Treating the Flu Naturally

This post was written in Fall 2009 when my daughter had "Swine Flu." It's still relevant. I hope you find some information here that will help you feel confident in your ability to treat flu symptoms without resorting to injecting your kids with toxins.

Here's the post:

My nine year-0ld has been sick with the flu.

Leah came home on Tuesday with a cough and fever. She spent Tuesday night and Wednesday in bed - sleeping, watching TV, eating popsicles and crackers, and occasionally blowing her nose and coughing.

I spent Tuesday night and Wednesday checking her fever every 30 - 60 minutes (round the clock), administering supplements, running up and down the stairs with 7-up, popsicles, crackers, books, paper and colored pencils. I also spent every waking moment in fear, hoping I was right about what I was doing, and praying that her fever wouldn't spike and we wouldn't have to go to the hospital.

Thankfully, Leah has had a mild case of the flu (which is what most people experience), and today her fever is gone. It never got above 102 degrees, so I never gave anything to reduce the fever (which probably has something to do with why she is doing so well now). I did give her several things to help modulate her immune system, and to help her fight off the infection. Call me conceited (please don't) but I believe the steps I have taken with Leah have really made a difference, and I would like to share them with others.

As a side note, yesterday afternoon I made a quick trip to the health food store to pick up some Turmeric (curcumin) and Colloidal Silver. I think my friend, the owner of the store, was surprised to see me. A few weeks ago I received an email from her asking if I had fallen off the face of the planet. I explained to my friend the reason I haven't been in is because when I first heard about the "Swine Flu" in the spring of this year, I spent more than $400 stocking up on everything I thought I might possibly need to fend of the virus. The photo below shows what I purchased for my own family's use in anticipation of this year's flu season.

I am well aware that not everyone can afford to shell out $400 on supplements to fight the flu. I can't really afford it either, but if I'm going to recommend things to others, I want to make sure they work. Therefore, I use these things myself (and I give them to my guinea pigs...I mean my kids).

So, for those who cannot shell out the money to cover every possible scenario (or for those whose OCD is not as severe as mine) - what are the most important things to buy, if you want to protect your family from the flu this year? The next photo shows what I actually used to treat Leah's flu.

I have been giving (and taking) vitamin D3 for prevention (2,500 iu daily for my kids and 5,000 iu daily for me). We also take fish oil daily (1-2 grams). When Leah got sick, I increased her D3 to 20,000 iu/day (for adults, the recommendation is up to 50,000 iu/day for 3 days). I gave 2 grams (2,000 mg.) of fish oil and 2 grams (2,000 mg.) of Vitamin C, in divided doses (morning and night). I gave 1 capsule of Virastop (from Enzymedica) 3x/day on an empty stomach. I gave Oscillococcinum (available at Walmart or CVS) 3x/day, and a squirt of colloidal silver 2x/day.

On a shoestring budget, the first thing I would buy is Vitamin D3. If you don't have a shoestring budget but know someone who does, buy a bottle and give it to them. We're all in this together.

Final words:
Purchasing enough supplements to cover every possible scenario during the flu season: $400.
Cost of Vitamin D3, Fish Oil, Vitamin C, Oscillococcinum, ViraStop, and Colloidal Silver: $95.
Cost of buying a bottle of D3 for your neighbor who can't afford it: $10.
Treating the flu without worrying about Mercury or Squalene from vaccinations: Priceless.

Blessings,
Marci

School Nurses and Parents' Right to Informed Consent

I just responded to a facebook friend who commented on one of my Notes. This mother of a vaccine-injured child informed the school nurse of her Religious Exemption status. The nurse reportedly treated the mother "like a 3 year-old child" who was making a foolish decision by exercising her legal right to refrain from further vaccinating after her son had experienced serious complications from previous vaccines. This mother also reports the school nurse attempted to include her in a conspiracy to deny other parents their legal right to informed consent by advising her to keep quiet about the fact that parents are entitled to Religious Exemption. The school nurse reportedly told this mother not to tell anyone else about the fact that she was claiming religious exemption for her son, or that such a thing exists and others are entitled to do the same.

How many of us who are exercising our rights to Religious or Philosophical Exemptions from vaccination have experienced something similar?

My advise to my facebook friend is to write a letter to the nurse documenting her concerns about having been asked to with-hold information from other parents about their legal rights and about the dangers of vaccinating children who are at increased risk of having negative reactions. I advised this mother to copy the letter to the superintendent of the school district, making the episode a matter of public record. Thinking about it now, sending a copy to the local newspaper and to members of the school board wouldn't be a bad idea.

School nurses are in positions where they have a responsibility to exercise care and concern for the children who attend their schools. They also have a responsibility to ensure that parents have accurate information when it comes to the health and well-being of their children. At the very least, they should not be actively denying parents information they need to make informed decisions and they certainly should not be actively recruiting other parents to help assist them in denying parents information about their legal rights.

When something happens to a child who attends the school where this nurse is on staff, an investigation needs to be started to determine if the parents of that child were denied information about exemptions that may have prevented the injury or death of the child, and if this is the case, the school nurse needs to be held accountable. It seems to me a case could be made for conspiracy and criminal negligence, or even negligent homicide if a child dies.

My thoughts about this are that it is highly likely that other parents have encountered this kind of scenario, not only with school nurses, but with pharmacists and nurses who are administering vaccinations at drug stores, Walmart, and other public places. If this has happened to you, I urge you to document the episode, include the date and time of the incident, note where it took place, and the name of the "health professional" involved. Also note if others were present and witnessed the discussion. Then make it public.

This is serious. Children are being harmed and we cannot keep silent just because it may upset someone. As I noted in my message to my facebook friend, "There is a reason for everything. This conversation happened to you and it is your cue to take action." If for no other reason than to protect ourselves from the guilt and pain of knowing we could have done something and chose not to, we must not be silent.

Plea to the Media: PLEASE Provide Information About Vaccine Exemptions!

On Tuesday night (October 19, 2010) I sent an email to News25 (Evansville, IN) reporter Kimberly Barbour after watching her reporting of all the kids sent home from EVSC because they don't have up-to-date vaccinations.
Here is my original message:

From: Marci Terry Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:29 PM
To: Kimberly Barbour
Subject: EVSC and vaccines

I just saw the story on the 10:00 news about students in the EVSC not being allowed to attend school unless they have received the "recommended" vaccinations.

Are you aware that "recommendations" are not the same as "Law?"

Indiana DOES provide parents with the option of exemptions. You are incorrectly telling parents that their children must receive vaccinations, which puts you in the position of assuming the role of a medical professional.

You may be held liable if children have adverse affects - including death - as a result of being vaccinated when they already have established immunity.

You may want to retract this story.

Marcella Piper-Terry, M.S.

Yesterday afternoon I received the following email response from Ms. Barbour:
Subject: RE: EVSC and vaccines Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:50:23 -0500

From: kbarbour@news25.us
To: marcellaterry@hotmail.com

Ms. Piper-Terry,

Thank you for your response. It is state law for schools to have shot records for all students. Indiana, thankfully, is a state that allows medical exemptions, but there still has to be documentation provided for them to include in their shot records. I have explained the state law in several previous stories on this topic. The schools have also explained this in their many notices to parents.

Kimberly Barbour
Reporter
WEHT-TV News 25
(812)483-3841

Here is my reply to Ms. Barbour's email:

Ms. Barbour:

Thank-you for your email.
Indiana does provide for medical exemption, as do ALL states in the U.S.
Forty-eight states, including Indiana, also provide for Religious exemptions; Mississippi and West Virginia are the only two states that do not allow this exemption.

Many people realize that they do have a religious exemption to vaccinations when they understand how the vaccines are made and how they do or do not work. Most people do not realize that vaccines contain mercury and aluminum, and that there have never been safety studies to examine the effects of vaccinating children with multiple antigens and additives simultaneously.

I have religious exemptions for myself and my children, based on my belief that God made our bodies perfectly and His design ensured that we were able to fight off illnesses if our immune system is allowed to rally itself naturally in the face of diseases such as the flu or chicken pox. Because I believe God made our bodies perfectly, I believe it is against His will for me to allow anyone to inject viruses, bacteria, mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, neomyacin, or anything that has been cultured in non-human DNA or aborted fetal tissue into their bodies - or mine.

Religious exemption is a very easy thing to do, and it is the legal right of parents to choose this if it is consistent with their beliefs.

All a parent has to do is write down on a piece of paper that they are not vaccinating because it is against their religious beliefs, sign it, and give it to the school nurse.

People need to know that this in an option and it is their legal right.

People need to know that there are many conditions that are contraindicated for vaccination. For example, if a child has had a previous reaction to vaccines, such as having a seizure or running a high fever, it is contraindicated for them to be vaccinated again with that vaccine. It is also a contraindication for many vaccines if a FAMILY member has a seizure disorder or has had a reaction to vaccines.

If you think I'm making this up, you need to look at the vaccine inserts that contain the information directly from the manufacturers.

Here is a link from Johns Hopkins that will take you to a table where you can look at the vaccine inserts for yourself.

People also need to know that there are many children who should NOT receive vaccinations because they have underlying mitochondrial disorders that make them exponentially more vulnerable to vaccine damage. Children in Evansville are more likely to have mitochondrial disorders because of the very high rates of heavy metals here from the coal burning power plants. The amount of manganese in this area has gone up by more than 1 million pounds per year over the last four years, and manganese CAUSES mitochondrial disorders. These are alterations in DNA that damage the body's energy system, including the ability to produce and utilize ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate). This changes the way the immune system responds to challenge and results in systemic damage rather than the child responding with increased immunity.

Here is a link where you can get information about mitochondrial disorder and what people should look for when considering if they may want to get their child tested for this before getting vaccinated:

Please note that mitochondrial disorder is passed from mother to child - OR - can happen at any time during the lifespan as a result of exposure to toxic levels of certain substances, among them manganese, lead, mercury, arsenic and antimony - all of which are extremely high in the Evansville area because of the amount of coal that is burned here. This is one reason why we have such high rates of diabetes, thyroid disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and autism. ANYONE who has these issues needs to be tested for mitochondrial disorder before being vaccinated, and any Mother who has these issues needs to know that her child is at increased risk of vaccine injury if he or she has an underlying mitochondrial disorder that has not been diagnosed. This was the case for Hannah Poling, whose family was awarded millions of dollars (correction: $1.5 Million) recently in vaccine court for her vaccine injuries - not because she has autism, but because she regressed into autism after vaccination DUE TO underlying mitochondrial disorder. To hear more about Hannah Poling's story and her parents' research into what happened to their daughter, click this link.

(Note: Please understand that thimerosal has not been removed from childhood vaccines. It is still present in flu shots which are being given routinely to pregnant women, so infants are actually now receiving mercury at an even more vulnerable stage of brain development. For more on thimerosal in flu vaccinations and the overall issues related to giving flu shots to pregnant women and children, click this link.

You should also understand that even in the absence of thimerosal altogether, infants and children are receiving toxic levels of aluminum, etc. in vaccines. For more on aluminum in vaccines, please review the article written by Dr. Bob Sears: "Is Aluminum the New Thimerosal?"

Back to my email to Ms. Barbour:
It is not too much to ask for people to be told the truth about the risks they are taking. The consequences of vaccine injury are lifelong.

Please help to set the record straight by informing parents of "the rest of the story."

Thanks so much,
Marcella Piper-Terry

Additional note: People also need to know that if an infant or child was fed soy formula there is increased risk of mitochondrial disorder because of high levels of manganese in the formula. These children should be checked to see if they have mitochondrial disorder before even considering vaccinating as the risk for vaccine injury increases to 1 in 50 for those with mito d/o.
Here are a couple of links for information about issues related to soy formula, mitochondrial damage, and manganese from environmental exposures (power plants):

Journal of NeuroToxicology

Journal of the American College of Nutrion

Soy Formula and Manganese Studies from the Violence Research Foundation

Toxicology information on Manganese. See section 11.

Scholarly articles on Manganese and Mitochondrial Damage

Environmental Health Article, Manganese, Particulate Matter, and Mitochondrial Damage

It's Flu Season. Let the Fear-Mongering Begin!

Yesterday morning a pediatrician left a comment on my critique of the MMR study, asking pointedly why I chose to critique such a small study. The doctor stated that the study in question was the smallest one he's ever seen. He asserted that there are many more vaccine studies, "some with over a million subjects." He wanted to know why I don't critique them. I asked him to please provide the links because I have not been able to find any such studies. The fact is, it is standard operating procedure for the vaccine makers to conduct studies with very small sample sizes and to then make sweeping declarations of the safety of their products. This is particularly true for the flu vaccine.

Last week I walked into the local CVS pharmacy and asked for the package insert for the flu vaccine they will be using this Saturday at their "vaccine clinic." The girl behind the pharmacy counter didn't know what I was talking about. So I asked if they have the vials on hand. She said yes. I asked to see the box. She retrieved it from the refrigerator. I wrote down the name - "Fluvirin" and noted that it is the multi-dose variety.

Here is the manufacturer's insert:

Each .5 ml dose contains 25 mcg. of thimerosal (ethyl mercury), which means if your child gets two doses, he or she will be getting 50 mcg. of thimerosal.

If you ask your doctor if this is safe, you will most likely be told "Yes." If you ask if the research has been done to prove safety of this particular vaccine, you will most likely be told "yes." I suggest you don't stop there.

On page 10 of the package insert (link above), you will find the information about the clinical studies in the pediatric population. Here it is:

In 1987 a clinical study was carried out in 38 ‘at risk’ children aged between 4 and 12 years (17 females and 21 males). To record the safety of FLUVIRIN, participants recorded their symptoms on a diary card during the three days after vaccination and noted any further symptoms they thought were attributable to the vaccine. The only reactions recorded were tenderness at the site of vaccination in 21% of the participants on day 1, which was still present in 16% on day 2 and 5% on day 3. In one child, the tenderness was also accompanied by redness at the site of injection for two days. The reactions were not age-dependent and there was no bias towards the younger children.

