An explanation of what's in vaccines
Last night I was arguing with an antivaxxer and he was pulling the toxin gambit with this list from Mercola.com, a known quack website (which will cockblock you with an ad to make you sign up to read the crap, but you can see most of the list behind the ad) The toxin gambit is the idea that there are DEADLY CHEMICALS in vaccines that Big Pharma is using to murder and maim our kids with. They pulled this after realizing the mercury gambit was failing, so they read a list of ingredients, did a Google search, and found the same chemicals used in everything from commercial dyes to fertilizer. Without understanding what they actually do of course.
It's the same argument behind the dihydrogen monoxide website. They claim that a chemical called dihydrogen monoxide that is commonly found in food, beverages, and medicine causes corrosion, damage to tissue and electrical equipment, and death if inhaled. In reality, "dihydrogen monoxide" is simply water, but when given the scary chemical name and offered with a list of very true side effects and reactions, it can be made to sound deadly, toxic, and hazardous to your health. That's how the antivaxxers want to portray these chemicals to make the vaccine look like its loaded with poison that injures and kills. In reality, most are nontoxic, in small enough amounts that they don't typically cause issues, or have known reactions that vaccine recipients are told about explicitly.
Bottom line is VACCINES ARE SAFE.
So to prove him wrong, I compiled info on all the ingredients Mercola listed, according to what I could find. For more information, check these sources:
Vaccine ingredients sorted by ingredient
Vaccine ingredients sorted by vaccine
Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Vaccines Contain Harmful Preservatives, Adjuvants, Additives, or Residuals? by Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Rita K. Jew
CDC's list of vaccine ingredients and additives
And these are the results:
aluminum hydroxide
aluminum phosphate
Aluminum salts are used as adjuvant to help stimulate an immune response. Like many things, aluminum is only toxic in sufficient amounts and those amounts are not present in vaccines. Babies are exposed to more aluminum in breast milk (40 milligrams) than one vaccine shot (10 mg). Aluminum binds with the protein transferin in the blood and is quickly eliminated.
ammonium sulfate
Ammonium sulfate, in addition to being a fertilizer, is used in protein precipitation, or to concentrate wanted proteins in the solution and separate out unwanted proteins. Ammonium sulfate is good at this because it binds readily with proteins, mixes well in water, and doesn't interfere with the proteins processes. Again, the amount is negligible.
amphotericin B
neomycin
neomycin sulfate
polymyxin B
These are antiobiotics used to keep bacteria from growing in the vaccine. Only neomycin is in large enough amounts to have any effect, and studies have failed to find any link to reactions and neomycin in vaccines.
animal tissues: pig blood, horse blood, rabbit brain, dog kidney, monkey kidney, chick embryo, chicken egg, duck egg, calf (bovine) serum, fetal bovine serum, porcine (pig) pancreatic hydrolysate of casein, VERO cells a continuous line of monkey kidney cells, washed sheep blood cells
All used in vaccine cultures and preparation. Warnings are issued before vaccination shots to tell people that, if they are allergic to these things, they should opt out on the vaccine.
beta-propiolactone
A disinfectant used to kill (inactivate) viruses for vaccination. It does cause cancer in rats, but there's no evidence on its carcinogenicity in humans and, again, it's in small amounts.
formaldehyde
Another inactivating agent which, although in large enough amounts in some vaccines, does not seem to cause cancer in humans. Larger amounts of formaldehyde naturally occur in the blood after digestion than are injected into the body by vaccinations.
formalin
Which is formaldehyde dissolved in water. Why would they list something twice?
gelatin
hydrolized gelatin
Gelatin is used as a solvent and stabilizer in some freeze-drying methods for transporting vaccines. There are reactions from vaccines because of gelatin used in them, but again warnings are issued for that.
glycerol
A solvent in the smallpox vaccines derived from cows. Again warnings would be issued, up the smallpox vaccine is not manufactured anymore.
human diploid cells (originating from human aborted fetal tissue)
The Rubella part of the MMR, Meruvax, once used lung tissue from aborted fetuses to prepare it, but no longer do so, and I have no idea what vaccine manufacturer does so anymore. They can be prepared in other ways.
monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Amino acids are used in preparation of the culture. Monosodium glutamate is the salt of the amino acid glutamatic acid and only has health effects in large amounts -- no where near the amount people are exposed to in vaccines.
phenol red indicator
It's a pH indicator and preservative, again, small amounts.
phenoxyethanol (antifreeze)
Another preservative that is also negligible. It's also used in sunscreens and skin creams, and I see no warnings against phenoxyethanol in those. And it's not antifreeze.
potassium diphosphate
potassium monophosphate
Phosphate buffers are used to adjust pH and are nontoxic.
polysorbate 20
polysorbate 80
Surfactants (basically detergents as you said) that aid in preparing solutions. They are nontoxic and are food additives. I can't any information regarding allergic reactions caused by vaccines by them.
sorbitol
A stabilizer and solvent, and also a non-caloric sweetener in candy. Sorbitol has adverse effects only in large amounts, much greater than any vaccine would give you.
sucrose
Sugar? Really? For completeness sake, it's a stabilizer and a nutrient in the vaccine solution.
thimerosal (mercury)
Thimerosal has been beaten to death, but, once again, it has no links to adverse effects n the human body. Most vaccines don't have thimerosal anymore and it's made of ethyl mercury which is excreted from the body readily.
tributyl phosphate
I cannot find this in vaccine ingredient lists.
