Green Our Vaccines
Green our vaccines? What does that mean? Tomorrow we may find out. Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are leading a march in Washington to demand safer vaccines. According to TACA they want to remove all the toxins from vaccines and change the schedule so that children receive less vaccines and get them later in life. But according to Kev over on Left Brain/Right Brain Jenny went on the record with this gem;
I am surely not going to tell anyone to vaccinate. But if I had another child, there’s no way in hell…….for my next kid—which I’m never going to have—there’s no way.
Now that sounds anti-vaccine to me not pro-vaccine. But I will assume for now that nobody behind the Green Our Vaccines Rally, not TACA, not Generation Rescue, not NAA, not HEAL, not Moms Against Mercury, not Safe Minds, none of these groups are anti-vaccine. All these groups agree with the official line from Jenny and Jim. According to TACA
While Jenny and Jim support the vaccine program, like many, they feel vaccines are too toxic. This country has the ability to provide a safer vaccine supply and schedule to our children.
One part of Green Our Vaccines is to remove the toxins. Now I am assuming that they do not mean the real toxins in vaccines, the weakened forms of diseases that teach our immune systems how to resist the real thing if we should ever come in contact with it. That would not Green our vaccines. It would denature them. No they just want safer vaccines. So what would they remove?
Thiomersal/Thimerosal, the mercury based preservative is gone from nearly all childhood vaccines according to the FDA. And for the flu vaccine that still contain it there are alternatives.
Aluminium/Aluminum is a necessary adjuvant. It makes the vaccine more effective so children need less shots. I thought that was another of the aims of Green Our Vaccines - less shots for children.
Formaldehyde is a natural product. It is sometimes used as an antimicrobial in vaccine production but it is also produced in our bodies as a byproduct of our metabolism. Removing antimicrobials from the production process would definitely Green Our Vaccines in the way I greened a piece of cheese that lay forgotten in my fridge.
Perhaps they mean some of the products that are allegedly found in vaccines like antifreeze. Actually only one ingredient in antifreeze, polyethylene glycol, is used to inactivate one brand of flu vaccine. It is also a common ingredient of many cosmetics and toothpaste and is totally safe.
The other aspect of the call to Green Our Vaccines is to reduce the number of vaccines and give them later in life and at greater intervals. Now, I may be a victim of government propaganda. But, to my mind tiny babies are vulnerable to all sorts of dangers from real diseases and the sooner they get the protection of the recommended vaccine schedule the better.
Perhaps some enterprising journalist will ask some specific questions of Jenny and Jim about how the details of how they propose to Green Our Vaccines. I am sure the answers would be entertaining and instructive.
Pingback by Autism Blog - A quiet concession | Left Brain/Right Brain | June 3rd, 2008
[...] to more correctly reflect Joseph’s opinions on substitution. Also, I missed another Green Our Vaccines [...]
Comment by David Andrews M. Ed. (Distinction) | June 4th, 2008
“I am sure the answers would be entertaining and instructive.”
Either that or full of crap.
Pingback by The Rallying of the Green | June 4th, 2008
[...] started to chararacterize themselves as “pro-vaccine-safety advocates.” As Mike Stanton notes, the organizers of the Green Our Vaccines rally sound like their old anti-vaccine selves. But [...]
Comment by ebohlman | June 4th, 2008
Polyethylene glycol isn’t used in antifreeze; that’s ethylene glycol, and while PEG is conceptually made up of several units of EG, its chemical properties are completely different.
Comment by Peg | June 4th, 2008
Mike- apparently, you don’t understand. Let me sum up…
Does your child have Autism? If so, did it come about after they were vaccinated? For me, my son got a double whammy. The Doctor gave him his shots, then they did some tests and said it looks like he never had any…let’s give him another round. That’s where everything went downhill…like, right away.
I’m not saying to stop vaccines, but to screen them, make them safe, spread them out a little more and TEST each child for broken immune systems to see if it’s safe enough and the amount is safe enough for each child.
My son has a B-Cell dysfunction. I believe if they tested him first, they would have found this out and waited to give him his vaccines once he started IVIg therapy and build his immune sytem up. Now he has Autism as well.
All I am trying to do as a parent is help my son.
Pingback by green our vaccines Trendy Here! | June 4th, 2008
[...] vaccines. According to TACA they want to remove all the toxins from vaccines and change … credit : [...]
Pingback by green our vaccines | Lasts information | June 4th, 2008
[...] Green Our VaccinesGreen our vaccines? What does that mean? Tomorrow we may find out. Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are leading a march in Washington to demand safer vaccines. According to TACA they want to remove all the toxins from vaccines and change …Action For Autism - http://actionforautism.co.uk [...]
Pingback by green our vaccines | Hottags | June 4th, 2008
[...] our vaccines pay per click advertising Green Our VaccinesGreen our vaccines? What does that mean? Tomorrow we may find out. Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are [...]
Comment by Kelly | June 4th, 2008
Do you have a child? Do you know how scary it is to know that your child can have mercury poisoning or other side effects from having too many vaccines? I worry about this all of the time. What’s more, my son’s vaccines were deemed to be not good, so they want to do another round. Perhaps if you had a child, or were more informed about autism, you would understand that the government doesn’t want you to know about the toxins in vaccines, because they are concerned that if kids dont’ get them we will have an epidemic of disease. What they dont’ get is, we already do, it’s called autism.
Pingback by green our vaccines | Thehotopic | June 4th, 2008
[...] Green Our Vaccines [...]
