"You are what you eat" has a whole new meaning these days. Humans have invented at least 10 million new chemicals, approximately 3500 of which are in our food, with an equal number in our homes and household products. Roughly 300 known harmful substances can now be found in most blood samples!
One widespread toxin now invading our system is mercury, found in fish, dental fillings and vaccinations. Mercury is detoxified by methylanon, and your ability to methylate can be measured by your homocysteine level. In other words, if mercury is a problem, you are more likely to have high homocysteine levels. The good news is, if you lower your homocysteine, you can immediately improve your ability to detoxify not only mercury, but also most heavy metals.
In the case of vaccinations, today's children can receive up to 30 by the time they go to school, with many given in the first six months of life. This article takes a closer look at what this is doing to our children and evaluates the necessity of this practice.
This article was written in 2004. In 2010 the FDA ruled, "All vaccines are unavoidably unsafe." I've left this article up for those who are still seriously considering vaccination. Please be aware that the medical enfironment today is much different than it was back then. Today, even the defiinition of a "vaccine" has changed.
Please treat this article as historical reference only.
What exactly were vaccines?
Vaccinations were based on the idea of introducing a dead or disabled infectious agent into a person, then allowing the immune system to respond and produce antibodies. The theory is that by "memorizing" the antigen and how to make the antibody, your immune system has an advantage in dealing with an infection, should you become exposed to the agent again, because it can act quickly. The orthodox view is that vaccines give your immune system a head start in dealing with such an infection, and therefore, were essential, save lives, have few drawbacks, and were the reason for the decrease in deaths from many infectious diseases. They were heralded as one of the wonders of modern medicine, a triumph of science versus nature.
However, many of these views were not supported by the current research. The main questions regarding vaccinations were as follows:
- How effective are they?
- How dangerous is the disease?
- How dangerous is the vaccine?
- Are combination vaccines more dangerous?
- When, if at all, is the best time to be vaccinated?
- What are the alternatives to vaccination?
How effective were vaccinations?
The scientific literature is far from conclusive on the effectiveness of vaccinations, with reports claiming anything from 20-90% effectiveness, depending on the vaccine. The fact is, many epidemic diseases come in cycles, and have declined due to improvements in sanitation, as well as isolation of those people infected with the disease.
A case in point is the 1870-1872 smallpox epidemic in England. The outbreak claimed 44,000 lives, even
though most of the population had been vaccinated. During the next outbreak in 1892, the town of Leicester
decided against vaccination on the grounds that it didn't work, and instead relied only on sanitation and
isolation. This outbreak saw just 19 cases and one death per 100,000. Compare this to nearby Warrington
that had six times as many cases and eleven times the death rate, even though 99 percent of its population
had been vaccinated.
[Campaign against Fraudulent Medical Research Newsletter 2(3):5-13 (1995), quoting
statistics from the London Bills of Mortality 1760-1834 and Reports of the Registrar General 1836-1896,
as compiled by Alfred Wallace in The Wonderful Century (1898)]
And despite the use of vaccination, the incidence of many infectious diseases still continues to rise and fall. For example, in the United States, the incidence of measles continued to rise all the way into the 1990s, despite the introduction of the vaccine in 1957. And in England in the 1970s, deaths from pertussis (whooping cough) dropped only after the vaccination rate dropped by 30%.
Conversely, measles, mumps, smallpox, whooping cough, polio, and meningitis outbreaks have all occurred in vaccinated populations. In 1989, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported, "Among school-aged children, [measles] outbreaks have occurred in schools with vaccination levels of greater than 98 percent. [They] have occurred in all parts of the country, including areas that had not reported measles for years." The CDC even reported a measles outbreak in a population that had been 100 percent vaccinated. A study examining this outbreak found, "The apparent paradox is that as measles immunization rates rise to high levels in a population, measles becomes a disease of immunized persons."
Finally, one of the "success" stories for vaccination is polio. Yet, during a 1962 U.S. Congressional hearing, Dr. Bernard Greenberg, head of the Department of Biostatistics for the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, testified that cases of polio not only increased after mandatory vaccinations-up 50% from 1957 to 1958, and up 80% from 1958 to 1959 -- but that the statistics were deliberately manipulated by the Public Health Service to give the opposite impression.
