Important new research from Professor Chris Exley linking aluminium in vaccines with autism

[currer]

Hip, you are right, aluminium does not play a role in ANY biochemical process in living tissue - not in plants or animals.
We are encouraged to think it is "OK" to have aluminium in our bodies because thanks to human activity aluminium has become available to be taken up by plant and animal cells for the first time in the history of life on this planet.

It is widely present in processed foods for example - check out the levels of aluminium in sardines cooked in an aluminium can!

 

[rodgergrummidge]

I encourage people reading this thread to listen to Professor Exley's youtube interview (linked above) in which he explains hiis findings. It is not difficult to understand. .

@currer , youtube videos are not a source of high quality scientific evidence. For very good reasons, modern medicine is not based on youtubes. Why? Because anyone can propose any theory on a youtube video. Imagine the consequences if the FDA or AMA began basing their treatment protocols on youtube videos?

In my opinion his research is conclusive in showing the mechanism whereby aluminium gets into the brain and causes pathology.

Yes, @currer but which research? What is the best scientific evidence (not youtube videos) that you can provide that aluminium from vaccines causes autism? I think we should all try and avoid “confirmation bias,” that allows people to embrace information that supports their beliefs and reject information that contradicts them. Because of the reasons I outlined above, Exley's paper provides no evidence for a role of aluminium from vaccines in autism. The paper does not even present any data on vaccinations.

These suspicions are not new, and we would be much further ahead had not research into autism been blocked by powerful interests.

Its common in the antivax movement that when verifiable independent evidence cannot be presented, various conspiracy theories are proposed.

Why can we not discuss this matter in this society?

sure, I agree, but lets discuss the evidence. The actual scientific evidence.

So, what is the best independent verifyable scientific evidence that aluminium in vaccines causes autism? Not youtube videos. Not blogs or uncontrolled websites. What is the best published scientific evidence?

great debate

Rodger

 

[currer]

Professor Chris Exley

Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry
Honorary Professor, UHI Millennium Institute

The Birchall Centre
Lennard-Jones Laboratories
Keele University
Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK.

Group Leader - Bioinorganic Chemistry Laboratory

I am a Biologist (University of Stirling) with a PhD in the ecotoxicology of aluminium (University of Stirling). My research career (1984-present) has focussed upon an intriguing paradox; 'how come the third most abundant element of the Earth's crust (aluminium) is non-essential and largely inimcal to life'. Investigating this mystery has required research in myriad fields from the basic inorganic chemistry of the reaction of aluminium and silicon to the potentially complex biological availability of aluminium in humans. I am also fascinated by the element silicon in relation to living things which, as the second most abundant element of the Earth's crust, is also almost devoid of biological function. One possible function of silicon is to keep aluminium out of biology (biota) and this forms a large part of the research in our group. We are also interested in biological silicification.

Publications
See this list.

Hi Rodger,

Check out Chris Exley's publications from his webpage - there are too many for me to discuss here, but the link above should work..

 

[alex3619]

So far as I am aware the evidence that is solidly shown is that aluminium can disrupt biochemical processes in the body, making it potentially toxic. Further we know there are cases where toxicity is confirmed, including aluminium sulphate at Camelford. I am not aware of any research, though I have not properly investigated, in which its linked to early childhood brain damage. Its not impossible. It does however need a high degree of proof. Even very high levels of aluminium in brains is only suggestive.

 

[currer]

Clinical features in patients with long-lasting macrophagic myofasciitis

Muriel Rigolet1,

Jessie Aouizerate1,2,

Maryline Couette3,

Nilusha Ragunathan-Thangarajah1,2,

Mehdi Aoun-Sebaiti3, Romain Kroum Gherardi1,2,4, Josette Cadusseau2,4 and François Jérôme Authier1,2,4*

• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2014.00230/full

Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is an emerging condition characterized by specific muscle lesions assessing abnormal long-term persistence of aluminum hydroxide within macrophages at the site of previous immunization. Affected patients usually are middle-aged adults, mainly presenting with diffuse arthromyalgias, chronic fatigue, and marked cognitive deficits, not related to pain, fatigue, or depression. Clinical features usually correspond to that observed in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis. Representative features of MMF-associated cognitive dysfunction include dysexecutive syndrome, visual memory impairment, and left ear extinction at dichotic listening test. Most patients fulfill criteria for non-amnestic/dysexecutive mild cognitive impairment, even if some cognitive deficits appear unusually severe. Cognitive dysfunction seems stable over time despite marked fluctuations. Evoked potentials may show abnormalities in keeping with central nervous system involvement, with a neurophysiological pattern suggestive of demyelination. Brain perfusion SPECT shows a pattern of diffuse cortical and subcortical abnormalities, with hypoperfusions correlating with cognitive deficiencies. The combination of musculoskeletal pain, chronic fatigue, and cognitive disturbance generates chronic disability with possible social exclusion. Classical therapeutic approaches are usually unsatisfactory making patient care difficult.

 

[Hip]

Hip, you are right, aluminium does not play a role in ANY biochemical process in living tissue - not in plants or animals.
We are encouraged to think it is "OK" to have aluminium in our bodies because thanks to human activity aluminium has become available to be taken up by plant and animal cells for the first time in the history of life on this planet.

Aluminum is not part of the normal chemistry of the body, but that by itself that does not necessary imply aluminum is toxic or harmful, because "non-native" elements can be harmless. A while back I was experimenting with the supplement indium sulphate; now the metal indium is also not normally found in the body, but it is considered relatively safe in small amounts of several milligrams (the doses I took).



What is not clear to me is how aluminum hydroxide-containing vaccines are thought to trigger macrophagic myofasciitis, but when people take aluminum hydroxide antacid tablets, they absorb a lot more aluminum into the bloodstream.

For someone taking a 600 mg aluminum hydroxide antacid tablet daily, they will absorb into the bloodstream around 2.8 mg of aluminum per week. Whereas a single vaccine will contain 0.1 to 0.9 mg of aluminum. 1

 

[currer]

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2014.00230/full
Immunological Abnormalities in MMF
Aluminum hydroxide is a potent activator of the immune system. In addition to their general symptoms, 19% of patients have an autoimmune disease characterized at time of MMF diagnosis, including multiple sclerosis, and also autoimmune thyroiditis, inclusion body myositis, dermatomyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjogren’s syndrome (12, 22, 30–32). Protracted immunological activation may be at the origin of arthralgias and the chronic fatigue syndrome (33) and the latter could be the result of augmented adjuvant effect of aluminum hydroxide-containing vaccines (34). These effects may be associated with a permanent production of proinflammatory cytokines [interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, TNF-α, and GM-CSF], even if reported changes are excessively variable to be used for diagnostic purposes in the syndrome chronic fatigue (35–38). The MMF patients frequently have immunological abnormalities, in particular, an increase in the number of circulating B lymphocytes, and the presence of autoantibodies usually anti-nuclear and anti-phospholipid (unpublished data). Extensive cytokine screening showed increase of serum levels of the monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (CCL2/MCP-1) in MMF patients compared to healthy subjects. MMF patients showed no elevation of other cytokines. This contrasted with inflammatory patients in whom CCL2/MCP-1 serum levels were unchanged, whereas several other inflammatory cytokines were elevated (39).

 

[currer]

Biopersistence and Brain Translocation of Aluminum Adjuvants of Vaccines
Romain Kroum Gherardi,1,* Housam Eidi,1 Guillemette Crépeaux,1 François Jerome Authier,1 and Josette Cadusseau1
Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ►
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Go to:
Abstract
Aluminum oxyhydroxide (alum) is a crystalline compound widely used as an immunological adjuvant of vaccines. Concerns linked to the use of alum particles emerged following recognition of their causative role in the so-called macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) lesion detected in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue/syndrome. MMF revealed an unexpectedly long-lasting biopersistence of alum within immune cells in presumably susceptible individuals, stressing the previous fundamental misconception of its biodisposition. We previously showed that poorly biodegradable aluminum-coated particles injected into muscle are promptly phagocytosed in muscle and the draining lymph nodes, and can disseminate within phagocytic cells throughout the body and slowly accumulate in brain. This strongly suggests that long-term adjuvant biopersistence within phagocytic cells is a prerequisite for slow brain translocation and delayed neurotoxicity. The understanding of basic mechanisms of particle biopersistence and brain translocation represents a major health challenge, since it could help to define susceptibility factors to develop chronic neurotoxic damage. Biopersistence of alum may be linked to its lysosome-destabilizing effect, which is likely due to direct crystal-induced rupture of phagolysosomal membranes. Macrophages that continuously perceive foreign particles in their cytosol will likely reiterate, with variable interindividual efficiency, a dedicated form of autophagy (xenophagy) until they dispose of alien materials. Successful compartmentalization of particles within double membrane autophagosomes and subsequent fusion with repaired and re-acidified lysosomes will expose alum to lysosomal acidic pH, the sole factor that can solubilize alum particles. Brain translocation of alum particles is linked to a Trojan horse mechanism previously described for infectious particles (HIV, HCV), that obeys to CCL2, signaling the major inflammatory monocyte chemoattractant.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318414/

