Vaccination NewsLetter: Top Stories - November 24-30, 2003

Vaccination NewsLetter: Top Stories - posted November 24-30, 2003

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Previous newsletters

Picks of the week - updated 12/2/03

Smallpox/smallpox vaccine

Senator Bingaman's Resolution: Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the anthrax and smallpox vaccines

 

November 20, 2003 - A poxy story - For several hundred years, a type of pox virus known as vaccinia has been saving lives. Today it is still proving useful to medicine - The Economist - "If researchers can discover why vaccinia, and other pox viruses, are so good at evading the efforts of immune cells, they will make a significant advance in understanding the way the human immune system works."

November 24, 2003 - Senator: Military must review vaccine use - UPI - "A week after the Pentagon acknowledged one soldier's death might have been caused by a vaccine reaction, a U.S. senator is calling on the military to reconsider mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccinations that he says could be causing "grievous" harm...Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., plans on Tuesday to introduce a "Sense of the Senate" resolution asking Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to review the vaccine program amid growing reports of serious side effects...'An estimated 84 percent of the personnel who had anthrax vaccine shots ... reported having side effects or reactions'..."

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

Other Bioterror-related

November 27, 2003 - Congress passes sweeping changes - Republican victories spur partisan animosity - AP via The Daily Camera - "With wide bipartisan support, Congress approved a five-year, $15 billion bill proposed by the president to combat AIDS in 14 African and Caribbean nations. Another $5.6 billion over 10 years was set aside to research and stockpile vaccines in response to the threat of bioterrorist attacks."

Autism

November 30, 2003 - Autism turns sons into strangers - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

National Autism Association

 

National Autism Association - Action Center - action of the week

 

December 1, 2003 - The Autism Calendar - December 2003 - Schafer Autism report

 

November 27, 2003 - Working hard at life - Backed by her parents and a few others who believe in her, Stow's Nancy Henn lives productively despite the curse of autism - The Akron Beacon Journal - "Nancy Henn can't daydream on the job.  If she's distracted for even a few minutes, her fragile inner controls may loosen, making her vulnerable to the nightmarish chaos of a broken mind."

 

November 24, 2003 - Autism Treatment Now Offered in Michigan -  Detroit Now - "When a child has autism, a parent is willing to go anywhere and try anything to get help...Thanks to the persistence of one local family, a new breakthrough treatment has just come to Michigan."

 

November 24, 2003 - Autism no longer considered a rare condition - Knight Ridder via www.sunherald.com - "Some parents think that childhood vaccinations are a cause of autism, but that theory has been ruled out by researchers, Yeargin-Allsopp said." (Responses to this article can be sent to Diane Carroll at dcarroll@kcstar.com)

 

Comment: It has only been "ruled out" by some researchers.  For some of the other perspectives on this alleged "ruling out", go to Safe Minds, Scandals: Why We Won't Take No* For An Answer  (*No relationship between MMR and autism) and Scandals: Vaccinations  - Garbage In/Less Than All The Garbage Out?

 

Sometimes it’s Okay to “Just Say YES” to drugs: Innovations in intervention for autism spectrum disorder - Exceptional Parent Magazine

 

"Autism Fraud" Power Point - Waters & Kraus, Attorneys at Law

Autism/mercury

Analysis and Characterization of Mercury in Injectable Products - CBER Research Project - FDA (last updated April 2002)

Mercury Compounds in Drugs and Food - CBER/FDA (last updated August 2001)

 

November 28, 2003 - Mercury A Growing Scourge - www.i-sis.org.uk

Thimerosal-Containing Influenza Vaccine - CDC

Wisconsin Mercury Sourcebook - A Guide To Help Your Community Identify and Reduce Releases of Elemental Mercury - EPA

Comment:  What, no "Mercury Use: Vaccines"?

Autism/MMR

Visceral - A Medical Research Charity for Intestinal Disease - www.visceral.org - "Objects - The objects of Visceral are the promotion of education and research into the study and cure of gastro-intestinally mediated disease, including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and an increasingly common combination of gastrointestinal disease with a regressive developmental disorder (autistic enterocolitis) through making grants to appropriate institutions and individuals."

