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Contents:
Should We Vaccinate? You Decide
Table showing how diseases have resolved on their own
Making Informed Decisions
Childhood Diseases Are Important to
Long-Term Health
Do Vaccines Impair Immune Function?
Should We Vaccinate?
You Decide
by Tim O'Shea, D.C.
VACCINATION IS NOT IMMUNIZATION
Although medical literature and the media use the terms synonymously, knowing the difference between the two is vital to our children's health.
We've always been told that vaccines are safe, effective and necessary. We hear how modern civilization has been saved from the ravages of infectious disease by the invention of miraculous vaccines. We hear how important it is for children to get their shots so they'll be safe from disease. And we all agree: Children have a right to be protected from harm. But there's a huge body of information that indicates that vaccinations are dangerous.
There are just too many unanswered questions. Do vaccines put infants at risk of sudden death? Do vaccines really give our children immunity to disease? Are all vaccines really necessary? Are our children unhealthy as a result of vaccination? Are the climbing rates of infectious and degenerative diseases among adult Americans partly attributable to the effects of vaccination?
We're programmed to think of immunization and vaccination as synonyms. That's no accident. It cost plenty to make us think they're the same. The word "immunization" instead of "vaccination" is now pervasive in both medical and mainstream literature, creating a semantic reality that cannot be supported by evidence. There is a big difference between the two. Immunization means to make someone immune to something. Vaccination, by contrast, according to Dorland's Medical Dictionary, just means to inject "a suspension of attenuated or killed microorganisms... administered for prevention... or treatment of infectious disease."
Vaccination does not guarantee immunity. Natural immunity happens only after one recovers from the actual disease. During the disease, the microorganism usually has to pass through many of the body's natural immune defense systems — in the nose, throat, lungs, digestive tract and lymph tissue — before it reaches the bloodstream. As it does, the microorganism triggers many biological events that are essential in building true natural immunity. When a child gets a new disease, he may feel sick for several days, but, in the vast majority of cases, he will recover.
The first vaccines by Pasteur and Koch, and also most modern ones, were and are made up of experimental proteins from rotting, diseased samples of animal tissue (cows, sheep, monkeys and horses) carrying some "weakened" infectious agent. Others are toxic by-products of microorganisms that are neutralized by formaldehyde and aluminum. Most vaccines have components called adjuvants, or helpers. These include human blood and formaldehyde, a carcinogenic liquid, used for embalming. Mercury is used as an adjuvant; it is added in the form of thimerosal, a preservative. It can cause nerve damage, autoimmune disorders and cancer. Another adjuvant, aluminum, is a proven neurotoxin, positively associated with a number of disorders. Do we really get immunity from these concoctions?
The thinking behind vaccination is that if the person gets a "minor" case of the disease under the "controlled" conditions of vaccination, he will produce his own antibodies to the disease agent, and this will confer immunity because his immune system will remember what the "bad bug" looks like. The next time the bug shows up, immune defense cells will be ready to kill it. But there is no general agreement that this truly happens as a result of vaccination.
Unproven assumptions
Researchers like Alan Phillips, author of Dispelling Vaccination Myths,
say that "natural immunity is a complex phenomenon involving many organs and
systems; it cannot be fully replicated by the artificial stimulation of
antibody production." Vaccination by direct injection is based on the unproven
assumption that the mere artificial stimulation of antibodies by the sudden
presence of a foreign agent in the bloodstream confers immunity. It doesn't.
If the body is allowed to figure out how to fight the disease on its own,
without the added confusion and burden of vaccines and drugs, the body can
develop natural immunity and will not be susceptible to the same disease in
the future. It now has a memory of how to fight the disease.
Artificial immunity from vaccination is often temporary. This helps explain why some individuals still develop the disease they were vaccinated against. This also is the reason for booster shots.
Artificial immunity from vaccination has created the modern phenomenon of atypical forms of the original disease appearing during adulthood. The process of creating a vaccine involves making a disease agent gradually weaker and weaker, disguising it until it is below the threshold of making your body become ill when the vaccine is injected into your blood. That means your immune system does not get triggered normally.