Comment by Samantha | June 4th, 2008
Peg how does it help your son to terrify other parents into not vaccinating their children? If I had a dollar (or maybe a euro these days) for every time I read a comment from a parent who was made to fear vaccinating their children because of the false claims of those who are now claiming that we need to “green” vaccines I might be able to afford some of the pricey “cures” and “treatments” that these people also believe in.
Comment by Patrick | June 4th, 2008
My fear (last night) was that we would end up with suggestions for something like homeopathic vaccines from their crowd.
David, I think your observation is exactly what was meant by entertaining and instructive. Though I tend to read things into folks’ writings.
I also wonder what committee of medical professionals set up the proposed mini-schedule that I have seen copied from the (/ahem) ‘pro-vaccine-safety’ camp.
Pingback by green our vaccines | Wonderful Article | June 4th, 2008
[...] Green Our VaccinesGreen our vaccines? What does that mean? Tomorrow we may find out. Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are leading a march in Washington to demand safer vaccines. According to TACA they want to remove all the toxins from vaccines and change …Action For Autism - http://actionforautism.co.uk|||Green Our VaccinesThe Green Our Vaccines rally will include thousands upon thousands of parents, friends, professionals, and more in what will be the biggest demonstration in the history of the autism/vaccine controversy. The mission: to bring national …Mama Speaks - http://www.mamaspeaks.com/reviews/|||Green Our Vaccines RallyPlease join Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey for the most historical event of 2008, the Green Our Vaccines Rally. Jenny and Jim are working hard to eliminate all toxins from our children's vaccines and have our national health agencies …photographs and memories… - http://pegola.typepad.com/photographs_and_memories/|||Green Our Vaccines Eve - Dr Jeffrey BrentOn the eve of the ‘green our vaccines’ rally, I thought it might be interesting to share a ten minute or so segment from the Autism Omnibus. Giving evidence is Dr Jeffrey Brent:. Jeffrey Brent, MD, Ph.D. is a sub-specialty board …Left Brain/Right Brain - http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk|||The Rallying of the GreenCertainly “green our vaccines” has a much friendlier ring to it than “mercury poisoning” (suggestive of being poisoned by something burning and volatile); the phrase also suggests that, just as we are greening kitchens, …Autism Vox - http://www.autismvox.com|||Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey March for Green Our Vaccines …… Just wanted to remind you and inform you that Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey will be marching in Washington DC tomorrow, June 4th with thousands of families with children of autism. They are marching to a theme Green Our Vaccines. …MomBlogNetwork.com - http://www.momblognetwork.com|||GREEN OUR VACCINESI'm about to leave to go to GREEN OUR VACCINES with a friend. We last minute decided to drive up tonight to avoid DC traffic in the morning! I'm excited! Check it out: http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.I'm not beautiful like you, I'm… - http://rainbow-momma.livejournal.com/|||JENNY McCARTHY AND JIM CARREY SAY: GREEN OUR VACCINES!By Kim Stagliano Just one day until Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey's GREEN OUR VACCINES rally! Click HERE to learn all about it! Please click over to one of our founding sponsors, GENERATION RESCUE, to learn more about autism and…AGE OF AUTISM - http://www.ageofautism.com/|||Green Our VaccinesHonestly, I am not very informed on the issue of to vaccinate or not to vaccinate our children, but I do know that I have met quite a few people online and in person who believe (and have strong evidence to support) that vaccines caused …Coordinated Chaos - http://thezerens.blogspot.com/ water4gas zac browser hedgehog slackers me myself and irene soapzone eye tattoo wendy portillo katie couric today show alex barton Tags: Autism, Demonstration, Dr Jeffrey, Eve, Jenny Mccarthy, Jim Carrey, Kitchens, Mama, National Health Agencies, Omnibus, Parents Friends, Photographs And Memories, Rally, Right Brain, Segment, Something Burning, Specialty Board, Toxins, Vaccine Controversy, Vaccines hot bolg article [...]
Pingback by Green Our Vaccines Rally | QuickNews | June 4th, 2008
[...] actionforautism.co.uk [...]
Comment by Prometheus | June 4th, 2008
A number of parents and “autism advocates” parrot the same canards as Peg does above:
“I’m not saying to stop vaccines, but to screen them, make them safe, spread them out a little more and TEST each child for broken immune systems to see if it’s safe enough and the amount is safe enough for each child.”
I have a few questions I would like to ask the “Vaccine Greens”
[1] What, exactly, is meant by “screening” vaccines? They have already been “screened” when they were developed, not to mention the ongoing surveillance programs. What else would Peg (or others who have repeated that line) suggest be done? Be specific.
[2] When you say, “spread them out a little more”, what do you mean by that? Do you have data showing that children cannot safely respond to seven or eight (or twenty) antigens at a single go? If so, how do explain that children entering preschool or daycare for the first time are not killed outright by the myriad viruses, bacteria and other antigens they are exposed for the first time?
For that matter, what about the immense antigen exposure newborns get on their first day of life? Or when they travel by train or airplane? Or when the relatives come to visit the new baby and breathe their “germs” all over them?
[3]How, exactly, does one test an infant or small child for a “broken immune system”? There are at least 70 and possibly over 100 primary immune deficiency diseases known at present, not to mention the many secondary immune deficiencies (AKA “broken immune systems”). For many of these disorders, the genetic abnormality or causative agent is unknown.
How would you test for all of these disorders at birth? Would testing all children prior to vaccination potentially cause a number of children to be injured by the testing? What about the number of “false positives” that would require further testing, some of which is invasive and potentially dangerous? Do you honestly expect that children wouldn’t already be tested at birth if it could be realistically done? PKU affects 1 in 25,000 newborns, yet every child is tested for it at birth.