November 24, 2003 - Is Rubella Vaccination Playing A Role In The Rise In Autism? - By RFD Columnist and Vaccination News editor, Sandy Mintz - Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com

Autism and vaccines

AIDS/HIV/AIDS vaccine

November 27, 2003 - Congress passes sweeping changes - Republican victories spur partisan animosity - AP via The Daily Camera - "With wide bipartisan support, Congress approved a five-year, $15 billion bill proposed by the president to combat AIDS in 14 African and Caribbean nations. Another $5.6 billion over 10 years was set aside to research and stockpile vaccines in response to the threat of bioterrorist attacks."

November 27, 2003 - Ignorance Hampers AIDS Fight in Asia - AP via www.heraldsun.com - "A doctor from Afghanistan stunned a conference on AIDS this month by revealing that he didn't know what the symptoms of the disease were."

Comment:  Maybe the reason this good doctor doesn't know what the symptoms are is because there is not a definitive thing called "AIDS".  Here's what Professor Peter Duesberg had to say about AIDS in his book Inventing the AIDS Virus: "This war has been fought in the name of the virus-AIDS hypothesis, which holds that HIV, the AIDS virus, is a new cause of thirty old diseases, including Kaposi's sarcoma, tuberculosis, dementia, pneumonia, weight loss, diarrhea, leukemia, and twenty-three others (see chapter 6).  If any of these previously known diseases now occurs in a patient who has antibodies against HIV (but rarely ever any HIV), then his or her disease is diagnosed as AIDS and blamed on HIV.  If the same disease occurs in a patient without HIV-antibodies, his or her diseases is diagnosed by its old name and blamed on conventional chemical or microbial causes."

November 26, 2003 - New Study Shows Overall Increase in HIV Diagnoses - African Americans, Latinos, Gay and Bisexual Men most affected - CDC Press release

 

Comment: But what if, as some believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS? 

 

November 26, 2003 - U.N. Report Calls Efforts Against AIDS 'Entirely Inadequate'  - The New York Times

 

Comment: And what if, as some believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS? 

 

Comment:  And what of the role medical intervention has played in the spread of AIDS in Africa?  For more on this go to Scandals: "But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last." and BD Applauds Senate Action to Prevent Unsafe Medical Practices That Can Cause HIV/AIDS Spread in Africa

November 25, 2003 - Emory and CDC scientists explore why most breastfed infants of HIV-positive mothers resist infection – www.eurekalert.org  

November 25, 2003 - Mononucleosis UPS Risk for HIV Infection – Reuters Health via Medline 

November 25, 2003 - U.N.: No end in sight for AIDS epidemic - The AIDS epidemic shows no signs of abating, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and political action to fight the virus is failing, according to a report released Tuesday. – CNN

November 23, 2003 - Hope for Aids cure as prostitutes defy virus in the slums - John Carlin reports from Nairobi on the inspirational doctor who turned his back on Oxford and dedicated his life to the desperate search for a drug that will spell the end of a continent's holocaust - The Guardian, UK

Alzheimer's disease/vaccine

November 21, 2003 - Small, But Promising, Advances in War Against Alzheimer's - From drugs to vaccines, progress is reported - HealthDay Reporter

Anthrax/anthrax vaccine/Gulf War Syndrome

Senator Bingaman's Resolution: Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the anthrax and smallpox vaccines

 

November 26, 2003 - Ohio Guardsman refuses anthrax vaccination - The Cleveland Plain Dealer - "An Ohio National Guard member whose unit is scheduled for deployment in January is refusing to be vaccinated against anthrax and could wind up in jail."

November 24, 2003 - Senator: Military must review vaccine use - UPI - "A week after the Pentagon acknowledged one soldier's death might have been caused by a vaccine reaction, a U.S. senator is calling on the military to reconsider mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccinations that he says could be causing "grievous" harm...Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., plans on Tuesday to introduce a "Sense of the Senate" resolution asking Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to review the vaccine program amid growing reports of serious side effects...'An estimated 84 percent of the personnel who had anthrax vaccine shots ... reported having side effects or reactions'..."

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

Microorganisms and Autoimmunity: Making the Barren Field Fertile? (requires registration) - Nature Reviews Microbiology - "Microorganisms induce strong immune responses, most of which are specific for their encoded antigens. However, microbial infections can also trigger responses against self antigens (autoimmunity), and it has been proposed that this phenomenon could underlie several chronic human diseases, such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis."

Cancer/cancer vaccines

November 24, 2003 - Antigenics Rises - The Motley Fool - "Antigenics is placing big hopes on Oncophage, a personalized cancer vaccine made from a patient's own antigens."

