Proud to be a Methodist!

This is way too AWESOME for words!

United Methodist Church Passes Resolution Against Mercury In Medicine More InfoIn A First – Faith Community Takes Historic Position Opposing Mercury in Medicines & Vaccines United Methodist Church Passes ResolutionAgainst Mercury in MedicinePress Release Contacts: For Immediate Release CoMeD President [The Rev. Lisa K. Sykes (Richmond, VA) 804-364-8426]April 29, 2008 CoMeD Sci. Advisor [Dr. Paul G. King (Lake Hiawatha, NJ) 973-263-4843] With passage of a historic resolution today at its 2008 General Conference, the United Methodist Church has become the first faith community to officially oppose the use of mercury, in any form, including Thimerosal, in medicines, especially vaccines. Beginning in 2005, several United Methodist Annual Conferences and its Women's Division, an organization of nearly 1 million women globally, passed a resolution entitled, "Protecting Children from Mercury-containing Drugs." Today, the validity of this urgent issue was further affirmed by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, which speaks authoritatively for the denomination's 11.5 million members worldwide.This faith-based resolution, passed April 29, 2008, is a challenge to the current acceptance of mercury in medicine by the U.S. Government, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the vaccine manufacturers. Among its provisions, the resolution seeks: the immediate prioritization of mercury-free vaccines and other drugs for vulnerable children and pregnant women, the opportunity of informed consent whenever mercury is administered as part of a pharmaceutical product, and a ban of mercury-containing drugs. The complete text and details of the resolution's passage may be found at http://calms.umc.org/2008/Menu.aspx?type=Petition&mode=Single&number=409 In addition, the resolution calls for United Methodist hospitals, clinics, and missions around the world to express a preference for mercury-free vaccines and other medicines. This is crucial because most of the Thimerosal-containing vaccines sent to the developing world still contain unreduced levels of mercury, as do most flu shots, and some other vaccines and drugs in the United States.The Rev. Lisa K. Sykes, President of CoMeD, Inc, mother of a mercury-toxic child and a United Methodist clergywoman who has helped to shepherd this activist movement within The United Methodist Church, declared: "This is the start of a Second Great Temperance Movement. More than a hundred years ago, our church fought widespread alcohol intoxication. With this resolution, we begin to fight widespread and, until now, unrecognized mercury intoxication from unsafe mercury-containing medicines."