[4] As for the amount of vaccine - how should the dose be adjusted? For that matter, do you know how much antigen is actually injected with each vaccination? The point of the jab is to provoke an immune response that is sufficient to give immunity. That takes very little antigen, which is why the vaccines are so dilute.
As it turns out, there is little point in “adjusting” the dosage for weight, since the area where the vaccine response occurs - in the muscle or under the skin - is about the same size whether the recipient of the jab is an adult or and infant.
You’ll have noticed that the dose of vaccine isn’t adjusted for weight in adults, either. A 50 kg woman gets the same dose as a 100 kg man.
People who repeat these “fractured facts” about vaccines shouldn’t feel too bad about being duped - they don’t have the education or training to know any better. The people to blame are those who initiated this nonsense - who knew that they were making it all up.
Prometheus
Comment by Mike | June 4th, 2008
Peg,
I hope you have read Prometheus’ comment.
It seems to me that you and your son are the victims of exceptional circumstances which can have little or no bearing on the experience of millions of children who are vaccinated every year. Neither is your experience typical of hundreds of thousands families affected by autism.
But it seems to me that for every child with a possible case against vaccines for causing them injury there are many more who believe that vaccines are to blame but can offer no plausible biological pathway. That is what we are seeeing at the Court of federal claims at present - expert witnesses being rebutted by genuine experts.
Green Our Vaccines is part of the same circus. It has no scientific basis and nothing to offer parents with a genuine grievance, except the real possibility that when this particular ship of fools goes down it will take the genuine cases with it.
Comment by Emily | June 4th, 2008
my son has not had any vaccines. my son has also never had the flu or has ever really been sick in the 5 years he has been on this earth. i CARE about my child and have been building up his immune system since he was a baby and also feeling him healthy foods instead up pumping his little stomach with suger and processed foods like most of you do I’m sure. How many time do we hear of childred who have had the flu, chicken pox, or measels vaccines still get those diseses? WAY TOO OFTEN. I am glad to be one of the few parents who does their reseach instead of being fed everything the American medical system tells us is “normal.” When my child is older and maybe traveling to a country where the diseses we get vaccinated for are dominant THEN he can choose to get vaccinated.
Comment by laurentius-rex | June 4th, 2008
adjuvant, that is a fine word as Kristina will tell you
Dominus ad adjuvantum or as the book of Common Prayer says “Oh Lord make speed to save us”
Oh well gaudeamus igetur juvenes dum sumus cos some of us will be pushing up daisies tomorrow.
Alum in iam, pax vobiscuit
Comment by Mike | June 4th, 2008
Emily
let us hope that people from “the country were diseases are dominant” do not choose to visit you first. Or more likely, your unvaxed neigbour comes back from there with an unwanted present.
Pingback by Autism Blog - Green Our Vaccines - the reality | Left Brain/Right Brain | June 4th, 2008
[...] Kristina Chew PalMD Kristina Chew (again) Ginny Hughes Mike Stanton Orac Liz Ditz “Orac (again) and [...]
Comment by beau99 | June 4th, 2008
Emily,
I hope your son doesn’t get a more dangerous strain of one of those diseases because you didn’t vaccinate him. Because, you know, it’s not his fault if that ends up happening.
Comment by TJ | June 5th, 2008
Drugs are dangerous. Any drug is dangerous. Vaccines save countless lives every year. They also affect people adversely every year, and have the potential to kill, and do.
I’m pro-vaccine, but I’m not blindly pro-vaccine—just like I’m not blindly pro-anything. I’m all about bettering anything with safer ingredients as we become more knowledgeable in science. To say anything that has a level of known toxicity is safe because some government agency says it is does not make it safe (In fact, aluminum is one the suspected culprits in the Gulf War Syndrome, and let’s not forget about Agent Orange). To not question is foolish. To stop seeking out other adjuvants that are healthier alternatives (not known toxins) is foolish. To stop seeking to better vaccines goes against science.
The fact is, there is a reason why 1 in 155 children are being diagnosed with Autism in 2008. I think that it is reasonable that parents are looking to vaccines for the cause since it is the major common element in children–especially since the number of vaccines has grown by over 260% recently and the number of autism cases is exploding.
I don’t think your child’s ped is the best person to question about vaccines either. They’re going to go the route of vaccines and swear on their mother’s grave that they are safe. Many parents report being degraded by their child’s ped simply for questioning the safety of vaccines. Question science? You heathen!
We need to be looking to the scientists who are creating these vaccines and questioning them. From what I’ve read, this is essentially what Green Our Vaccines is doing. We are now finding out that there are scientists who say we need to look at this more. A former CDC Dr. has recently come out stating that the hypothesis needs to be looked at more closely (that there is a group of children who are susceptible to severely adverse reactions to vaccines, i.e. Autism), specifically since such a large number of children are being diagnosed with the condition of Autism. We owe it to the hundres of thousands of children with the condition, and the hundres of thousands more who are bound to be diagnosed while we simply point fingers and name call.
If it is shown that vaccines cause any type of condition like Autism there is sure to be a mass opting out of vaccines by most Americans across the board; thus, a nightmarish public health issue. I know some parents who think it is not being reported due to the public health issue it will create. Not an illogical thought.
We are seeing the opting out on a small scale with the scare of the MMR. And an increasing number of parents are opting out of vaccines all together. I do not blame them, nor do I try to make it worse by telling them that they owe it to my child and the people around them to vaccinate their children, i.e. they are putting my child at risk. Talk about a scare tactic.
