Vaccination NewsLetter: Top Stories - June 23-29, 2003

Note 1: If for any reason you end up in the "frames" version of the website, here's how to create a unique "url".  In Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape 7, in order to bookmark, forward or copy the direct link, right click on the link you are interested in and click on "open in new window".  The page will now open with the correct url.  (If someone knows how to do this in other editions of Netscape, please email me at sandym@touchngo.com and I will publish those directions as well.)

Note 2:  A sentence or two from each article will be included right after the link in quotes in many cases.

Note 3:  A short bio of Sandy Mintz is included in the Scandals column titled: The Homeland Security Act - The Aftermath.

Note 4:  My comments are in red.

Previous newsletters

Picks of the week - updated 10/24/03

Smallpox/smallpox vaccine

Smallpox Vaccination Plan's Future Unclear - "The future of the government's smallpox-preparedness program may be decided not by the White House or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but by the nurses, doctors and others who are not lining up for voluntary vaccinations...Even before an expert panel advised last week against expanding the vaccine program beyond the first phase, the program had slowed to about 100 vaccinations a week. Nearly 38,000 medical and public health workers have been immunized, far fewer than the 450,000 initially expected in the program's first phase."

Smallpox shots to continue despite warnings

Military Smallpox Vaccine Program Deemed Safe - Side effects from 450,000 vaccinations were lower than expected, researchers conclude.

Smallpox Vaccine Has "No Serious Side Effects," Military Study Concludes

Smallpox Shots Linked to Heart Problem

Response to Smallpox Vaccine in Persons Immunized in the Distant Past - "Previously vaccinated persons can be successfully revaccinated with diluted (≤1:10) smallpox vaccine. Fewer adverse reactions were observed in this study of non-naive participants when compared with events in vaccinia-naive participants, which may be due to immunologic memory.^"

Ill. To Offer Vaccine Against Monkeypox

Frist bills/Eli Lilly et al protection/VICP  -  for more, click here

Other Bioterror-related

The spread of epidemiology - With the United States on high alert over the possibility of bioterror attacks, epidemiologists are in huge demand, says Virginia Gewin.

(More Homeland Security related articles posted starting on August 28, 2003)  http://www.vaccinationnews.com/HomelandSecurity.htm

Autism

Ill-founded claims about risks of vaccination - "WE read your report, Mercury linked to autism (June 19), with some dismay that yet again a single unpublished study that has not been subjected to critical scientific scrutiny has gener-ated such an alarmist headline. Such articles, adorned with quotes from the usual band of crusading commentators who use any study, however flawed, to justify their beliefs, are misleading and irresponsible. Many suppositions are made in your report that fly in the face of common sense, logic, established facts, and other scientific evidence."

Autism now diagnosed early Therapy for toddlers makes 'huge difference' - "A baby headed for autism, Landa says, often lacks that basic ability to connect. And there may be other signs. For example, instead of burbling and babbling with a variety of sounds, a baby in trouble may produce nothing but high-pitched squeals." - High-pitched screaming has been associated with both DPT and DT vaccines (with no comparison to never vaccinated infants). 

Major Stress During Pregnancy Linked To Autism

Autism/mercury

Get the MERCURY Out! - The Effects of Mercury on the Nervous System - What, no mention of vaccines?

'Poisonous' baby jab warning - Vaccines routinely given to babies by the NHS contain many more times the maximum level of mercury their mothers are advised it is safe to eat in fish, a BBC investigation has revealed.

Study: Canned Tuna Mercury Riskier than Previously Suspected; Pregnant Women, Young Children Warned to Avoid Albacore

WHO Committee Recommends Stricter Mercury Exposure Standards; Nonprofit group urges FDA to adopt more protective warnings

Autism/MMR

New Study Shows MMR-Autism Link  - "A new study, published in Pediatric Neurology, Vol. 28, No. 4, is expected to show that MMR and autism are linked, despite the denials of the UK Department of Health and the recent court judgement that ordered two girls to receive the controversial MMR vaccine...World-renowned autism researcher Dr. Vijendra Singh, at the Utah State University, and fellow-researcher Ryan Jensen have announced that their latest study,” Elevated Levels of Measles Antibodies in Children with Autism”, points directly to an MMR/autism link." - important article

Elevated Levels of Measles Antibodies in Children with Autism - by Vijendra K. Singh, PhD and Ryan L. Jensen, BS

Autism and vaccines

AIDS/AIDS vaccine

Towards an AIDS vaccine: unusual antibody that targets HIV described by scientists at TSRI - And what if, as Duesberg and others believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS?