By allowing the inoculation of an attenuated (half-killed) virus or bacteria into the body, we have done something nature would never permit. We have violated the sanctity of the bloodstream. We have tricked the immune system into not mounting an all-out response to a foreign agent. If the vaccine's microorganisms were not attenuated, all the powers of the natural immune system would join together to attack the invader.
Harvard Medical School's Richard Moskowitz, M.D., explains that the way vaccines are evolved is to make them weaker, just to the point where they don't produce any immediate inflammatory response. He believes that, in this form, the altered virus or bacteria can penetrate deeper into our tissues than would naturally be possible. They can remain latent for a short time or for years. Then when something triggers them into action, they can manifest themselves in virtually any place or system of the body, causing major dysfunction, degenerative disease, or even death.
There is no convincing scientific evidence that mass inoculation can be credited with eliminating any infectious disease. If vaccinations were responsible for the disappearance of these diseases in the U.S., why did these diseases disappear simultaneously in Europe, where mass vaccinations did not take place?
Undeserved credit
Medical statistician Michael Alderson, author of several classic research
texts, has shown how infectious diseases had sharply declined before mass
vaccination ever came upon the scene. Many researchers feel from looking at
the data that infectious diseases would have largely disappeared without any
vaccines, due to improvements in sanitation and hygiene before mass
inoculations took place. (See chart)
Australian medical researcher Viera Scheibner, Ph.D., summarized her investigation of some 30,000 pages of medical literature on vaccination in "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," a 1999 letter to Congress: "Immunizations, including those practiced on babies, not only did not prevent any infectious diseases, they caused more suffering and more deaths than has any other human activity in the entire history of medical intervention. It will be decades before the mopping-up after the disasters caused by childhood vaccination will be completed. All vaccinations should cease forthwith, and all victims of their side effects should be appropriately compensated."
Jane Orient, M.D., Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, agrees: "Public policy regarding vaccines is fundamentally flawed...permeated by conflicts of interest. It is based on poor scientific studies that are too small, too short and too limited." Dozens of other legitimate researchers and doctors have come to the same conclusion.
Alan Phillips adds that the data on vaccines shouldn't really be that much of a secret: "Hundreds of published medical studies document vaccine failure and adverse effects; several dozen books have been written expounding on these and related information condemning vaccines. Yet amazingly most pediatricians and parents are completely unaware of these findings."
As of December, 2000, 40 vaccinations are currently mandated for children in the American Pediatric Association's immunization (i.e., vaccination) schedule. The word "mandated" doesn't mean the same thing as mandatory, but for all intents and purposes, it might as well. Vaccination is so accepted, is seen as so necessary by most people, that they don't even question it. If they do, the consequences can be ostracism or worse.
|
Since 1986,
the US |
Unless parents sign exemption forms, children must be vaccinated before they can get into school. This is the law, and legislation is controlled by lobbying. The second most powerful lobby in Washington is the pharmaceutical industry. We have to ask, then, what is behind the vaccination schedule: proven health benefits for our children or corporate profits?
Pharmaceutical companies are inventing new vaccines every year, all with the hope of their being included in the mandated vaccination schedule. It's very big money. And there are more vaccines on the back burner. Yet there are never long-term safety studies before vaccines get approved for mass use. There are also never any follow-up studies about long-term effectiveness of vaccines. This is why vaccines are always being altered and replaced — they cause negative side effects. That is why, since 1986, the U.S. Federal Government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) has paid out over $1.2 billion in taxpayer dollars to parents of vaccine-injured and -killed children. We and our children are "lab rats."
Vaccines and our children's declining health
Before mass vaccination programs, the term Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
didn't exist. Now at least 10,000 American babies mysteriously die each year
with the catch-all SIDS diagnosis. Meanwhile, the declining health of our
children is becoming obvious. According to the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), the figures for asthma incidence since 1980 have gone from 6.7 million
to 17.3 million cases. Most of the increase is in children. More than 5,000
die each year from asthma attacks. The overall health of American children is
pathetic: Asthma, allergies, autoimmune disease and the very infectious
diseases for which they were vaccinated — all are on the rise.