Chickenpox/chickenpox vaccine

October 28, 2003 - Experimental Vaccine to Prevent Shingles Part of National Study - Canadian Press - "For every 100 kids that get chickenpox, she says five of them will have complications, some extremely serious. Secondary bacterial infections have been known to get into the bloodstream and even cause flesh-eating disease in children or travel to their bones and joints...A cautionary theory has been put forward on the chickenpox vaccine-shingles issue...So the concern is: Will we trade a childhood disease for something that's far worse in adults?"

Comment: Where do they get statistics like the 5 in 100 one above?  Click here to see what they used to say about chickenpox, before there was a vaccine for it.  Go to Rise In Shingles Cases Linked To Universal Chickenpox Vaccine Program, in the Online Vaccines Conference at Redflagsdaily.com and Scandals: When is an oops not really an oops?  When you get to solve the problems you cause, and make money doing both! for more on the "chickenpox vaccine-shingles issue".

Diabetes

Diphtheria/diphtheria vaccine

Ebola/ebola vaccine - NEW!

November 25, 2003 - Ebola blamed in tragic decline of great apes - Emergency meeting aimed at staving off extinction from disease, poaching, habitat destruction - MSNBC

Flu/flu vaccine

Workshop on Development of Clinical Trial Plan for Pandemic Inluenza Vaccines - CBER/FDA

November 30, 2003 - New Campaign To Market Tough-Sell FluMist - by Sherri Tenpenny, DO - Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com

November 28, 2003 - Scientists warn of coming flu pandemic - Experts recommend world health authorities stockpile vaccine to be ready for new strains of influenza - Knight-Ridder via The Wichita Eagle

November 28, 2003 - Child , 2 seniors, die as flu bug spreads - The Globe and Mail - "Children are particularly vulnerable because flu was mild for several years, not allowing them to build immunity, and because one of the strains is new and particularly virulent...The notion of a universal flu vaccination is recent and immunizing children has not been routine."

November 28, 2003 - Flu threat puts parents on alert  - One child dies in Peterborough from bug - The Globe and Mail - "Despite experts' dire warnings that the world is overdue for a pandemic that will kill millions of people, that is unlikely to occur this year. A pandemic occurs when a strain jumps from animals to humans...'A/Fujian will not cause a pandemic, but that doesn't mean it's benign,' said Robert Webster, a virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn...the child who died 'did have some underlying medical problems...'

November 17, 2003 - CDC News Conference Transcript - Update on Current Influenza Season - CDC - "The strain that we're most concerned about, that is a drift version of H3N2 is called the Fujian strain. It's very similar, it's just drifted a little bit from the Panama strain, and our animal studies suggest that the vaccine will provide cross-protection against this strain. In the past this has happened. It's a very common thing."

 

November 28, 2003 - Longtime dream spurs fight against paralysis - Washington County sheriff in 2nd term - www.ajc.com - "Smith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare but rapid onset of weakness or paralysis in which the body's immune system typically attacks the body itself...The syndrome can be triggered by vaccinations and it has no known cause or cure. In Smith's case, a flu shot sparked the disease."

November 26, 2003 - Alta. unveils plan for next influenza pandemic - www.ctv.ca - "The Alberta government has issued a dire health warning about the flu. They say when the next pandemic hits, it will make last spring's SARS outbreak look like 'the sniffles.'"

November 27, 2003 - Few willing to pay through the nose for FluMist - Akron Beacon Journal

November 27, 2003 - Officials reject flu risk claims - Claims that the UK may be unprepared if this year's flu season turns into "the big one" have been dismissed by the Department of Health.  - BBC

 

November 27, 2003 - Thousands sickened in early, severe flu season - Especially virulent strain of virus is cropping up - CNN - "'One of the reported deaths from flu this year was of a child with symptoms that were not consistent with the flu,' said Dr. Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer...'The loss of this child is tragic, but parents need to know this is a very unusual case, and that there have not been any similar cases in Colorado or Texas, where flu activity has been the worst to date in the United States this year," he said in a statement on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Web site.'"