AIDS Vaccine Effort Is Urged - Specialists Seek Global Program - ditto

Antibody Discovery Could Lead to HIV Vaccine: Study - ditto

Researchers Work to Infect Mice With HIV - ditto

Are needles spreading HIV? - How did HIV come to afflict Africa so much more than other parts of the world?

Alzheimer's disease/vaccine

Anthrax/anthrax vaccine/Gulf War Syndrome

Anthrax vaccine a deadly defense? - "The Department of Defense's anthrax vaccination program, deemed "unusually hazardous" by the military itself, is being forced on soldiers who can not refuse it without risking disciplinary action...U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Rachael Lacy, 22, of Lynwood, died in April after receiving the vaccination, along with a smallpox inoculation. A coroner ruled the shots were contributing factors in her death, a ruling which the military claims there is no evidence to support."

Questions Mount Over Anthrax Shot - "But even when the Army finally documented that the vaccine was to blame, Nietupski says no one reported his case to the FDA, which tracks adverse events. ..'There's a lot of people like me out there because doctors in the military are fearful of reporting adverse events to the Food and Drug Administration because of potentially being reprimanded for doing so,' he says." - important article

Direct Order - "Direct Order tells the story of members of the military who were ordered against their will to receive the controversial anthrax vaccine. Years later, after all the disturbing facts about the vaccine have surfaced, the US military still intends to vaccinate all our troops." - documentary narrated by Michael Douglas 

Autoimmunity/autoimmune disease

Cancer/cancer vaccines

Chickenpox/chickenpox vaccine

Diabetes/diabetes vaccine

Diphtheria/diphtheria vaccine

Flu/flu vaccine

Haemophilus Influenza/Hib Vaccine

Hepatitis A/hepatitis A vaccine

Hepatitis B/hepatitis B vaccine

Hepatitis C

Alcohol Increases Hepatitis C Virus in Human Cells - Drinking May Compromise Treatment Success

Lyme disease/lyme disease vaccine

Meningitis/meningitis vaccine

Monkeypox/smallpox vaccine for monkeypox

Ill. To Offer Vaccine Against Monkeypox

MMR/measles,mumps,rubella

Measles: an exanthem that can be eradicated - "Even where the incidence of measles is high, endemicity is high, and immunisation coverage low, a properly vaccinated child is protected." - Although neither the point nor the intent of the letter was to argue the illogic of forced vaccination, it serves to make just that point.

Parents angry over boy's unwanted MMR jab

BMA rejects compulsory jabs - Parents should not be forced to have their children vaccinated against diseases like mumps, measles and rubella, according to the British Medical Association. - "The doctor-patient relationship is based on trust, choice and openness and we think introducing compulsory vaccination may be harmful about this."

Pet vaccines

Pneumonia/prevnar

Vaccine guidelines changing - "The new study, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, examined the cost and effectiveness of the vaccine for various age groups. It concluded that vaccinating people age 50 to 64 would reduce total health-care costs, and that offering it to everyone 50 or above would be more cost-effective in preventing deaths than some other commonly accepted health measures such as colon cancer screening." - For more on the soundness of the arguments behind prevnar recommendations, click here.

Polio/polio vaccine

Letter to Demand a Congressional Investigation and Hearing on the Introduction of Simian Virus 40 (SV40), a Cancer-Causing Monkey Virus, into the American Population From Contaminated Polio Vaccines

Rabies/rabies vaccine

RECALLS

SARS

SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome)

CPS moves on child death cases - The evidence of two medical experts criticised after the Sally Clark appeal could be the subject of a Crown Prosecution Service review.

