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    « AN OPEN LETTER TO BENJAMIN KRUSKAL FROM ANNE DACHEL | Main | BARBARA LOE FISHER ON NYT COMMENTERS »

    March 25, 2008

    JIM CARREY HALTS "HORTON HEARS A WHO" VACCINE CAMPAIGN

    Jim_and_jennyBy Lisa Ackerman

    Horton Hears An "Ow?"

    Late last week a story hit the wire about "Free movie and immunizations: Horton hears an "ow!" (HERE.)  What’s this? A new vaccination strategy you say?

    The article referenced free vaccinations at a theater in New Mexico featuring the movie “Horton Hears A Who.” In case you have been in a cave under a rock for the last month, Horton’s voice is none other than the amazing Jim Carrey. And if that rock still has you covered, Jim happens to be Jenny McCarthy’s boyfriend. Jenny is outspoken on vaccines & vaccination safety. A theme that runs throughout her book “Louder Than Words” featuring the story of her recovered son, Evan.

    Once word from the autism community (Who-ville in this case) got to the Carrey & McCarthy super team about this story of a New Mexico vaccination plot things got a brewing. After his morning coffee, Jim made a few calls this morning on behalf of the autism community.

    Following a long discussion with his representatives at Fox Entertainment – Who-ville – once again through Horton - was heard.  The New Mexico test market of drive thru vaccines while at the movies with your children was stopped. Halted by Horton himself because he heard “we are here, we are here, we are here!” once again.

    Thank you Jim & Jenny. You continue to be amazing heroes for the autism community. (And thanks to Kevin Barry of Generation Rescue for the heads up.)

    Lisa Ackerman is a proud parent of Jeff, a child with autism. She founded the parent support group Talk About Curing Autism in November 2000 with a dozen families in the living room of her Southern California home. The group has now grown to over 8,000 families. TACA is dedicated to community building support and disseminating information about treatments most beneficial including; dietary interventions, biological treatments, and behavioral based therapies.

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    Props again to Jim and Jenny for putting the kibosh on New Mexico's plan to vaccinate kids at the movies. [Read More]

    Comments

    Thank you, Jennie and Jim, for your courage to take on the medical/pharmaceutical establishment with this issue. Even if vaccines are not the root cause, at least you have brought attention to, what seems to this old lady, a major and growing issue. My grandchildren range in age from 29 to 5...all 15 of them! some vaccinated, some not, are all healthy. I was only vaccinated against smallpox in 1940 something, until my family moved to Brazil when we had to have typhus, and I don't remember what else...I just remember my arm swelling and being sick for several days. Keep up your good work.

    Hi Nancy et al, I would like to remind everyone that the very purpose of the now non-profit website Vaccination News (http://www.vaccinationnews.org ) is to educate the public. I must admit that it is a little disheartening to keep finding that it is rarely cited as a source of information, although, that is not always the case (e.g., I am grateful to have been told by David Kirby that he could not have written his book without it, by Paul Shattock, Boyd Haley and others that they often use the site, knowing they can count on it to provide them with all sides). Maybe some of you could help me understand why it is not being cited as it is a shame that it is not used more often.

    All the best, Sandy

    PS For those of you unfamiliar with the mission statement, here it is:

    "The mission of Vaccination News is multifold:

    Vaccination News is published in order to provide a wide range of news and views on vaccinations and vaccination policy. By providing all sides of the vaccination controversy, it is believed the public/consumer will be best equipped to make reasoned decisions regarding vaccination use, decisions which will have profound implications for them and their family’s health. By providing all sides of the vaccination controversy, it is also believed that readers will recognize both the complexity of the controversy and the dearth of good information available to them.

    Among the views provided will be those of the publisher and Editor Sandy Gottstein (aka Mintz) on a variety of vaccination related issues and news, including commentary on breaking news items.

    Vaccination News is not against an informed parent choosing to vaccinate his or her child. Vaccination News is against bad science being used to justify forcing parents to vaccinate. It is against bad science being used to convince a parent to vaccinate. And it is against a parent, any parent, being forced to do something that has even a remote chance of harming their child.

    What all parents deserve is good information, untainted by conflict of interest, on the safety of vaccines. They deserve the right to choose whether or not to vaccinate their children. And those that choose to vaccinate, after weighing the known benefits and risks, deserve safer vaccines."