Thimerosal-Containing Influenza Vaccine - CDC

November 26, 2003 - Flu outbreak may be shot in arm for hospital profits - The Tennessean

November 26, 2003 - Flu loosens grip as cases fall - The Herald, UK

November 25, 2003 - MedImmune Seeks Help In Relaunching FluMist - New Plan to Be Rolled Out in January - The Washington Post

November 25, 2003 - Severe strain of flu isn't included in this year's vaccine – AP via Star-Telegram

November 25, 2003 - Worst Flu Season in 30 Years Predicted - AP via Yahoo!

 

November 25, 2003 - Beware the new flu strain - Daily News Transcript - "Even though a different strain of the flu has been detected than what the current vaccine protects against, a state public health official said last week the public will still be protected...'There might be some reduced protection but that doesn't mean there's no protection,' said Dr. Susan Lett, medical director of the Department of Public Health immunization program."

 

November 26, 2003 - Four Children in Colorado Die From Flu - AP via Yahoo!

 

Comment:  Is there something about this flu virus that is making it more dangerous or has something happened to make children more vulnerable to the flu?

 

November 25, 2003 - Flu bug keeps breaking records - Colo. among states with the most cases - www.rockymountainnews.com

 

November 24, 2003 - Should You Get The Flu Shot? - by Sherri Tenpenny, D.O. - Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com

Haemophilus Influenza/Hib Vaccine

November 27, 2003 - Cuba develops 'cheap' Hib vaccine - Cuban scientists have given details of a new vaccine against a bacterium which causes meningitis and pneumonia. - BBC

Hepatitis A/hepatitis A vaccine

November 27, 2003 - Cleaning Today's Commercial Produce Imperative To Health - The Ponca City News

November 25, 2003 - Cooking Ensures Safe Vegetables, CDC Says - Cooking the Only Way to Ensure Safe Vegetables, but Keep Fear in Perspective, Experts Say - AP via ABC News

 

December 1, 2003 -Watch the Salsa - A batch of bad scallions at a Chi-Chi's restaurant puts the focus on hepatitis A - Time Online Edition

 

November 24, 2003 - Local Health Officials Clarify Hepatitis Viruses

Hepatitis B/hepatitis B vaccine

Hepatitis C

Lyme disease/lyme disease vaccine

Meningitis/meningitis vaccine

MMR/measles,mumps,rubella

November 30, 2003 - Japan lags behind in taking measures against measles - The Asahi Shimbun - "Previously, the antibody created from measles vaccination replicated itself whenever the carrier was exposed to the disease. But exposure to measles has decreased as the number of cases of the disease has fallen. Therefore, the antibody simply wears off...Experts also note that vaccines produced in Japan are less effective than in other countries because Japanese drug makers try to minimize side effects. In addition, different types of measles viruses are increasing, and vaccines simply do not work for around 3 percent to 5 percent of people, they say."

For more on this "boosting of immunity" by circulating virus, go to Scandals: Playing With Fire - It's Not EASY To Fool Mother Nature and Scandals: Don't Worry, Be Happy.

For more on how other countries seem to pay more attention to vaccine side effects go to Scandals: Vaccine-related infant deaths - When is enough, enough?

November 26, 2003 - Have MMR jabs, students urged - www.thisislancashire.com - "Teenagers are being urged to have the MMR vaccination after an outbreak of mumps among college students."

November 24, 2003 - Warning of mumps epidemic - Worrying rise in number of cases - Belfast Telegraph - "In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Dr Campbell, the province's chief medical officer, said: "Mumps is a leading cause of meningitis, and meningitis is something that is feared by every parent."

Comment:  This is scare tactics at its worst.  Mumps is associated with aseptic, not bacterial meningitis.  Aseptic meningitis rarely is as serious as bacterial meningitis or has long-term complications. For more on this click 1, 2 and 3.   Aseptic meningitis is also thought to have occurred as a result of the mumps and MMR vaccine (e.g., click here).

November 23, 2003 - Mumps cases at highest level for a decade - The Independent, UK

November 24, 2003 - Modelling measles re-emergence as a result of waning of immunity in vaccinated populations. - journal article

Comment:  And yet, even a 100% vaccination rate does not always do the trick... see Measles Outbreak among Vaccinated High School Students -- Illinois - "Editorial Note: This outbreak demonstrates that transmission of measles can occur within a school population with a documented immunization level of 100%."

Pet vaccines

Colorado State University's Small Animal Vaccination Protocol - www.vth.colostate.edu - "Our adoption of this routine vaccination program is based on the lack of scientific evidence to support the current practice of annual vaccination and increasing documentation showing that overvaccinating has been associated with harmful side effects. Of particular note in this regard has been the association of autoimmune hemolytic anemia with vaccination in dogs and vaccine-associated sarcomas in cats -- both of which are often fatal."