A parent's nightmare: shaken baby syndrome

Lack of experts leads to false charges over child deaths - Cot death mothers wrongly accused because of national shortage of pathologists trained in investigating circumstances

West Nile virus/vaccine

Whooping cough/DPT vaccine

Tetanus Vaccines Needed To Prevent Serious Illness - Bacteria Infect Minor Cuts, Wounds - for Dr. Sherri Tenpenny's view, click here.  And other perspectives, click here.

The effect of DPT and BCG vaccinations on atopic disorders - "From these results, we conclude that DPT vaccination has some effect in the promotion of atopic disorders, while successful BCG vaccination inhibits the development of atopic disorders, although the preventive effect of BCG may not last for many years."

SIDS and DPT vaccination - "One of the chief claims of groups critical of vaccinations is that the SIDS rate dropped in Japan after the age for DPT vaccination was raised from 2 months to two years. Here are some references that bear on that issue."

Other vaccines/screening

Vaccines in general/vaccine research

Health Watch Fewer Shots For Children - "It's the dreaded office visit. You're there encouraging your little one, letting them know that everything will be alright, and that this is will keep them from getting sick. Then walks in the nurse with the needle, but to your child it might as well be a machete. Yes, children have to endure a number of shots to protect themselves against disease. But kids can now receive five immunizations in the form of just one shot." - Oh, goody!

Campaigners dicing with death - "The views of those against vaccination appear to be gaining in influence"

(Vaccine) additives & contaminants

Letter to Demand a Congressional Investigation and Hearing on the Introduction of Simian Virus 40 (SV40), a Cancer-Causing Monkey Virus, into the American Population From Contaminated Polio Vaccines

Adventitious Viral Genomes in Vaccines but Not in Vaccinees - "Following the potential exposure of millions of polio vaccinees to SV40, no evidence was found of increased cancer incidence^[16]." - "No evidence"? I beg to differ.

Vaccine testing

Adverse reactions/VAERS/VICP

Alternative Treatments/prevention

Banishing the blues could cut the chances of cancer

Light adds oxygen to blood - UV-powered converter could help treat lung disease.

Sesame oil lowers BP

Low vitamin C linked to greater arthritis risk

Herb wrap wards off food poisoning - The herb basil is the crucial ingredient in a super wrap being developed to protect food more effectively from contamination by dangerous bugs.

FTC: 'Coral Calcium Supreme claims false'

Tropical Oils Beat Fat

Dust Monitor May Stop Black Lung Disease

Mental activity may help prevent dementia

Eat less today, live longer tomorrow

Breastfeeding (vs. formula)

"The Condition Our Condition Is In" (The State of Medicine/Science)

Manufacturing Certainty - "'Tests indicate that you have a 90% chance of being infected with a deadly virus. There is a 50% probability that it will cause disease within the next 10 years, and a possibility that it never will. If you take the drugs that I offer, there is a significant risk that you will experience a great decline in your quality of life, and a possibility that the drugs will kill you.'...Although it might be the truth, you are unlikely to hear a doctor saying this, because neither the doctor nor the patient can deal with the uncertainty that it admits."

'Advanced But Not Reliable’ - Study: Americans Get Only Half the Care They Need AND Medical Care Often Not Optimal, Study Finds - Failure to Treat Patients Fully Spans Range of What Is Expected of Physicians and Nurses

Scrutiny for doctors as expert witnesses? - Physicians at a CEJA open forum discussed accountability for bad medical testimony and disparities in and access to health care. - "A. Bernard Ackerman, MD, believes giving bad expert witness testimony is akin to practicing bad medicine...'This is a widespread problem,' Dr. Ackerman told physicians gathered at the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs open forum during the AMA Annual Meeting. 'Do you think that doctors who lie in court do that only in court? They lie to patients.'"

Conflict of Interest

Drug Industry Employs 675 Washington Lobbyists, Many with Revolving-Door Connections, New Report Finds

Large-scale science - Big collaborations require new attitudes about industry–academia ties and professional status - "Academic scientists should collaborate more frequently with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to speed discoveries and to reduce overall costs when engaged in large-scale biomedical research projects, concludes a new report from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Universities should also revise their policies on tenure and promotion to reward researchers and managers involved in large-scale collaborative projects. This is would help to "avoid relegating these valuable scientists and managers to a 'second-tier' status," states the report, Large-Scale Biomedical Science: Exploring Strategies for Future Research."