    This response is for nhokkanen:

    Whoever you are I appreciate your post. I like my beliefs and opinions being to reduced to nothing more than a label as a moronic slave to big business, a zombie if you will. It's nice to see that you've singled me out as an idiot, one who seemingly cannot think for himself and as such needs people like you to put him in his corner to play while you attempt to seek out the REAL truth. You speak of me to the others on here as if I won't even be able to muster the intelligence to read your post so it would be meaningless to address me directly. The truth is that I have children of my own who I did vaccinate. I also have a brother-in-law with autism who I work very hard to help in any way I can and try to make his life as enriching as I can, who in the near future I will be fully responsible for. What is your story sir? But if you want to get on here and treat me as nothing more than some ignorant teenager who stumbled upon this site and is simply regurgitating something he heard from someone else that's fine, go right ahead. Of course I could do the same to you. I could get on here and cite you as a conspiracy theorist crazy person on here blabbering his rhetoric to anyone who will listen, one who is just as likely to get together with 100 or more of his closest friends, don black sweats and matching nikes and drink lethal kool-aid in unison. Rest assured though, I would never do such a thing. Have a nice day!

    Remember years ago when we used to be trusting like Brandon? We thought everyone involved in vaccines was guided by altruism, rather than utilitarian ethics and profiteering. Maybe we too felt a little smug for keeping the world safe from disease by fully vaccinating our children.

    Then our children were paradoxically injured by vaccines. Everything was turned upside down. We were horrified to watch our doctors and government agencies turn their backs. Family, friends, schools and media waffled from fear.

    But we had seen the regression with our own eyes, and our VHS and digital devices recorded it. So we started reading. Actual medical studies, not CDC bullet points. Toxicology, not epidemiology. Vaccine injury cases on VAERS. Vaccine safety reports on NVIC. Documents from the CDC, IOM, FDA obtained under the Freedom of Information act -- documents that corporate media refuses to publish.

    We saw other children's lab tests, then for our own kids. Toxic levels of mercury and other heavy metals. Vaccine-strain measles in the gastrointestinal tract. Antibodies to myelin basic protein in spinal fluid. Chronic strep (PANDAS), and much more.

    We read everything we could about the Krebs cycle, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, autoimmune disorders. We pored over the websites for Autism Research Institute, Autism One, expert interviews at FAIR Autism Media, Safeminds, TACA.

    A small sample: TACA's 346 pages of studies, cites and summaries on autism and related medical conditions.
    http://www.talkaboutcuringautism.org/vaccines/autism-studies-april-2008.pdf

    Over the years we came to realize that our children's truth would be suppressed by people dominated by ignorance, denial, hubris, greed and apathy.

    We realized that many families with vaccine-injured children were not speaking out, due to fear, fatigue or a sense of helplessness.

    So the burden to speak out falls on those with the time, money, heart and sheer stubbornness to educate an unwilling populace, clinging to the belief that a product intended to improve health is not harming a subset of children.

    On April 3, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviewed Johns Hopkins neurologist Dr. Jon Poling about the U.S. government’s recent concession of his daughter’s vaccine injury case. When asked about the process of accepting that his child was injured by vaccines, Dr. Poling replied, "I would not have believed it, until it happened to me."

    How many more children must be injured before parents' reports are honestly investigated? This failure to test and treat vaccine-injured children marks the nadir of modern bioethics.

    No adjective exists to describe that.

    Brandon, two things: i did not say you are out of your league. thanks for the repeated tonguelashing, tho, I'm sure Holly got your message.
    also, in the case of my friend who's daughter regressed at 3 after the flu shot...she questioned her pediatrician about the mercury issue and he said it was not enough to worry about, and she agreed to the shot. after the child started exhibiting symptoms of autism, she asked the doc if the flu shot could have had something to do with it. he replied, that, "well, the shot did have alot of mercury in it." so, according to her story of what her doctor said, it did indeed have thimerosal. as do many many many flu shots given to pregnant women (my ob/gyn ordered way ahead of time specifically for all thimerosal free, that's what you have to do to get them) and to children starting at 6 months every season. And even if it didn't have thimerosal, what about the waiver you sign? It says you shouldn't have the shot if you have an egg allergy (how would you know this for a 6 month old?) or a formaldehyde allergy (who has tested themselves for this?). So it's really just a toxic mess, that, OH YEAH! They said didn't even cover any of the strains going around this year! So really...where in the world did you get the message that flu shot has no thimerosal? You are clearly the one citing things incorrectly.

