►January 22, 2004 - Researcher Ho Retracts Claim About AIDS Development - www.quicken.com - "A clue to the most enduring mystery of the AIDS epidemic - why some people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus never develop the disease - has just crumbled...In a rare published retraction in the journal Science, researcher David Ho, the AIDS world's nearest thing to a rock star, said he erred in a September 2002 announcement that he had found the mysterious protection factor - an immune booster secreted by special white-blood cells called CD8 cells."

►January 20, 2004 - Fat cells fight disease, Purdue University researchers find - Purdue University

►January 21, 2004 - Some savings cited by Gov. Riley - AP via The Tuscaloosa News - Save $955,474 by reducing nursing staff in immunizations and child health programs, reducing school lunchroom inspections, and reducing health education programs in schools.

►January 21, 2004 - Ontario mother calls on government to keep promise to fund autism treatment - Canadian Press via  www.medbroadcast.com - "An Ontario mother is asking the province to keep its promise to fund treatment for autistic children beyond the age of six, pointing to submissions by the Ontario Human Rights Commission that say the policy is 'discriminatory.'...Refusing to pay for therapy for older children 'is discriminatory to children with autism over the age of six,' said the commission's pleadings in the case that it has referred to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Comment:  If it turns out to be true that vaccines are a cause of autism, the life-time cost of caring for the one out of 250 or so (maybe even more) autistic children needs to be factored into any costs associated with vaccination (particularly when compared to the costs associated with the disease(s) the vaccines are designed to "prevent").

►January 21, 2004 - Autism reaching 'epidemic' levels - www.tcpalm.com - "It's one of the worst nightmares a parent can imagine - without warning, a child is abducted from his bed in the middle of the night, never to return...Now, imagine that instead of taking the whole child, only his mind is stolen and his body - the hollow shell of his being - is left behind."

►January 23, 2004 - Prevalence of serum antibodies to caudate nucleus in autistic children - the latest by Vijendra K. Singh - journal article (Neuroscience Letters) via www.sciencedirect.com

►January 22, 2004 - Blueprint on Way for Vaccine Factory to Combat Terror Strikes - The Scotsman -"Plans for a Government-owned factory to produce large amounts of vaccine in the event of a terrorist strike could be finalised within weeks, it emerged today...The rapid response facility would produce vaccine for people contaminated by a chemical or biological attack."
 

►January 23, 2004 - Vaccine close to release - International pharmaceutical company Chiron Corporation is speeding up the manufacture of the new vaccine designed to combat the deadly meningoccocal B epidemic hitting New Zealand. - www.stuff.co.nz

►January 22, 2004 - Is AIDS Vaccine Trial In Thailand A Waste Of Money? - www.voanews.com - "The problem, as critics see it, is that neither shot seems to work very well on its own. The first shot has not looked promising in preliminary tests. The second shot has already failed a previous large-scale trial. Cornell University AIDS researcher John Moore says putting the two together doesn't add up...'There is this argument that naught plus naught might equal one. Personally, I don't buy into it. The evidence that the two vaccine components work better together than apart is really very poor.'"

►January 22, 2004 - Making Way for Designer Insects - Risks and Benefits of Gene-Altered Bugs Merit Thorough Study, Report Says - The Washington Post - "The insect world could shortly undergo a genetic makeover in the laboratory. Scientists are at work developing silkworms that produce pharmaceuticals instead of silk, honeybees resilient enough to resist pesticides and even mosquitoes capable of delivering vaccines, instead of disease, with every bite...Researchers are tinkering with insect genes to develop more than a dozen new varieties, offering potentially broad social benefits while posing complicated new health and environmental risks."

Comment:  If this isn't scary, I don't know what is.

►January 21, 2004 - FluMist Offered Free to Public Health Agencies - The Washington Post

Comment:  I see.  The taxpayer gets to pay for what may be a worthless vaccine.  Nice for the vaccine manufacturers, eh?  The PERFECT BUSINESS PLAN,  i.e., a) pay for and conduct the studies justifying use of your products b) get the vaccines to be universally mandated for school entry c) get your liability covered and d) NOW get the taxpayer to pay for your product even if it is worthless (and may be harmful) JUST GOT EVEN BETTER!  For more on this, go to Hyping Vaccines: An Investigation - Chickenpox, Lyme, Rotavirus, And A Highly Revealing Analysis Of Flu Statistics - by RFD Columnist, Dr. F. Edward Yazbak in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com and How The Mass Media In The U.S. Created Flu Hysteria And Helped Drive The Vaccine Markets For The Makers Of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

Comment:  Gee, why would we need to race to produce a "safer" vaccine?  And here I thought the one they were using was already plenty safe.