 

Considerations in Designing Effective and Safe Vaccination Programs for Dogs - www.ivis.org  (Last Updated: 5-May-2000 )

 

Duration of Immunity to Canine Vaccines: What We Know And Don't Know - Critter Fixer Pet Hospital, Inc. ™

 

Vaccinations...Needed or Not? - www.yourpurebredpuppy.com

 

Vaccinations: A Word of Caution for Our Animals – Part I - www.austinholistic.com

 

Vaccinations: A Word of Caution for Our Animals – Part II - www.austinholistic.com

 

Vaccine Protocols For Dogs - www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com

 

They Shoot Horses but Vaccinate Dogs  - www.positivehealth.com

 

Vaccine-associated immune-mediated hemolytic anemia in the dog. - journal article (1996)
 

Pneumonia/prevnar

November 29, 2003 - Drug company pushes for all children under 2 to be vaccinated against pneumonia - journal article (BMJ)

 

For another perspective on what might be among the (unexamined?) consequences of this push by a drug company, go to Scandals: Changing Disease Epidemiology Via Vaccines - Are We "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul"?

Polio/polio vaccine

November 13, 2003 - Statement of William Egan, Ph.D., Acting Director, Office of Vaccine Research and Review, CBER, FDA Before the Subcommittee on Wellness and Human and Human Rights, U.S. House of Representatives (re: SV40 and polio vaccine) - FDA - "Although scientists have not reached consensus on the potential risks posed by SV40 and whether it may contribute to causing some types of tumors in humans, the one thing we all agree on is that poliovirus vaccine has provided an enormous public health benefit and has practically eradicated this horrible disease. As with all medical products, there are potential known and unknown risks with any vaccine. FDA will continue its efforts to help ensure the safety of all vaccines and protect the public health."

For more on the question of SV40 and polio vaccine go to Scandals: The Institute of Medicine Review Of SV40 Contamination of Polio Vaccine and Cancer, SV40: an emerging pathogen that's been around for fifty years (BioMedNet - requires registration); Scandals: The Thimerosal/SV40 Connection  - Public Health's Ongoing Scandal; Childhood exposure to simian virus 40-contaminated poliovirus vaccine and risk of AIDS-associated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; and Oral Presentation of Barbara Loe Fisher before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, U.S. House Government Reform Committee on 9/10/03.

Rabies/rabies vaccine

RECALLS

SARS

November 27, 2003 - SARS vaccine search makes a key advance - www.boston.com - "Drugs to treat SARS and even a vaccine to block the lethal respiratory disease could be available in just a few years with the discovery of the molecular mechanism that allows the virus to invade human cells, an advance achieved with unprecedented speed."

Air pollution and case fatality of SARS in the People's Republic of China: An ecologic study - journal article - "Our studies demonstrated a positive association between air pollution and SARS case fatality in Chinese population by utilizing publicly accessible data on SARS statistics and air pollution indices. Although ecologic fallacy and uncontrolled confounding effect might have biased the results, the possibility of a detrimental effect of air pollution on the prognosis of SARS patients deserves further investigation."

SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome)

August 22, 2003 - "FREE ALAN YURKO"... - No Nonsense Commentary by Mary Starrett - "The prosecution said this was proof the baby was shaken to death. But baby Alan died from something else- a toxic cocktail of numerous vaccinations routinely given to babies his age, despite the fact that the baby was born prematurely, after a difficult pregnancy, and even though he suffered from pneumonia, respiratory distress and a host of other life-threatening conditions...Alan Yurko is not alone is his battle. Hundreds, if not thousands of parents and caregivers have been incarcerated because of mistaken SBS diagnoses. These diagnoses are covering up the damage done by vaccines that can mimic what happens when a child is violently battered."

SIDS

West Nile virus/vaccine

Whooping cough/DPT vaccine

November 26, 2003 - FOND DU LAC, WIS.: County sees whooping cough epidemic  - Pioneer Press

 

Comment:  It can't exactly be blamed on the unvaccinated, given the 99.6% vaccination rate among children in grades K-12.

 

November 25, 2003 - Pertussis, Conquered Yet a Threat - The New York Times

Other vaccines/screening

Vaccine incentives/promotion - NEW!

