Posts Tagged ‘vaccines’

Vaccines Made from Fetus Cells

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

I subscribe to a newsletter published by the Vaccine Education Center, a huge proponent of vaccines.  Although my own children are selectively vaccinated, I choose to keep up with those who tout the goodness of vaccines because I believe this is an important area in which to remain informed.

Usually the newsletters frustrate me with one-sided views, but this latest one had an interesting Q & A:

Which vaccines are made using cell lines from prematurely terminated pregnancies?

The vaccines made using cell lines originally isolated from two elective abortions performed in the early 1960s include:

  • Rubella
  • Chickenpox
  • Hepatitis A
  • Rabies

The cell lines are maintained in laboratories so that no further abortions need to be performed to make these vaccines. The reasons that fetal cells were originally used included:

  • Viruses need cells to grow and tend to grow better in cells from humans than animals (because they infect humans)
  • Almost all cells die after they have divided a certain number of times; scientifically, this number is known as the Hayflick number and for most cell lines it is around 50 divisions; however, fetal cells can go through many more divisions before dying

So, as scientists studied these viruses in the lab, they found that the best cells to use were the fetal cells mentioned above. When it was time to make a vaccine, they continued growing the viruses in the cells that worked best during these earlier studies.

This was new information to me, and I thought it worth sharing.

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The Latest Info on the Vaccine Debate

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

The vaccine debate is in a constant state of flux, what with new vaccines and new studies emerging all the time.  While I still highly recommend reading Dr. Sear’s “The Vaccine Book” for an overview of the issue, an even more recent and up-to-date resource is Mothering magazine’s Vaccine Update printed in the July/August 2009 issue of Mothering.  Mothering magazine, who has received literary awards for their coverage of the vaccine debate, tackled such issues as HPV vaccine, varicella (chicken pox) vaccine, concerns with aluminum and concerns with protecting “herd immunity.”  I was so impressed with Mothering’s fair and evenhanded treatment of the issues.  When, how and if to vaccinate can be a divisive question even among friends, especially when there’s the assumption that your choice to NOT vaccinate my put my child at risk for disease.  If you’re struggling with these important questions, I encourage you to purchase affordable digital reprints of Mothering’s articles:  “Vaccine Debate:  Do Unvaccinated Children Really Put Others at Risk?” and “Vaccinations:  Still an Issue For Our Time.”  You’ll also want to check out Dr. Sear’s “The Vaccine Book” from your local library so that you can get all the details to make a plan that suits your family.

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If you ask your Doctor about vaccinations…

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

frustratedIf you ask your Doctor about vaccinations… she’s going to say they’re perfectly safe.  Just to save you that chat, because I’ve had it many times.  I find it so frustrating that any mainstream article that professes to offer an answer to the question “Are Vaccines Safe?” recommends that you talk to your pediatrician to “get accurate information” (Pregnancy & Newborn, January 2010, page 78).

Your pediatrician is going to say that vaccinations are safe because…

  1. She’s a doctor because she believes in western medicine.  Western medicine is more comfortable with relying upon shots and prescription medicines as opposed to healthy eating, natural remedies, exercise and preventative lifestyles.
  2. She makes money when you vaccinate.  Doctors are people – they also have to pay the bills.  If you don’t vaccinate or delay vaccinations, you might skip a few well visits because you know your child is perfectly well.  There goes her money.
  3. Her malpractice insurance (which is one of her biggest expenses) requires that she report how many patients don’t vaccinate.  Some carriers won’t allow her to take patients that don’t vaccinate.  Most carriers are going to pressure her to get everyone vaccinated in order to reduce liability.  That’s because U.S. courts are also more comfortable with the western medicine approach.
  4. As a doctor, she highly values “heard immunity” gained through widespread vaccination, even at the expense of the few who have serious adverse reactions.  As a parent, you probably value your child’s well-being above all others.
  5. She may be uninformed!  Doctors receive plenty of information about the safety of vaccines from drug manufacturers.  Has she read any of the literature exploring well-founded reasons for parents to be concerned with vaccines?  My doctor hadn’t.  She’d never even heard of Dr. Sear’s “The Vaccine Book”.  That’s one-sided information, not “accurate information”. 
  6. She’s afraid to go against the flow.  Most doctors echo every declaration of large organizations like The American Pediatric Association.  If she goes her own way, she opens herself up to the scorn of the medical community and potential lawsuits.
  7. She’s been sold.  Doctors are the main target of substantial marketing efforts authored by multi-million dollar drug companies.  Endless kick-backs and plenty of personal contact might just turn a well-intentioned doctor into a sell out.

Ask yourself this – What reason does she have to honestly question the status quo “Vaccines are safe.” 

I realize that these are fighting words.  They certainly are not true of every doctor.  I’ve met doctors that question western medicine or push against the pressures of the drug-companies.  Dr. Sears and Dr. Alan Greene are two such doctors.  Most moms I know would LOVE to have them for their child’s pediatrician. 

My point in bringing up these harsh realities is that you cannot assume that your doctor is unbiased and educated about vaccine issues.  I’m tired of hearing article after article tell parents that in every case you can trust your doctor to have your child’s best interests at heart.  As a parent, you do.  Go out and do the research.  Ask hard questions and don’t take everything your doctor tells you at face value.

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Helpful Perspectives on the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Vaccine

Monday, October 19th, 2009

As flu season picks up steam and flu shots become available, everyone is talking about the H1N1 vaccine.  Should you get it?  Should your child? What if you’re pregnant?  When there are risks/benefits on every side it’s hard to know who to believe. 

A new article by Healthy Child Healthy World sums up Four Perspectives on the H1N1 Virus and Vaccine.  Three doctors and one blogger share their educated, non-hyped opinions on the choice to vaccinate or refrain.  I also noticed a rather un-mindful (in my opinion) article posted on MindfulMama.org titled H1N1: Should We Immunize?  I don’t at all agree with the article, but the comment from Dr. Jay Gordon is extremely helpful and worth reading.

My family is opting to forgo the vaccine for several reasons:

 1. to protect our bodies from mercury, formaldehyde and the live virus versions of the vaccine.  I can’t feel good about injecting toxins and animal bi-products into my family’s bloodstream.  Nor does it seem right to expose others to swine flu through the live virus version of the vaccine.

2.  to rely on and strengthen our own immune systems with good nutrition, whole food supplements and plenty of sleep.  Plus, I’m focusing on making sure we wash our hands more than ever.

2.  to allow accidental exposure to the real virus, thus conferring long-term immunity.  Since experts predict that this disease may mutate into more and more dangerous versions, gaining real immunity to the original version may offer more valuable protection in the future.

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No Civil Rights in the event of a Swine Flu "Emergency"

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

If you live in the state of Massachusetts and aren’t comfortable with vaccinating you may be in for a rude awakening if Swine Flu is declared an emergency. 

Upon declaration by the governor that an emergency exists which is detrimental to the public health or upon declaration of a state of emergency…” reads the “Pandemic Response Bill” 2028, which was passed by the MA Senate this April and is now awaiting approval in the House.  What happens in an emergency?  In the words of Mike Adams of Natural News, “This bill suspends virtually all Constitutional rights of Massachusetts citizens and forces anyone “suspected” of being infected to submit to interrogations, “decontaminations” and vaccines.”  That’s the sort version.  To get the full scoop, see Mike Adam’s piece “Wake up, America” or this article at World Net Daily.  You can also read the actual bill here. 

This bill has been slammed as “medical facism” and for creating a “police state.”  There are those who argue that such drastic measures are necessary, comparing the Swine Flu to the plague.  The bill is shocking, especially in the face of the facts:  swine flu is NOT more deadly than regular flu and the swine flu vaccine is NOT as safe or as carefully tested as regular flu shots (see Swine Flu:  A Dangerous Shot in the Dark).  What we have here is a frenzy of fear and hype snowballing into shockingly un-American policy.  If you live in MA, contact your legislators in the House to let them know how you feel about this bill.

If you live in Florida, North Carolina, Iowa or Washington, be aware that your state has also taken legal action in response to the H1N1 virus.  You can find details at World Net Daily towards the end of the article.   

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Swine Flu Vaccine – A Dangerous Shot in the Dark

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

The whole Swine Flu situation has seemed fishy from the beginning.  Why has the media continually spread intense fear about a flu that is no more dangerous than a regular flu?  Now word goes out that Swine Flu vaccine may be administered to all children in public schools, as part of a mass-vaccination plan to curb this “epidemic.”

Take pause.  Not only is this kind of action unprecedented, it’s not safe.  The Swine Flu is a “live virus” vaccine that has undergone minimal testing.  It contains VERY serious, suspect ingredients – more so than typical childhood vaccines.  As a live virus vaccine, those who are vaccinated can actually spread the flu to those who are not.  The contagious nature of live virus vaccines is not contested at all.  It’s just supposed to be irrelevant because everyone should get vaccinated.  Problem is, vaccines do not work for everyone who receives them and everyone should not be vaccinated or will not be vaccinated. 

Here’s a true epidemic of swine flue in the making.  But that’s not the worst part – here’s a frightening use of government clout and media scare tactics that leaves drug makers rolling in the dough.  And what will be the long term health results of distributing such a vaccine to the general population, including the vulnerable pregnant mom and her young children?  Frighteningly unknown.

I decided to post about this today after reading a few documents “DOZENS OF EXPERTS AND WORLD LEADERS
REBUKE FEDERAL FLU VACCINATIONS AND QUARANTINE CAMPS CITING RISKS AND UNPROVEN BENEFITS” and “A HARD LOOK AT MANDATORY LIVE VIRUS VACCINATIONS – WHAT’S REALITY AND WHAT TO DO”.  Both documents can be found Here, along with a sample letter to send to your politician, if you’d like to take action. 

The documents are long, so if you don’t have time to read, here are some excerpts that I found relevant:

  • The swine flu appears to have been laboratory generated…. This current swine flu is at best between 4-8% a match in terms of genetic material to its closest genetic relatives and there is no remotely close match in the public NIH databases… Aware of these insider facts, a significant number of virologists and other health professionals and scientists stated that this had to be produced in a laboratory and could not occur naturally.
  • It normally takes a minimum of 12-18 months to create a vaccine after a virus has been identified. How is it that Baxter Laboratories, after receiving the seed culture of the swine flu virus that was provided in May 2009, announced that they would have the vaccine ready by July of 2009.
  • There literally is no data for this vaccine as per its use in children, pregnant women, and asthmatics.
  • According to the London Evening Standard, WHO officials have warned that H1N1 vaccines may be unsafe. The Institute of Science and Society has said that the vaccines will be far more deadly than the swine flu, and that mass vaccinations are a recipe for disaster.
  • During the 1976 swine flu scare, the swine flu vaccine itself killed hundreds & sickened countless others, and had an unusually high rate of Guillain-Barre Syndrome associated with it.
  • Swine Flu ingredients include:  squalene, animal tissues, viral proteins, foreign DNA and RNA, formaldehyde, live genetically-engineered viruses, and mercury.
  • Side effects from vaccine fillers and adjuvants—especially squalene— include a variety of debilitating auto-immune diseases and a significant percentage of deaths. Squalene, condemned congressional investigators in 2004, is indicated as the primary cause of tens of thousands of deaths, and hundreds of thousands of chronic cases of Gulf War-related illnesses.
  • The CDC claims 36,000 Americans annually die from flu. As of August 2009, the swine flu has killed approximately 1,000 people worldwide, according to CNN, which is a lot less than 36,000. This is hardly a traditionally defined pandemic in terms of numbers, yet there has been a major media fear/panic, which preps the people to take this untested and potentially lethal flu vaccine without even a freedom of choice.
  • This unprecedented Department of Health’s 2009 flu response plan calls for people—especially children—to receive three or four different live flu virus vaccines simultaneously.
  • Substantive research shows all flu vaccinations have little to no effect on preventing or minimizing the flu.
  • The science by our own CDC (Center of Disease Control) shows that flu vaccines are somewhere between 0-14% effective. Research in Israel shows they are 1% effective with a general lowering of the immune system.

I repeat, these bullet points are excerpts from the documents cited above.  To examine the studies and sources that lead to these conclusions please read the documents Here.  If you’re a parent interested in a fair, unbiased explanation of vaccines, read Dr. Sears’ The Vaccine Book.  Dr. Sear’s book manages to inform without pushing a parent to vaccinate or refrain from vaccinating.

For more information on the risks of Swine Flu Vaccine see:

Vaccines: Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccine Risks

How Safe is the Swine Flu Vaccine?

Swine Flu Vaccine Should Not Be Given to Children in Schools

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Anger Towards the Anti-Vaccine & Informed Consent Movements

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Nature Moms’ Blog posted an interesting article: Anger Towards the Anti-Vaccine & Informed Consent Movements this last week.  She commented on a recently aired episode of Law and Order Special Victims Unit, in which the mother of an unvaccinated child goes on trial for negligent homicide.  Definitely worth reading, regardless of your stance on routine vaccinations.  The discussion that follows her post is also quite lively!

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Hot Topic: What they Don't Tell you about Vaccination Dangers

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Have you done your research on vaccines?  It’s a complex, sometimes intimidating topic, but as parents there’s no escaping it.  Either you trust the American Pediatrics Society and do them all on schedule (or mostly on schedule…), or you have to dive in to the research to draw your own conclusions. 

An excellent, non-alarmist vaccine book is Dr. Sear’s “The Vaccine Book”.  If you want all the info and several options for how to/if to vaccinate, that’s the book for you.  I read this book spring of 2008 with a local book club.  All of the mothers found it helpful, although we did settle on differing plans for our families.

BUT, if you don’t have the time to read a book and you’re wondering if there really is anything to worry about anyways, I just came across an excellent article.  It’ll give you a snapshot of some of the issues: how vaccines are made, what happens to the brain when vaccinations are injected, and some ideas for safer vaccinating practices.  Please read what Russell L. Blaylock, MD, world-renowned board-certified surgeon and author, has to share about vaccines in his article What They Don’t Tell You About Vaccination Dangers. 

You owe it to your children to be informed about this issue.  Once you vaccinate, there is no taking it back.  If you’re pregnant, do the research now.  Your baby would normally receive a first shot in the hospital and several more at the 2 month appointment.  Now is the time to become informed!

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Green Our Vaccine's Rally

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Last week a group led by Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey gathered in DC to share their concern at the “Green Our Vaccine’s” rally.  The organizers believe children are receiving “too many, too soon.” They feel vaccines are too toxic and they would like all toxins eliminated from vaccines. They believe a safer vaccine supply and schedule is possible.

This blog shares some powerful photos of the rally and its message: 140 Pictures speak 140,000 words.

While I’m not sure I agree that vaccines can be truly detoxified, it’s great to see people taking a stand to demand that the vaccine industry take steps towards that goal. If only we could adopt the perspective that injected diseases (i.e. vaccines) must be proven safe, rather than that they must be proven dangerous.

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The Vaccination Debate: A Startling Response

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

This February, Dr. Rahul K. Parikh published an article in Pediatrics (the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics) titled “Fighting for the Reputation of Vaccines: Lessons From American Politics“.  In the article, Parikh discusses the rise of parental concern over the safety of vaccines and suggest that vaccine proponents must take a more emotionally charged approach to combating these concerns.  In other words, Parikh says that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) needs to use a little less science and logic and a little more propaganda if it hopes to win over parents who no longer trust vaccines. 

You may expect that Parikh’s article is itself the startling response, but actually I was referring to this comment submitted online to the Pediatric article.  The author of this comment is a chemist and a father whose child is autistic:

“Parents get angry when they see the following numbers listed on the internet. These numbers have been out there for everyone to read for years. They are mathamatical facts backed by references. The way to quell parental fears would be for someone like Dr. Parikh to address these numbers. Using propaganda is not going to work and only makes the situation worse.

0.5 parts per billion (ppb) mercury = Kills human neuroblastoma cells (Parran et al., Toxicol Sci 2005; 86: 132-140).

2 ppb mercury = U.S. EPA limit for drinking water http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html#mcls

20 ppb mercury = Neurite membrane structure destroyed (Leong et al., Neuroreport 2001; 12: 733-37).

200 ppb mercury = level in liquid the EPA classifies as hazardous waste. http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/mercury/regs.htm#hazwaste

25,000 ppb mercury = Concentration of mercury in the Hepatitis B vaccine, administered at birth in the U.S., from 1990-2001.

50,000 ppb Mercury = Concentration of mercury in multi-dose DTaP and Haemophilus B vaccine vials, administered 4 times each in the 1990′s to children at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 18 months of age. Current “preservative” level mercury in multi-dose flu (94% of supply), meningococcal and tetanus (7 and older) vaccines. This can be confirmed by simply analyzing the multi- dose vials.” 

After wading through those numbers I have two thoughts:

  1. The CDC massively failed those children of the 90′s who were exposed to so much mercury through vaccine after vaccine.  Regardless of whether those children are diagnosed with autism, mercury is a neurotoxin.  Period.
  2. I don’t get flu shots, and neither do my children.  I understand that the flu is a disease that kills.  I also understand that the flu shot doesn’t necessarily protect you from the flu.  It particularly failed this year.  While we are healthy and have access to medical support in the case of a serious infection, I’ll take my chances with the flu over injected mercury any day.  I have heard that there is a flu shot available without mercury.  If you choose to get the shot, be sure to request a mercury-free version. 

With my own children, we practice delayed and selective vaccinations.  The vaccination issue is one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of conscientous parenting, in my opinion.  I believe that the decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate should be made on a disease by disease bases individually for each child, since there are so many factors to consider, such as the child’s health, nutrition, and liklihood of exposure.  For more on the issue, I recommend Dr. Sears new book “The Vaccine Book”. 

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