Until the cause of Autism is found, people are going to speculate and worry, especially since parents with autistic children do not believe that enough is being done to find the cause. These are parents who saw the marked change in their child from one day to the next and are being called liars. They are being pushed aside by comments that they are evil for believing vaccines created the condition and evil because they choose not to vaccinate any longer. Not to mention a comment I read here somewhere about being crazy for believing in some of the treatments. This is a very serious health issue that should be taken seriously. A little compassion in these instances will go a long way. I couldn’t begin to imagine the challenges that these parents face on a daily basis, and I’m thankful that I don’t have first hand knowledge.
And BTW, my son is fully vaccinated. Not that it is any of your business.
Pingback by green our vaccines | HotBlogSearch.com | June 5th, 2008
[...] Rescue, and a variety of other , which …ScienceBlogs Select - http://www.scienceblogs.comGreen Our VaccinesGreen our vaccines? What does that mean? Tomorrow we may find out. Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are [...]
Comment by Tsu Dho Nimh | June 5th, 2008
Emily -
San Diego and Tucson each had a mini-epidemic of measles, which was imported. It came - not from one of “those countries” you are imagining, all disease ridden and filthy - but from SWITZERLAND!
Some of the victims were the children of poeple like you, well-meaning but misled, who thought that they were safe. The children were infected by siblings and classmates.
Comment by noshotsfortots | June 5th, 2008
Formaldeheyde is EMBALMING FLUID used for corpses!!! You must be joking! The Australian government has stated that there is NO safeamount for humans - even on the molecular level.
My little boy is a year old, has not been vaccinated, and has yet to get sick. I’d rather him have the measels for a week than cripling autism for the rest of his life. Anyone that researches PAST what the government and pharmaceutical companies have to say will be astounded. Personally, I dont think the government has a right to tell me what to do with my child’s health. NOT ONE parent sits on the FDA or CDC board that makesthe immunization schedule. NOT ONE!!
You know who does? The pharma big wigs. Dont believeme? Here they are. Many of thehm own patents for the vaccines they are promoting. They get 3 “conflict of interest waivers” a year so they can contribute to things they want to. Tell me that’s good science. You must have rocks in your head.
* * * PRESS RELEASE * * *
This comment has been edited. The content below *** PRESS RELEASE *** has been deleted and replaced with a link to that content.
Comment by Tom | June 5th, 2008
The aluminum in vaccines come as nano-sized fibers that lodge in the tissue at the injection site. They recruit immune cells to enhance the antibody response. The aluminum fibers are stuck in the tissue, they do not circulate in the body.
And yet, the anti-vax crowd keeps perseverating on aluminum and make wild claims that since thimerosal was eliminated aluminum content has increased. This is patently false as aluminum is not a preservative.
It galls me that the citizenry is so uninformed and yet so sure of their uninformed and ignorant rants.
Comment by Samantha | June 5th, 2008
noshotsfortots, do you know how/why formaldeheyde is used in the vaccine manufacturing process?
Comment by Rogue Epidemiologist | June 5th, 2008
noshotsfortots, you’re such a complete tool. While you think the government has no right to tell you what to do with your child’s health, they have EVERY right to tell you what you can do to other children’s health. In which case, they’d kindly like you to either support the herd immunity or GTFO out of the herd.
And yes, they DO have the right to tell you what to do with your child’s health. Gravely ill kids have been taken out of their parents’ homes when those parents have refused to administer treatment, and courts have upheld those rulings time and time again.
Comment by Mike | June 5th, 2008
Kelly
in comment #9 yo ask
Do you have a child?
Yes, two actually. Both fully vaccinated.
Do you know how scary it is to know that your child can have mercury poisoning or other side effects from having too many vaccines?
No. Vaccines do not cause mercury poisoning. You do not get side effects from too many vaccines. Individual vaccines cause individual side effects.
I worry about this all of the time. What’s more, my son’s vaccines were deemed to be not good, so they want to do another round.
Don’t worry. Go to another doctor and get a second opinion.
Perhaps if you had a child, or were more informed about autism, you would understand that the government doesn’t want you to know about the toxins in vaccines, because they are concerned that if kids dont’ get them we will have an epidemic of disease. What they dont’ get is, we already do, it’s called autism.
I have two children. One of them is autistic. I have written a book about autism. I teach autistic children for a living. Yes, I think I am informed about autism. There is no epidemic and the ingredients in vaccines are not toxic.
Comment by Mike | June 5th, 2008
TJ
Thank you for your comment #22.
Drugs are dangerous. Any drug is dangerous. Vaccines save countless lives every year. They also affect people adversely every year, and have the potential to kill, and do.
Anything is potentially dangerous. Do you drive? If cars were analagous to vaccines what are the comparative levels of safety that you would be happy with for them both?
I’m pro-vaccine, but I’m not blindly pro-vaccine—just like I’m not blindly pro-anything. I’m all about bettering anything with safer ingredients as we become more knowledgeable in science.
I agree. But the attack on vaccines is not based on science. The anti vaxxers do not believe we can better our knowledge. For them the question is already settled. Vaccines are bad and science is irreparably compromised.
To say anything that has a level of known toxicity is safe because some government agency says it is does not make it safe (In fact, aluminum is one the suspected culprits in the Gulf War Syndrome, and let’s not forget about Agent Orange). To not question is foolish. To stop seeking out other adjuvants that are healthier alternatives (not known toxins) is foolish. To stop seeking to better vaccines goes against science.