Three clinical studies were carried out between 1995 and 2004 in a total of 520 pediatric subjects (age range 6 - 47 months). Of these, 285 healthy subjects plus 41 ‘at risk’ subjects received FLUVIRN. No serious adverse events were reported.

FLUVIRIN should only be used for the immunization of persons aged 4 years and over.

That's it. The 2010-2011 Fluvirin Vaccine has been deemed safe to administer to ALL U.S. children 4 years and older, and this decision is based on studies of 38 children that were done in 1987, and 326 children studied between 1995 and 2004.

That's not a lot of kids to base the decision that the vaccine is safe for ALL children.

What's even more troubling is that this year's vaccine contains two strains of seasonal flu (A & B) AND it also contains H1N1.

H1N1 did not resurface until 2009. The vaccines that were studied in 1987, 1995, and 2004 did not contain H1N1.

This flu vaccine has NEVER been studied in children. But it has been deemed "Safe for all U.S. children aged 4 years and above."

Yesterday morning I contacted the USI Student Health Clinic to find out what flu vaccine they are giving and to what groups. I spoke with a nurse who told me they are using Fluzone multi-dose vials and they are giving it to "all ages" including pregnant women. The nurse added, "We gave it to them last year."

Here is the package insert for Fluzone:

Page 1: "Safety and effectiveness of Fluzone have not been established in pregnant women, nursing mothers, or children <6 months of age."

Page 3: "6.1. Clinical Trial Experience - Fluzone - Pediatric Studies: The 2003-2004 formulation of Fluzone was studied in 19 children 6 to 23 months of age and in 12 children 24 to 36 months of age, given in 2 doses one month apart. Local reactions and systemic events were solicited for 3 days after each dose. Most local and systemic reactions were mild. The proportions of local and systemic reactions in children were simliar to the proportions in adults."

This vaccine, which contains mercury, is being recommended for ALL children 6 months and older. It has been deemed "safe" on the basis of clinical trials that included a total of 31 children between the ages of 6-36 months.

THe formulation that was studied in 2003-2004 is different from the formulation this year, so this year's flu vaccine has not been studied AT ALL for its effect in infants and young children.

Page 4: "8. Use in specific populations - 8.1 pregnancy: Pregnancy Category C.: Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with Fluzone. It is also not known whether Fluzone can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. Fluzone should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed."

WHY WOULD ANYONE ASSUME IT IS OKAY TO GIVE THIS VACCINE TO PREGNANT WOMEN?
WHY WOULD PREGNANT WOMEN BE LINING UP TO RECEIVE IT?
WHY WOULD PARENTS OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN BE LINING UP TO HAVE THEIR KIDS VACCINATED WITH SOMETHING THAT CONTAINS MERCURY AND WHICH HAS NOT BEEN TESTED FOR SAFETY?

People are afraid of the flu. They are afraid because the CDC tells them to be afraid.

This is the lnk to the CDC's own report of the 2009-2010 flu season:

On pg. 3: "A dramatic increase in hospitalizations in the younger age groups was indicative of the influenza pandemic's impact on children." If you look at the numbers and do the math, the "dramatic increase" in children 4 and under was 83 hospitalizations per 100,000 as compared with 34/100,000 (avg. from the previous 3 flu seasons).

The "dramatic increase" in hospitalizations in kids 4 yrs and under amounts to 6.83 kids per month in a city of 100,000 people, as compared to between 2.62-4.25 kids per month in the same city during each of the previous 3 flu seasons.

Breaking it down by week... during last years "pandemic" flu season, in a city of 100,000 people there was an average of 1.63 hospitalizations for flu (confirmed by laboratory analysis) in children four years and younger.

In the previous three flu seasons, in the same city of 100,000 people, hospitalizations for kids 4 and under were between .63 and 1.01 kids per week.

So, according to the CDC's own document, the "dramatic increase" on the pediatric population (kids four and under, in this case), as measured by hospitalizations for laboratory confirmed flu, amounted to less than one child per week in cities of 100,000 people.

Who is "fear-mongering" now?

Scaring the public with terminology like "dramatic increase" in order to sell more vaccines to pregnant women and parents of infants and toddlers when the vaccines have not been tested for safety in these groups is unethical and unconscionable.

Vaccines and Autism: Your Child and "The Greater Good"

I have not posted in a while, and I apologize for that.
I am not going to offer anything new today, but instead will repost a very long, detailed article I wrote in May 2009. I am reposting this because I believe it is exceptionally pertinent and needed. If it helps save one child, it is worth it.

There are several links in this post, please take the time to view the videos as they are essential to the message as a whole. After viewing the videos, please click the "back" arrow to return to the post.

Blessings for all of you.
Marci

This article originally posted May 7, 2009:
Yesterday's episode of "The Doctors" was worth watching, if only because it is sure to stir more debate and controversy about the link between vaccines and autism. Hopefully, this will help to keep the vaccine/autism connection from fading away as the AAP and "99.9 % of pediatricians" (according to Dr. Stork) would like. For anyone who did not see the show, let me set the stage.

Jenny McCarthy, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel, J.B. Handley, and Stan Kurtz were guests. Probably everyone knows by know that Jenny McCarthy is the mother of Evan, a little boy who was diagnosed with autism and who is now recovered. He no longer has autism. Dr. Jerry Kartzinel is the Defeat Autism Now! Pediatrician who helped Jenny McCarthy and Evan by utilizing the Biomedical Approach to address the underlying medical problems that led to the autism diagnosis. Jenny Documented Evan's recovery in her book, "Louder Than Words." Jenny and Dr. Kartzinel have recently written a book together, "Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide." J.B. Handley and his wife Lisa founded Generation Rescue, a non-profit organization that provides information and support to families who are working to recover their children from an autism diagnosis.

I don't usually watch "The Doctors" and wouldn't have seen it yesterday if I had not been given a heads' up via email from a friend who is also the parent of a child diagnosed with autism. I don't know anything about "The Doctors" other than the two who were most involved in the debate were Dr. Stork and Dr. Sears.

At the beginning of the show, Dr. Stork introduced the topic by saying, "Some of the theories you’re about to hear we may not agree with, but we know as doctors, this is an important issue to discuss."

As the discussion began, Dr. Lisa Masterson was supportive of Jenny McCarthy's work and gave her kudos for standing up, not only for her own kid but for so many other kids in this country and beyond. However, as the discussion heated up, Dr. Masterson disappeared from the stage and we were left with Dr. Sears and Dr. Stork. Dr. Sears, a pediatrician and member of the AAP, was reasonable and asked thoughtful questions about the science behind the GF/CF diet, specifically questioning, "Why doesn't it work for ALL kids?" Dr. Kartzinel responded that while the GF/CF diet does not work for ALL kids, it DOES work well for a significant percentage, and we CAN test to see if children have allergic reactions to certain foods and we CAN TEST to see if an individual child is making opiates from gluten and casein proteins. This is what medicine is supposed to be about. You base the treatment on the results of laboratory tests.

Dr. Sears then asked Dr. Kartzinel about his opinion with regard to whether or not there is a genetic component to autism. As Dr. Kartzinel responded, we talk about a "genetic predisposition" - something that makes an individual child more vulnerable to having a bad reaction to particular environmental insults - including toxins, and including toxins that are injected into the child's body via vaccinations.

Dr. Kartzinel: "What thing can we do in medicine to an entire population, and not expect a certain small group not to do well with? There is nothing in medicine that we do…lidocane, anesthesia, certain surgical procedures...Why would we think that we can give every child in the nation not one vaccine, but multiple vaccines and not suspect anything to go wrong with them. So, genetically, whether it be penicillin, or vaccines we have to understand there are going to be some children who will not do well with it…That’s probably one big reason we have a problem with this…we don’t look at the children as individuals…we look at them as a population."

As Dr. Kartzinel pointed out, in medicine, nothing works for everyone, so why would we expect that a universal vaccine schedule would work for ALL kids, without a certain percentage of them having problems as a result? Jenny joined in to say that the message is, there are too many, too soon and that the increase in the number of vaccines from 10 in 1983 to 36 in 2009 is unwarranted and IS related to the increase in autism. This is when things turned ugly. Here is a link to a discussion you may want to see (or see again): http://www.thedoctorstv.com/main/procedure_list/269

What I noticed is that when J.B. Handley stated that he is tired of physicians telling parents that vaccines are safe when the physician has not personally looked at the science, Dr. Stork blew a gasket. Dr. Stork began yelling at J.B. Handley and accusing him of "antagonizing me" and "personally attacking me on MY stage." Dr. Stork then switched the topic away from vaccines and started talking about environmental toxins and dietary changes that may be contributing to autism. He was willing to entertain the idea that there are other toxins and seemingly benign things that may be problematic for our kids, but to question vaccines? That is out of bounds. Wait...I thought he wanted to have an open debate...

Here is a link to the next segment of the show: http://www.thedoctorstv.com/main/procedure_list/271

Again, let's have an open discussion, but not about vaccines, since we "Know the Truth" that "Vaccines have been studied and scrutinized" so let's stop talking about that. Did anyone else hear Jenny McCarthy, Jerry Kartzinel, and J.B. Handley saying over and over again "They've looked at 2 vaccines and only one ingredient (mercury)." Drs. Sears and Stork continued to talk over their guests as if they could not hear what they were saying. They just continued to tow the party-line, from the AAP and the CDC. During the break, after the above "discussion," Dr. Stork stated that they contacted the AAP and had recieved a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics. This is the official party-line:

• “It is upsetting for families not to know what caused their child’s autism. While it is likely that there are many environmental factors that influence the development of autism, because of very careful and repeated studies we know that vaccines do not cause autism. We share the concern that additional research is needed to investigate genetic and environmental factors that may affect the developing brain.”
  

J.B. Handley: "It’s maddening for them to put out a statement like that…scientific dishonesty."

Who are you supposed to believe?

To boost The Doctors' position that vaccines have been proven safe, Dr. Stork showed a clip from a previous episode where the expert, Harvey Karp, M.D. declared: "A dozen or so large studies that have shown zero association between vaccines and autism."

That might be pretty convincing, IF any of those studies had included children with autism as part of the subject pool. But wait...this "expert" is declaring that 36 vaccines have been "proven" safe and to have "zero association" with autism, and ALL of that information has been gleaned from "A dozen or so" studies. In order for that to be true, each study would have had to cover 3 different vaccines, since "a dozen" goes into 36 (the number of childhood vaccines) 3 times. I would like to see those studies because I've looked at PubMed and they aren't there.

If you have never researched this issue for yourself, let me give you a few suggestions on where to look for more information. I suggest you begin by asking, "Has the vaccine-autism question been answered?"

Why don't we ask Dr. Bernadine Healy, former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Click here to see what Dr. Healy has to say. Please be patient and wait for the advertisement at the beginning to play through. Dr. Healy's interview is well worth the wait.

According to the former director of NIH, not only has the question NOT been answered, it has not even been addressed. Injured children have not been studied because the government is afraid of what they will find. “The public health officials have been too quick to dismiss…”

Aha! you may say...Dr. Healy is only ONE physician and she is no longer the director of NIH anyway. Why should we believe her?

The problems with mercury have been known for decades, and it's not just mercury. Aluminum does many of the same things that mercury does. If you want to learn more about this read the article by Dr. Russell Blaylock, reporting on the cover-up at the Simpsonwood Conference.

If you have read much about vaccine safety, you may be familiar with Dr. Paul Offit; the biggest proponent of vaccines, and member of the Institute Of Medicine (IOM), which has declared with a great degree of certainty that vaccines are safe. I encourage you to watch this video clip of Dr. Offit, promoting his latest book about the subject.

Dr. Offit is pretty impressive. Unfortunately he doesn't understand neuroscience. If he did, he would realize that his argument about problems with the synapse being the cause of autism, he is actually MAKING the CASE for vaccine injury, since mercury and aluminum (both vaccine additives) are both NEUROTOXINS and damage the ability of one neuron to communicate with another by way of the SYNAPSE.

Dr. Offit makes a big point of the fact that in the last year there has been the largest oubreak of measles in decades. 135 cases of measles, and 10% of those children had serious complications. For clarification: 10% of 135 is 13.5, meaning that when Dr. Offit is cautioning about the impact of measles, he is talking about complications that impacted less than 14 children in the United States in the last year - which was "the largest measles outbreak in years." What Dr. Offit doesn't tell you is that more than 50% of the measles cases he talks about have been determined to be from the vaccine strain of measles, meaning the children who got measles either got them from the vaccine, or from being exposed to someone who was shedding the virus after being vaccinated. This is the same thing that happens with many of the polio cases, but Dr. Offit is not going to tell you that. Why would he want to be...less than honest about these facts? Watch this video clip and draw your own conclusions.

Remember the American Academy of Pediatrics' statement on "The Doctors?" Why would they declare 36 vaccines "safe" when only "a dozen or so" studies have been done and none of them have included children with autism? Follow the money.

Fifty-five doses of vaccines by age six. Wait, you might say...I thought it was 36! Thirty-six vaccinations or shots, but because so many are multi-dose shots (DTaP, MMR) when you add them all up, it's actually 55 doses of vaccines.

Remember, it's not just mercury that is neurotoxic, aluminum is a huge problem that most people haven't even considered at this point. Here is a link to a very informative article about aluminum, and why we should be concerned. This article is written by Dr. Robert Sears. Dr. Robert Sears happens to be the brother of Dr. James (Jim) Sears of "The Doctors." Both are pediatricians, but they apparently have some different views on the issue of vaccine safety. If you saw the episode of "The Doctors," you may have noticed that at one point after being asked by Dr. Jim Sears about "the scientific studies" showing that diet is effective in treating autism, Dr. Kartzinel spoke about how so many doctors are questioning if diet works, but they are not coming to his clinic and actually talking to parents of kids who are improving. He also made reference to Dr. Robert Sears, saying something along the lines of, "Those who are saying there are no studies are not talking to your brother about what he sees at the clinic." My hunch is that the reason Dr. Jim Sears appeared more rational and reasonable than Dr. Stork on the subject of vaccine safety is because he has had this conversation many times within his own family. Unlike Dr. Stork, who seems to be married to his position of "Devil's Advocate." Interesting choice of terminology.

