Some of you know that I have a son with autism.  Once you raise one of these children, life is never the same again.  I cannot unsee what I have seen in my own child, or unhear what I have heard from literally hundreds of other parents.  The vaccine safety issue is way too complex to be handled in headlines and news bytes.  It's not just about vaccines or autism, and it affects all of us.  

Here is one of the best explanations I've seen.  Hang in there, it's long, but worth it, if you really do wish to understand why this issue will not go away.

- Terri

Problem: How to explain the issue of synergistic toxicity in vaccines...

Importance of the problem: There are many who believe "The Problem" is Thimerosal. There are many who believe "The Problem" is the MMR vaccine. It's neither. It's both. And SO MUCH MORE.

A baby is born. On day one, that baby receives the Vitamin K shot (not a vaccine), which contains quite a lot of alcohol (9 mg. Benzyl Alcohol in Hospira) and many times the level of vitamin K that any infant would take in during a 24-hour period naturally. Alcohol is detoxified by the liver. On that same day, that baby receives the Hepatitis B vaccine - which contains 250 micrograms of aluminum. The FDA safety limit for aluminum in other injected medications (not vaccines - never been studied) is 5 micrograms per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight, administered over a 24 hour period. The reason for the FDA limit is because before it was set, adults who received doses above that limit had such problems as kidneys shutting down and brain damage from too much aluminum.

Aluminum also targets mitochondrial function. At each of the 2, 4, 6, and 12-15 month "well-baby checks" infants who are vaccinated according to The CDC's Childhood Schedule receive up to 1,200 micrograms of aluminum in a matter of seconds. Those babies also receive (through injection or ingestion) multiple viruses, bacteria, and toxins, including, but not limited to: Thimerosal, aluminum, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80 and MSG.

Stop. Concept time.

Have you ever heard of the terminal complement immune system? If not, you should look it up (LIU). In short: The Terminal Complement Immune System contains three different arms: one to deal with viruses, one to deal with bacteria, and one to deal with toxins. Each part responds like a designated army going after whatever invader happens to be identified on the horizon (your infant's blood stream - after everything injected goes through the capillaries...)

Okay. Re-orient your attention here... At each of the 2, 4, 6, and 12-15 month "well-baby checks," infants are injected with viruses and bacteria (Hepatitis B, Rotavirus, Polio, multiple strains of streptococcus in the prevnar vaccine, Haemopholis B, Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, 3 strains of influenza [beginning at six months], and possibly multiple strains of meningococcus). Obviously, those parts of the terminal complement immune system are going to be VERY BUSY during the first couple of years of your child's life.

Reorient again...

Thimerosal is 49.5% mercury. Mercury is toxic. Period. It is toxic to the brain and it is toxic to the immune system.

Mercury is not the only toxin in vaccines. Compared to the Childhood Vaccine Schedule of the 1990s, there is far less mercury in vaccines today's children are receiving. However, it is NOT true that it's gone. There are still "trace amounts" of the second most toxic substance on the planet in vaccines given to infants and children every day in the United States.

How much of a poison is safe to inject into your children?

So glad you asked... The answer depends on how much aluminum your child receives at the same time.

Aluminum is an adjuvant. Its purpose in vaccines is to ramp up the immune system. Aluminum increased in childhood vaccines at the same time when mercury (Thimerosal) was being reduced. These two things are not mutually-exclusive events. They are directly related. Here's how... Thimerosal (mercury) is a preservative and an anti-microbial. It was used (and still is) in multi-dose vials of vaccines because it helps to prevent contamination. In multi-dose vials, each time the seal is pierced, it increases the chance that the remainder of the vaccine inside the vial will be contaminated. Thimerosal helps to prevent that.

Multi-dose vials are cheaper to produce than single-dose vials of vaccines. When the U.S. government agencies finally made the recommendation for mercury to be taken out of vaccines for American children, vaccine manufacturers were faced with the problem of losing profits because single-dose vials are more expensive. What to do? Well... they figured out a way to use smaller bits and pieces of viruses and bacteria, but they needed an adjuvant to be sure the weaker vaccines were able to stimulate the immune system response. That's why the amount of aluminum has increased so much since Thimerosal was "removed." (It wasn't)

Aluminum makes single dose vials of vaccines cheaper.

Okay... Like mercury, aluminum is also neuro-toxic and immuno-toxic (remember The FDA safety limit? It was set for a reason.) But... aluminum is a very good adjuvant, so it ramps up the immune system and makes it respond to even smaller bits and pieces of viruses and bacteria... AND TOXINS.

The reason why aluminum is used in vaccines in the first place, is exactly why aluminum is SO DANGEROUS when combined with even the smallest amounts of OTHER TOXINS - including Thimerosal (still present in "trace amounts"), formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, MSG and others.

Aluminum ramps up the immune system - and just think about what that does when food proteins are injected along with aluminum... Do you think it's any great coincidence that those proteins used in vaccines for infants and children (milk, egg, yeast, peanut) are among the most frequently diagnosed and the most serious food allergies in children?

So.... Gather your thoughts for a moment. Here's what happens...

Infant is vaccinated with hep B (virus) containing 250 mcg. Aluminum on first day of life. Liver is already overwhelmed from alcohol in the vitamin K shot. Infant develops jaundice (or worse). Infant receives 6-9 vaccines simultaneously at each of his/her "well-baby checks" at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. At each appointment, infant receives way more than the FDA "safe" amount of aluminum and mercury (since there is no safe amount of mercury), along with multiple viruses, bacteria, food proteins, animal proteins and DNA. Infant starts having signs of immune-system problems, usually within a short time of the 4 month vaccinations (if not before), and is then started on multiple rounds of antibiotics for ear infections and upper respiratory infections. Infant also starts having weird rashes ("viral") and "fevers of unknown origin."