    No mercury in flu shots? Good luck finding any without. The standard flu vaccination is reported to contain 25 micrograms of thimerosal, though anyone receiving shots from the bottom of the vial could get substantially more mercury per shot. The so-called mercury-free flu shot contains "trace" mercury but, even so, is difficult to find and many doctors were reluctant to provide it. Infants, children and pregnant women in California-- like the rest of the country-- were receiving flu shots with the full complement of mercury until December, 2006.

    http://www.nvic.org/Vaccine%20Excipients%20CDC.pdf

    Brandon -
    Please read the books "Changing The Course Of Autism - A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians" by Bryan Jepson, M.D., and "Evidence of Harm" by David Kirby. There is science backing up our concerns about vaccine safety and the link between vaccines and autism.

    Go to www.generationrescue.org and www.putchildrenfirst.org.

    This is not a matter of "all or nothing". Jenny McCarthy is not anti-vaccine. She believes that we are giving too many vaccines and that they contain toxic ingredients such as mercury and aluminum which have not been adequately tested for safety. (Yes, there is still mercury in some vaccines.) She is not a scientist, but there are doctors and scientists who are of the same opinion. She is a mother who witnessed her son's vaccine reaction and his recovery through biomedical treatments. She is voicing the experiences of many many families.

    Perhaps the HIB vaccine is necessary and relatively safe. But there are other vaccines, such as that for Hepatitis B, which are unnecessary for most babies. We keep adding more and more vaccines without adequately considering the cumulative effects on the developing immune and nervous systems. Adverse effects are summarily denied as coincidence, instead of being studied. More and more children are suffering from autism, ADD, allergies, and autoimmune problems.

    30 to 40 years ago children received far fewer vaccines, and most survived quite well. In Denmark, the standard schedule is a total of 13 vaccines, compared with 36 here in the U.S. Our vaccine schedule is out of control, like a train with no driver and a brick weighing down the accelerator. Profit driven pharmacy companies are having far too much impact on agencies such as the CDC and FDA.

    You cannot point to one incident of illness and say that justifies the current schedule, the practice of giving multiple live viruses at one time, the inclusion of untested toxic substances.

    I am not saying there should be no vaccines. I understand the value of vaccines. But we need to weigh the risks as well as the benefits, because vaccines are a double edged sword which can cause harm. The larger the number of vaccines, the larger the number of children who are adversely affected.

    Another response to kim who wrote: "I have a friend I used to work out with who gave her 3 year old a flu shot and she regressed into ASD." Kim you said in one post that I'm "out of my league" and that I should not make comments on something I don't know anything about. Being as kind as I can I might suggest that it is you that is "out of her league". The reason being is that the flu vaccine DOES NOT have thimerosal in it which is that supposed "poison" in this case. I wouldn't say you're out of your league though because I think everyone's opinion should be valued, but you might want to at least make sure that you're citing things correctly next time.

    Brandon

    She does as do I. Thank you Terri L., I'll have a look.

    Brandon

    My first response is to kim who wrote to me: "Brandon, You are out of your league here. You have so much catching up to do before you make statements like that."

    First of all Kim you have no idea what league I'm in. You don't know me, so do not make presumptions of what I do and do not know. I have a family member with autism and I am also heavily involved in the medical community. I have firsthand experience. I would certainly hope you wouldn't presume that I do not wish the absolute best for Peter, my brother-in-law with autism, I would listen to any argument about something that could potentially improve his life or prevent more kids from going through what has gone through. Another fact that I did not mention before is that I'm also the parent of a five year old and a two year old. Before my first child was born we had to have genetic counseling because Pete is autistic. Also, Pete is severely autistic, not ASD and we and his parents have done rigorous extensive research to do our best to improve his life. So Kim, DO NOT pretend to know who I am or who I know or what experiences I've had, I would never do so of you either.

    To everyone else who responded to me I value your opinions and I don't expect that to mean anything to you because I'm not someone who's respect you should care whether or not you have. I'm just a guy with autism in my family and two children, all of whom I love to death and want to see the absolute best for. Because I have autism in my family and I have children please know that I done major amounts of research on this subject and care deeply about it. The simple fact is that there is no valid scientific research, anyone can publish "scientific" research, to back up that claim that immunizations cause autism. The only study that was done was done with only 12 children and the results were shaky to boot. Since then multiple research projects have disproved it's proposed theories. I know how hard it can be for a family to deal with autism, I've seen and lived it first hand, but grabbing hold of a theory that has not convincing evidence to back it up doesn't do any good. Especially when that theory puts people at risk of other complications. I hope I haven't made any enemies here, that was not my goal. I simply want people to start putting the energy into more productive ways to help solve the autistic puzzle, at least that's what I want to do. Also, after years of listening to hollywood celebrities be exalted as experts on many issues, on many issues including now this one, when they don't have any more knowledge than any else has gotten old. These people are have captive ears because they have the airtime and people tend to idolize them. I'm sorry if I've hurt any feelings but please understand that I'm not just some guy postings his thoughts just to be apart of an argument, I very much have first hand experience on this issue. Thank you.

    Brandon,

    If your wife has any influence over her autistic brother's care, she may want to take a look at some very healing information at www.generationrescue.org.

    Terri L.

    Hey Brandon,

    Beyond being actors, they are parents. Parents of an autistic son who is NO LONGER autistic ... HELLO? No longer autistic because of other parents and DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS (Go to a Dan! conference and you will see there IS science!) that have figured out the immunological damage vaccine causes to children genetically predisposed to adverse reactions to their biochemistry due to VACCINES. I'm just a mom. And guess what? My son has improved dramatically by biomedical, diet and chelation. Dramatically. Like Jenny said, I'd take measles over autism any day!

    The day is coming ... the truth will be told. I'm just thankful that my son is not going to continue to be a casuality of this horrendous coverup - but too many children have not even been helped and that should be a crime.

    "We have friend who we went to high school with who also failed to immunize one of their children, this led to meningitis which led to cerebral palsy and now this child will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair unable to feed herself."

    Well, guess what Brandon. I have a high school best friend who gave her kid kindergarten boosters and a year later needed to be evaluated for services for ASD. I have a college friend who called me saturday night to tell me her 3 year old is about to be diagnosed ASD. I have a friend I used to work out with who gave her 3 year old a flu shot and she regressed into ASD. I have a friend from my days as a corporate money maker that has a 5 year old who called me 3 years ago to tell me her son has ASD. I have a friend down the street that has 2 SEVERE mitochondrial kids with an aditional ASD diagnosis. And these are a FEW of the people I know with ASD kids from even BEFORE I was in the world of ASD. I could go on and on and on and on here with the stories of the people i know now. And guess what BRANDON, these people all saw something happen to their kids after vaccines. So so so so sorry about your CP friend, but do you get the POINT HERE?

    Brandon, You are out of your league here. You have so much catching up to do before you make statements like that.

    Listen, I'm from Las Cruces, NM where this event was to take place and not only was my wife one of the nurses prepared to take part she also has a brother with autism! The is NO convincing scientific evidence of any link between immunizations and autism. The fact of the matter is that if you do NOT immunize your child you are putting them at greater risk of many other health problems. We have friend who we went to high school with who also failed to immunize one of their children, this led to meningitis which led to cerebral palsy and now this child will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair unable to feed herself. I respect all of your opinions and I know everyone means well but I must say I am really tired of people taking a strong stance on an issue and those in power using that power to change things for a cause that they simply do not understand and do not have the facts on. As such I'm sick and tired of people giving those in hollywood credibility for things that they have no training to know anything about. These people are actors and actresses, they're NOT doctors and lawyers and they are largely a people who have no talent or expertise in anything except the entertainment industry!!!!!

    "Kelli Ann - Barack Obama won't be any better. McCain is the only candidate who has gone on the record in our favor in terms of vaccines."

    You know what, Obama is responsive to the people. A vote for McCain if a vote for 4 more years of Bush, so you have GOT to be kidding? Now back to our topic....

    I cried through most of your movie as it so paralleled the journey through Autism most of our kids face. Hoping someone will hear their plight and save them.
    Thank you Autism whisper, for breaking the silence.

    What an awful, obvious publicity stunt.
    Thank God it was swiftly shut down.
    Another sick attempt to force a bulging shot schedule without removing poisons toxic to children.

    Did you notice that menacing Kangaroo looked a lot like Julie Gerberding?

    I'm still floored by this story. What a heck of a way to get your kids to NOT ENJOY going to the movies with you!

    I wonder what the movie studios would say? I'd pull my movies from the theater if I were an exec... what a way to
    put a damper on a kid's evening!

    mom_hfa

    That was Jim Witte who made the Obama comment. I made the NM/Andy Wakefield comment.

    Kelli

    Kelli Ann - Barack Obama won't be any better. McCain is the only candidate who has gone on the record in our favor in terms of vaccines.

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