Triton-100
Or polyoxyethylated octyl phenol, it's another surfactant and viral inactivator. I couldn't find any info on harm from it.
What about those toxins now?
It's the same argument behind the dihydrogen monoxide website. They claim that a chemical called dihydrogen monoxide that is commonly found in food, beverages, and medicine causes corrosion, damage to tissue and electrical equipment, and death if inhaled. In reality, "dihydrogen monoxide" is simply water, but when given the scary chemical name and offered with a list of very true side effects and reactions, it can be made to sound deadly, toxic, and hazardous to your health. That's how the antivaxxers want to portray these chemicals to make the vaccine look like its loaded with poison that injures and kills. In reality, most are nontoxic, in small enough amounts that they don't typically cause issues, or have known reactions that vaccine recipients are told about explicitly.
Bottom line is VACCINES ARE SAFE.
So to prove him wrong, I compiled info on all the ingredients Mercola listed, according to what I could find. For more information, check these sources:
Vaccine ingredients sorted by ingredient
Vaccine ingredients sorted by vaccine
Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Vaccines Contain Harmful Preservatives, Adjuvants, Additives, or Residuals? by Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Rita K. Jew
CDC's list of vaccine ingredients and additives
And these are the results:
aluminum hydroxide
aluminum phosphate
Aluminum salts are used as adjuvant to help stimulate an immune response. Like many things, aluminum is only toxic in sufficient amounts and those amounts are not present in vaccines. Babies are exposed to more aluminum in breast milk (40 milligrams) than one vaccine shot (10 mg). Aluminum binds with the protein transferin in the blood and is quickly eliminated.
ammonium sulfate
Ammonium sulfate, in addition to being a fertilizer, is used in protein precipitation, or to concentrate wanted proteins in the solution and separate out unwanted proteins. Ammonium sulfate is good at this because it binds readily with proteins, mixes well in water, and doesn't interfere with the proteins processes. Again, the amount is negligible.
amphotericin B
neomycin
neomycin sulfate
polymyxin B
These are antiobiotics used to keep bacteria from growing in the vaccine. Only neomycin is in large enough amounts to have any effect, and studies have failed to find any link to reactions and neomycin in vaccines.
animal tissues: pig blood, horse blood, rabbit brain, dog kidney, monkey kidney, chick embryo, chicken egg, duck egg, calf (bovine) serum, fetal bovine serum, porcine (pig) pancreatic hydrolysate of casein, VERO cells a continuous line of monkey kidney cells, washed sheep blood cells
All used in vaccine cultures and preparation. Warnings are issued before vaccination shots to tell people that, if they are allergic to these things, they should opt out on the vaccine.
beta-propiolactone
A disinfectant used to kill (inactivate) viruses for vaccination. It does cause cancer in rats, but there's no evidence on its carcinogenicity in humans and, again, it's in small amounts.
formaldehyde
Another inactivating agent which, although in large enough amounts in some vaccines, does not seem to cause cancer in humans. Larger amounts of formaldehyde naturally occur in the blood after digestion than are injected into the body by vaccinations.
formalin
Which is formaldehyde dissolved in water. Why would they list something twice?
gelatin
hydrolized gelatin
Gelatin is used as a solvent and stabilizer in some freeze-drying methods for transporting vaccines. There are reactions from vaccines because of gelatin used in them, but again warnings are issued for that.
glycerol
A solvent in the smallpox vaccines derived from cows. Again warnings would be issued, up the smallpox vaccine is not manufactured anymore.
human diploid cells (originating from human aborted fetal tissue)
The Rubella part of the MMR, Meruvax, once used lung tissue from aborted fetuses to prepare it, but no longer do so, and I have no idea what vaccine manufacturer does so anymore. They can be prepared in other ways.
monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Amino acids are used in preparation of the culture. Monosodium glutamate is the salt of the amino acid glutamatic acid and only has health effects in large amounts -- no where near the amount people are exposed to in vaccines.
phenol red indicator
It's a pH indicator and preservative, again, small amounts.
phenoxyethanol (antifreeze)
Another preservative that is also negligible. It's also used in sunscreens and skin creams, and I see no warnings against phenoxyethanol in those. And it's not antifreeze.
potassium diphosphate
potassium monophosphate
Phosphate buffers are used to adjust pH and are nontoxic.
polysorbate 20
polysorbate 80
Surfactants (basically detergents as you said) that aid in preparing solutions. They are nontoxic and are food additives. I can't any information regarding allergic reactions caused by vaccines by them.
sorbitol
A stabilizer and solvent, and also a non-caloric sweetener in candy. Sorbitol has adverse effects only in large amounts, much greater than any vaccine would give you.
sucrose
Sugar? Really? For completeness sake, it's a stabilizer and a nutrient in the vaccine solution.
thimerosal (mercury)
Thimerosal has been beaten to death, but, once again, it has no links to adverse effects n the human body. Most vaccines don't have thimerosal anymore and it's made of ethyl mercury which is excreted from the body readily.
tributyl phosphate
I cannot find this in vaccine ingredient lists.
Triton-100
Or polyoxyethylated octyl phenol, it's another surfactant and viral inactivator. I couldn't find any info on harm from it.
What about those toxins now?