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New Thimersol study?

Harlequin

Kids love clowns
Harlequin
Joined
Jan 25, 2005
Messages
383
This is apparently a new study being released on the evils of Thimersol.
Does anyone know anything more about it?

I understand past studies on mice/rats have shown harmful effects after exposure to incredibly high quantities, but this study apparently mentions 20 ppb concentrations. I wonder if someone else has access to more detail (i.e. the actual study)?

http://www.voiceoftheenvironment.org/heavymetal/article.php?id=762
 
Harlequin said:
This is apparently a new study being released on the evils of Thimersol.
Does anyone know anything more about it?

I understand past studies on mice/rats have shown harmful effects after exposure to incredibly high quantities, but this study apparently mentions 20 ppb concentrations. I wonder if someone else has access to more detail (i.e. the actual study)?

http://www.voiceoftheenvironment.org/heavymetal/article.php?id=762
Click to expand...
Here you go. Link to free PDF article.
 
supercorgi, that appears to be about the latest Geier idiocy, not the study the OP was asking about.
 
There are other sources of thimerosal, by the way, like some contact lens solutions and cosmetics. I found some pages for people who react to mercury. I'm not sure how reliable these sites are, but as far as a list of products containing forms of mercury, probably okay.

One list, another list.

I don't hear as much about these things, though. Just the vaccines.
 
Thanks, Donks.

I've read through the report and although it doesn't seem to be terribly advanced, I'd have to say it's beyond my knowledge.

Does anyone know if there's really anything in this?
 
Note that the OP listed a website wherein, if you look around a bit, the site is so anti-vaxx it's probably on Eos of the Eon's "not sending you a christmas card buddy!" list. Funny how selective that whole site is.
"Let's all get ADD"?
"Why are drug companies allowed to poison our children"?

I'm going to be so bold as to say I'm sensing a bit of bias on that site.
From the very article itself:
The research team conducted the study on cells cultured from a strain of mouse (snipped) under normal physiological conditions, the researchers discovered that extremely small levels of thimerosal interfere significantly with calcium channel function after just a few minutes of exposure.
Click to expand...
They used cell cultures. Not mice themselves, but the cultured cells. Okay. Direct exposure of thimerosol, I'm assuming, added to dendrites... and so because the dendrites were effected, under the microscope, it must mean that it's doing the same thing in the body, the human body in fact, and oh my gawd think of the CHILDREN!!

Yet that very article also states:
“Our findings do not directly implicate thimerosal as a single causative agent for triggering neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism,” Pessah said. “There is growing evidence that autism is several disorders that we now refer to as just one. There is also growing evidence that some children with autism have unique immune cell composition and responses to antigens. The results of our work provide a framework to test the hypothesis that the genetic background of some individuals may render them especially susceptible to thimerosal.”

Other experts also advise drawing no final conclusions regarding thimerosal and autism based on these outcomes.
Click to expand...


....and everyone knows that scientific research has been proven to cause cancer in rats and mice.
 
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Yes, I also noticed that they didn't actually expose living mice to Thimersol, but rather killed them in the approved manner and then marinated their remains.
OK, it was a little more precise than that, but you get the idea.

Obviously the site I originally linked to is not an unbiased source for this information, but I'm curious about the study itself. Given the experience from eliminating Thimersol in almost everything and then seeing that Autism rates don't decline, this study seems a little suspect. I'm just not sure if there is some other obvious flaw in their analysis that I've missed.

It may be a stretch to say the effect occurs on prepared tissue samples from mice and therefore it's killing children, but if there really is an effect then we should be trying to quantify it.
 
Harlequin, I've noticed that you are consistently using the spelling "Thimersol," while here in the US the proper spelling is "Thimerosal." Seems like I've read the trade name is slightly different in the UK and/or Europe - is that where you are?
 
http://www.thimersol.com/

Thimerosal™ (sometimes spelled thimersol and thiomersal) is an organometallic compound used commonly world-wide since the early 1930s as a preservative in such things as some vaccines, cosmetics, eye drops, contact lens solutions, tatoo ink, etc. The use of Thimerosal has become ever-more controversial recently due to concerns about potential neurotoxic properties of the mercury containing compound and the potential connection to autism.
 
It's one of those studies that conclude "more research is needed". Dendritic cells are very sensitive and easily activated in vitro, so it's difficult to interpret this into the in vivo situation. So yes, more work needed.

Ask Rolfe to comment on the correct spelling :p . The etymology suggests thiomersal I believe.
 
Thio = sulphur
mer = mercury
sal = I'm damned if I know.

Thiomersal it was, and was for a long time, until someone for some unknown reason moved the "o" and the mis-spelling gained widespread currency.

Still is thiomersal as far as I'm concerned, and as far as the (generally not very bright) Sunday newspaper I read last week was concerned too.

Rolfe.
 
I just went looking for the history of the spelling, and found out from Wikipedia that this is the same stuff I grew up knowing as Merthiolate, the topical antiseptic.

I suspect that the spelling corruption (thiomersal => thimerosal) followed a mispronunciation, because four-syllable words are generally easier say if the accent is on the second syllable. Lots of four-syllable words a pronouced with the accent on the second syllable even though it seems illogical based on the root word. A couple of examples I can think of offhand are historical, antipodes, and the way some people say kilometer.
 
Harlequin said:
Yes, I also noticed that they didn't actually expose living mice to Thimersol, but rather killed them in the approved manner and then marinated their remains.
OK, it was a little more precise than that, but you get the idea.

Obviously the site I originally linked to is not an unbiased source for this information, but I'm curious about the study itself. Given the experience from eliminating Thimersol in almost everything and then seeing that Autism rates don't decline, this study seems a little suspect. I'm just not sure if there is some other obvious flaw in their analysis that I've missed.

It may be a stretch to say the effect occurs on prepared tissue samples from mice and therefore it's killing children, but if there really is an effect then we should be trying to quantify it.
Click to expand...

I doubt less the science and more the author of the article.
 
It almost sounded to me as if it was written by some sort of lab assistant, although the procedure sounded reasonable.
 
Oh and I'm not in the UK.

Canadian living in Germany, so who knows where I get the spelling...
 
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