When should we vaccinate?
Vaccinations were available for certain strains of microbes causing measles, mumps, chickenpox, rubella, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, meningitis, hepatitis, and tuberculosis.
Arguably, some of these diseases were more life-threatening, and more prevalent, than others. For example, measles and mumps were very common, yet were rarely fatal, except in poorly nourished infants with compromised immune systems. Therefore, if your child is optimally nourished, you can make a good case for delaying immunization. If your child has not contracted either of these diseases before his or her teenage years, and thus has not conferred their own natural immunization, vaccinations may be given at this time, as measles and mumps can have more serious health implications in adults.
In the case of rubella, it makes sense to give the vaccine to girls early in their teenage years, since mothers who contract the disease at some time in their first trimester have a one in four likelihood of giving birth to a child who has one or more birth defects, including mental retardation, blindness, and cerebral palsy. As for diphtheria, while it is more life-threatening, your chance of dying from the disease (with or without vaccination) is less than 1 in 100,000. In fact, many medical reports indicate that early vaccination confers little benefit.
Whooping Cough and Tetanus
According to Dr. Gordon Stewart, one of Britain's top medical experts, whooping cough is no longer a serious threat to the life and health of children. Among well-nourished children in the U.K., there were no cases of brain damage or death in any children during three different outbreaks in the country. However, more adults have contracted whooping cough since the introduction of early immunization, which may suggest that the vaccine is suppressing the disease.
Tetanus is even rarer. However, the risk is minimal and, when treated correctly, 80% of people recover. Fortunately, tetanus can be easily controlled. The risk with this disease involves cutting yourself, then picking up the virus in manure or dirt. However, you can massively reduce this risk by cleaning wounds properly, and not allowing a wound to close until healing has occurred below the skin's surface. If you do decide to get a tetanus shot, keep in mind that the presence of the tetanus antibodies reduces rapidly after a vaccination. Therefore, you'll need to keep getting one every five or so years to confer a degree of protection.
Polio
Polio is one vaccine that many authorities consider essential, yet contrary to public perception, vaccinations are less effective than you might think. Because vaccinations were for specific strains of polio microbes that were permanently evolving and changing, there's no guarantee of protection. For example, an outbreak of polio occurred in Taiwan, where 98% of young children had been immunized.
[Patriarca, P.A. 1994. Polio outbreaks: a tale of torment. Lancet 344(8923):630-631]
In 1961, a polio outbreak in Massachusetts resulted in more cases of paralysis among those vaccinated than those who were not. [James, W. 1988. Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth. Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT.] And another study found that three out of five Americans who had contracted polio during foreign travel had previously been vaccinated. [Strebel, P.M., et al. 1992. Epidemiology of poliomyelitis in the United States one decade after the last reported case of indigenous wild virus-associated disease. Clin Infect Dis 14:568-579.]
And still, most authorities will highly recommend that you receive a polio vaccine if you are traveling abroad. A more common sense approach might be, if you haven't had a polio vaccine in 10 years, then first find out how common polio is in the country you are visiting. For example, in the U.K., there were no more than two cases per year. In fact, you were more likely to be hit by a double-decker bus than to contract polio in Britain!
Meningitis
One of the diseases that it makes sense vaccinating against is the Haemophilas influenza type B (Hib) virus, the most common cause of meningitis, which causes upper respiratory and ear infections, pneumonia, and inflammation of the spinal cord. It most often affects children between the ages of 6 to 12 months, with 75% of all cases occurring before the age of two. Lack of hygiene in day care centers is partly blamed for the spread of the disease, so vaccinating young infants with the Hib meningitis vaccine can make sense.
More recently the spotlight has focused on a new form of meningitis caused by the bacteria Neissetia meningirides-meningitis C. While much rarer, it can be fatal about 10% of the time. But because it often affects teenagers, you may want to have your children and teenagers inoculated, especially if they live with groups of other children, such as at a boarding school or university. Unfortunately, these vaccines are so new, it is hard to say how effective they were and what side effects they may have.
What is the down-side of Vaccines?
Perhaps the most contentious question of all involves the negative side effects, including permanent damage or death, due to the vaccination itself. Most commonly, a negative response to a vaccine is a result of a reaction to one or several ingredients in the vaccine, while other cases involve a person's immune response to the infectious agent.