Incentive Tips - The National Immunization Program - CDC

Vaccines - combined - NEW!

Combined Vaccines: The Latest in Immunization - Fewer vaccines means less crying for Baby and less stress for Mom and Dad. - www.parentstages.com

Comment:  But at what cost to the baby's health?

Vaccines in general/overview/vaccine research

November 25, 2003 - Vaccinations, Infections May Lower Melanoma Risk – Reuters Health via Medline 

Vaccines: What's Best for Baby?  - Babies Today - "There are a projected 200 vaccines waiting to come on the medical market in the next decade, and many of them will be for infants and children. Until full and definitive scientific analysis of the risks and benefits of vaccines are made top priority by the FDA, the NVIC and other groups skeptical of vaccinations will most assuredly continue to make their voices heard."

 

Michael Palmer's vaccine thriller, "Fatal", now available in paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

(Vaccine) ingredients/additives & contaminants

November 28, 2003 - Cross species transfer is last straw - Staphylococcus-acquired vancomycin resistance from enterococcal co-isolate - The Scientist

Comment: It’s a shame that prior to deciding to use animal cell cultures in the production of vaccines that the question of cross-species transfer was not investigated.   As we have learned, just in the case of the polio vaccine and SV40 alone, the assumption that such transfer would not occur may well have been mistaken.

For more on the problem of SV40 contamination of the polio vaccine, go to Scandals: The Institute of Medicine Review Of SV40 Contamination of Polio Vaccine and Cancer.

Vaccine Ingredients - CDC (pdf)

Vaccine testing

Adverse reactions/VAERS/VICP

November 30, 2003 - Hospitals kept quiet on cause of infant deaths - Star-Telegram - "Two years later, the hospital learned that Rachel was among dozens of premature babies nationwide after being given E-Ferol Aqueous Solution, an intravenous vitamin E preparation intended to help prevent blindness.  But the hospital didn't notify White of the finding.  In fact, it would be 11 more years before she learned why her daughter died."

Comment:  What else aren't we being told?

November 29, 2003 - How to scare a US marine - American troops in Liberia refused to take malaria pills, because they fear the side effects more than bullets.  Brendan O'Neill on the undermining of morale - The Spectator

November 28, 2003 - Longtime dream spurs fight against paralysis - Washington County sheriff in 2nd term - www.ajc.com - "Smith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare but rapid onset of weakness or paralysis in which the body's immune system typically attacks the body itself...The syndrome can be triggered by vaccinations and it has no known cause or cure. In Smith's case, a flu shot sparked the disease."

 

Waters & Kraus ' "Vaccine Injury in the News" - www.autismfraud.com

 

November 4, 2003 - UMHS Response to WXYZ-TV's Vaccines: A Hidden Danger? - University of Michigan Health System

 

Setting Standards in Vaccine Safety - The Brighton Collaboration - "Mission - The Brighton Collaboration is an international voluntary collaboration to facilitate the development, evaluation, and dissemination of high quality information about the safety of human vaccines/Primary aim - To develop globally accepted and implemented standardized case definitions of Adverse Events Following Immunization."

 

To learn more about whether or not childhood vaccinations have been "ruled out" as a cause of autism, read Congressman Weldon's recent remarks to the Autism Summit Conference.

Alternative treatments/prevention

November 29, 2003 - Half of general practices (in England) offer patients complementary medicine - journal article (BMJ)

November 27, 2003 - Cleaning Today's Commercial Produce Imperative To Health - The Ponca City News

November 25, 2003 - Cooking Ensures Safe Vegetables, CDC Says - Cooking the Only Way to Ensure Safe Vegetables, but Keep Fear in Perspective, Experts Say - AP via ABC News

November 29, 2003 - Let there be light - (requires registration) - journal article (The Lancet)    "Use of ultraviolet light seemed to result in far fewer symptoms, as well as respiratory and mucosal symptoms than did non-use."