 

[currer]

For someone taking a 600 mg aluminum hydroxide antacid tablet daily, they will absorb into the bloodstream around 2.8 mg of aluminum per week. Whereas a single vaccine will contain 0.1 to 0.9 mg of aluminum.

Hi Hip, Only a tiny percentage of the aluminium you eat is absorbed through the gut - about 2per cent I think. Wheras all the aluminium in an injection goes straight into the body.

But aluminium is a potent imunostimulator - you can make yourself allergic to a food if you eat it together with large doses of aluminium based antacids!

 

[Hip]

Hi Hip, Only a tiny percentage of the aluminium you eat is absorbed through the gut - about 2per cent I think. Wheras all the aluminium in an injection goes straight into the body.

Yes, 0.2% of orally ingested aluminum is absorbed into the bloodstream. But I took this into account when stating above that taking one aluminum hydroxide antacid daily for a week will dump 2.8 mg of aluminum into the bloodstream.

So you definitely get more aluminum hydroxide from taking antacids, compared to vaccines. Yet we don't hear of any cases of macrophagic myofasciitis appearing following antacid administration.


Possibly one difference might lie in the form of aluminum hydroxide: it says here that when dissolved in water, aluminum hydroxide forms micro-particles of 1 to 20 micrometers in size. So maybe it is this particulate nature of the aluminum hydroxide in vaccines that causes the problem.

But then you would have to explain why in vaccines aluminum hydroxide forms micro-particles, but when absorbed from the stomach into the blood, it presumably does not.

 

[currer]

Could be, Hip. If you look at the above papers, they do refer to nanoparticles. However, aluminium is not an inert substance but a powerful agent. It outcompetes magnesium, for example in the ATP energy reaction. It will substitute itself for the Magnesium - another example of why you would not want it in your cells!

 

[HowToEscape?]

So far as I am aware the evidence that is solidly shown is that aluminium can disrupt biochemical processes in the body, making it potentially toxic. Further we know there are cases where toxicity is confirmed, including aluminium sulphate at Camelford. I am not aware of any research, though I have not properly investigated, in which its linked to early childhood brain damage. Its not impossible. It does however need a high degree of proof. Even very high levels of aluminium in brains is only suggestive.

Camelford was an extraordinary case. People were consuming obviously discolored, foul tasting foul smelling water, and told to boil it which further concentrated the contaminant. They believed the corrupt bureaucrat at the local water authority rather than say, using bottled water or checking with a chemist friend of the family.

Anywhere in the USA, if water smells and looks strongly foul nobody’s going to drink it. Even the ex convict druggie and homeless cohort here wouldn’t touch it – they’re actually rather picky, they expect everything done from social services.
I imagine the total amount of aluminum sulfate sulfate those permanently injured consumed was multiple grams, not milligrams.** That’s thousands perhaps multiple tens of thousands greater exposure than what we’re talking about throughout the routes. You know very well that most common things are poisonous in large enough excess: People have killed themselves by drinking too much plain water.

To my mind it does not help this guy’s credibility that he’s taking the trouble to pose for a nerd glamour photo rather like the young lady who ran the Theranos scam. I have never seen a paper in science or nature which includes a photo of the researchers looking all serious and tanned and fit and in a t-shirt next to a bench full of lab equipment or a stack of scholarly looking books. The person who does do that is Mike Adams, the email spam software author who built a rather lucrative empire in scaremongering and quackery. Now, such a a photo is not hard evidence that this person is another Mike Adams, but it certainly gives off that signal.

**There’s probably a paper about this written with a reasonable estimate of the dosages. It was substantial I think her truckfull Of aluminum sulfate was dumped directly into the water supply for a small town water system.
***This case also involves a certain Dr. Wesley, who claimed that those poisoned were all Just imagining themselves to be sick.

 

[Hip]

If you look at the above papers, they do refer to nanoparticles.

Then it might be that the harmful factor is not aluminum itself, but these nanoparticles or microparticles of aluminum. Which then throws a different light on things: it becomes a nanoparticle / microparticle issue, and might be better addressed under the research that is looking into the toxic or harmful effects of nanotechnology.

 

[HowToEscape?]

In the Dominican republic and Dominican neighborhoods in the USA, it’s very common for people to cook in bare aluminum, and I often saw pans that were pitted, Indicating that someone had cooked the acidic food in them and thus got aluminum in their food. There’s no special incidence of autism, ME, dementia or any other neurological disease among them.

Sure it’s pretty dumb to cook acidic food in aluminum every week for life or to grind it up and sprinkle aluminum dust on your cornflakes. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.

If you want to chemical to be concerned about, think of hormones or hormone mimicking artificial substances that get into your food or water. Hormones have effects in very small amounts, and any hormone intake other than precisely targeted small amounts to cover a deficiency or other condition is probably not good for you.
Funny thing, the scaremongering industry ignores these, while the FDA does prohibit hormone residues of any kind in food and there’s been a general campaign to eliminate BPA from food containers which may be a hormone mimicking compound.

 

[HowToEscape?]

Then it might be that the harmful factor is not aluminum itself, but these nanoparticles or microparticles of aluminum. Which then throws a different light on things: it becomes a nanoparticle / microparticle issue, and might be better addressed under the research that is looking into the toxic or harmful effects of nanotechnology.

Wha?? Something that can form an aqueous solution typically dissolves into molecules of the substance bumping around in the water. Table salt does that,** as do other salts. That’s not nanotechnology, that’s just “dissolving stuff in water.”

**OK, To be precise, table salt breaks down into ions, but you get my point here.

 

[Hip]

Wha?? Something that can form an aqueous solution typically dissolves into molecules of the substance bumping around in the water. Table salt does that,** as do other salts. That’s not nanotechnology, that’s just “dissolving stuff in water.”

Aluminum hydroxide is insoluble in water, so cannot be compared to salts or substances which do dissolve. I would guess that's part of the reason it clumps up into microparticles in water, rather than dissolving into individual molecules.

This paper gives a slightly different account on how aluminum hydroxide microparticles are formed:

Aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate adjuvants are generally prepared by exposing aqueous solutions of aluminium ions, typically as sulfates or chlorides, to alkaline conditions in a well-defined and controlled chemical environment.

Particle size distributions of the aluminium gel particles can be obtained using, for example, laser diffraction analysis. An example of this, obtained using Malvern equipment, is given in Figure 1. The size of the aluminium hydroxide particles is comparable to the size of microorganisms and is adequate for uptake by phagocytosis by APC.

So they are saying that these aluminum hydroxide particles are comparable in size to microorganisms, and so these particles can be taken up by phagocyte cells (such as neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, and dendritic cells).

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I really do not understand what you are going on about Hip. The aluminium found in brains is just as much 'locked up' in compounds as in the environment. There is no metal here anywhere. Metal is what you call a crystalline arrangement of atoms of the single element. 'Free' aluminium consist of ions, not metal. Aluminium oxide and hydroxide are very slightly soluble but if they do dissolve they do not produce 'single molecules' of oxide or hydroxide but ions. The relevant ions will be hydrated aluminium ions or complex ions like aluminates.

And as far a I can see all this is pretty irrelevant. I am not aware that anyone has shown that aluminium in brains in anyone occurs in the form of particles derived from vaccines. Given the amount of aluminium present in food is it highly unlikely that the aluminium in vaccines adds anything much to total exposure. It is also vanishingly unlikely that phagocytic cells should pick up aluminium and then take it to the brain since brain phagocytes will almost certainly only enter the brain at a pre-phagocytic stage of maturation (monocytes).

Why does a scientist ask sick people to advertise his research on social media? Why are his ideas so close to those of another scientist who was dismissed for doing much the same? Why are the ideas so hackneyed and implausible? And so on.