Until recently, most vaccines contained a germicidal compound called thimerosal, which consisted-in part-of mercury. Many vaccines also contain formalin, a 37% solution of formaldehyde, the main ingredient of embalming fluid. Many also contain phenol or ethylene glycol, the main component found in antifreeze. While all of these ingredients were disturbing, thimerosal is particularly concerning, not only because mercury is a highly toxic element, but many children are allergic to this compound.
A recent investigation into thimerosal and the neurological development of children found that the sum total of mercury an average child would receive from normally recommended vaccinations exceeds the Federal Safety Guidelines for orally ingested mercury, and is in fact correlated with a greater risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. Galer, M.R and Galer, D.A. 2003. [Thimerosal in childhood vaccines, neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease in the United States. Journal of American Phesicians and Surgeons 8(1):6-11]
But worse still is the vaccine for whooping cough, which accounts for more than half of all reported reactions to vaccinations. Because whooping cough is rarely deadly among well-nourished children, there is a serious question in regards to the benefits of the vaccine in view of its known risks. According to research at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England, a child vaccinated against whooping cough is 50% more likely to develop asthma or allergies later in life. This may be because the whooping cough vaccine promotes an abnormally strong immune response to potential allergens such as pollen or gluten, and may disturb early immune programming.
Combination Vaccines
While no one yet knows the combined risks of having a number of vaccinations, two of the most common combination vaccinations -- MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and DPT (diphtheria, pertussis or whooping cough, and tetanus) -- were thoroughly investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In monitoring 500,000 American children after vaccination, 34 major side effects were identified, the most common being seizures. Researchers found that the day after a DPT shot, children were three times more likely to have a fit. After the MMR injection, fits were 2.7 times higher after 4-7 days and 3.3 times higher after 8-14 days. And that's just seizures. In some cases, DPT reactions have resulted in permanent neurological damage (1 in 30-50,000 children vaccinated) and even death.
Meanwhile, the link between MMR and the risk of autism is growing. According to a statistical analysis published in a recent issue of the Lancet, the correct interpretation of the statistical data from currently published studies show an appreciable number of autism cases being triggered by MMR vaccination.
It certainly makes sense that a child's immune system is more likely to react to a combination of infectious agents delivered in one package. However, it is probable that reactions are more likely to occur in a child who has a poor nutritional base, and therefore cannot restore balance after his or her immune system has been forced to react to the threat of an invading organism.
In immune-compromised children, vaccinations may overload their immune systems, resulting in toxic damage to their nervous system and brain. For this reason, more and more parents were demanding single vaccines instead of combination vaccines.
Alternatives to Vaccination
It goes without saying that before any vaccination you should ensure that you and your child have a robust immune system. For infants, there is no better way to confer immunity than through breast-feeding for at least the first year of life. Once weaned, you can help to ensure immunity by providing an optimal intake of immune-boosting nutrients. For example, vitamin A offers protection against measles and probably polio. In underdeveloped countries, deaths from measles have been virtually eliminated with adequate amounts of vitamin A.
Another way to minimize risk in infants, whose immune systems are immature, is to restrict their exposure to large numbers of other potentially infected infants. If possible, avoid placing children in day care or involving them in large playgroups until the age of three, when their immune systems are much stronger.
A viable alternative to vaccination is to find a good homeopath for assistance in the use of nosodes. A nosode is a holistic form of vaccination but instead of using the actual virus and dangerous chemical preservatives, etc., they use only the energy signature. So any side effects are minimal if any. Since no toxic chemicals are used, no neurological damage occures.
That said, if you do choose to have or give your child a vaccination, ask your doctor for (1) a list of ingredients in the vaccine, (2) evidence that it works, and (3) a list of adverse effects. You should also be wary of continuing with vaccinations if your child has had a bad reaction to a previous vaccine, is currently sick, or has a history of epilepsy, convulsions, neurological disorders, severe allergies, or immune system disorders.
Finally and most importantly, use your common sense. The truth is, we don't have all the answers and don't know the long-term consequences of mass immunization. This is why some pediatricians are opting against many vaccinations. In the meantime, gather all the information you can, then let the facts rather than habit or social pressure guide your decision.
POSTED BY ADMIN ON October 14, 2004