It is safe as far as we know at the levels at which it is administered; not according to a government agency but according to science. The same science will go on questioning and seeking to improve vaccines. Ask yourself, or ask Jenny and Jim, what ingredients of the current vaccine schedule cause harm? Should they be removed or replaced? What would you replace them with? How will this improve or affect the effectiveness of the vaccine schedule?
The fact is, there is a reason why 1 in 155 children are being diagnosed with Autism in 2008. I think that it is reasonable that parents are looking to vaccines for the cause since it is the major common element in children–especially since the number of vaccines has grown by over 260% recently and the number of autism cases is exploding.
Actually 1 in 155 are not being diagnosed. The figure is much less than that. You quote a prevalence figure for autism in the USA of around 1 in 155. I have read research suggesting 1 in 166 and 1 in 150. In the UK the figure is around 1 in a 100.
These figures are based on the latest epidemiological studies. The actual rate of diagnosis depends on the infrastructure - trained diagnosticians in your area, effective referral procedures, training in autism awareness for GPs, health visitors, district nurses etc. Vaccines have nothing to do with it.
The rest of your comment is based on the assumption that vaccines have a case to answer with reference to autism. If you can make the case, instead of merely stating it, I will do my best to answer you.
Comment by Mike | June 6th, 2008
Notforshots
This discussion is about Greening Our Vaccines. You are obviously anti-vaccine. Seeing as both Jenny and Jim are pro safe vaccine what could they say that would persuade you to vaccinate your child?
Comment by Jeannette Wiiliams | June 6th, 2008
This is a huge problem and we should not be hurling insults at one another when we should be looking for a solution! At 1 in 150 children being afflicted this is going to create a huge problem for our society when these children come of age. As we begin to retire who is going to step in to take our jobs? Moreover, what is going to happen to these millions of adults who cannot live independently or contribute to society in any meaningful way? They will end up in group homes and institutions. Who pays for that? You the tax payer! Society as a whole suffers. So even if you have no symapathy for the child whose bright future is snuffed out, or for the parents who are paying huge emotional, physical and financial tolls, you have to realize that this affects us all. You are right. Jenny and Jim are not brillaint scientists. They don’t have all the answers. They are normal folks. Jenny is a concerned parent just like me. What they do have is celebrity status. The fact that they are using that status to heighten awareness of this tragic situation is noble. Some of you out there who are writing to condemn Jenny and Jim as “ignoramuses” seem to have some scientic knowledge. That’s great! Now how about using your intellectual prowess to help solve this problem rather than spreading negativity? If vaccines are not the cause, then prove it!
Comment by GFCFmom | June 7th, 2008
Parents are all saying the same thing–their kids spiraled downwards after receiving routine vaccinations. The parents are all saying the same thing and nothing it’s not being looked at. If you don’t believe me, watch Dr. Bernadine Healy’s interview on CBS. She is the former DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH–surely she is high up enough for you to listen to.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/12/cbsnews_investigates/main4086809.shtml
Comment by Mike | June 7th, 2008
Jeannette,
you are alarming yourself unecessarily. The i in 150 refers to the entire spectrum, including Aspergers and PDD/NOS. Here in the UK the National Autistic Society suggested, back in the 1990s, that around 1 per cent of the population was somewhere on the autistic spectrum. But most of them (around 80 per cent) could expect to lead independent lives as adults.
There is no reason to believe these figure have changed. In fact recent epidemiology seems to confirm the NAS figures. Our ongoing campaign, I Exist, is all about giving a voice to those adults who are with us now.
Comment by Mike | June 7th, 2008
GFCFmom
Not all parents are saying the same thing. if you visit the other blogs on the Autism Hub you will find many parents who do not believe that vaccines damaged their children.
I do not listen to people because they are high up. I listen to the evidence and none of it points to a vaccine-autism connection. But if I did listen to “high-ups” why should I listen to Healy as opposed to all the other “high-ups” who say that vaccines are safe?
Comment by Lorena | June 7th, 2008
Obviously you don’t have a child with iatroyenic autism (induced by the pediatrician); I do!! I had a healthy, beautiful and bright child and he was disabled by vaccines; overlead of mercury and ridiculous combinations of viruses and toxic elements that should NEVER be in the preciuos blood of our babies.
Obvbiously you have no idea on how many children die per year in this country from vaccine reactions, and how many die from leukemia and other types of cancer. You should educate yourself a little bit. I would recommend to read the book “The sanctitu of human blood- vaccination is not immunization, by dr. Tim O’Shea - an authority in immunizations) .
I am definitely anti-vaccine! my two older daughter were born and Mexico and had very few vaccines (fresh ones, without preservatives), singles ones and spreaded. They had only 5 or 6 shots during their childhood. My poor baby had all the vaccines in this mad american schedule.
I had about three vaccines when I was a child, and so did my 5 siblings (at 6 yrs. of age, when your immunine system is already formed)
. We all had every disease: measles, chicken pox, whopping cough, mumps, rubella, etc. This is the way we (and all my cousings and friends) got immunized for life! We all are very healthy people.
All the native americans in Mexico that I’ve met (way too many of them and gone to their communities many times as well) have never been vaccinated and are the healthiest people in the world.
Who ever thought that introducing animal tissue and unknown viruses will make us healthy and prevent diseases that you can tolerate and overcome??? Edward Jenner (not a physician and somebody who never completed any program of medical study) did a hell of a job making the medical community into believing that injecting serum from a cowpox pustule into people (his son among them -who died later from smallpox)could actually allow people to develop immunity.
We all did!!! How bizarre that at the end of his career, when his pockets were full, he admitted this was a huge mistake! now you tell us!
Comment by Prometheus | June 7th, 2008
Aluminum, formaldehyde, anti-freeze! Oh, my!
