The Mercury Calculator

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Background
Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative has been used in vaccines since the 1930's. In 1982, the FDA reviewed Thimerosal and called for its removal in over the counter products due to its' toxicity.

In a review of mercury containing products in 1999, the FDA recognized that mercury exposure from vaccines exceeded federal safety guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency. While licensing new vaccines and adding them to the mandatory childhood schedule, the government failed to add up the amount of mercury that a child could receive in one visit and cumulatively over the course of the full vaccination regimen.

In 1999, many companies started removing Thimerosal from their products. However, some products that say they are Thimerosal free actually still contain trace amounts. Thimerosal continues to be used in some vaccines. Many of the vaccines listed in the calculator are no longer in production but are included here so you can check previous exposures. 

Some neuro-developmental disorders such as autism have similar symptoms to mercury poisoning. It is well established that mercury is a neuro-toxin and is harmful to babies in utero and to the developing brains of children. There is a public health advisory from the government about the risks of eating mercury-containing seafood, but there is no public health advisory about the risks of exposure to mercury in vaccines. It is up to the individual parent to make the right vaccine choices for their children.

Using the Calculator
This mercury calculator will help you determine how much mercury a child received at previous vaccination visits or could receive in an upcoming visit. The products are listed by brand name and manufacturer. Some vaccines have two company names because over the past several decades there have been many company mergers.

Just enter the weight of the child and click on the brand name /manufacturer of the vaccine. A number will show at the top and tell you if it is over the EPA standard of  0.1 mcg per kilogram of bodyweight.

If you want to calculate your child's overall exposure to mercury containing vaccines on multiple visits, you will have to enter each visit individually, using the weight of your child at the time of the visit and then add them all together.

Many companies have merged and changed names. This is why you will see some vaccines with multiple company names. In many cases the brand name was changed when the company name changed but in some cases the brand name and company name remained the same. For example in 1999 Merck announced that their pediatric vaccine line was mercury free. Even though the mercury-free version of hepatitis B vaccine was released, the mercury-containing version remained on the market until 2002 and was never removed.  We do not have the specific dates for when these changes occurred for each vaccine.

If you feel that your child is suffering the effects of mercury poisoning, please let us know by clicking here and describing the symptoms. 

If you need help with identification and therapies, we suggest you contact the following organizations. Autism Research Institute and Defeat Autism Now, Developmental Delay Resources, Unlocking Autism, SafeMinds. 

If you believe the information on this website has helped you learn more about the possible causes of your child's health problems or has benefited you in other ways, please consider becoming a member of NVIC. We depend upon individual donations from concerned citizens to provide this and other information about diseases and vaccines to the public.

Read more information about Thimerosal and vaccines on the NVIC website. 

A Mother's Story
My name is Lyn Redwood. I reside in Atlanta, Georgia with my husband Tommy and three children, Hanna, Drew and Will. My husband and I are both health care professionals. My husband is a Physician and I'm a Nurse Practitioner. I also hold a Masters Degree in Community Health Nursing and I'm a member of our County's Board of Health and local Planning Commission.

My son, Will, weighed in at close to 9 lbs at birth. He was a happy baby who ate and slept well, smiled, cooed, walked and talked, all by one year. Shortly after his first birthday he experienced multiple infections, lost speech, eye contact, developed a very limited diet and suffered intermittent bouts of diarrhea. He underwent multiple evaluations and was initially diagnosed with a global receptive and expressive speech delay and later with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, a form of autism.

I would have never made a correlation between my son's disability and vaccines until July 1999 when I read that a preservative, thimerosal, utilized in some infant vaccines, actually contained 49.6% mercury. The report went on to say that the FDA had determined that "infants who received thimerosal-containing vaccines at several visits may be exposed to more mercury than recommended by Federal Guidelines for total mercury exposure." As health care providers my husband and I constantly receive notices that adverse events have been reported with a drug or a product safety sheet has been revised. Why were no such notices sent out informing us that thimerosal preserved vaccines were exceeding federal guidelines for mercury exposure in infants?

It was in light of this information that I reviewed my son's vaccine record and my worse fears were confirmed. All of his early vaccines had contained thimerosal. From my research on mercury I have found it to be a potent human toxicant which is especially damaging to the rapidly developing fetal and infant brain. While acceptable levels for exposure are published by Federal Agencies, mercury is a poison at any level.

The dose thought to be safely allowed on a daily basis by EPA is 0.1mcg per kilogram of body weight per day. At 2 months of age my son had received 62.5 mcg of mercury from 3 infant vaccines. According to EPA criteria, his allowable dose was only 0.5mcg based on his weight. He had received 125 times his allowable exposure on that one day. These large injected bolus exposures continued at 4, 6, 12 and 18 months to a total mercury exposure of 237.5 mcg. I also discovered that the injections that I received during the first and third trimesters of my pregnancy and hours after the delivery of my son to prevent RH blood incompatibility also contained mercury.

Excerpted with permission from testimony 
Government Reform Committee, July 18, 2000
Mercury in Medicine. Are We Taking Unnecessary Risks

Lyn Redwood is the Co-founder and President of SafeMinds