 

[keenly]

You are always able to check the facts for yourself, because these skeptical websites are usually written by scientists, who are accustomed to providing references to back up the points they make. Thus even if they do have an agenda against say organic food, the points they raise can be checked and validated. In that sense, skeptical websites are very useful. Of course, if you are not the scientific type, then you may not have the knowledge base to verify these references.

Whereas when you read a website that is say pro-organic food, they hype up the assumed benefits of organic food, and use emotional or poetic phrases like "mother nature's best" or similar, but often do not provide any evidence that organic food has any health benefits over regular good food. So organic food websites also have their own biased agenda, and they are more concerned with promoting their philosophy (and product sales) than verifying this philosophy in a factual way. In that sense, organic food has more than a hint of religion about it.

And the same biased agenda is found on anti-vax websites: do they ever mention the benefits of vaccines, or mention that if enterovirus and herpesvirus vaccines were developed, then this may well eradicate or curtail diseases such as ME/CFS, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart attacks and heart disease, and many others. No, this this is never mentioned on anti-vax websites. Sure, vaccine safety is an important issue, but so are the health benefits of vaccines, but the anti-vax crowd don't address these benefits. I find that irresponsible and biased.





If that is the case, why did the GlaxoSmithKline H1N1 pandemic flu vaccine that triggered many cases of the autoimmune disease narcolepsy come to light?

This side effect was fully acknowledged by GSK, and the study examining the mechanism by which this vaccine may have triggered narcolepsy has been published without any problems. That does not sound like information suppression.

I would like to see more research into vaccine safety though.

WOW

 

[Hip]

I really do not understand what you are going on about Hip. The aluminium found in brains is just as much 'locked up' in compounds as in the environment. There is no metal here anywhere.

My description of aluminum being "locked up" and unavailable to biochemistry was somewhat vague, because I am only half remembering what I'd read years ago about Exley's ideas on the "Age of Aluminum".

Obviously aluminum is not present in metallic form in the body; but I believe it is question of whether aluminum compounds can enter the body and allow the aluminum they contain to participate in biochemical reactions.

This paper provides more details:

Aluminium is the most abundant metal element on the Earth crust, however, biological systems have evolved in the absence of this abundant metal. This apparent paradox can be understood in terms of the effective geo-chemical control of aluminium by means of its interaction with silicic acid.

Other metal ions such as Mg(II), Fe(II)/Fe(III), Ca(II), Zn(II) etc, have been biologically available, and biological systems have evolved in the presence of these metals, coordinated to phosphate, carboxylate, hydroxyl and other ligands. However, in the last century, human intervention has made aluminium, sparingly soluble, so available for biological systems that one can say that we have started to live in the aluminium age.

And this paper also explains what I meant about aluminum being "locked up" and thus largely unavailable to biochemistry:

The involvement of aluminium in biological systems is very slight. The chemistry of this element indicates that it and in fact all simple trivalent cations with no redox properties are avoided since they are too powerful as Lewis acids and their reactions are in slow exchange relative to those of the divalent ions such as magnesium and zinc. There is also an interactive chemistry with silicon and this could limit aluminium availability in some waters and even protect within organisms.

My understanding of chemistry is not very good, but I am sure the above will make sense to you.

 

[Hip]

It is also vanishingly unlikely that phagocytic cells should pick up aluminium and then take it to the brain since brain phagocytes will almost certainly only enter the brain at a pre-phagocytic stage of maturation (monocytes).

This paper seems to suggest that phagocytes can convey aluminum into the brain:

We previously showed that poorly biodegradable aluminum-coated particles injected into muscle are promptly phagocytosed in muscle and the draining lymph nodes, and can disseminate within phagocytic cells throughout the body and slowly accumulate in brain. This strongly suggests that long-term adjuvant biopersistence within phagocytic cells is a prerequisite for slow brain translocation and delayed neurotoxicity.

But conceivably these poorly biodegradable aluminum-containing particles wouldn't necessarily need to get into the brain to cause dysfunction in the body. If phagocytes transport these poorly biodegradable particles to the lymph nodes, for example, perhaps that might lead to immune dysfunction in some people?


Until recently, nobody knew how adjuvants work, in spite of the fact that they have been used for a century. But now there is some research into how they operate.