Death and Disease

Medics call for action on child health crisis - Deprivation, not disease, is killing world's children, warn reports. - "The international community must find $7.5 billion a year, the analysis concludes. This money will pay for vaccinations against diseases such as measles and diphtheria, treating diarrhoea pneumonia and malaria, raising barriers to and HIV and improving nutrition...A new strategy is needed, too, argue the reports. Global public-health money is almost always allocated to a specific disease or problem -tuberculosis or improved sanitation, for example. This compartmentalization can mean that resources are not maximized to benefit children, often those at greatest risk." - You say it's time for food, sanitary conditions, clean water, etc.  I say it's time for an anti-deprivation vaccine.  Am I so wrong?

Effectiveness/herd immunity

Ethics

Scrutiny for doctors as expert witnesses? - Physicians at a CEJA open forum discussed accountability for bad medical testimony and disparities in and access to health care.

Funding

Government/science/industry/medicine clearly run amok

Parents angry over boy's unwanted MMR jab

Medication Errors in Hospitalized Cardiovascular Patients - "Among 14 983 pharmacist interventions, 4768 were related to medication errors, or 24 medication errors per 100 admissions." - 24 out of every 100 admissions!!!!

Kaopectate Maker to Reduce Lead Levels - Maker of Diarrhea Medicine Kaopectate to Reduce Lead Levels in Settlement With California - Lead in Kaopectate? Just when you thought you couldn't be shocked.

Are needles spreading HIV? - How did HIV come to afflict Africa so much more than other parts of the world?

Death From Ritalin -The Truth Behind ADHD

Legal/lawsuits/legislation

*Pending Immunization Legislation - bookmark this link

Parental/health rights/exemptions/mandatory/privacy/health freedom/forced quarantines

Second Public Comment Hearing by Department of Health on Proposals to Require New Vaccines - Chickenpox, Hepatitis B, and Pneumococcus Vaccines to Be Required for Infants - Minnesota testimony

Parents angry over boy's unwanted MMR jab

BMA rejects compulsory jabs - Parents should not be forced to have their children vaccinated against diseases like mumps, measles and rubella, according to the British Medical Association. - "The doctor-patient relationship is based on trust, choice and openness and we think introducing compulsory vaccination may be harmful about this."

Pharmaceutical industry/pharmaceutical industry oversight

FDA Commissioner Aims for Quicker Drug Reviews - "The nation's top drug regulator said on Monday he aims to cut the time it takes to bring new medicines to the public, while still ensuring that any negative side effects are promptly reported to the government." - While "still" ensuring?

Drug Industry Employs 675 Washington Lobbyists, Many with Revolving-Door Connections, New Report Finds

Pharmaceuticals - Drug Industry Discovers Recycling - "Drug companies often seem to trip over themselves looking for brand new medicines. But most drugs that begin clinical trials never make it to market. Meanwhile, an entire pharmacopoeia of medicines have gone off patent and fallen out of use. Instead of focusing on new drugs, why not look for new uses for old ones?...Several small pharmaceutical companies are making a business of doing exactly that, scouring already tested medicines for products that might be put to new use, or tweaked slightly to make new drugs."

Politics

Pregnancy/childbirth

Research/publishing/funding/other research results

Effect of interpretive bias on research evidence - "Doctors are being encouraged to improve their critical appraisal skills to make better use of medical research. But when using these skills, it is important to remember that interpretation of data is inevitably subjective and can itself result in bias.^"

Mirth-triggered asthma: Is laughter really the best medicine? - How long before development of an "anti-mirth vaccine"? (Don't laugh so hard that you cough, please.)

Enforced humour annoys patients - Mandatory, universally applied, "one-size fits all" medicine is rarely, if ever, justified.

Scientist Quits After Claims He Faked Data

Hormone Pills May Spur Breast Cancer

Mental ailments in children being linked to strep

Letters From Parents &others

Miscellaneous

Newsletter Archives - use this link to access old newsletters, including those whose links may have changed

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