Seriously, folks, do you actually believe this stuff? Or are you just trying to “raise awareness” (i.e. “panic people into doing what you want them to without thinking”)?
Aluminium: one of the most common elements in the earth’s crust, present in all natural waters and in all foods. Despite a great deal of effort, it has not been associated with either Alzheimer’s disease or “Gulf War Syndrome”. The amount in vaccines is miniscule - less than you’d get from brewing your tea in an aluminium kettle.
Formaldehyde: Yes, it’s part of embalming fluid. It’s also found in ripe fruit and is a natural product of human (and most cellular) metabolism. Again, it’s the amount that makes the difference between enjoying a ripe peach and being embalmed. If the Australian government (all of it?) says that no amount of formaldehyde is “safe” for humans (what about for dogs or kangaroos?), then I assume they will shortly be banning fruit and, just to be “safe”, all living cells from the continent.
“Anti-freeze”: Nobody has mentioned this one - yet - but it comes up in the same context. Anti-freeze - ethylene glycol - is not in any vaccines. Polyethylene glycol - a polymer of ethylene glycol - is in a few vaccines, but it is also in a large number of cosmetic, drug and even food products. The “anti-freeze” scare (”manufactroversy”) serves only to point up the general lack of scientific knowledge among the “experts” whipping the masses into a “green our vaccines” frenzy.
If you want to follow the ignorant and mis-informed, that is your perogative. Just don’t expect to find the rest of us trailing along.
Prometheus
Comment by Mike | June 7th, 2008
Lorena,
you wrote this about Edward Jenner.
Who ever thought that introducing animal tissue and unknown viruses will make us healthy and prevent diseases that you can tolerate and overcome??? Edward Jenner (not a physician and somebody who never completed any program of medical study) did a hell of a job making the medical community into believing that injecting serum from a cowpox pustule into people (his son among them -who died later from smallpox)could actually allow people to develop immunity.
We all did!!! How bizarre that at the end of his career, when his pockets were full, he admitted this was a huge mistake! now you tell us!
Edward Jenner was a surgeon, not a physician. In those days surgeons did not attend medical school. They served an apprenticeship under another surgeon. From the age of 14 Jenner was apprenticed to the surgeon, Dr Ludlow. When he was 21 he went to London to study surgery and anatomy under John Hunter who was to become surgeon to George III and surgeon general to the British Army. Jenner was refused admission to the Royal college of Physicians because he refused to take a course in Classics (Greek and Latin) but was awarded an MD by the University of St Andrews.
He did not line his pockets, as you put it. He worked as a country doctor, treating poor people for free. He was eventually granted £20,000 by parliament in 1806. as far as I know he never said that vaccination was a huge mistake and his son died, not from smallpox but from tuberculosis.
Comment by Jannalou | June 8th, 2008
I don’t know the science, but I’m pro-vaccine. I just plan to be careful. I want my children’s titers checked prior to receiving any vaccines, and I want combined vaccines separated and spread out. Not to prevent autism or anything like that (I’m pretty sure my kids will all be autistic or ADHD or something like that, given the gene pool we’ll be drawing from - both my own and my partner’s) but to reduce the risk of adverse reactions, and to make it easier to know just what caused any adverse reactions might occur.
I’ll also be avoiding the flu shot. I’ve never had one myself, and won’t be getting it for my children. Mostly because I don’t see the point in vaccinating against last year’s flu.
Oh, and by the way, Lorena, the reason why we are vaccinated against Rubella is that women who have Rubella often have children with birth defects as a result, especially if the Rubella comes on during pregnancy. That much I remember from Biology class in high school (which was several years ago now).
Also, there are a lot of diseases that we are vaccinated against that aren’t so simple - like polio, which often kills or disables its victims. My cousin contracted polio when he was very young because he missed his two-year shots (his father is a surgeon, but they were traveling at the time and I guess they forgot in the end). He survived, but now that he is in his twenties, he faces chronic problems as a result of that oversight. Polio never actually disappears, you see, so while you may recover from it, you can have flares in adulthood.
Finally, to Kelly - my final statement on all of the vaccine debate is simply, “I’d rather have a living autistic child than a dead one.” In other words, even if vaccines DID cause autism (which they don’t), I’d still have my children vaccinated, because I’d rather they be alive than die of something like measles or polio or scarlet fever. (And yes, you can die of measles. That’s why there’s a vaccine for it!)
Comment by Karen | June 9th, 2008
My son went from a happy, talking, bright eyed one year old to a non-verbal, lost in his own world autistic one year old hours after receiving the MMR. Now you tell me if thats not room for concern? You have no idea what it is like to have an autistic child. Your children were lucky they weren’t harmed by these vaccines which by the way, aren’t all that effective and lose immunity over time.
You say you’d rather have an autistic child than a dead one. A friend just lost her 4 month old after getting a “safe round of 4 mo. vaccines.”
Pingback by Autism Blog - The Art of Green Our Vaccines | Left Brain/Right Brain | June 9th, 2008
[...] our Vaccines” rally (already much discussed—such as here, here, here, here, here), I spent a lot of time thinking about what sort of questions I would ask Jenny McCarthy and Jim [...]
Comment by Ordinary Radical | June 9th, 2008
@ Karen:
I’m afraid what you, and many others, are doing is confusing *casual* relationships with *causal* relationships. (There is a much bigger difference than just where you put the “s”.) The relationship between the vaccines and the symptoms of autism, scientifically proven several times over, is casual. Both the timing of administering the vaccines and the onset of autism systems is approximately the same age. It always has been, both before and after the widespread use of vaccines. Parents repeating saying they both happened at about the same time doesn’t change the relationship.
