In my Oct. 25 letter, "Forgoing the new flu vaccination," I stated that the H1N1 vaccine contains Thimerosal, a highly toxic agent and that, because of this, I will not be getting vaccinated. In his Oct. 29 response, "Safe mercury levels in vaccine," Eric Anderson accuses me of fear-mongering and misrepresenting the facts. His argument is that while the vaccine does contain this toxic agent, it is found in such small quantities that it does us no harm. He then repeats the "tuna argument," which is basically that more mercury can be found in a can of tuna than in the H1N1 vaccine.
This is interesting because it illustrates precisely why mercury is so dangerous regardless of the concentration. As I mentioned in my original letter, "Thimerosal is very toxic by inhalation, ingestion and contact with the skin, with a danger of cumulative effects." The cumulative effects are why tuna contain so much mercury, and why we should try to limit our exposure.
Despite Anderson's claim that the implications in my letter "do everyone a disservice," I strongly believe the opposite to be the case. This kind of back-and-forth dialogue puts the arguments and counter-arguments out there for everyone to see, and allows people to make informed decisions about whether to get the H1N1 vaccine.