Dr. Stork is okay with talking about ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS as a possible contributing factor in autism, but he adamantly denies that toxins in vaccines (which are injected directly into the bloodstream of a tiny infant) could have anything to do with autism. Let's ask another pediatrician (one of the .1% who disagrees with Dr. Stork, according to his own estimate) about her experience with autism. Dr. Stephanie Cave is a Defeat Autism Now! pediatrician in Louisiana. She is also author of the book, "What Your Pediatrician May Not Tell You About Vaccinations." In an interview with Mothering Magazine, Dr. Cave stated:

• We started testing hair, urine and blood samples…we found low levels of mercury in the hair and high levels of several other metals like aluminum, antimony, arsenic, and tin in the blood and urine. These children retain mercury, which is toxic to them.

…these children don’t have to be around a high exposure to metal – they just have to be around metal, per se, because they do not have the biochemistry to aid them in the removal of metals. I believe that’s because we have overloaded them with metal through the vaccines. We give them so much metal early in life, specifically through the hepatitis B vaccine given at birth, that their bodies keep producing metallothionein, which is what helps us to remove metals from the body. After their biochemistry is depleted, they end up with an inability to handle any metal at all.

Biochemist Bill Walsh of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center tested 503 autistic children…91% had deficiency of metallothionein. Neurotypical children did not.

To read the interview with Dr. Cave in its entirety, click here.

So, what is the source of the mercury and aluminum? There are many environmental sources of mercury and aluminum, especially here in the midwest. We have a lot of coal-burning power plants, and they put a lot of heavy metals into our environment. When it's in the air, water, and soil, it's hard to avoid it, which is exactly why it is so important to be able to detoxify. If your metallothionein is depleted, that's not going to happen and metals are going to build up in your system. As a side-trip, this might be a good time to mention that when we talk about genetic predisposition and considering which children might be most at risk, we need to consider where the parents live and how many toxins are built up in the mother before she gets pregnant. The message is, "It's all ADDITIVE." It's not JUST the vaccines, but if the mercury and aluminum that is injected into an infant on the first day of his or her life shuts down the baby's ability to detoxify AND that infant lives in an area with a lot of toxins, ENVIRONMENTAL toxins are going to pose more of a problem for that child.

The problem is, Dr. Stork is thinking just like a traditionally trained physician who practices traditional western medicine and is not open to considering any other points of view because that would be inconsistent with the party-line. He does not see the cumulative effect of toxins, but only wants to attribute the effects of poisons to those he is not involved in administering. This is the same kind of thought process behind his statement that there are increases in autoimmune diseases and all kinds of other diseases, and using that argument to establish as "truth" the "fact" that there is no connection between vaccines and autism. As Jenny McCarthy and Jerry Kartzinel pointed out, those other diseases are ALSO related to vaccines.

I found it interesting that nobody on the show brought up aluminum, or the increase in Alzheimer's disease since the administration of yearly flu vaccination (which not only has a lot of aluminum, they also contain mercury). On this subject I encourage you to go to PubMed and search for "aluminum with alzheimer's" - I just did and I got 775 studies.

Do you know anyone with Alzheimer's Disease? or "Alzheimer's type dementia?" If you do, I would ask you to envision that older person as a young child with the same problems: memory problems, communication problems, disturbed sleep and wake cycles, anxiety and irrational fears, behavior problems, etc... Sounds like autism, doesn't it?

Many pediatricians will tell you there is "No mercury in the childhood vaccines" anymore. This is not true. For a list of childhood vaccines that still have mercury (thimerosal) click here. When you are evaluating how much poison is safe for your infant to have injected into his or her body, the following information may be helpful: 12.5 mcg. of ethyl mercury (thimerosal) is 25 times the EPA "safe level" for an adult. When Dr. Cave gave her interview in 2002 she talked about the vaccine schedule at that time, pointing out that at 2 months of age, children were receiving 62.5 micrograms of ethyl mercury from just two vaccinations (Hep B & Hib). 62.5 micrograms in a 10 pound infant is up to 125 times the EPA "safe level." Dr. Cave went on to explain that mercury is a neurotoxin and as such, inhibits brain function. It also suppresses the immune system.

Dr. Cave relates, "When Hepatitis B began to be administered at birth during the 1990s, we started seeing ear infections beginning around two weeks of age, which was almost unheard of before that…they have antibodies to the basic myelin protein in brain tissue. These antibodies disappear after the children are treated and the mercury is eliminated.”

As noted, this interview was given in 2002, and according to the current information from the FDA and AAFP (American Academy of Family Practitioners) there is no longer 62.5 mcg. of ethyl mercury in the Hep B and HiB vaccine combination. However, as you will see if you check the information for yourself, there is still plenty of mercury to damage your child's brain, particularly if you follow the newest "guidelines" and get the flu shot every year, beginning in utero. If 62.5 mcg is 125 times the "safe limit" for a 10 pound infant, I wonder how many times the "safe limit" 25 mcg is to a 1 or 2 pound fetus.

Okay, so you now know that mercury is a neurotoxin and it also damages the immune system. If you watched "The Doctors" show yesterday, you will recall that the first thing Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Kartzinel talked about was dietary changes - specifically the Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet. Jenny stated that when she removed casein from Evan's diet "his eye-contact returned."

You also heard Dr. Kartzinel talk about how some children produce opiates from certain foods (gluten and casein) and how removing those foods from their diet often leads to improvement in the "symptoms" associated with autism. Here is an explanation of how all of this is related to mercury:

• Mercury and other heavy metals deactivate DPPIV
• DPPIV is an enzyme that breaks down gliadomorphin and casomorphin peptides in the body.
• Casomorphin comes from casein, the protein in milk and dairy products.
• Gliadomorphin comes from gluten, the protein in wheat, oats, barley, and rye
• Casomorphin & gliadomorphin are endogenous opiates – morphines – that make children spacy & irritable
• Children with autism are spacy & irritable

This is why the GF/CF diet works. It is also why it is necessary. Mercury and other heavy metals deactivate the enzyme that breaks down the peptides that are formed from gluten and casein. When they are not broken down, the kid is making his or her own opiates and is therefore spaced out and irritable - just like any other drug addict. This is also why so many kids on "the spectrum" are such picky eaters - they will often ONLY eat things that contain gluten and casein (bread, pizza, pasta, cheese, milk, ice cream, etc.). The reason is because they are not seeking food for nourishment, they are drug-seeking. Just like any other drug addict, they are not interested in eating, they are only interested in obtaining their fix - and they get it from foods that supply gluten and casein. BUT, the important thing to remember, in this conversation, is that mercury inactivates the enzyme that breaks down those two proteins, so if it weren't for the mercury, would these kids be addicted in the first place? Probably not.

The explosion of autism cases coincided with the doubling and then tripling of the number of childhood vaccines during the 1990s. Mercury was finally removed from the "childhood" vaccine schedule in 2002-2004, although there were still stockpiles of vaccines in doctors' offices after that time. The only way to know if your child was given vaccines containing mercury is to review the vaccine insert information. But, remember, if you are giving the "recommended" annual flu vaccine, your child is still getting 25 mcg. of mercury each year, unless you specifically request a mercury-free vaccine. And there is still mercury in a number of other vaccines, but you have to really look to find it. The language has been changed. Sometimes it is referred to as "a trace" amount that is used in the manufacturing process, but NOT as a preservative. What does that mean? It's still there - it's just not labeled as a preservative. So, get the vaccine insert and read it BEFORE you allow anyone to inject anything into your child.

Back to aluminum:

Remember Dr. Offit said that delaying or altering the vaccine schedule would expose more infants to disease...Of particular concern is the Hepatitis B vaccine given at birth. This has whopping amounts of aluminum, which hyperstimulates the immune system and shifts the balance from TH1 to TH2 - towards hyper-responsiveness (allergies, asthma, RSV, ear infections, and autoimmunity). One primary way to avoid this is by not giving the Hepatitis B vaccines unless Mom is positive for Hep B.

But you just heard on "The Doctors" that delaying vaccinations during the first year will expose millions of babies to diseases that are preventable by vaccines. What to do????!!!!

What to do is research for yourself and not buy into the hysteria promoted by those who have so much to gain, monetarily, from vaccinating your children.

Remember, mercury and other metals (including aluminum) damage the immune system and impair the body's ability to detoxify, making it more vulnerable to damage from environmental toxins and viral and bacterial infections.

The Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for ALL children on the FIRST day of life. Does your child REALLY NEED to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B as an infant? If you (mother or father) are positive for Hepatitis B, then the answer is "Yes." If someone in your immediate family, or someone who will be caring for your child on a consistent basis and from whom your child might be exposed to infected blood, then the answer is "possibly - your child is at increased risk." Otherwise, the answer is "No."

INFANTS ARE NOT AT RISK FOR HEPATITIS B! In 1991, there were 18,003 cases of hepatitis B reported in the U.S. out of a total U.S. population of 248 million. According to the October 31, 1997 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the CDC, in 1996 there were 10,637 cases of hepatitis B reported in the U.S. with 279 cases reported in children under the age of 14 and the CDC stated that "Hepatitis B continues to decline in most states, primarily because of a decrease in the number of cases among injecting drug users and, to a lesser extent, among both homosexuals and heterosexuals of both sexes."

But Dr. Offit wants ALL babies vaccinated for Hepatitis B, not once but three times. I wonder if that's because if they are going in for their Hep. B shots, they are also more likely to receive the Rotavirus Vaccine, for which HE developed the patent, which sold for 182 MILLION dollars. Hmmmnnn....

If you think babies should be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease at birth, with a vaccine that contains up to 125 times the "safe" limit of aluminum (according to the EPA regulations), watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNy5VmeaGNw

and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b1rFJgyXI

Wow! That's some scary stuff. It must be the media exaggerating things, right? Yes. And No.

Remember when Dr. Kartzinel talked about how there is nothing in medicine that can be utilized universally without some percent of the population having problems? This is an example of what he was talking about. Aluminum is a neurotoxin and it damages the immune system.

So just how much aluminum is in vaccines that are "recommended" for ALL infants living in the United States? And what is the "safe level" of aluminum?

According to the FDA, the "safe level" of aluminum for full-term babies with healthy kidneys is 5 micrograms per kilogram per day. As Dr. Robert Sears points out, using this "safe level" determined by the FDA, a 12 pound, 2 month-old infant should be able to handle "at least" 30 mcg. of aluminum in one day. A 22 pound one year-old infant should be able to handle "at least" 50 mcg. of aluminum in one day. As Dr. Robert Sears states, the FDA "safe level" was determined from studies of premature infants with immature kidneys, so full-term infants with healthy kidneys should theoretically be able to handle more than the "safe level." However, we don't know because there haven't been any studies done - at least none Dr. Sears (or I) could find.

Okay, so how much aluminum is really in the childhood vaccines?

• DTaP (for Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis): 170-625 mcg, depending on manufacturer
• Hepatitis A: 250 mcg
• Hepatitis B: 250 mcg
• HIB (for meningitis; PedVaxHib brand only): 225 mcg
• HPV: 225 mcg
• Pediarix (DTaP/Hepatitis B/Polio combination): 850 mcg
• Pentacel (DTaP/HIB/Polio combination): 1500 mcg
• Pneumococcus: 125 mcg

The above information is from Dr. Robert Sears' article, "Is Aluminum the New Thimerosal?"

So what does this mean for your child, living in the United States and complying with the "recommended" childhood vaccine schedule?

Dr. Robert Sears does the math:

• Newborn gets Hepatitis B injection on day one of life would get 250 micrograms of aluminum.
• Repeated at one month of age with the next Hep B shot.
• When a baby gets the first big round of shots at 2 months, the total dose of aluminum can vary from 295 micrograms (if a non-aluminum HIB and the lowest aluminum brand of DTaP is used) to a whopping 1225 micrograms if the highest aluminum brands are used and Hep B vaccine is also given.
• These doses are repeated at 4 and 6 months.
• A child would continue to get some aluminum throughout the first 2 years with most rounds of shots.

Okay, so going back to the issue of metals depleting metallothionein, and basically shutting down the body's ability to detoxify other environmental toxins, you may want to ask yourself, is the Hepatitis B vaccine really something my child needs, if I do not have Hepatitis B?

Is your child really at risk for Hepatitis B? And is the risk worth the consequences of injecting aluminum (a neurotoxin and immunotoxin) into your child at levels that are exponentially higher than the "safe level" determined by the FDA?

Question: Is your child really at risk for Hepatitis B?

Hepatitis B

• Is not common in childhood and is not highly contagious.
• Is primarily an adult disease transmitted through infected body fluids, most frequently infected blood
• Is prevalent in high risk populations such as: needle using drug addicts; sexually promiscuous heterosexual and homosexual adults; residents and staff of custodial institutions such as prisons; health care workers exposed to blood; persons who require repeated blood transfusions; babies born to infected mothers.

According to the CDC Guide to Action publication on Hepatitis B (1997):

"the sources of [hepatitis B] infection for most cases include intravenous drug use (28%), heterosexual contact with infected persons or multiple partners (22%) and homosexual activity (9%).”

Although CDC officials have made statements that hepatitis B is easy to catch through sharing toothbrushes or razors, Eric Mast, M.D., Chief of the Surveillance Section, Hepatitis Branch of the CDC, stated in a 1997 public hearing that: " although [the hepatitis B virus] is present in moderate concentrations in saliva, it's not transmitted commonly by casual contact." (National Vaccine Information Center)

Once again, you as a parent are faced with a difficult question: "Who am I supposed to believe?"

Another question you need to ask yourself is "Just how serious is Hepatitis B?" You need to ask this question in order to make an informed decision about whether the risks associated with vaccination outweigh the risks of actually contracting the disease. The following information comes from the National Vaccine Information Center.

Hepatitis B is not a killer disease for most people.

Symptoms of Hepatitis B infection include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, low grade fever, pain and swelling in joints, headache and cough that may occur one to two weeks before the onset of jaundice (yellowing of the skin) and enlargement and tenderness of the liver, which can last for three to four weeks. (YUCK)

Fatigue can last up to a year. (Again, YUCK)

Translation: You will feel REALLY YUCKY for 6-8 weeks, and it may take you a year to recover your energy level to pre-illness status.

According to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (1994): in cases of acute hepatitis B most patients do not require hospital care; 95 percent of patients have a favorable course and recover completely; case-fatality ratio is “very low (approximately 0.1 percent).” (1/10th of 1% or 1 out of 1,000); and Those (95%) who recover completely from hepatitis B infection acquire life-long immunity (this is a good thing).

According to Robbins Pathological Basis of Disease (a medical textbook published in 1994), of those who do not recover completely, fewer than 5 percent become chronic carriers of the virus with just one quarter of these in danger of developing life threatening liver disease later in life.

Translation: Of the 5% of people who do not recover completely from hepatitis B infection, 5% will become chronic carriers and ¼ of them will eventually die from Hep B related liver disease.

What does this mean? It depends on which statistics you look at. Let's take the worst-case scenario and go with the "200,000 new cases yearly" cited in the 1999 video from ABC's 20/20 show.

• 200,000 x .95 = 190,000 will recover completely (95% will recover completely)

Of the 5% of people who do not recover completely from hepatitis B infection, 5% will become chronic carriers and ¼ of them will eventually die from Hep B related liver disease.

• 10,000 will not recover completely
• 10,000 x .05 = 500 will become chronic carriers
• 500 x .25 = 125 will die in later life due to liver disease

Are we over-reacting and over-vaccinating as a result? Remember, it's not just the Hepatitis B we have to worry about, it's the aluminum. We, as parents, have to weigh the actual threat of disease against the cost of "protection." Given the amount of Aluminum contained in Hepatitis B vaccinations, AND the very low risk of young children becoming infected (if Mom is not infected), this particular vaccine does not seem worth the risk.

If Hepatitis B is not worth the risks associated with injecting aluminum directly into the bloodstream, AND if those who adamantly state that by delaying the Hepatitis B vaccines we, as parents are putting our children's health at risk, maybe we should start questioning further the advise we are getting from those who rigidly follow the party-line put out by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Despite the declarations of the AAP and the CDC that the huge amount of money they recieve from the vaccine manufacturers does not influence the advice they give to parents, delving further into the facts about Hepatitis B (one vaccine out of MANY the AAP and CDC have declared as "safe") leads me to believe that these sources may not be completely vested in the best interest of my child - or yours.

PLEASE - do not follow blindly everything you are told by your pediatrician or family physician. Ask first if he or she has actually looked at the science, or if your trusted health advisor is simply following the party-line. And remember - ultimately you, as the parents, are the ones who are responsible (and who will live with the consequences) for the decisions you make about your child's health. The pediatrician may order the shots, but he or she is not the one who will be raising your child for the rest of his or her life.

Educate before you vaccinate.

Marci

Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., Winner of the Noble Prize

With yesterday's announcement of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, I think it is appropriate to honor the man who, sadly, will never see the full effects of his lifetime commitment to individuals and families impacted by autism. This man worked tirelessly and passionately in his quest for the true causes and effective treatments of autism to be accepted and widely applied so that more children could live free from constant pain and become independent, contributing members of society.

Today's post is dedicated to Bernard Rimland, Ph.D (1928 – 2006). The bulk of this post is a reprint of Dr. Rimland's testimony in 2000, before the House Committee on Government Reform. Given the current state of our economy and the recent 700 billion dollar buyout, I believe the timing of this post is especially relevant.

Here's to you, Bernie. Thank-you. You did not live long enough to receive the Nobel Prize, but if they gave one for being a Noble Man, you would have no competition whatsoever.


Testimony of Bernard Rimland, Ph.D. Before House Committee on Government Reform

April 6, 2000

The Autism Increase: Research Needed on the Vaccine Connection

My name is Bernard Rimland. I am a research psychologist (Ph.D.). and am Director Of the Autism Research Institute, which I founded in 1967. I am also the founder of the Autism Society of America (1965), and the editor of the Autism Research Review International. My book, Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implication for a Neural Theory of Behavior (1964) is widely credited with changing the field of psychiatry from its claim that autism is an emotional illness, caused by destructive mothers, to its current recognition that autism is a biological disorder. I have lectured on autism and related problems throughout the world, and am author of numerous publications. I served as primary technical advisor on autism for the film Rain Man.

My son Mark was born in 1956. It was obvious from birth that this perfectly normal-looking infant had something drastically wrong with him. I had earned my Ph.D in experimental psychology 3 years earlier and had never encountered the word autism. Our pediatrician, with 35 years of experience, had never heard of autism either. Autism was extremely rare then - it is extremely common now.

Some supposed experts will tell you that the increase reflects only greater awareness. That is nonsense. Any pediatrician, teacher or school official with 20 or more years experience will confirm what the studies tell us: there is a real increase in autism and the numbers are huge and growing. The epidemic is serious and world-wide.

Soon after my textbook on autism was published in 1964, I began to hear from other parents. Many parents told me that their children were normal until getting a triple vaccine - the DPT shot. In 1965 I began systematically collecting data on the symptoms and possible causes of autism: In 1967—33 years ago—I began querying the parents, specifically about the child's response to the DPT shot. Many had reported marked deterioration.

During the past few years the Autism Research Institute has been flooded with an upsurge in pleas for help from parents throughout the world - from wherever the World Health Organization vaccine guidelines are followed. The majority of these parents say their children were normal until getting the MMR - another triple vaccine.

Let me dispel several myths promoted by those who deny the autism-vaccine connection:

1. They claim the vaccines are safe, but physicians are indoctrinated to disbelieve claims of harm and are not trained to recognize nor required to report any adverse reactions. From 90% to 99% of the adverse reactions reported to doctors are never reported by those doctors to the government's extremely lax Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, known as the VAERS.


2. They say that the suspected linkage between the MMR vaccination and autism has been disproved by a study conducted by Brent Taylor and his colleagues in London, and published last year in The Lancet. The Taylor study is seriously flawed in many ways, as had been noted in a number of letters to the editor of The Lancet and in a number of additional letters on the subject which have been posted on the internet. It was subject to strong attack at a recent meeting of the British Statistical Society. I have been a full-time researcher my entire professional life, for almost 50 years, and I respectfully asked Dr. Taylor for a copy of the data so that I could reanalyze them. He refused this ordinary professional courtesy, and I have subsequently written to the editor of The Lancet requesting that an impartial committee be asked to reexamine Dr. Taylor's statistical methods. If he refuses again, I urged The Lancet to retract his paper.


3. They say that autism has a large genetic component, and therefore vaccines must play a minimal, if any, role in the causation of autism. My book Infantile Autism, published in 1964, was the first systematic attempt to marshal the evidence for genetics as a contributing cause of autism, so I am certainly not hostile to that idea. However, genes do not begin to account for the huge increase in the incidence of autism, ranging from 250% to 500% in various places. I might add that we have just reviewed all of the recent genetic studies for the next issue of the Autism Research Review International, which I edit. The results are spectacularly inconsistent. The best guess is that there are at least 20 different genes involved in the causation of autism. Gene therapy is decades off, and may be infeasible.


