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Comment by yongjik | Hacker News Reader

From Wikipedia:

> Formaldehyde and its adducts are ubiquitous in living organisms. It is formed in the metabolism of endogenous amino acids and is found in the bloodstream of humans and other primates at concentrations of approximately 0.1 millimolar.

Maybe "people will literally argue that formaldehyde is naturally occurring and exists in our bodies" because, you know, it's true?

Also considering that aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust, I'd be very surprised if even ancient people didn't have some aluminum in their bodies. They could ingest more aluminum than we do simply by chewing on food with dirt.

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> Maybe "people will literally argue that formaldehyde is naturally occurring and exists in our bodies" because, you know, it's true?

Sure, as a standalone fact. But the context of this topic is as an additive in vaccines given to babies 10-30 lbs.

I'm still amazed people will argue that it's fine to add formaldehyde and aluminum, and then justify it with ancient people. The lengths people will go to to avoid giving an inch to any vaccine concerns is crazy. I'd even take a "Yes, ok you have a point there, BUT still...".

Because you haven't demonstrated that the aluminium is harmful. Babies eat it every day, do you suggest stopping breast feeding because breast milk contains a lot of aluminium:

http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-cente...

I'm not sure how much demonstration you could need. The page I previously linked to is thoroughly sourced to medical journals and the doctor even gives a balanced opinion:

> If I could sum up the aluminum controversy in three sentences, it would be this. There is good evidence that large amounts of aluminum are harmful to humans. There is no solid evidence that the amount of aluminum in vaccines is harmful to infants and children. No one has actually studied vaccine amounts of aluminum in healthy human infants to make sure it is safe. Should we now stop and research this matter? Or should we just go on and continue to hope that it is safe?

Regarding the aluminum in breast milk - I won't say its false because I don't know. But so far I haven't found that sourced anywhere. Just a lot of articles using it as a talking point.

> If I could sum up the aluminum controversy in three sentences, it would be this. There is good evidence that large amounts of aluminum are harmful to humans.

That large amount is well above what's in vaccines.

"There is good evidence that large amounts of aluminum are harmful to humans."

But that's applicable to every substance in the universe!!! From serpent venom and uranium to oxygen and water. Seriously, you can die if you drink too much water and it's not pleasant.

Your argument proves too much, we can't ban everything that is harmful to humans in some doses. We can and do ban certain doses of certain substances, and that amount of aluminum is well bellow the damage threshold for humans.

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