What parents and physicians don't realize or take into account is what happens to the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract as a result of the repeated injection of aluminum and mercury.

Nutrition time! There are certain things that are ESSENTIAL in the human body. Among those that are most important are Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc. These, along with Elemental Lithium, are "ESSENTIAL MINERALS." They are essential because when they are out of whack, nothing works right. (Technically, they are "essential" because the body can't manufacture them and they have to come from dietary intake or supplementation.)

Magnesium and Zinc are each involved in more than 300 enzymatic processes in the body, so when either one of them is depleted, or bio-unavailable, enzymes don't work. When the enzymes don't work, the body doesn't work. Period. And here's another fun fact - the essential minerals have to be in the right ratio in the body and if they aren't, they don't work. So if you have zinc, but you don't have the right amount of magnesium, zinc doesn't work (it's bio-unavailable), and vice-versa.

Aluminum and mercury deplete magnesium and zinc.

Here's a little information about zinc: ZINC is essential to maintain the integrity of BOTH the blood-brain-barrier AND the lining of the gastrointestinal tract. Read that again. The linings of the GI tract and the protective covering of the brain both contain something called "zinc fingers." Zinc fingers are like the weaves in a very well-constructed basket. Native Americans used to make baskets with weaves so tight they would not leak when filled with water. That's what zinc fingers do for the brain and the gut. They keep the weaves tight. They keep good things in and they keep bad things out. When zinc is either depleted or bio-unavailable, due to displacement by aluminum and mercury, those weaves open up. The GI tract and the BBB become "hyper-permeable." As in... intestinal hyper-permability ("leaky gut syndrome") and increased permeability of the blood-brain-barrier, which allows the passage into the central nervous system (CNS) of things like viruses and bacteria which should NOT be there.

Some of the research regarding MMR vaccine and "autism" involves the finding of active measles virus in the gastrointestinal tract and in the central nervous systems of children diagnosed with "autism."

Those researchers who are looking at MMR vaccine may say, "Aha! MMR vaccine causes the GI problems and brain problems that lead to the behaviors and then the diagnosis of 'autism!'"

Some of the research regarding Thimerosal/mercury and "autism" involves the finding that symptoms of "autism" are identical to symptoms of mercury toxicity, and children who regress into 'autism' after receiving vaccines containing mercury tend to have problems with the excretion of mercury. Those researchers may say, "Aha! Thimerosal in vaccines causes "autism!"

Both are correct.

Neither is exclusively correct, and neither is wrong.

Let's invite the 800-pound Aluminum Gorilla to the discussion and start talking about the fact that the amount of aluminum injected in vaccines has never been studied for safety or efficacy. And while we're at it, let's talk about the fact that those 6-9 vaccines given at each of the "well-baby checks" have never been studied as they are being administered.

Next, let's talk about The Nuremberg Code and how medical experimentation on human subjects without their consent or knowledge is against international law.  

Make your own Laundry Soap

I LOVE making my own homemade cleaners - it makes me happy in about a million ways: my home is less toxic, I save bundles of money, I have fun experimenting in the kitchen, I feel smart and I teach my kids good values and save the earth.  Oh, and it's a little more fun to keep the house clean.  What could be better?

Here's one of my faves.  I adapted some recipes I found on the web, with my own suggestions for which kinds of soap I like best, how I make it, and how we use it in our house.  Enjoy!

• 1 Bar of natural bath soap (recommended: Kiss My Face Lemon Sage or 365 Lemon Verbena)
• Borax*
• Washing Powder*

* Use equal amounts of borax and washing powder.  How much varies depending on the size of your bar of soap.  You can extrapolate to other sizes:

• 7 oz bar of soap    =   1 1/2 cups each of the two powders.  
• 4.5 oz bar of soap =   1 cup of each.  
• 8 oz bar of soap    =   1 3/4 cups of each.

You can find borax and washing powder at some grocery stores or hardware stores.  In my area, I had to look at a few stores to find both of them.  A box of each will make several batches of laundry soap. 

FIRST: Grate the soap - You want the soap really finely ground.  This is the best way I've found so far.  It's pretty easy.  Otherwise, you'd want to grate it by hand.
I do the following, in my food processor:

1. Put in grating blade
2. Cut bar of soap in half
3. Grate each half (the whole bar is too big for my food processor intake)
4. Move the grated soap to a large bowl.  Put in grinding blade
5. Put the grated soap back in the food processor.  
6. Add 1/2 cup each of borax and washing powder
7. Pulse grind the mixture until soap is as small as you can get in

Now add to the rest of the borax and washing powder:

1. Dump the soap mixture from the food processor into a large bowl.
2. Add the rest of the borax and washing powder and mix well.
3. It's ready to use!  Put it in a convenient container with directions for using.

I keep my laundry soap powder in a large clear tupperware on top of the washer, with a 1 tablespoon measure in it.  You could also use a coffee can if you have a spare one.  I wrote directions suggesting 2-3 Tablespoons per load.  In reality, you can use 1 tablespoon for a very light load, and 3 for a really dirty one, with maybe a little splash of commercial detergent if the clothes are super dirty.  

MAKE SURE to give it a little stir before using, so the bits of ground soap and the white powdery parts are well mixed.  The yellow of the lemon soap helps make it visible when you do this.  We also like the lemon scents better than most other soap we tried, but you can experiment and see what you like.