2 Trying to make an educated decision about immunizations and my baby

The world we live in today is magnificent, through a lot of dedication and focus scientists are constantly discovering new ways to cure our diseases, and finding ways to prevent them. So if someone asked me "Don't you want your baby to be protected from Hepatitis B, the Rotavirus, Pertussis, Polio, the flu, and other things?" I would say most definitely! But if that same person asked me "Would you consider possibly giving your child autism as a side affect from trying to prevent them (with no guarantee that it will prevent them) from having Hepatitis B, the Rotavirus, Pertussis, Polio, or the flu?" I would obviously tell them heck-no!

With my newborn son in mind, I have been carefully examining tons of articles and reports about infant vaccinations, as Samuel will be going to his two month appointment with his pediatrician next month I am trying to make the most informed decision about his vaccinations possible. I had no second thoughts to vaccinating until I came across some horrifying stories from mothers all around the world, after reading a few of the terrible stories, I began to wonder if I should vaccinate my baby. So I knew I needed to research, and as I began to I found that just with any other subject, most people have their own opinion.. so I found lots of "pros and cons" to think about. A few considerable reasons to get your children vaccinated could be these:

• The more people who are immunized, the less the risk of serious illness for everyone.
  
  
• If parents don't have their children immunized, they place other children in their community at risk.
  
  
• Diseases will change over time. So if people choose not to protect themselves or their children from illnesses, the viruses that cause these diseases get a chance to change into new forms that the original vaccine may be unable to protect the body against.
  
  So, after reading that, what's left to question right? Immunizations sound great.. But I had to do more research than that, I had to look more into it. I wanted both sides to the story, but I didn't just want opinions, I wanted facts! I didn't want to be tricked, or pressured into it getting my son vaccinated if I had absolutely no balanced information.
  
  Well, for starters, consider this: In the beginning, a virus or bacteria cannot grow without unclean conditions to live on, so to manufacture a vaccine, they must use animal or human tissue and blood products to grow the virus or bacteria on. Which means these vaccines you will consider putting in your teeny-tiny babies' perfect little body contains traces of this tissue. Kind of gross, but hey, it's science, right? Then, lets talk about preserving these vaccines, since some of these vaccines we give to our children contains inactive viruses, they must add in a substance to render the virus dead, which is most often Formaldehyde, one of the world’s most toxic and carcinogenic substances. 
  
  ~ "Formaldehyde is highly toxic to humans, regardless of method of intake. Ingestion of as little as 30 mL (1 oz.) of a solution containing 37% formaldehyde has been reported to cause death in an adult. Water solution of formaldehyde is very corrosive and its ingestion can cause severe injury to upper gastrointestinal tract." ~
  
  I'm sorry, did I just read that correctly? one of the preservatives in the vaccine I'm considering giving to my perfect baby is highly toxic? I almost couldn't believe it! What is Formaldehyde, and what is it made of? I discovered Formaldehyde is a simple substance consisting of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, and is a natural part of our world, in fact it is part of our human metabolism and it occurs naturally in the air that we breathe. It is even emitted as a by-product of certain vegetables, when they are cooked. And  plants and animals also produce Formaldehyde. Nonetheless, increased exposure to Formaldehyde is definitely unsafe. Many case studies have suggested an association between Formaldehyde exposure and several cancers, including nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia, and Formaldehyde has been classified as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. - So I began to think, if this substance is so toxic.. Why on earth would I consider letting someone inject my baby with it? ..But the better question, why would my doctor suggest me to have this done to my child?
  
  
  So what else is in these vaccines? I found a full list of all the ingredients in the vaccines my child would be receiving, and so I started researching the ingredients. I found that almost all of them contain Formaldehyde, and the Polio vaccine contains monkey kidney tissue (weird!) and the vast majority of these vaccines contain Thimerosal, a mercury containing compound that is used as another preservative in vaccines. Did you know that mercury acts as a neurotoxin in the human body, interfering with the brain and nervous system, and exposure to mercury is considered hazardous to humans, particularly pregnant women and small children. and even in low doses, mercury may affect a child's development, delaying walking and talking, shortening attention span and causing learning disabilities. Infant mercury exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness - On the contrary, the American Academy of Pediatrics  and vaccine manufacturers came to an agreement in 1999 that Thimerosal should be reduced and/or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure, and since that time they have found no "convincing" scientific evidence that low doses of Thimerosal in vaccines causes serious harm.- Even understanding these studies and keeping the low risk in mind, it is hard to understand why I (or anyone else) would want to vaccinate a baby with even the smallest traces of this substance..
  
  
  So we've already learned about two different preservatives in vaccines that don't exactly seem "appealing".. but I'll be doing a lot more research in the next few weeks, and of course, I'll be sharing what I find with you guys.
  
  I'd also love to hear your opinions about vaccines! Have you vaccinated your children? Did your mother vaccinate you? Do you get your Flu vaccine every year? Do you believe that the horror stories about vaccines are just myths? Don't be shy! Share your thoughts.