Mercury in Pregnancy – A Bad Combination

SAFEMINDS_DTTR
550_banners_learnmore

Help us spread the word by sharing the materials below.

mercury and pregnancy poster

SafeMinds OB/GYN Awareness Campaign

SafeMinds has launched a new campaign to educate OB/GYNs about the dangers of thimerosal in flu vaccines for pregnant women and small children.

SafeMinds Flu Vaccine Videos

Share the link to this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS7bCrZHDP8

Share the link to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n05X_0PJrrE

SafeMinds Flu Vaccine Ad

SafeMinds Flu Vaccine Ad

We have a beautiful new mercury-free flu vaccine ad – available for distribution. You can post it to your Facebook page or website. You can use it in a newsletter. You can e-mail it to your friends and family. You can share it with your PTA. You can run it in a magazine or newspaper. You can print it out and give it to your doctors.

Anywhere you can spread the word – we would appreciate it.

Download .pdf file here

Download .jpg file

Questions? Contact us

SafeMinds Flu Brochure

flu-cover-small

What You Need to Know

In March of 2001, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement warning pregnant women and young children not to eat fish containing high levels of mercury because it causes neurological problems in children.

Yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that these same women and young children should get seasonal influenza vaccines. Many seasonal influenza vaccines contain mercury, from the preservative thimerosal, in amounts exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended safe levels.

SafeMinds is deeply concerned that the risks of mercury – containing seasonal influenza vaccines outweigh the benefits for pregnant women, infants and children. Mercury is known to be highly toxic to brain tissue and can interrupt critical stages of brain development.

A large-scale scientific study in approximately 50,000 pregnant women and their infants over five flu seasons found no difference in the risk for developing influenza illness among those who received the influenza vaccine during pregnancy and those who did not receive the vaccine. Reviews in the medical journal The Lancet found a lack of health benefit of influenza vaccine for children under two and significantly increased rates of vaccine-related adverse events in children.

If You Are Pregnant or Have Small Children . . .

Get All the Facts

All vaccines pose some risk, with or without mercury content. However, the influenza vaccine is of great concern, as many brands contain high levels of mercury. SafeMinds recommends that consumers read package inserts for any vaccine prior to immunization.

According to flu vaccine package inserts, “Safety and effectiveness has not been established in pregnant women or nursing mothers and should only be given to a pregnant woman if clearly needed.”

In children under the age of two, the efficacy of inactivated (injected) flu vaccine was similar to placebo. Nasal spray vaccines that contain live flu virus are more effective in children than injectable inactivated flu vaccines. An investigation into the effectiveness of the flu vaccine which examined 274 studies of influenza vaccines and 28 epidemiological studies from 1966 to 2007 with over 3,000,000 participants found that for every 100 people, 7 will develop flu like illness but only 1 will actually have the flu. Simple techniques, such as avoiding those with flu-like illnesses and good hand washing can prevent many cases of the flu.

Download brochure

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons