Chemophobia

It’s not hard to scare people about vaccines. Just use chemical names.

Recently, a lawyer who does work for the anti-vaccine organization ICAN (Informed Consent Action Network), after noting that sodium phosphate was a buffering agent in vaccines, linked his 140,000 Twitter followers to an article stating, “Sodium phosphate can cause serious kidney damage and possibly death. In some cases, this damage was permanent, and some people whose kidneys were damaged had to be treated with dialysis.” The lawyer failed to mention that sodium phosphate is a natural product found in nuts, legumes, meat, fish, poultry, and eggs. And that anyone who lives on the planet will ingest sodium phosphate every day, which is readily absorbed into the bloodstream.

So, why aren’t we all dead or on kidney dialysis? The reason is that the dose makes the poison. In order to damage kidneys, people would have to consume sodium phosphate in quantities in excess of 4,000 milligrams a day. The quantity of sodium phosphate used to buffer vaccines is 25 milligrams, which the lawyer also failed to mention.

As the lawyer demonstrated, if you want to scare people about vaccines, all you need to do is use chemical names. Comedians Penn and Teller showed just how effective this can be. In 2003, they traveled to a California state fair with a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide. They never lied. They said dihydrogen monoxide was in our lakes and streams; and it was in everything we drink; as a result, it was in our tears and urine. Enough, they argued, was enough. It was time to put an end to this toxic environmental tragedy. By using its chemical name, Penn and Teller were able to convince several hundred Californians to sign a petition to ban water (H₂O) from the face of the earth. If Penn and Teller can get people to ban water from the planet, how hard can it be to use the chemical names of buffering agents, stabilizing agents, or emulsifiers in vaccines to scare parents? It’s no wonder that the Dupont Chemical Company eventually dropped its advertising slogan, “Better Living Through Chemistry.”

Here's another way to look at this. Arsenic, which is contained in soil, is a well-known poison. It can be found in fruits like tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peas, beans, corn, melons, and strawberries; in leafy vegetables like lettuce, collard greens, kale, mustard, and turnip greens; and in root vegetables like beets, turnips, carrots, radishes, and potatoes. It can also be found in apples, pears, grapes, and dairy products. This doesn’t mean that we should avoid these foods, which would be impossible. It only means that we are all exposed to chemicals in the soil that at very high quantities can be dangerous but at quantities typically found in nature aren’t.

As the lawyer hired by an anti-vaccine organization well knew, if you want to scare people about vaccines, just avoid putting chemicals in context.