important consideration here, as
infant kidney function is not equivalent to an adult. Hence
excretion of aluminum is not as efficient in infants and young
children, yet this fact is almost never taken into consideration—it
certainly was not considered when assessing the minimal risk level
above. That which is not excreted ends up bioaccumulating in various
organs, including your brain, kidneys, and bones.
"Alum has high neurotoxic potential, and planning
administration of continuously escalating doses of this poorly
biodegradable adjuvant in the population should be carefully
evaluated by regulatory agencies since the compound may be
insidiously unsafe. It is likely that good tolerance to alum may
be challenged by a variety of factors including
overimmunization, BBB [blood-brain barrier] immaturity,
individual susceptibility factors, and aging, that may be
associated with both subtle BBB alterations and a progressive
increase of CCL2 [a protein-coding gene9]
production."
Autism Symptoms Related to Aluminum, Acetaminophen, and Glyphosate
Exposure
In this video, Dr. Stephanie Seneff discusses her research into
vaccines and neurological damage. In 2012, she published a study10
linking symptoms of autism to aluminum adjuvants and acetaminophen
exposure. According to the abstract:
"Our results provide strong evidence supporting a link
between autism and the aluminum in vaccines. A literature review
showing toxicity of aluminum in human physiology offers further
support. Mentions of autism in VAERS increased steadily at the
end of the last century, during a period when mercury was being
phased out, while aluminum adjuvant burden was being increased.
Using standard log-likelihood ratio techniques, we
identify several signs and symptoms that are significantly more
prevalent in vaccine reports after 2000, including cellulitis,
seizure, depression, fatigue, pain and death, which are also
significantly associated with aluminum-containing vaccines. We
propose that children with the autism diagnosis are especially
vulnerable to toxic metals such as aluminum and mercury due to
insufficient serum sulfate and glutathione. A strong correlation
between autism and the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine is
also observed, which may be partially explained via an increased
sensitivity to acetaminophen administered to control fever."
In 2014, she published a paper in the journal Toxicology,11
which addresses the toxic effects of aluminum on biological systems.
The paper notes that aluminum, while severely toxic by itself, also
forms "toxic complexes" with other hazardous elements, including
fluorine, and the hazards are compounded when it interacts with
mercury, lead, and glyphosate. Dr. Seneff has also published
groundbreaking research explaining how
glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's broad-spectrum
herbicide Roundup, promotes chronic disease. With regards to the MMR
vaccine, Dr. Seneff hypothesizes that the glutamate in the
vaccine is another major part of the problem, over and above the
effects of the aluminum.
"Glutamate is toxic to autistic kids, because they don't
have enough manganese," she says. "So when that extra
glutamate is injected in through the vaccine, it goes to the
brain, because of the influence of glyphosate. Glyphosate
actually opens up the barriers—the gut barrier and the brain
barrier—to allow [toxins] to get in... The two are working
synergistically... The glyphosate is depleting the manganese,
which is causing the glutamate to be toxic, and the glyphosate
is causing the glutamate to go into the brain..."
There's also synergistic harm going on between glyphosate and
aluminum. Glyphosate chelates aluminum, effectively "hiding" the
aluminum molecule inside the glyphosate molecule. When "caged"
within glyphosate in this way, the aluminum gets even easier access
to sensitive areas because, as mentioned, glyphosate opens up your
gut- and brain barriers. Aluminum also piggybacks on your iron
transport system, so it has many "helpers" allowing it to get around
unimpeded. Glyphosate also brings aluminum into your pineal gland,
which may account for why sleep disorders are so common among those
with neurological disorders like autism and dementia.
Why Have Hazards of Aluminum Adjuvants Not Been Properly Addressed?
So, you're probably wondering why aluminum is still being used in
vaccines if it's so dangerous—especially to infants. The very tail
end of Dr. Humphries' talk reveals the most likely reasons for this,
and if your initial hunch was that it's related to money, you'd be
correct.
In 2004, Dr. Thomas Jefferson and colleagues with the Cochrane
Collaboration, which is the gold standard for evidence-based
reviews, conducted a meta-analysis12
on adverse events after immunization with aluminum-containing DTP
vaccines, reaching the surprising conclusion that there was "no
evidence that aluminum salts in vaccines cause any serious or
long-lasting adverse events. Despite a lack of good-quality evidence
we do not recommend that any further research on this topic is
undertaken." Why would they dissuade any further investigation
into aluminum adjuvants when there are still so many open questions,
and despite admitting that there's a lack of quality
evidence?
The answer, Dr. Humphries notes, is in the report itself, which
states:
"Assessment of the safety of aluminum in vaccines is
important because replacement of aluminum compounds in currently
licensed vaccines would necessitate the introduction of a
completely new compound that would have to be investigated
before licensing. No obvious candidates to replace aluminum are
available, so withdrawal for safety reasons would severely
affect the immunogenicity and protective effects of some
currently licensed vaccines and threaten immunization programs
worldwide."
Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine Exemptions
With all the uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of
vaccines, it's critical to protect your right to make independent
health choices and exercise voluntary informed consent to
vaccination. It is urgent that everyone in America stand up and
fight to protect and expand vaccine informed consent protections in
state public health and employment laws. The best way to do this is
to get personally involved with your state legislators and educating
the leaders in your community.
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.
National vaccine policy recommendations are made at the federal
level but vaccine laws are made at the state level. It is at the
state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights
can have the greatest impact. It is critical for EVERYONE to get
involved now in standing up for the legal right to make voluntary
vaccine choices in America because those choices are being
threatened by lobbyists representing drug companies, medical trade
associations, and public health officials, who are trying to
persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public
health laws.
Signing up for NVIC's free Advocacy Portal at
www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you immediate, easy access to your own
state legislators on your Smart Phone or computer so you can make
your voice heard. You will be kept up-to-date on the latest state
bills threatening your vaccine choice rights and get practical,
useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice
advocate in your own community. Also, when national vaccine issues
come up, you will have the up-to-date information and call to action
items you need at your fingertips.
Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know
If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine
reaction, injury, or death, please talk about it. If we don't share
information and experiences with one another, everybody feels alone
and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a
different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local
newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk show that is only
presenting one side of the vaccine story.
I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might
be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the "other side" of
the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not
back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be
true about vaccination will the public conversation about
vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.
We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations
funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced
use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about
vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet
and treated like nothing more than "statistically acceptable
collateral damage" of national one-size-fits-all mandatory
vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury
and death. We shouldn't be treating people like guinea pigs instead
of human beings.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
I encourage you to visit the website of the non-profit charity,
the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), at
www.NVIC.org:
NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View
descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have
suffered vaccine reactions, injuries, and deaths. If you or your
child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider
posting and sharing your story here.
Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post
descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers,
and school and health officials for making independent vaccine
choices.
Connect with Your Doctor or Find a New One That Will Listen and Care
If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to
you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don't want, I
strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another
doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care
is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an
effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about
vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and
vaccination.
However, there is hope.
At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that
they're starting to adopt a more individualized approach to
vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of
parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of smart
young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making
personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying
vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or
continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline
use of one or more vaccines.
So take the time to locate a doctor, who treats you with
compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do what is
right for your child.
Copyright 1997- 2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.