Aluminum Toxicity and

Aluminum in Vaccines
Posted on September 24, 2014 by Paul Thomas, M.D.

I wrote the following letter as a response to the Director of

Quality measures at Providence in response to his request for
more information and as rebuttal to the Q & A Aluminum in
Vaccines: What you should know vol 5, winter 2014 from CHOP
(Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia) www.vaccine.chop.edu
Here it is in its entirety:
Aluminum Toxicity and Aluminum in Vaccines. By Paul Thomas MD
FAAP ABIHM August 2014
In response to a document Q&A, Aluminum in Vaccines: What
you should Know, published in Volume 5, Winter 2014 by The
Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP: vaccine.chop.edu) I
give the following:
This 2 page document provides 7 references, in an attempt to
support their claim, Is the amount of aluminum in vaccines safe?
Yes.
There are hundreds of peer reviewed journal articles and three
entire books[1] to the contrary. How can this Vaccine Education
Center claiming to be an educational resource for parents and
healthcare professionals present such a biased view while
claiming The center does not receive support from
pharmaceutical companies? One can only wonder.
The article points out that aluminum is the most common metal
found in nature, and that it is present in water, air, and food. This
is misleading because while aluminum is common in the earths

crust (rock and soil) it does not have a biological function and our
bodies are extremely efficient at eliminating the aluminum that
enters through food and water. While an adult may be exposed to
10 mg a day in the diet, very little is absorbed and the little that
is absorbed is excreted in the kidneys such that a typical adult
has about 5 micrograms/ L in the plasma.
The CHOP article points out that aluminum is in vaccines as an
adjuvant to improve the immune response and that they have
been used in this way for over 70 years. This is true, but sadly
aluminum was grandfathered in as safe without any testing to
prove that it was safe to be injected as an adjuvant. To this day it
has not been tested for safety in vaccines, it is just assumed to
be safe. Many studies suggest otherwise as I will point out soon.
The article discussed the issue of how much aluminum is in
vaccines making the grave error that assumes ingested
aluminum (that from the diet) is the same as that injected.
Nothing could be further from the truth. They talk about an infant
getting 4 milligrams during the first 6 months of life in vaccines
and that during the same period infants get 10 milligrams from
breast milk and about 40 milligrams in infant formula or 120 mg
in soy-based formula. In addition to the ability of the gut to
prevent absorption of the aluminum, the aluminum from the diet
is spaced out over time and eliminated by the kidneys. In the
case of vaccines, over a gram may be injected in a single
moment of one day. A gram is 1000 micrograms the units used
when discussing toxicity of aluminum in the body. We have known
since the 1980s that aluminum in IV solutions resulted in
elevated blood levels and bone deposition in infants receiving 14
18 micrograms/ Kg/ Day [2].
Aluminum in IV solutions was then shown to impair neurological
development, with infants who received 45 micrograms/Kg/day
compared to 5 micrograms/Kg/day having a reduced Bayley
Mental Development Index of 1 point per day of exposure! [3]

We know that infants have reduced renal function and thus

reduced excretion of aluminum. It was widely accepted in the
1980s that aluminum was toxic when reports were published of
neurotoxicity and bone toxicity (anemia) from aluminum in
children who were not on dialysis.[4] It was due to the growing
body of evidence of toxicity from parenteral aluminum (IV/IM),
that the FDA made the recommendation that aluminum not
exceed 5 micrograms/ Kg/ day for preterm infants.[5]
The exact quote in the 2001 FDA Ruling titled, Aluminum in
Large and Small Volume Parenteral Used in Total Parenteral
Nutrition; Delay of Effective Date A rule by the Food and Drug
Administration on 01/26/2001, said Research indicates that
patients with impaired kidney function, including premature
neonates, who receive parenteral levels of aluminum at greater
than 45 micrograms/kg/day accumulate aluminum at levels
associated with central nervous system and bone toxicity. Tissue
loading may occur at even lower rates of administration.
It appears the FDA never followed through with these
recommendations, and indeed may have removed these
publications. In 1991, the ASCN/ASPEN working group on
Standards of Aluminum Content of Parenteral Nutrition Solutions,
Parenteral drug products containing aluminum as an ingredient or
a contaminant: Response to FDA notice of intent and request for
information was issued. [6]
Gordon L Klein, Department of Pediatrics University of Texas
published a summary of guidelines on parenteral aluminum as
follows:

Toxic

Safe
microg/kg/d
<2
Umol ig/d

<0.074

Unsafe
15-30
0.56-1.11

>60
>2.24 [7]

From this knowledge, is there any doubt that injecting 250

micrograms of aluminum into a newborn should raise concern?
Even a 10 pound baby, would be getting 50 micrograms/ Kg.
Aluminum injected as part of a vaccine, would only be safe by
these standards if the individual weighed over 200 pounds (100
Kg).
It is clearly time we work to reduce all exposures to aluminum for
pregnant moms, newborns and infants, from maternal intake,
reducing formula (especially soy formula), use lower aluminum
TPN solutions when that is needed, and avoiding the injected
aluminum with the Hepatitis B vaccine if the infant is not at risk
for Hepatitis B, and the Tdap during pregnancy. [8]
An article of vital importance, warns that the combination of the
adjuvant aluminum and the sheer number of antigens being
injected with the current vaccine schedule, is triggering autoimmune disorders and brain dysfunction in children subjected to
the current immunization schedule. [9]
The article from CHOP on aluminum in vaccines makes a
concerning statement about what happens to aluminum after it
enters the body saying: about half of the aluminum in the blood
stream is eliminated in less than 24 hours and more than three
quarters is eliminated within two weeks. In the case of injecting
over a gram of aluminum, this would mean that 200 250
micrograms would be circulating in the body for over two weeks!
If the aluminum is eliminated in less than 24 hours as the
CHOP article points out, then by half lives of excretion the rest
should be gone in a few days, which clearly is not the case. They
point out about is present at two weeks. We know that
aluminum accumulates in bone and brain.[10] It would be more
accurate to say that in less than 24 hours, most of the aluminum
has been taken up by the body in bone and brain tissue where it

exerts its toxicity. The half-life of retained aluminum (that present

after 13 days) was found to be 7 years.[11]
Given the above data, the CHOP article grossly underestimates
the amount of aluminum that is accumulated in the body. They
claim that by the time children are adults, they will have
accumulated between 50 and 100 mg of aluminum, most coming
from food.
It is important, when it comes to aluminum, that infants not be
treated as older children and adults. Even term infants with
normal renal function have rapidly growing and immature
skeletons and brain, and a less well-formed blood-brain barrier
making it much more likely that injected aluminum will
accumulate in bone and brain. We know that until age 1 or 2
years, children have a reduced glomerular filtration rate.[12]
In the CHOP paragraph Q. Is the amount of aluminum in
vaccines safe? they respond yes but then their own final
paragraph says For aluminum to be harmful, two criteria must
be met: People must have kidneys that dont work well or dont
work at all, and they must receive large quantities of aluminum
for months or years. In these situations, a lot of aluminum enters
the body and not enough leaves the body.
The aluminum data from parenteral nutrition (IV aluminum which
is just like injected aluminum) resulted in the FDA
recommendation for a maximum of 5 micrograms/Kg/day. Most
newborns weigh about 3 Kg so the maximum dose of aluminum
should not exceed 15 micrograms. The Hepatitis B vaccine, now
given to most newborns in America has 250 micrograms of
aluminum. This is an embarrassing fact that most pediatricians
either dont realize, or choose to ignore.
It is absolutely possible that the aluminum in vaccines is causing
harm. Plasma aluminum concentrations have been shown to
increase several-fold, after parenteral nutrition, in term neonates

with normal renal function.[13]

So exactly how does aluminum cause its toxicity? It is known that
aluminum can interfere with cellular metabolism.[14] Aluminum
interferes with information transfer in DNA.[15] Aluminum has
been found to interfere with enzymes such as the inhibition of
hexokinase.[16] Aluminum is known to be neurotoxic through
increased lipid peroxidation, making cells more vulnerable to free
radical attack.[17] All of these factors are more significant in
infants during periods of rapid brain development.
What about aluminum toxicity when the exposure occurs in the
womb? Developmental delays were seen after an accidental
aluminum exposure during pregnancy.[18] Numerous studies on
animals (rats and rabbits) have shown behavioral, learning,
developmental, and performance abnormalities in the offspring.
[19] It is absolutely bewildering that the vaccine advisory boards
would recommend that every pregnant woman in America get the
Tdap with its 170 or more micrograms of aluminum at a time
when the developing baby has no protection and a developing
brain. It is equally baffling that the Hepatitis B vaccine is still
being recommended to newborns, 2 month olds, and 6 month
olds when their mothers do not have the disease.
So where are the long-term studies in humans looking at this
issue of intrauterine or infant exposures to aluminum? The US
population is the study. When it comes to neurodevelopmental
disorders, it is not going well. Autism is now at a rate of 1/50 or
1/100 children.[20] Compare this to the rate in Norway where it is
1/1000 for moms who take folate with their prenatal vitamins.[21]
Norway does not give the Hepatitis B vaccine with its 250
micrograms of aluminum, to newborns who are not at risk for the
disease.
In a study published in 2010 in the Journal of Environmental
Health, boys given the Hepatitis B vaccine in the first month of
life had a three fold (300%) increased chance of developing