The death of a child after contracting a disease like measles is causal. That is, the disease has been proven to cause the death.
Comment by Rob from Canada.. | June 9th, 2008
For anyone who still thinks McCarthy has any scientific credibility, read the following.
McCarthy believes her child to be a spiritually evolved being with a purple aura, born to save humanity:
Taken from Jenny McCarthy’s (now disabled) “Indigo Moms” website circa 2006:
“You know that your child is different – from day one! But all Moms think their children are special, so most just live with their Indigo children without knowing much about it. The “Aha” experience is incredible, and the sooner you stumble upon it, the better for your child and you. Indigo children, who are either “Indigo” or “Crystal” (I will talk about that difference later), are both from a “New Generation” or “New Age” of children. These children are special in that they are the new leaders of the future. These children are born after 1980. Indigos exist everywhere in the world (documented in the US, Europe, China and other countries) - it is an inter-cultural phenomena.
The term “Indigo Child” originated from Nancy Ann Tappe, who classified people’s personalities according to the hue of their auras. According to Tappe, Indigos are extremely bright, precocious children with an amazing memory and a strong desire to live instinctively. These children of the next millennium are sensitive, gifted souls with an evolved consciousness who have come here to help change the vibrations of our lives and create one land, one globe and one species. They are our bridge to the future.”
Comment by Sean | June 10th, 2008
Maybe there were more or less in the March, but trust me I was one of the millions watching. I live in Canada where we had HIV tainted blood scandles repeated again with HEP-C tainted blood. We lived through thalidomide and still wondering why no official action about BPA. What the heck is going on??? These people are proven in court incompetent and uncaring… be careful. If there is even a question about these preservatives or combo shots like MMR with “Live viruses” why are they Cookie cutter administered? Your offhand rejection of these parents who probably know better than you shows you are somehow ignorant. Often doctors and researchers are wrong, you should know medical knowledge is changing every day. You will feel like a fool when in 5/10/20years there is definitive proof. If it is the case, the whole system will be put into suspect. If your kid was fine the day before the vaccine and plunged into this the day after it was given (as so many report) you would be singing a different tune.
Karen, god bless, I wish you and your son well and I’ve heard good things about diet changes.
Comment by Judy Bednarek | June 10th, 2008
I have 3 children with learning disabilities. My son has an autism spectrum disorder with developmental delays and I have 2 other children with Type 1 Diabetes, both getting sick at the age of 4. There is no family history and no genetic link.
There is constant pressure from the medical community to vaccinate our kids and if you don’t they give you “the look” and want to know why. They explain how safe they are and that side affects are rare. Parents are not informed that they can now request vaccinations with no mercury but shouldn’t EVERY child be important?
Will my new baby get vaccinations? Not anymore, I’m signing a waiver. And I don’t feel one bit guilty about it or scared.
Comment by Mike | June 10th, 2008
There are been a few personal accounts from parents in the comments section. These parents plainly feel that their personal experience is all the justification they need for believing that vaccines cause autism. But those responsible for public health need data that they can rely on before taking decisions that affect the health of millions.
One child is reported as suffering a catastrophic crash within hours of an MMR vaccination. But how many other children suffer such a rapid onset? How many happen within hours of a vaccination? Can we predict how often it is likely to occur in the future? And how does it compare to the known risks of measles? If 100,000 children catch measles 100 will develop a brain inflammation or encephalitis. 15 of them will die and 20 will suffer some form of mental retardation.
Those are the risks in the healthy, wealthy West. Most of the world lacks our infrastructure and measles is a killer. 500,000 children died last year. Measles is the biggest vaccine preventable killer of children in the world today.
Pingback by blog-thing : Another Measles Death | June 22nd, 2008
[...] much too soon” is part of the “Green Our Vaccines” campaign. It is coupled with a spurious argument about toxins in vaccines. The Green Our [...]
Comment by Dixie66Ro | June 28th, 2008
TJ,
I appreciate your answer (comment #22) the most. I can totally relate to what you feel or how you look at the whole vaccine matter. I am the mother of a 6 month old baby - and I am holding off on his vaccinations, for now. I’m am doing my best to get as informed and educated about his matter as I can - and people who are finger pointing and name calling are not helping me at all.
Mike,
since you’re so much pro-data, it would be useful if you could include the public resource you get our data from. Like the “500,000 children died last year of measles”or “if 100,000 children catch measles 100 will develop encephalitis”. Or should we just take your word for it?
Here is my dilemma: it is easier, way easier, to just “do what the doctor says” and allow your baby to get 5 or 9 shots at a single doctor visit. If something goes wrong with your child, nobody can blame you. They won’t blame vaccines either - cause, hey, we all know: “vaccines are safe”! But it is harder, a lot harder, to take matter into your own hands, to take responsibility for your child’s health, and to know that if he does get measles, and if he’s the one in 100,000 or so that dies or has permanent health issue after that, it is your fault.
So why do you think, Mike, that we - those who question the “safety” of vaccines - choose the hard way? What is our incentive? Our payoff?
One last thing: so far I found out that parents that questioned vaccines are a lot more informed and can give you an articulate answer about their choice and about vaccines (most of them chose to vaccinate their child) then those who just went with the program. So many of them don’t even know WHAT vaccines their child got, HOW many doses, and WHAT disease the vaccine is suppose to prevent. And yet, for some of them, I’m the irresponsible parent!
Comment by Mike | June 28th, 2008
Dixie,
I made a mistake with my measles figures. 500,000 is the approximate reduction in measles deaths from 757,000 to 242,000 between 2000 and 2006 thanks to a mass vaccination campaign. my source is the Red Cross.
http://www.redcross.org/static/file_cont7323_lang0_3016.pdf
Thank you for the opportunity to correct that error.
I did link to the source for my figures on measles and encephalitis. But here is the reference in full.
Impact of Specific Medical Interventions on Reducing the Prevalence of Mental Retardation
Jeffrey P. Brosco, MD, PhD; Michael Mattingly, BS; Lee M. Sanders, MD, MPH
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:302-309.
The web address is:
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/160/3/302
The relevant passage here:
As part of the National Immunization Program, the CDC posts the number of reported cases of measles from 1950 through 1998.37 However, widespread underreporting was likely before 1963, when nearly every child in the United States had contracted measles. Therefore, we assumed that every child in the birth cohorts of 1950 and 1960 had measles before age 10 years38; for 1970 through 1998, we used the CDC reports of the incidence of measles.
Approximately 1 in 1000 children with clinical measles develops encephalitis.36, 39 Although most children with encephalitis recover without sequelae, approximately 15% die and 25% of survivors develop complications such as MR.39 We assumed that approximately 1 in 5000 cases of measles leads to MR.
The numbers 36, 37, 38 and 39 take us to these further references.
36. Behrman RE, Kliegman RM, Jenson HB. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 17th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: WB Saunders; 2003.
37. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles history: US disease and vaccination coverage: reported measles cases, 1950-1998. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/diseases/measles/history.htm. Accessed June 15, 2005.
38. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics of the United States, 1999, volume I, natality: live births, birth rates, and fertility rates, by race: United States, 1909-99. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs. Accessed June 15, 2005.
39. Long SS, ed, Pickering LK, ed, Prober CG, ed. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone; 2003.
Comment by whatamess | July 7th, 2008
TJ, what a great post…It is sad that parents of children who have NOT been affected by vaccines treat parents of children who have been affected so badly…
My child was diagnosed with autism…I do specifically remember a day when we went to eat lunch after my son was vaccinated…I remember the restaurant as I told the story so many times, when my son who was normally good at restaurants, etc…turned wild…I told this story many times 3 years before he was ever diagnosed…at the time people told me he had changed because he would soon be two (he was only about 1 1/2) and maybe his “terrible two’s” had arrived early…but when he was 4, they were then saying his “terrible two’s” we just a bit longer…later we found out about his hearing sensitivities, light sensitivities, etc…which goes to explain why he went crazy in that restaurant that day…
I do NOT attribute 100% of his autism to vaccines…I do believe there is a genetic predisposition or even autism itself is genetic…however, the ear infections, the sound sensitivities, the speech delay, etc…did not come from genetics, but from something else…possibly the vaccines.
His speech therapist for the last year was a great girl…she had worked with many kids with autism in the past in Michigan…we talked many times and she never specifically said to me she did NOT believe the whole autism/vaccine connection, but when I talked to her about “space the vaccines out, give your kiddo vitamin C, etc…to make sure her immune system is in top condition”, she brushed it off…THIS WEEK I received a call from her…her 13 month old had her MMR/DTP and some other vaccine and a couple of hours later began having seizures/convulsions…and stopped breathing…thank God she knew CPR and gaver her 13month old CPR while the paramedics arrived to rush her to the hospital…Now she says to me…”I can’t believe I didn’t listen…I can’t believe I blindly went along with what the doctor said…it wouldn’t have hurt any to space out the vaccines, to make sure she had some extra vitamin C, etc…” and now I am freaking out now knowing if there will be a greater impact as the time goes on…
Again, I am NOT against vaccines, I am NOT PRO-vaccine either…but I do know that when I was my son’s age, I never knew so many children who could not speak…I never saw a child cover their ears at school…Something is happening that is making people that have weaker immune systems sick and parents who don’t have to worry about “will my child ever be able to talk? will my child be able to hold a job? who will take care of my child if I’m gone?” have NO idea what that feels like…and for them to make such outrageous accusations on parents of children with autism makes me wonder the character of the people, the state of our nation and the abuse that my child will receive from these people by no fault of his own…”
Comment by Matt R. | August 15th, 2008
One of the most ludicrous vaccines given now is hepatitis B for newborns, especially when one looks at the number of children who actually get it versus the number of adverse reactions. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and I’ve yet to hear a good readson from any pediatrician, who are trained to only recite whatever the AAP tells them.
For the people on here who claim their unvaccinated children are healthy, I believe you. It’s too bad our medical system focuses so little on prevention. Pretty soon we’ll have even more vaccines and drugs to cure all of our ills. But in the end, how healthy will we actually be because of it?
Comment by HCN | August 16th, 2008
Children who get the actual hepatitis B at a young age are more likely to get the chronic form. It is also transmitted in ways that are not sexual, and it is actually endemic in some parts of the world.
You also do not have to listen to anyone, but you can look up the research yourself. There is an index of medical journals from around the world located at http://www.pubmed.gov.
Now about the claim that “It’s too bad our medical system focuses so little on prevention.” That is hilarious, considering that vaccines are preventative!
So tell me, how much does it cost to give a child two MMR vaccines (the MMR has been around since 1971 and never contained thimerosal), versus treating a person with measles or mumps, or caring for a child permanently disabled by congenital rubella syndrome? Or even, how much does it cost to give a child a series of four DTaP vaccines, versus trying to deal with pertussis (which kills over a dozen American babies each year), tetanus or diphtheria (which killed a child in the UK recently)?