4. They claim that autism naturally occurs at about 18 months, when the MMR is routinely given, so the association is merely coincidental and not causal. But the onset of autism at 18 months is a recent development. Autism starting at 18 months rose very sharply in the mid-1980s, when the MMR vaccine came into wide use. A coincidence? Hardly! See the graph below.
   

Autism is not the only severe chronic illness which has reached epidemic proportions as the number of (profitable) vaccines has rapidly increased. Children now receive 33 vaccines before they enter school - a huge increase. The vaccines contain not only live viruses but also very significant amounts of highly toxic substances such as mercury, aluminum and formaldehyde. Could this be the reason for the upsurge in autism, ADHD, asthma, arthritis, Crohn's disease, lupus and other chronic disorders?

As a parent and as a full-time professional researcher, I am bitterly disappointed with the medical establishment's dismal record with regard to autism over the past 60 years. The medical schools, as well as the governmental agencies, have consistently supported outmoded, unproven and even disproven theories from the very beginning, and have actively opposed the most promising approaches for the treatment of autism. They supported the psychoanalytically-based theories which held the mother responsible for causing autism through her supposedly hostile attitude toward the child. They opposed the use of behavior modification, the most uniformly beneficial treatment for autism, by claiming that it neglected the deep-seated emotional blocks that were supposedly at the root of autism. They have ignored, and continue to ignore, the long series of studies conducted both in the U. S. and Europe showing that the elimination of foods containing gluten and casein from the diet brings about marked improvement in many autistic children. They have consistently ignored the series of 18 consecutive studies, conducted by researchers in 6 countries, which showed that almost half of all autistic children and adults respond favorably to high doses of vitamin B6 and magnesium., with no adverse effects. Eleven of these studies were double-blind placebo-crossover experiments. There is no drug that comes close to B6/magnesium in terms of safety, efficacy and positive research findings.

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on non-productive lines of research, while virtually no money at all has been given to research on the methods of alternative medicine, which are far more promising in terms of both safety and efficacy.

The most interesting questions are not being asked: Why does the majority of the population survive such epidemics as autism, the bubonic plague, Legionnaires' disease, polio and AIDS, while relatively few succumb?

The answer is that the survivors have a healthy, effective immune system. Would enhancing the immune system decrease the likelihood of adverse reactions to vaccines (including the anthrax vaccine - DOD please note!)? Very probably. It is well known that the immune system must be adequately supplied with many nutrients if it is to function properly, including especially vitamins A, C, E, B6 and a number of minerals, including zinc, magnesium, and selenium. Nutritional levels of these substances are not only harmless, they are essential to good health. Since people do not change their diets readily, I believe that foods should be fortified with these nutrients - especially foods that will be consumed by infants and children. Research along these lines - as well as on the safety of the vaccines - is desperately needed.

As a parent and a researcher, I believe there should be a marked redirection of effort and funding, along the lines suggested above.

Committee on Government Reform

2157 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-5074

Reprinted from:http://www.house.gov/reform/hearings/healthcare/00.06.04/rimland.htm

The Flu Vaccine - Is It Worth It? A Cost-Benefit Analysis

A few weeks ago I posted an article on this blog entitled, "Is There Thimerosal in the Flu Vaccine." At that time, it had just been announced in the media that the CDC was stepping up efforts this year "like never before" to ensure that every man, woman, and child (including babies and the as-yet unborn) receive the flu vaccine. As I wrote then, this is extremely concerning, especially when it comes to vaccinating pregnant women in the second trimester, and vaccinating babies and children with something that contains mercury. I cannot understand why, after the CDC finally agreed to remove thimerosal from the childhood vaccine schedule, they would now recommend vaccinations for babies and children that still contain this extremely toxic heavy metal.

I know this is a topic I already covered, but it is one that is so important it's worth expanding on.

Today was one of those rare days when, having attended the Health Fair at USI, I found myself at home with my feet up when the news came on. One of the stories covered by Ann Komas, anchor for WFIE News, reported on a "Drive-In Flu Clinic" that took place today in Indianapolis. People are lining up in their cars, simultaneously rolling down their windows and rolling up their sleeves to get the flu vaccines they have been so fervently advised to receive.

I wonder how many of them know about the thimerosal.

As my 8 year-old watched the news report she screwed up her face and said, "EEEWWWW! Gross!!!" I was very relieved to be able to tell her that she didn't have to worry about that because she is not getting a flu shot.

The government has GREATLY over-stated both the severity of the threat to healthy individuals from the flu, and the efficacy of the flu vaccine in preventing flu-related deaths. If you would like to read a fascinating article, written by research-physicians that will help you to make an informed decision about whether or not to submit to the government's push, click here.
If you don't care to read the entire article, here are some things to consider:

This information is taken directly from the article, "A Shot of Fear," written by By Steven Woloshin, Lisa M. Schwartz and H. Gilbert Welch, published in 2005 in The Washington Post.

• According to the CDC, 90 percent of flu-related deaths occur among people age 65 years and older. Based on this information and the age distribution of the population, the chance of a flu-related death for people in that age group is about one in 1,000. Another way of saying this is that the chance of not dying from flu for those 65 and older is about 999 out of 1,000. (For context, the chance of a flu-related death is slightly lower than the chance of dying from a fall or other accident.)
• For people younger than 65 (including children), the chance of a flu-related death is much smaller -- about one in 100,000.

The authors of the above-reference article point out that the wording of papers published in some highly-regarded, peer-reviewed, medical journals is misleading and overstates the effectiveness of the flu vaccination.

• For example, a 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine observed that the flu vaccine was associated with a 50 percent reduction in the overall death rate (that is, death from heart disease, stroke, cancer and all other causes combined). To attribute an effect of this magnitude solely to the flu vaccine is ludicrous: Flu-related deaths make up less than 2 percent of all deaths. If the claim were accurate, the vaccine's power would dwarf that of any other medical intervention.

The authors go on to point out that for some, it is not necessarily the concern of death from the flu that drives them (now, literally) to get the vaccination. Many Americans roll up their sleeves and hold their screaming children down to receive the flu shot because they don't want to be sick and don't want to miss work or school.

• The authors write, "Many may get flu shots simply to avoid getting sick. The Cochrane Collaboration identified more than 20 randomized trials addressing this question. The overall chance of developing "clinical" flu was 19 percent in those chosen, again by chance, to receive the recommended flu vaccine vs. 23 percent in the control groups."

If I'm interpreting this correctly, having received the flu vaccine conferred a 4% advantage when it came to actually getting sick, when compared to those who did not receive the flu vaccine.

Read on:

• Studies have also measured another outcome: how vaccination affects days lost from work. On average, there are about 0.16 fewer days lost from work per person vaccinated. Another way of saying this is that about 5 percent of those vaccinated avoid missing about three days of work because of the flu. (That is, 0.16 days divided by the 5 percent who benefited from vaccination equals 3.2 days.) The other 95 percent vaccinated got no benefit.

For anyone who is concerned about injecting mercury into yourself or your child, PLEASE ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" before obediently and blindly rolling up your sleeves. For pregnant women and parents of small children, PLEASE, JUST SAY "NO."

Marcella Piper-Terry, M.S.