Over 15 years ago, the late Robert Mendelsohn, M.D., Professor of Medicine at University of Illinois Medical School, wrote, "There is a growing suspicion that immunization against relatively harmless childhood diseases may be responsible for the dramatic increase in autoimmune diseases since mass inoculations were introduced." These include certain cancers, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, lupus and the motor neuron disease, Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Some of the most frequent complications of vaccinations "gone wrong" seem to be diseases of the central nervous system. It's easy to understand why, in the case of children. Their nervous systems are in the process of forming, and nerve tissue is sensitive to minute changes in its biological environment. The insulation around the nerves — the myelin — is not complete yet. The presence in the blood of a diseased vaccine protein, plus the toxins mercury, aluminum and formaldehyde, can trigger processes that contribute to abnormal nerve growth.
Harris Coulter, Ph.D., has chronicled a skyrocketing incidence of post-vaccination neurological disorders, including hyperactivity, learning disabilities, mental retardation, encephalitis and Guillain-Barre syndrome. These statistics are missing in the pediatric profession. Adverse reactions usually don't get reported and are routinely met with denial: There are many documented examples and case histories of mothers given the brush-off when reporting a vaccine reaction to their pediatricians. Perhaps the reason is basic economics: Vaccinations are the bread and butter of pediatricians.
What kind of money are we talking about here? In 1998, the worldwide market for pediatric vaccines was $1.8 billion. But a lot more is involved than just the vaccine sales. Vaccines are the very foundation of the "well baby" programs and therefore the livelihood of the entire pediatric industry.
Lack of adverse reaction reporting
Unbelievably, not until recently was there a centralized U.S. record-keeping
agency to which physicians could report vaccine reactions. It wasn't until
1991 that the Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System (VAERS) was set up by
the FDA and the CDC. Some 33,000 reactions were reported between 1992 and
1996. Before then, it's anybody's guess how many reactions and deaths there
were, because no agency was keeping track.
The FDA estimates that doctors still only report a small fraction of these adverse reactions-less than 10%. In 1998 the National Vaccine Information Center did a survey of New York pediatric offices and found out that "only one doctor in 40 reports a death or an injury following vaccination." Yet this information has not been acted upon by either the FDA or the CDC, even with documented reports of death and neurological damage to infants.
Many of the adverse reactions to vaccination probably haven't even shown up yet. After all, someone may not get a disease as a result of a vaccine that contained atypical forms of a disease agent or other contaminants until years after vaccination. And for many vaccines, a 48-hour limit has been arbitrarily set for reporting a reaction. This means that if a baby dies 50 hours after a shot, that death is not reported as an adverse reaction.
Chances are you won't hear any information about vaccines from a pediatrician during a "well baby" visit. After all, an M.D. could be committing career suicide by taking a stand against vaccination. But it's hard not to be angry at doctors and hospitals who so willingly and unquestioningly accept the products of drug companies, and thereby happily share in the billions of dollars being made off vaccines.
It makes one wonder: If those in power were faced with a choice between the health of our children and a $30 billion industry, would they choose health over dollars? And if those involved in the vaccine industry had done the studies and discovered that, beyond all doubt, vaccinations are not only ineffective but are instead the cause of much disease and death, would anyone tell us?
Clarence Darrow, the famous early 20th century lawyer, voiced an oft-quoted objection to mandatory vaccination that's still relevant today. He asked, if vaccinations really work, those vaccinated will be immune to the disease, right? So what does it matter if some people choose to go unvaccinated? What do the vaccinated have to worry about? Aren't they protected? Shouldn't people have the choice whether or not to have their children vaccinated — a choice based on full disclosure of risks and benefits?