►January 21, 2004 - 'Supervaccines' Developed To Combine Childhood Shots - Required Vaccines Cover 10 Diseases With Multiple Shots - www.thebostonchannel.com - "For a lot of parents, keeping track of their children's immunizations can be a full-time job. The mandatory number of vaccinations covers 10 diseases with multiple shots, and according to health experts, that number may double over the next decade."

Comment:  The number of mandatory vaccinations "may double over the next decade"? When is enough going to be enough?  When are parents going to "just say no" to vaccines?

Comment:  Whether or not vaccines can be safely combined has not been adequately tested, either in the long or short-term.  But there are clearly reasons to be concerned.  For instance, in a 1986 Science article, when combined in the bodies of mice, two harmless herpes viruses recombined and killed 62% of the mice. 

►January 21, 2004 - US Senate likely to pass budget - Outlook for NIH in FY 2005: 'another really tough year,' say advocates - The Scientist

►January 15, 2004 - Science losing its appeal - A trend away from science among students leaves French academics worried  - The Scientist

►January 21, 2004 - Vietnam last on flu vaccine list - The New Scientist - "Drug company contracts and intellectual property rights are impeding efforts to ensure an outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam does not result in a deadly human pandemic...All the victims so far got the disease from poultry, but the big fear is that the virus could turn into a form capable of spreading from person to person. A flu vaccine that might help prevent this will soon become available, but instead of going to Vietnam it will be sent to rich countries to fulfil existing contracts."

Comment:  Might this constitute evidence that the purpose of vaccines is solely financial and has little to do with hoping to prevent the spread of disease?

►January 14, 2004 - Doctors lash out at cancer society over HRT - The Globe and Mail - "Obstetricians and gynecologists are lashing out at the Canadian Cancer Society, questioning its scientific expertise and commitment to women's health...The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada is up in arms because the cancer society urged women last week not to take hormone-replacement therapy for menopause symptoms, except in rare instances, because the health risks outweigh the benefits."

Comment:  Remind me, whose interests are the obstetricians and gynecologists representing?  Ah, perhaps the answer can be found below....

►January 15, 2004 - Why Doctors Lashed Out At Cancer Society Over Hormone Replacement Therapy - By RFD Columnist, Lise Cloutier-Steele - www.redflagsdaily.com

►January 4, 2004 - AIDS: A Death Cult - by John Lauritsen - www.altheal.org - "This article has been hard to write. I've taken a break from "AIDS" for several years, and returning to the topic now, I've been in shock over what has been done to us. My opinions have not changed: I still regard "AIDS" as the greatest blunder and the greatest hoax in medical history -- an epidemic of incompetence and an epidemic of lies...As long as there has been "AIDS" there have been critics of the orthodox AIDS model: "AIDS dissidents". For the most part our voices were silenced. As AIDS became a religion, a death cult -- with sacred commodities, dogmas, rituals, and sacrifices - any expression of skepticism was tantamount to blasphemy."

►Winter 2003/published January 21, 2004 at http://jpands.org/ - Autism in the United States: a Perspective - by F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP via Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons - "Once rare, autism has reached epidemic proportions in the United States.  The increase cannot be attributed to changes in diagnostic criteria, which have actually become more restrictive."

►January 22, 2004 - Compo warning over vaccines - The West Australian - "The Federal Government could face huge compensation claims if children get sick because their parents could not afford to pay for vaccinations, a consumer group has warned."

►January 21, 2004 - BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEAR: FDA fails to halt anthrax anxiety - After judge stopped controversial vaccine feds declared it safe - by Timothy W. Maier - Insight magazine, via www.worldnetdaily.com  - "'Only after the issuance of an injunction, up pops a federal rule,' Sullivan declared with acid sarcasm to Justice Department attorney Shannen Coffin, who is representing the Pentagon in the lawsuit filed by the six John Does. 'And you're telling me it's coincidental?'...'I'd stand on a stack of Bibles and tell you it's coincidental,' Coffin replied to Sullivan...'That's an amazing coincidence,' Sullivan shot back."

►January 20, 2004 (broadcast date) - Shot in the arm: the chiropractic dispute over childhood vaccinations - CBC News - "Who hasn't heard the media message to get a flu shot?  After SARS, a lot of us are pretty scared of getting sick.  But not everyone.  Some people are more concerned about the risk of severe side effects from getting vaccinated...They're arguing that children should not be vaccinated for anything - not measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, not even polio."

►January 21, 2004 - From Mad Cow to mercury, agencies watch for our welfare - The Record-Courier

►January 20, 2004 - Paying Attention To Parents Of ADHD Kids - New Study Reinforces Importance of Testing Parents of Kids Who Are Diagnosed With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - Washington Post