{"id":318,"date":"2008-12-28T15:07:12","date_gmt":"2008-12-28T02:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2008\/12\/those_nasty_toxins\/"},"modified":"2008-12-28T15:07:12","modified_gmt":"2008-12-28T02:07:12","slug":"those-nasty-toxins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.waikato.ac.nz\/bioblog\/2008\/12\/those-nasty-toxins\/","title":{"rendered":"those nasty toxins…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thankfully, the antivaccination lobby is (so far!) relatively small & quiet in New Zealand. It’s another story in the US, where various celebrities lend their names to the anti- voices. A couple of days ago Orac posted another in his series<\/a> on what’s wrong with the US anti-vax groupings, & I thought I’d talk about some of the issues he highlights – they need to be made here too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One argument against the vaccination schedule is that it represents too many antigens, too soon, & so children’s immune systems are simply unable to cope. This is plain silly – we are all exposed, every day, to a very large number of potential antigens (molecules that provoke an immune response). And unless someone is severely immuno-compromised<\/a>, their immune system deals with those challenges with no difficulty.<\/p>\n

A second anti-statement is that we don’t need vaccines, and that your immune system can somehow be ‘boosted’ by attention to diet or by taking supplements. But again – most folks’ immune systems work fine on their own, & in fact, I’d be a tad cautious about taking steps to ramp it up, given that autoimmune diseases<\/a> seem to be due to an immune system that’s looking around for something to target.<\/p>\n

Until recently, arguments in the US centred on the presence of thimerosal, a mercury compound, in many vaccines. (It’s actually been absent from vaccines for some years now, but acted as a preservative.) High exposure to some forms of mercury is known to cause neurological damage – think Minamata disease<\/a>. (Or think of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland: <\/i>mercury was used in the process of making felt for hats<\/a>.) This was extrapolated to claims that the thimerosal in childhood vaccines was linked to autism – but after many thorough studies there’s no evidence to support those claims.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the focus has now moved to ‘toxins’ (a suitably vague term), including formaldehyde. Which is indeed found in some vaccines, as an adjuvant. But – & it’s a big ‘but’ – formaldehyde is produced in your body<\/a> as a normal metabolic by-product, regularly & at levels higher than those found in any vaccine. What’s more, it’s released into the air by a range of industrial processes, and also by many household products & building materials. It would be surprising if the tiny amount in vaccines made any difference at all to that normal exposure.<\/p>\n

Which links to my final talking point for the day – the idea that ‘chemicals’ are bad & ‘natural’ substances are good. This one really bugs me: for a start, we’re all made<\/i> of ‘chemicals’. Water is a chemical (and much fun can be had by calling it ‘dihydrogen monoxide’<\/a>, which somehow makes it sound like a Bad Thing). So is the atmospheric component that we require for cellular respiration: oxygen.<\/p>\n

Maybe what’s meant in this claim is that ‘man-made’ chemicals should be avoided, but ‘natural’ is OK. Hmmm. Tell that to the family of Georgi Markov<\/a>, assassinated using a pellet of the poison ricin, derived from castor oil beans. Or to someone who’s consumed fugu <\/a>(made from pufferfish) prepared by an unskilled chef. Or what about botulinus toxin<\/a>? It’s produced by bacteria, so definitely ‘natural’. But consume enough of it – & ‘enough’ is a very small quantity indeed (about 1 nanogram per kg bodyweight) – & you’ll die a rather unpleasant death. Of course, as for many things dosage is important<\/a>, & where would the purveyors of botox be if that wasn’t the case?<\/p>\n

Much about our world is neither simple, nor intuitive. But doesn’t that make it a more interesting place? You just need to keep asking questions \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thankfully, the antivaccination lobby is (so far!) relatively small & quiet in New Zealand. It’s another story in the US, where various celebrities lend their names to the anti- voices. 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