Over the last 10 years I have become more of a skeptic. Maybe it is because I bought a McDonald’s Happy meal 3 years ago and still have it – bugs won’t eat it and mold won’t grow on it. Or maybe it is because I bought Stevia in the Raw only to discover that it was neither stevia nor raw, but a bag of more than 51% genetically modified corn maltodextrin – which is not “natural” or healthy at all. Or maybe it is because after listening to hundreds of pharmaceutical drug ads, it dawned on me that more ad time was used to focus on potential dangers of the drug rather than the possible benefit from it. And maybe the icing on the cake was 10 years ago when I had a plethora of health problems while subsisting on the FDA Food Pyramid recommendations and Diet Coke with no idea that my diet had anything to do with being sick and tired. Much to my shock, my health was restored when I eliminated the grain and food chemicals and dramatically reduced sugar intake while adding in generous amounts of undamaged animal and plant fats. Yes, I believe we have good reason to be skeptical. It has made me sadly aware that big industry and government have no genuine interest in me, or my health, despite what they claim. So I must be responsible, educated and yes, skeptical.
Now I’m asking another question as I prepare for a Peru mission trip this summer. Should I get any vaccinations? I’ve grown up believing that vaccinations were in my best interest. A decade ago, I would have gone to a doctor to get every recommended vaccine, no questions asked. But today, knowing what I know, I can’t trust or assume that conventional “wisdom
” was created in my best interest. This topic is complex, it is emotionally charged, and it is currently being hotly debated. I cannot begin to dig deeply into of every aspect of the debate, but I wanted to share some of what I am learning and the resources I have found interesting, compelling and helpful.
The healthy and necessary vaccination debate sprung out of a significant and growing number of parents who have witnessed serious side effects in their children immediately after a vaccination and/or now their children are chronically ill or disabled, diagnosed with learning disabilities, autism, epilepsy, autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergies, just to name a few.
As a nutritionist in a doctor’s office, I can’t help but think that our poor diets, damaged guts, use of prescription drugs, and toxic world, plus a lot of vaccinations, have possibly created the proverbial “perfect storm” for our children.
Dr. Suzanne Humphries, author of the book Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History, 2013, is a nephrologist who left her lucrative medical practice to examine the lost history of vaccinations after several of her patients had been perfectly healthy until they got a vaccination. She also began to question her long term beliefs about them when she discovered that her patients in the hospital were getting vaccinated upon admission, before she even saw them, and the hospital was putting her name on the order, even though she had not approved it. When she complained to hospital administration, she was met with resistance. This gave her pause and led her to ask about the history of vaccinations and how we arrived where we are today.
Vaccinations contain not only cells taken from the fetus and organs of dogs, cows, monkeys, chickens, and aborted humans, but also contain aluminum and mercury (both very toxic to tissues and the brain), monosodium glutamate, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, yeast and detergents, to name a few. [i] I work very hard to avoid most of these things in my food and I certainly don’t want them injected into my body either. I won’t be getting a vaccination without asking what is in it ever again!
Were you aware that Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court have declared vaccines to be “unavoidably unsafe”[ii],[iii] yet they are still committed to recommending this aggressive vaccination program while completely shielding the drug companies from product liability? In 1986 Congress banned civil lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers when Americans are injured or die from federally recommended and state mandated vaccines, and the U.S. Supreme Court concurred in 2011. My skepticism can only ask “Really? We know they are “unavoidably unsafe” but we are going to recommend them, make more, require them, and then protect the makers of them?” If the vaccine manufacturers are not held accountable for product liability, what will motivate them to improve the horrific ingredients, or question safety and efficacy? There is nothing to lose, yet a lot of money to be made.