A lot of medical doctors today know enough to withhold vaccines from their own children, even though they continue to administer them to patients. Others just take the position that "we don't really know enough not to vaccinate people." This is an intellectually impotent position. If a doctor is going to stick a needle into a child's arm and inject something into the bloodstream, they should be certain that they have a thorough knowledge of all the short-term and long-term consequences.
Before a parent lets a doctor do such a thing, they need to be equally well-in-formed. The CDC's statistics on adverse reactions show that vaccinations carry significant risk. A parent needs to say to the pediatrician, "Before you inject my child, can you prove to me that vaccines are safe and necessary?"
Contact:
Tim O'Shea is a chiropractor and clinical nutritionist in San Jose, California. His articles have appeared in holistic periodicals throughout the world. His two current books are The Sanctity of Human Blood, from which this article was excerpted, and Conventional Medicine vs. Holistic. His website is www.thedoctorwithin.com, at which a complete reference list for this article may be found.
Recommended Rending:
Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth, by Walene James. Paperback (2nd ed.; 1995) Bergin & Garvey. Info: www.whale.to/vaccines/james1.html
The Doctor's Guide to Protecting Your Health Before, During and After International Travel, by W. Robert Lange, M.D., M.P.H. Paperback (1997) Pilot Books
How to Raise a Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, by Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D. Paperback (1990) Ballantine Books
The Case Against Immunizations, by Richard Moskowitz, M.D. Reprints of lectures on vaccinations given by Dr. Moskowitz available for $3.00. Write to 173 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown, MA 02172.
The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Choice, by Randall Neustaedter, 0.M.D. Paperback (2nd ed.; 1996) North Atlantic Books
Vaccination: The Issue of Our Times, by Peggy O'Mara (Editor). Paperback (1997) Mothering Magazine. Info: www. mothering. com
Vaccines: What Every
Parent Should Know, by
Paul A. Offit, M.D., and Louis M. Bell, M.D. Paperback (2nd ed.; 1999) Hungry
Minds, Inc.
There's a way of determining in advance
how likely a child is to react to certain vaccines. This technique is also
used to neutralize many vaccine side effects and to remove residuals (such as
live viruses). The technique is eletrodermal screening (EDS) combined with
homeopathy. EDS is also known as computerized EDS, or CEDS, and is sometimes
referred to by an older name, electroacupuncture according to Voll (EAV). It
uses a noninvasive probe placed at acupuncture points along the body's energy
meridians to read minute electrical signals from these points. The signals are
then compared with signals from substances in test reference vials. In the
hands of skilled health practitioners, EDS conveys key information for
diagnosis. Different acupuncture points as well as organs can be tested to
determine a person's response to many substances and then to guide the
preparation of the appropriate homeopathic remedies.
"If we are going to vaccinate, we should do it without creating all the side effects." says Harold Whitcomb, M.D., a retired internist in Aspen, Colorado, who specialized in environmental and preventive medicine. Dr. Whitcomb tells the story of a child who had a strong adverse reaction to his second and third DPT shots. For two years afterwards, the child didn't thrive or grow. Dr. Whitcomb tested him using EDS and prepared a homeopathic antidote to neutralize the vaccine damage. The computerized EDS system can draw on a large database of test substances, all stored as energy signals, which are used to identify a remedy that will reverse or neutralize a particular reaction. "This allowed me to make a remedy that neutralized the pertussis," says Dr. Whit-comb. "The boy recovered and started to grow again."
Perhaps even more important is the ability to prevent certain vaccine side effects by EDS testing. Before giving a DPT vaccine, for example, EDS could be used to assess how a child's system might react — especially to the pertussis component, which should be avoided for high-risk children. Depending on test results, the pertussis component could be avoided entirely, or the dosage adjusted. (See "Step One in Preventing Illness," by Burton Goldberg, Alternative Medicine, No. 32, November 1999. Also see "Reversing Autism with Nutrition," by Patricia Kane, Ph.D., Alternative Medicine, No. 19, September, 1997).
|
In Japan, DPT vaccinations are not given until the child is two years old, while in the U.S., they are given at two months |
There are several reasons why a young child cannot handle pertussis or other vaccines, says Dr. Whitcomb. In some cases, the child is simply too young and has an immature immune system; in Japan, DPT vaccinations are not given until the child is two years old, while in the U.S., they are given at two months. In other cases, a child's health history, diet, or family history may preclude an early vaccination, Dr. Whitcomb says. "If I have a child with recurrent ear infections, which is very common, I will never approve a vaccination."