November 21, 2003 - Gardens have the potential to improve health, research shows - www.eurekalert.org

Blood safety/contamination

November 23, 2003 - Endless battle against hospital bugs: Dirty tools only half the problem - Safer today than yesterday: Expert – Toronto Star

Breastfeeding (vs. formula)

November 25, 2003 - Emory and CDC scientists explore why most breastfed infants of HIV-positive mothers resist infection – www.eurekalert.org  

November 24, 2003 - Breast Intentions - Burger King has promised to welcome nursing women at their restaurants.  If only they could make their food as healthy as mother's milk - MSNBC

Changing epidemiology/serotypes

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

October 2003 - Death by Medicine - www.garynull.com

 

October 2003 - Death by Medicine (abstract) - www.garynull.com

December 1, 2003 - The Wrong Drug, The Wrong Dose - Time.com  -  "We learn from our mistakes only if we admit we're making them. And it appears that the medical community is increasingly stepping forward to do just that, according to U.S. Pharmacopeia's fourth annual report of hospital medication errors."

November 23, 2003 - Endless battle against hospital bugs: Dirty tools only half the problem - Safer today than yesterday: Expert – Toronto Star

November 21, 2003 - Study touts cutting hospital antibiotic use - Dallas Business Journal via bizjournals - "Hospitals nationwide could save more than $1 billion annually by reducing their use of unnecessary antibiotics, while also reducing complications for patients, according to a report sponsored by an Irving-based health care cooperative."

Conferences

Conflict of Interest

November 29, 2003 - Drug company pushes for all children under 2 to be vaccinated against pneumonia - journal article (BMJ)

 

For another perspective on what might be among the (unexamined?) consequences of this push by a drug company, go to Scandals: Changing Disease Epidemiology Via Vaccines - Are We "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul"?

 

November 29, 2003 - Drug companies succeed in keeping payments to doctors secret - journal article (BMJ)

November 23, 2003 - The Doctors and the Drug Makers (6 Letters) - The New York Times - "Arnold S. Relman portrays how the pharmaceutical industry influences drug costs through its sponsorship of education programs for doctors (Op-Ed, Nov. 18). But as long as health care in this country remains primarily pharmaceutically based, these problems will continue regardless of what program is being financed."

Death and Disease

November 30, 2003 - Survey finds 1 in 4 five-year-olds have developmental problems - www.abc.net.au - "DAVID HARDAKER: It seems there's something seriously wrong with our children if a new study from Perth is to be believed. The study of a group of five year olds found that one-quarter have developmental problems which could lead to more serious problems later in life."

Comment:  Can this be true?  If so, how long before this terrible situation is described as "normal", which it may well have become, and dismissed as a problem.  When will what has become normal instead be compared both to what used to be normal and what is optimal?

December 1, 2003 - Diseases of the Mind - Bacteria, viruses and parasites may cause mental illnesses like depression and perhaps even autism and anorexia - MSNBC

Effectiveness/herd immunity/coverage

November 26, 2003 - FOND DU LAC, WIS.: County sees whooping cough epidemic  - Pioneer Press

 

Comment:  It can't exactly be blamed on the unvaccinated, given the 99.6% vaccination rate among children in grades K-12.

Ethics

November 30, 2003 - Hospitals kept quiet on cause of infant deaths - Star-Telegram - "Two years later, the hospital learned that Rachel was among dozens of premature babies nationwide after being given E-Ferol Aqueous Solution, an intravenous vitamin E preparation intended to help prevent blindness.  But the hospital didn't notify White of the finding.  In fact, it would be 11 more years before she learned why her daughter died."

November 29, 2003 - Ethics of research involving vulnerable populations - letter - journal article (The Lancet)

Comment:  What else aren't we being told?

November 27, 2003 - Designing a dope test for research (requires registration) - BioMedNet - "Scientific misconduct is like doping in sports, says leading biochemist Peter Hans Hofschneider. The scientific community must remain alert to the problem, even small infractions of good working practice should not be tolerated."

Funding

Genetics (vs. Environment)

Government/science/industry/medicine clearly run amok

Immunity/Immune system

Inspirational stories - NEW!

November 28, 2003 - Longtime dream spurs fight against paralysis - Washington County sheriff in 2nd term - www.ajc.com - "Smith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare but rapid onset of weakness or paralysis in which the body's immune system typically attacks the body itself...The syndrome can be triggered by vaccinations and it has no known cause or cure. In Smith's case, a flu shot sparked the disease."

 

November 27, 2003 - Working hard at life - Backed by her parents and a few others who believe in her, Stow's Nancy Henn lives productively despite the curse of autism - The Akron Beacon Journal - "Nancy Henn can't daydream on the job.  If she's distracted for even a few minutes, her fragile inner controls may loosen, making her vulnerable to the nightmarish chaos of a broken mind."