autism.[22]
Tomljenovic and Shaw in their article Do aluminum vaccine
adjuvants contribute to rising prevalence of autism? point out
that by applying Hills criteria for establishing causality between
exposure and outcome, they investigated whether exposure to
aluminum from vaccines could be contributing to the rise in ASD
(Autism Spectrum Disorders) in the western world. They found
those countries with the highest aluminum exposure had the
highest rates of ASD, and that the increase prevalence in the USA
and 7 western countries correlates with the increased exposure to
aluminum.[23]
A recent study demonstrated conclusively that injected aluminum
causes neurotoxicity.[24] In another study the aluminum in the
vaccines is shown to have triggered autoimmunity, macrophagic
myofasciitis, and chronic fatigue.[25]
We need more data and more studies that look at the differences
in the experience from different approaches to vaccination. The
Norway experience is one such study although it was not done
comparing autism rates between Norway and the USA that was
my own interpretation. If returning the Hepatitis B vaccine back
to preteen, early teen years as it was before 1991, could lower
the autism rate from 1/100 to 1/1000, in the USA alone with our
4,000,000 births, this would result in 36,000 fewer cases of
autism, every year! Since aluminum is toxic to
neurodevelopment, this could affect things like ADD and ADHD,
anxiety and depression, learning issues, language issues, etc.
Another review (not independent research) article reviews the
substantial evidence that supports the link between aluminum,
acetaminophen, and autism, with mention of the possible link
with the MMR.[26]
Vaccines are vital and since the adjuvant aluminum is toxic, then
we need to push for new technology, and find a safer adjuvant.

The dangers of aluminum in vaccines, has been known since

early studies on its use in the 1950s and early 1960s with
pertussis and polio vaccines. Studies were showing death of rats
when aluminum vaccines were used ranging from 1.29% to 5.85
% by 14 days after the injection.[27] This was at a time that
fevers were being seen in children receiving these vaccines, and
occasional deaths, though causality was always in dispute. I am
still baffled by the absence of control tests where just aluminum
was injected, thus proving the safety of using aluminum as an
adjuvant.
In the meantime, while we wait for safer technology, it makes
perfect common sense that newborns whose mothers do not
have hepatitis B, defer that vaccine and get it closer to school
age or the preteen age when exposures might occur. We now
have data showing that the Hepatitis B vaccine, when given to
infants, is not providing lasting immunity.[28]

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P.F. Zatta and A.C Alfrey, Aluminium Toxicity in Infants Health and
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Research Issues in Aluminum Toxicity ed R. A Yokel and M. S.
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[2] Koo WWK, Kaplan LA, Bendon R, et. al. Response to aluminum
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[5] Food and Drug Administration. Aluminum in large and small
volume parenterals used in total parenteral nutrition;
amendment; delay in effective date. Fed Regist. 2002;67:7069170692.
[6] ASCN/ASPEN working group on Standards for Aluminum
Content of Parenteral Nutrition Solutions, Parenteral drug
products containing aluminum as an ingredient or a contaminant.
Am. J. Clin. Nutri. 1991. 53:309-402
[7] Klein, G. Aluminum Congtent of Parenteral Nutrition Products
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[16] Trapp, G. A. 1980. Studies of Aluminum interactions with
enzymes and proteins. Neurotoxicology 1:89
[17] Dominguez, M. C. et. al. 1994. Effect of aluminum and lead
salts on lipid peroxidation and cell survival in human skin
fibroblasts. Biol. Trace Elem Res. 57.

[18] Tariq, M. 1993 A review of reproductive toxicity of aluminum.

In Reproductive toxicology, Ed M. Richardson, pp 245-261.
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aluminum exposure on choline acetyl transferase activity and
learning abilities in the rat. Neurotoxicol. Teratol. 14:259-264
Golub, M. S. et. al. 1987 Maternal and developmental toxicity of
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