Similarly, if the child is not well-nourished and has a diet of sugar and processed "junk" foods, or if the home environment is not nurturing and stressful, these are also factors contraindicating a vaccine. "If you give a child living under these conditions a vaccination, they will have more trouble with that vaccine than healthier, stronger children. In such a case, I would delay the vaccine until, according to EDS, the child can handle it."
F. Fuller Royal,
M.D., H.M.D., medical director of the Nevada Clinic and Secretary-Treasurer of
the Nevada State Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners, says that parents who
feel that their children should receive some vaccinations should look for a
licensed doctor of homeopathy who can use EDS to determine reactivity. The
doctor should then be able to prescribe the proper homeopathic substance to be
taken before vaccination and for a period thereafter, to avoid adverse
reactions and residual ill effects.
| Harold Whitcomb, M.D., is a board qualified internist with an emphasis in environmental and preventive medicine. He may be contacted at: Aspen Clinic for Preventive and Environmental Medicine at Internal Medicine Associates, 100 E. Main St., Aspen, CO 81611; tel: 970-920-2523 or 970-925-5440; fax: 970-920-2282. |
This table shows how diseases have resolved on their own during this century. The numbers in red indicate the approximate year that mass vaccinations were introduced.
Year
Polio Smallpox Diphtheria Pertussis 1901- 6,911 48,839 33,094 1906- 352 28,225 26,436 1911- 354 20,350 20,285 1916- 495 15,623 21,382 1921- 7,229 781 12,267 14,724 1926- 6,038 227 7,074 13,047 1931- 4,545 51 4,388 9,850 1936- 3,666 9 2,189 6,809 1941- 3,539 9 1,135 4,399 1946- 799 6 467 1,460 1951- 3,826 0 125 558 1956- 1,604 0 45 206 1961- 1,076 0 22 82 1966- 928 0 15 32 1971-75 0 5 12 122
Year
Tetanus Measles Influenza 1901- 28,065 1,956 15,496 1906- 16,318 10,837 10,109 1911- 11,503 7,615 7,086 1916- 8,596 7,926 54,283 1921- 7,818 4,919 13,673 1926- 6,040 3,994 17,602 1931- 4,709 2,957 11,191 1936- 3,275 1,238 8,449 1941- 2,384 1,013 4,366 1946- 1,697 469 1,736 1951- 2,093 268 1,178 1956- 788 203 938 1961- 550 162 553 1966- 282 44 633 1971-755
22 7 491 The chart below shows when mass vaccinations for these diseases were introduced in the U.S.
Disease Year Mass Vaccinations Began Polio 1955 Smallpox 1902 Diphtheria mid-1940s Pertussis mid-1940s Tetanus mid-1940s Measles 1963 H. influenzae 1985 Comparing these dates to the mortality rates above, it is obvious that diphtheria, pertussis, influenza, etc., were on their way out long before their respective vaccines were introduced on a mass scale.
Source: International Mortality Statistics, by Michael Alderson
Making Informed DecisionsThe National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a national, non-profit educational organization founded in 1982. It is the oldest and largest national organization advocating reformation of the mass vaccination system and is responsible for launching the vaccine safety movement in America in the early 1980's. Located in Vienna, Virginia, NVIC is dedicated to the prevention of vaccine injuries and deaths through public education. NVIC provides assistance to parents whose children have suffered vaccine reactions; promotes research to evaluate vaccine safety and effectiveness as well as to identify factors which place individuals at high risk for suffering vaccine reactions; and monitors vaccine research, development, policy-making and legislation. NVIC supports the right of citizens to exercise informed consent and make educated, independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their children.
