Aluminum

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Alumin(i)um is the most abundant metal and third-most common element in the Earth’s crust after oxygen and silicon.^{[note 1]} It has no known biological function; however, it is a contaminant present in most foods and medications.^{[2][note 2][3]} In addition, aluminum will become as fragile as wet paper when you pour gallium onto it and then scratch up its surface. Aluminum is excreted by the renal system.^{[note 3]} Despite this, aluminum has a reputation for freaking out the anti-vaccination movement, especially after mercury-based thiomersal was removed from most vaccines.

Toxicosis[edit]

For the majority of us, the aluminum that gets into our bodies does so through ingestion and it is just passing through. It mostly leaves the body in the urine and the feces. However, we also absorb a few aluminum ions via the intestines. In those with kidney disease, aluminum in the blood doesn’t get as rapidly excreted and so this group needs to be aware of their intake of aluminum and other things.

In 2007, researchers spelled out some important points. In humans, more than 95% of aluminum is removed by the kidneys into the urine and another 2% leaves us via bile entering the gut from the gall bladder.^[4] Aluminum is not used by the body. Any aluminum absorbed from any source is gradually eliminated through the kidneys.

Babies are born with aluminum already present in their bodies, probably from the mother’s blood. Over time, small amounts of the aluminum from food, drink and other sources do accumulate in the body, but this is not believed to pose a significant risk to health.^[5]

Alleged toxicity in vaccines[edit]

Usage[edit]

Aluminum is one of the most effective adjuvants used in vaccinations. For vaccination, the daily quantity of aluminum absorbed by a vaccinated newborn infant is 10 times smaller than the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)’s threshold for neurotoxicity.^[6][7]

Criticism[edit]

For antivaxxers, aluminum is the new mercury.

Because it has been suggested that aluminum could be linked to certain neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease^[8][9] and autism, anti-vaccinationists maintain that injected aluminum rapidly enters the bloodstream and thereby accumulates in the brain, causing neurological damage – reminiscent of Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent claim about autism. There are several scientific fallacies underlying this assertion, however.

The first fallacy is that injected aluminum finds its way into the body more rapidly than ingested aluminum. In fact, most of the aluminum adjuvant in a vaccine remains near the injection site for a long period and is only absorbed slowly into the bloodstream (vaccines are given intramuscularly), at approximately the same daily rate as ingested aluminum. Even though the amount of ingested aluminum is much larger, most of that is absorbed in the intestines and only released slowly into the blood.^[10] Less than 1% of aluminium in vaccines is actually absorbed by the body. The same is true of the aluminum found in our food supply, in drinking water and even in the air we breathe, as well as the breast milk or infant formula ingested by babies.^[11]

Another fallacy involves confusing pure aluminum with aluminum salts. Aluminum is never directly injected into the body. Instead, Aluminum salts like aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, and potassium aluminum sulfate (alum) are used,^[12] which are poorly absorbed as the aluminum bonds in vaccine adjuvants are strong and hence does not break down into aluminum ions easily and hence do not matter if ingested or injected. In healthy subjects, less than 0.3% of aluminum that one eats is absorbed via the GI tract and the kidneys effectively eliminate aluminum from the body.^[13] Intravenous infusion of products containing aluminum (i.e. injection directly into the bloodstream via a drip connected to a vein, as with intravenous nutrition pouches for patients in a hospital) or renal dysfunction are the only real scenarios where aluminum has the potential to accumulate.^[14] Once aluminum is in the bloodstream, it is processed similarly regardless of the source.^[15]

The third fallacy involves the neurotoxicity of aluminum in the brain. Although aluminum and other chemicals can enter the brain from the bloodstream, they first have to penetrate a protective semipermeable membrane that separates flowing blood from brain tissue, known as the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier normally keeps circulating pathogens and toxins from getting into the brain, while allowing the passage of water, nutrients and hormones. If not, you would die if you drank milk, which contains a minuscule amount of aluminum.^[16]

No adverse reactions were observed when mice were fed quantities of aluminum as high as 62 mg/kg/day.^[17] The ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) concluded that the minimum risk level for exposure to aluminum was 2 mg/kg/day. The half-life of elimination of aluminum from the body is approximately 24 hours.^[18] Therefore, the burden of aluminum to which infants are exposed in food and vaccines^[19][20] is clearly less than the guideline established by the ATSDR and far less than that found to be safe in experimental animals.^[21]

Toxicity in deodorants[edit]

Deodorants have aluminum which is used as an active ingredient to remove body odors. The risk of cancer due to aluminum-based deodorants is still under review by scientists as only a few studies have investigated a possible relationship between breast cancer and deodorants, but according to the NIH, "no studies to date have confirmed any substantial adverse effects of aluminum that could contribute to increased breast cancer risks. A 2014 review concluded there was no clear evidence showing that the use of aluminum-containing underarm antiperspirants or cosmetics increases the risk of breast cancer."^[22] The American Cancer Society states that "At this point, there is no clear link between antiperspirants containing aluminum and breast cancer."^[23]

Chemtrails[edit]

Many proponents of the chemtrails conspiracy theory believe that the government is spraying aluminum into the air along with other elements like barium and strontium, and that this is done to stop global warming, for population control (genocide conspiracy), etc. and is causing diseases like Alzheimer's.^[24] Of course, this is all bunk. Airplane contrails (not chemtrails) are primarily made of water vapor frozen to particles like soot, aerosols, carbon dioxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and yes, sometimes particles of metal,^[25] but there is no evidence that they contain a significant amount of aluminum or that airplanes have been used to spray toxic chemicals on the population, and a 2014 study showed neither an increase in aluminum levels by elevation nor dangerous levels of aluminum at any elevation, which you'd expect to happen if the chemtrails "theory" was true.^[26]

See also[edit]

• Aluminum foil hat
• Aluminum Wedge of Aiud
• Chemophobia
• Vaccine hysteria

External links[edit]

• Demystifying Vaccine Ingredients - Aluminum — Harpocrates Speaks
• Aluminium and you — Virology Down Under
• Aluminum in vaccines — Sceptical Raptor
• Aluminum in vaccines — Orac
• Aluminum adjuvants in vaccines and the blood-brain barrier. Removing the facts from the fiction, the good science from the junk science. — The Blood-Barrier Scientist
• Let’s talk about Ashley Everly and her “Vaccine Guide” binder full of…A focus review on the “Ingredients” section. — The Blood-Barrier Scientist.
• Aluminum in Perspective — Thoughtscapism
• No Evidence That Aluminum in Vaccines Is Harmful — Science Under Attack
• Aluminum and Vaccines – The Evidence for Continuing Safety — ObG Project
• Aluminum in Vaccines — Vaxopedia

Notes[edit]

References[edit]