Conspiracy - Vaccines Have Toxins in Them!

One of the most persistent claims made by anti-vaxxers is that vaccines have "toxins" in them and hence you should not get vaccinated. The two most common substances referenced by these fear-mongers are mercury and formaldehyde. 

The conspiracy has duped a lot of people as both mercury and formaldehyde are known by the public for their bad effects on health.  Once you do a little research you find that the claims related to these two substances can easily be refuted. 

So why is mercury in vaccines? Well this is a bit deceptive as mercury is not contained in vaccines on its own. It is instead part of a compound called thiomersal, which is perfectly harmless in the quantities found in vaccines. The problem is that most people don't understand that when you put an element into a compound, they have wildly different characteristics. You would be ill advised (to say the least) to consume pure chlorine, but when it's in the form of table salt I'd advise having some on your chips. As the fear of mercury in vaccines rose, the European Union and the United States removed thiomersal from routine childhood vaccines. As it was only used as a preservative this had little effect on the usefulness of the vaccines (thankfully). The fact that mercury is no longer in vaccines means that this can no longer be used as a reason not to vaccinate, even if thiomersal was a problem. 

Formaldehyde is the other frequently referenced "toxin" that vaccines contain. Formaldehyde is used on certain vaccines to inactivate the virus as a means to give people immunity. It is not in most vaccines, but those that it is contained in, have  just more than trace amounts of it. For example the polio vaccine contains 0.02mg/kg of formaldehyde. Obviously just giving you the concentration says nothing about whether or not it's dangerous in vaccines. However, the amount of formaldehyde is tiny compared to many common foodstuffs; for comparison (on average) bananas contain 16.3 mg/kg, potatoes contain 19.5 mg/kg and pears can have up to 60 mg/kg! The levels of formaldehyde in those foodstuffs are 815x, 975x and 3000x as high as in the polio vaccine, respectively. In light of this, not vaccinating because of formaldehyde seems pretty ridiculous. 

Conspiracy - Vaccines Cause Autism!

The idea that vaccines cause autism is probably the most infamous conspiracy when it comes to vaccines. In 1998 Andrew Wakefield (at that time a doctor) published a 'study' in the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, that linked the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) to autism. The study sent shock waves throughout the world as parents began to stop vaccinating out of fear that it would cause their children to have autism!

Almost immediately doctors and scientists called into question how the study was carried out. The study had a very small sample size and mostly relied on what parents could remember and what they personally believed. The paper was later retracted by the Lancet and all his co-authors took their names off it. The General Medical Council in Britain revoked his right to practice medicine and described the paper as "an elaborate fraud". Since then Wakefield has refused to replicate the study, and although others have tried, they have been unable to replicate his claims.

Yet unfortunately Wakefield's damage is done, and many people continue to believe that vaccines cause autism. Anti-vaxxers love to point out that a vaccines have become more widespread, so have diagnoses of autism. This is, of course, a logical fallacy. Just because their is a correlation between two variables, it does not mean that there is a causal link between the two. It is interesting to note that there is a very similar correlation between organic food sales and diagnoses of autism in the United States, but you don't hear many conspiracy theorists claiming organic food is the problem.

Reversing the damage that Wakefield had caused will never be complete, but we can try. All we can do is flood the internet with facts and hope people come to the right conclusion. 

Conspiracies surrounding vaccines

The internet is a treasure trove of information, you can access numerous reputable organisations on any topic you desire. Unfortunately there are some people who ignore facts and would rather get their information from the darker parts of the internet. There are numerous websites that dedicate themselves to promulgating conspiratorial nonsense such as Infowars, the Mind Unleashed and basically every website that includes the word 'truth'.

When it comes to conspiracies, few topics have become as mainstream as that of vaccines. Millions of people around the world honestly believe that there is something in vaccines that is going to do them harm. Most of these people live in western countries, where the horror of diseases have largely been forgotten. Fortunately the fears surrounding vaccines are unfounded, over the next few posts I will endeavour to explain why. 

Note: I you want to avoid falsehoods on the benefit/risk of vaccinations then DO NOT visit these websites:

Mercola

PreventDisease.com

The Mind Unleashed

Natural News