What's helpful for those who are trying to make these decisions, say Fisher and NVIC's co-founder/director Kathi Williams, is to begin with this checklist:
Become Familiar with diseases and their vaccines, even while pregnant: The first vaccine is given within 12 hours of birth.
Interview the baby's doctor ahead of time about your vaccine concerns and be a part of the decision-making process. Give the doctor a detailed family history, including any autoimmune and neurological problems in the family. If these are part of your family history, children could be at greater risk of reacting.
Consider the medical evaluation and history for each individual child. If it's evident that certain vaccines are contraindicated — such as the "P" part of the DPT vaccine because of a family history of neurological problems — then you're on a different decision-making path than someone for whom the risks aren't as defined.
Stay informed of new vaccine developments, including recalls and new formulations. For example, vaccines that are free of mercury-based preservatives are now available in single-dose vials.
Know your state law, including which vaccines are mandated. Every state offers a medical exemption to vaccination. All states except West Virginia and Mississippi offer a religious exemption, and 17 states have a philosophical or personal belief exemption.
If you're going to vaccinate, ask to see the vial, the expiration date and the lot number.
Keep in mind that "not all the diseases we vaccinate for are killer diseases for most children," says Fisher. "Ask yourself, is it better to protect children against infectious diseases early in life through temporary immunity from a vaccine, or are they better off contracting certain contagious infections and attaining permanent immunity? We have to weight whether vaccine complications cause more injury and death than the diseases do."
If a child does have an adverse reaction to a vaccine, report it. (The NVIC will help you to make an official report to the FDA. Go to the NVIC website. Your privacy will be respected.) Doctors are required by law to report any injury, hospitalization or death within 30 days of vaccination, but many do not. As a parent, the law allows you to report the reaction.
Contact: National Vaccine Information Center: 512 W. Maple Ave., Suite 206, Vienna, VA 22180; website: www.909shot.com; tel: 800-909-SHOT or 703-938-DPT3; Fax: 703-938-5768; e-mail: info@909shot.com.
Do
Vaccines
Impair
Immune Function?
A healthy immune system gives us the ability to resist or subdue infection, allergy, chronic illness and degenerative disease. As we mature and age, the immune foundation we develop during our first years of life will remain vitally important.
At birth, certain immune defense mechanisms are already in place. Substances secreted in the skin and mucous membranes serve as the first line of defense, and white blood cells that destroy disease agents by engulfing them (phagocytosis) and other functions are a second line of defense.
Although newborns aren't able to produce all the antibodies and other immune defenses they will need, they are already capable of recognizing more than a million different identifying characteristics of foreign substances, or antigens. Infants who are breast-fed receive maternal antibodies and immune-cell stimulating substances from breast milk. For the first few months of life, these maternal antibodies can provide passive immunity against many specific infections.
During the first year of life, babies develop their own antibodies. Other immune defenses also continue to develop as body cells mature and the child is exposed to numerous bacteria, viruses and fungi in the environment, which stimulate long-term or even lifelong immune-cell memory. The subsequent resistance to a specific antigen is called natural immunity.
By contrast, artificial immunity — as conferred by vaccination against diseases such as polio and pertussis — is quite different. Vaccinated immunity relies only on antibody response to inoculation with specific antigen strains. The hope is that the immune system will be sufficiently stimulated and produce enough antibodies to create immunity to the vaccine antigen.
While we might be at reduced risk of contracting the formerly crippling and lethal diseases that we were inoculated against, it's the vaccines themselves that are now the cripplers.
But there is intrinsic problems with vaccination theory. The immune system is not a one-truck fire station: Antibodies aren't the only way to snuff out invading disease agents. There are many, many immune defense mechanisms (including biological response modifiers such as interferon, produced by white blood cells) and different biochemical
A larger problem with vaccination, however, is that it appears to have an adverse effect on immune function. In the case of childhood vaccination, it is thought that current vaccines cause serous defects in immune development and function.
