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comment by MrScience
MrScience  ·  3667 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in NYC.

Aluminium/Aluminum is used as an adjuvant in the vaccine, I've seen the same concerns with regards to Mercury being used in vaccines.

The thing is, it's not like they shave off aluminium and dump into the vaccine as free floating metals or whatever, they're usually in a form like a salt or something like that. All they do is trigger your immune system to provoke a stronger response, and as a result a stronger immunity.





Cumol  ·  3667 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, I do understand that its really tiny amounts. But a person that believes in homeopathy for example, thinks that those tiny amounts are still very relevant.

Mindwolf  ·  3667 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Except that it is an active ingredient. It actually makes the vaccination MORE effective.

Cumol  ·  3666 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Are there strong studies that show that aluminum in those amounts used in a shot of vaccine are harmless for infants?

This is the argument that many of the anti-vaxxers that I know bring up.

Mindwolf  ·  3666 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust. It is normal to find it in our drinking water, in our soil, and in our food (both naturally occurring and added.) It is a common additive in everything from flour to antiperspirant.

Sources: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp22-c2.pdf http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp22-c1-b.pdf

It is difficult to do a full, double blinded study due to those outside influences. Numerous studies have been done on patients with reduced renal function who accumulated aluminum as a result of long-term intravenous hemodialysis therapy with aluminum-contaminated dialysis fluid and, in many cases, concurrent administration of high oral doses of aluminum to regulate phosphate levels (i.e., reduce uptake of phosphate by binding it in the gut) and have limited usefulness in predicting toxicity in the general population because the very large aluminum exposure levels and impaired renal function results in aluminum accumulation.

Animal studies have shown that doses of greater than 200mg a day for over a long duration can lead to Dialysis encephalopathy. Dialysis encephalopathy is a degenerative neurological syndrome, characterized by the gradual loss of motor, speech, and cognitive functions. The idea that aluminum causes Alzheimer’s disease is incorrect. It has been debunked by numerous peer reviews of the data.

Over-all, the miniscule amount of aluminum in a vaccine is completely overshadowed by simply living on the planet.

Mindwolf  ·  3667 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I was just about to reply that. Thanks for that MrScience!

MrScience  ·  3667 days ago  ·  link  ·  

S'what I do :p