Legal/lawsuits/legislation

Senator Bingaman's Resolution: Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the anthrax and smallpox vaccines

November 29, 2003 - Critic of large malpractice awards ordered to pay $800,000 in damages - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 26, 2003 - Drug Maker Wyeth Wins Fen-Phen Lawsuit - AP via FindLaw

November 24, 2003 - Senator: Military must review vaccine use - UPI - "A week after the Pentagon acknowledged one soldier's death might have been caused by a vaccine reaction, a U.S. senator is calling on the military to reconsider mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccinations that he says could be causing "grievous" harm...Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., plans on Tuesday to introduce a "Sense of the Senate" resolution asking Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to review the vaccine program amid growing reports of serious side effects...'An estimated 84 percent of the personnel who had anthrax vaccine shots ... reported having side effects or reactions'..."

Waters & Kraus ' "Vaccine Injury in the News" - www.autismfraud.com

*Pending Immunization Legislation - bookmark this link

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

November 26, 2003 - Ohio Guardsman refuses anthrax vaccination - The Cleveland Plain Dealer - "An Ohio National Guard member whose unit is scheduled for deployment in January is refusing to be vaccinated against anthrax and could wind up in jail."

Pharmaceutical industry/pharmaceutical industry oversight

November 29, 2003 - Drug companies succeed in keeping payments to doctors secret - journal article (BMJ)

 

November 25, 2003 - Study Questions New Schizophrenia Drug - Study Says Newer Schizophrenia Drug May Not Be Much Better Than Older and Cheaper Medication - AP via ABC News

 

For more on this, go to: Up to 20% of drugs may cause unexpected problems and Safety of New Drugs Cannot Be Known for Many Years

November 25, 2003 - MedImmune Seeks Help In Relaunching FluMist - New Plan to Be Rolled Out in January - The Washington Post

November 25, 2003 - Drug Makers Move Closer to Big Victory- The New York Times - "As Congress edged closer to passing a Medicare drug benefit that prohibits the government from using its buying clout to win discounts, one thing was clear: the drug industry appeared on the cusp of an enormous victory, gained in part by millions in political donations and an expensive lobbying campaign."

November 23, 2003 - The Doctors and the Drug Makers (6 Letters) - The New York Times - "Arnold S. Relman portrays how the pharmaceutical industry influences drug costs through its sponsorship of education programs for doctors (Op-Ed, Nov. 18). But as long as health care in this country remains primarily pharmaceutically based, these problems will continue regardless of what program is being financed."

Politics

November 25, 2003 - Drug Makers Move Closer to Big Victory- The New York Times - "As Congress edged closer to passing a Medicare drug benefit that prohibits the government from using its buying clout to win discounts, one thing was clear: the drug industry appeared on the cusp of an enormous victory, gained in part by millions in political donations and an expensive lobbying campaign."

Pregnancy/childbirth

November 27, 2003 - Study: First Caesarean increases risk - www.boston.com - "Women who have their first baby by Caesarean section are at significantly higher risk of losing their next baby to an unexplained stillbirth before going into labor, according to a new study...An expert not associated with the study, published in The Lancet medical journal, said the research is important because it suggests hospitals that tend to do a lot of Caesareans might need to consider strategies to reduce them."

RECALLS

Research/publishing/funding/other research results

November 26, 2003 - Building a bug from scratch - Scientists report quick progress in synthetic-organism quest - The Houston Chronicle - "Scientists have announced significant progress toward creating an artificial organism that one day may have uses ranging from pollution control to clean energy production."

November 23, 2003 - Painkillers 'cause kidney damage' - Taking too many painkillers can damage some people's kidneys permanently, scientists claim. - BBC

The Wacky World of Changing/Conflicting Research Results

You've Got To Be Kidding

November 25, 2003 - Tooth Fairy Award Of The Week - Mayo Clinic Official Wins First Tooth Fairy Award - Redflagsdaily.com

November 25, 2003 - Fasting fakir flummoxes physicians - Doctors and experts are baffled by an Indian hermit who claims not to have eaten or drunk anything for several decades - but is still in perfect health. - BBC - "Followers of Indian holy men and ascetics have often ascribed extraordinary powers to them, but such powers are seldom subject to scientific inspection."

Comment:  Now, THAT's something! (If true, of course.)

Letters From Parents &others

Miscellaneous

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DISCLAIMER:    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.