Government policy directs pediatricians to give children three times as many vaccinations today than children got 30 years ago. Today, the CDC recommends that within the first 18 months of a baby’s birth, the baby be injected with 27 vaccination doses. By age 6, children have had a total of 49 vaccination doses and by 18 years of age a total of 69![iv] So is more really better? Could cumulative effect from too many vaccines be creating serious problems? What is the limit? It occurs to me that before the invention of the first vaccination, the human species had perpetuated itself and no disease had destroyed mankind. Have we respected and understood the full capacity and intricacies of the human immune system? Based on my reading, very little was known when the first vaccine was introduced and much of the genetic, biological, immunological research today is turning conventional vaccine “wisdom” on its head. What are we thinking when we take a tiny newborn baby in all its wonder and think somehow that we are the wiser to impose 27 foreign viruses and toxic adjuncts onto this tiny, new immune system? Is there common sense or logic or even valid research to assure us that there is wisdom in this? Are we certain beyond certain that first and foremost this does no harm?
Could it be that any of this has to do with the fact that the current global vaccine market is worth $30 billion dollars? In ten years it is projected to be worth $100 billion dollars. [v] There is a public-private business partnership that has been forged between government and the pharmaceutical industry [vi],[vii],[viii],[ix],[x],[xi] with our tax dollars to develop hundreds of new vaccines. [xii]
And what about efficacy? Are vaccinations preventing outbreaks? According to GlobalResearch.org, they report candidly “the most highly vaccinated populations are also those with the greatest number of outbreaks for those same infectious diseases. This was especially the case for measles, mumps, rubella, polio and pertussis outbreaks.” [xiii] There are studies revealing how live virus vaccines actually create the potential for those vaccinated to be infecting others, both vaccinated and unvaccinated.
These comments are only the tip of the iceberg for this debate. I finish this article with more questions and fewer answers than when I started and am still very skeptical. I hope you explore further for yourself and your family. It is also important to know that there is a very strong lobby representing drug companies, medical trade associations, and public health officials who are trying to persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public health laws which take away your right to informed consent and ability to get a vaccine exemption for you or your children.
Dr. Mercola at www.mercola.com has invested significant time, research and effort into discussing every side of this issue in his newsletters. He also addresses Dr. Donald Miller’s “user friendly vaccination plan”. I also carefully read the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention website at CDC.gov. which sheds light on the topic. The Weston A. Price Foundation at wapf.com and the film called The Greater Good, as well as insights on the topic from Dr. Campbell-McBride, author of The Gut and Psychology Syndrome have also been helpful to me. You may want to get the book by Dr. Suzanne Humphries, Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History as another helpful resource.
We aren’t telling you to NOT get vaccinated. We are presenting some facts and encouraging you to ask questions and educate yourself. You, as an individual, must weigh the benefits and risks for each and every vaccine as they pertain to your individual circumstances, such as your health, your job, and your travel.
[i] http://vaxtruth.org/2011/08/vaccine-ingredients/ and http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/package_inserts.htm
[ii]Supreme Court of the United States. Bruesewitz v. Wyeth. Feb. 11, 2011.
[iii] NVIC. National Vaccine Information Center Cites “Betrayal” of Consumers by
U.S. Supreme Court Giving Total Liability Shield to Big Pharma. Businesswire
Feb. 23, 2011.
[iv]http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/images/schedule1983s.jpg
[v]Businesswire. The Global Vaccine Market Is Expected to Surpass Estimated $100 Billion by 2015. Global Vaccine Market Pipeline Analysis June 27, 2014.
[vi]Grotton F. The Project Bioshield Act: Issues for the 112th Congress. Congressional Research Service Mar. 13, 2012.
[vii]Palmer E. Novartis in tax fight over vaccine plant that HHS helped pay for. Fierce Vaccines June 8, 2012.
[viii]Kirby TL. Licensing and Patenting at the NIH. Office of Technology Transfer, NIH: 2013.
[ix]Corby-Edwards AK, Redhead CS. Public Health Service Agencies: Overview and Funding. Congressional Research Service Nov. 12, 2013.
[x]FDA. Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA): PDUFA V: Fiscal Years 2013- 2017. FDA Dec. 26, 2013.
[xi]PhRMA. Statement on United States and China Public Private Partnership on Healthcare. Press Release: Jan. 20, 2011.
[xii]Clinical Trials.gov. New vaccines.
[xiii] http://globalresearch.org