While the assumption has always been that we can have both vaccinated immunity and a healthy immune system, this is apparently untrue. When an immune system, especially a developing one, is bombarded with "inactivated" antigens suspended in solutions of toxic additives, contaminants and solvents, immune function can become impaired.
While we might be at reduced risk of contracting the formerly crippling and lethal diseases that we were inoculated against, it's the vaccines themselves that are now the cripplers.
Many health professionals are speaking out about their concern that childhood vaccines harm the developing immune system. At the same time, questions are being raised about the skyrocketing rate of chronic illness and disease among children. It doesn't seem likely that processed foods, environmental toxins, psychological stress and overused antibiotic drugs are the only culprits. Do these factors explain, for example, the appalling rise in asthma and diabetes in children?
Randall Neustaedter, O.M.D., L.Ac., CCH, who practiced homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine for more than 20 years, and in 1996 wrote The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Choice, believes that vaccines can disable the immune system. Observing that illnesses tend to begin when babies are three or four months old — the point at which maternal antibodies are beginning to wear out, leaving babies susceptible to environmental microbes — Dr. Neustaedter asks, "Why aren't these babies developing their own antibodies in response to the initial viral or bacterial infections?
A 1996 study in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that tetanus vaccine disables the immune system in HIV patients. Tetanus vaccination produced a drop in immune T cells, a classic marker of immune deficiency, in 10 of 13 patients, with a rise in viral replication.
Dr. Neustaedter notes that the immune-destructive effect of vaccines can persist over a long period of time, although we don't yet know how long. In one study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, it was shown that the measles vaccine has a long-term depressive effect on interferon production. The vaccination of one-year-olds with measles vaccine caused a precipitous drop in their level of alpha-interferon production. This decline was still persisting one year following vaccination, when the study was terminated.
Researchers are looking at the role vaccines play in child-hood asthma and allergy. Results of the Christchurch Health and Development Study in New Zealand, published in 1997 in Epidemiology, point to higher rates of asthma and allergy episodes among vaccinated children. And in a study using the Mumps-Measles-Rubella (MMR) vaccine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, researchers investigated the association between childhood asthma and live-virus vaccines, concluding that "universal childhood vaccination using live viral strains may be contributory to the rise in IgE [antibody]-mediated disorders."
Other researchers are saying that vaccines are disabling our bodies' ability to react normally to disease, thereby creating autoimmune conditions. In 1994, a committee of investigators at the Institutes of Medicine directly associated vaccines with the rising occurrence of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, that attack and destroy the myelin sheaths (tubular insulation) of the nerves. They said it's "plausible that injection of an inactivated virus, bacterium, or live attenuated virus might induce in the susceptible host an autoimmune response by deregulation of the immune response, by nonspecific activation of the T cells directed against myelin proteins, or by autoimmunity triggered by sequence similarities of proteins in the vaccine to host proteins such as those of myelin."
A study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal in 1996 revealed that an epidemic of diabetes followed a massive campaign to vaccinate children against hepatitis B. The study showed a 60% increase in childhood insulin-dependent diabetes, an autoimmune disease, occurring in the years following the 1989-1991 vaccination program of children aged 6 to16. Other studies have shown that widespread use of the Haemophilus meningitis vaccine has resulted in diabetes epidemics. Diabetes has also been frequently observed as a consequence of the mumps vaccine: Three European studies reported 22 cases of diabetes that began within 30 days of mumps vaccination.
These are just a very few studies amidst the growing proof, says Dr. Neustaedter, that tampering the the immune system can cause devastating disease.
Contact: Dr. Neustaedter, O.M.D., L.Ac., Classical Medicine Center, 1779 Woodside Road, Suite 201C, Redwood City, CA 94061. Tel: 650-899-9170; website: www.cure-guide.com
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE MAGAZINE · SEPTEMBER 2001 · ISSUE 42
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ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.