# 6875
In December of last year (see AAP Endorses SAGE Recommendations Keeping Thimerosal In Vaccines) I wrote on the debate over allowing the continued use of thimerosol in childhood vaccines used in many countries around the globe.
Thimerosol – which contains ethyl mercury - has strong antiseptic and antifungal properties and has used as a preservative to prevent contamination of multi-dose vials of vaccines for many decades.
Thimerosol use in the United States has been largely curtailed since 1999, when in the face of growing public concern - despite credible scientific evidence of harm – thimerosol was removed from most childhood vaccines.
Doing so has required the move to single-dose vaccines, a step that would prove both difficult and prohibitively expensive for many developing countries.
Over the past several years a global agreement banning the use of mercury has been in the works, and last week a treaty was approved.
This from the UNEP.
Minamata Convention Agreed by Nations Sat, Jan 19, 2013
Global Mercury Agreement to Lift Health Threats from Lives of Millions World-Wide
Geneva/Nairobi, 19 January 2013 - International effort to address mercury-a notorious heavy metal with significant health and environmental effects-was today delivered a significant boost with governments agreeing to a global, legally-binding treaty to prevent emissions and releases.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury-named after a city in Japan where serious health damage occurred as a result of mercury pollution in the mid-20th Century-provides controls and reductions across a range of products, processes and industries where mercury is used, released or emitted.
These range from medical equipment such as thermometers and energy-saving light bulbs to the mining, cement and coal-fired power sectors.
The treaty, which has been four years in negotiation and which will be open for signature at a special meeting in Japan in October, also addresses the direct mining of mercury, export and import of the metal and safe storage of waste mercury.
Two medical exemptions were provided for in this treaty:
- Vaccines where mercury is used as a preservative have been excluded from the treaty as have products used in religious or traditional activities
- Delegates agreed to a phase-down of the use of dental fillings using mercury amalgam.
In a perfect world every vaccine would come in a single-dose vial or syringe, and there would be no need to add preservatives like thimerosol.
But in the world in which we live, the choice is either to use a preservative, or accept that far fewer children will receive potentially life-saving vaccines.
