Age of Autism Weekly Wrap: Poison, Apples, Polio, and Popcorn
By Dan Olmsted
The drumbeat is especially loud this fall -- get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and protect
yourself from the modern plagues. You know, chickenpox, mumps, hepatitis B in infancy. Not to mention the mercury, I mean flu, shot, and the shingles jab to protect yourself from the population-level consequences of the chickenpox shot. They've practically become Blue-Light Specials at the big box store.
But the pushback to the drumbeat is also more notable this year. Parents (along with the gutsy Rob Schneider) are battling in California, which wants your doctor to harrangue you before you exercise your legal rights, and New Jersey, which wants to require proof that your medical or religious exemption is legit. (Ah, the Golden state, home of the law that lets 12-year-olds get the Gardasil shot without parental consent, and an exploding autism rate. Ah, the Garden state, home of the Pharm team and an astonishingly high autism rate.)
So all is not lost -- at least the issue is out there and getting bigger by the day. Private school parents -- better off, better educated -- and opting out for their kids more than ever. Last year a restrictive measure was beaten back in Vermont, and the increasing presence of the Canary Party and other autism activists in the debate bodes well for the long run.
But meanwhile we must suffer reports like the one this week in The New York Times, "Washington State Makes It Harder to Opt Out of Immunizations," that begins: "Washington State is home to Bill and Melinda Gates, champions of childhood vaccines across the globe. Its university boasts cutting-eduge vaccine research. But when it comes to getting children immunized, until recently, the state was dead last."
The article extrudes praise on the recent tightening of exemptions there, and soberly notes a new study that "more parents are choosing not to have their children vaccinated, especially in states that make it easy to opt out."
But why would parents do that, especially the most informed and engaged ones? Of course, there's that "false" Andy Wakefield claim linking the MMR to autism, as The Times put it. Well, that's not what Wakefield said, but I will -- the MMR does cause autism and bowel problems. Too many parents know it, and they know that the current cumulative, agglutinated vaccine schedule does, too. And so does mercury in its many manifestations. That, fundamentally, is why they're scaling back, dialing down, opting out. New laws and scornful schoolmarmish mainstream articles won't change that in the long run.
Washington State is an interesting place for this debate, as the article notes. But there's another reason it's apt. Look at the photo with the story -- a mom and daughter on their farm, with what look to be apples in the foreground weighing down the branches. It's that time of year.
In the old days, it used to be the time for polio outbreaks as well. The article says: "Vaccines are among the most important achievements of modern medicine. Since the first major types came into broad use in the 1940s, they have drastically reduced deaths from infectious diseases like polio and measles. But the virtual disappearance of these diseases has lulled parents into considering the vaccines as less necessary, public health experts say." (Cue mandatory quote from millionaire vaccine industrialist -- not "public health expert" -- Paul Offit.)
But let's talk polio for a moment. Mark Blaxill and I have written an alternative narrative of the rise and fall of polio. We propose that the polio virus was a benign stomach bug until it was potentiated by industrial-age pesticides, beginning with lead arsenate in the 1890s and exploding with DDT after World War II. Yes, the polio vaccine beat the virus into submission, ending the epidemics, and that's a good thing, but the better thing would have been never triggering the epidemics in the first place. Second best, even at this late date, would be learning the lessons of that iconic modern scourge.
Which brings us to Washington state and apples. In our series on polio, we described a study done by Jacolyn Van Vliet Manning in 1912 -- a nice round century ago -- that took note of a stunning phenomenon. At the same time as several of the early polio outbreaks, farm and domestic animals also died. Since experiments showed the virus could not trigger paralysis in animals, that was an early warning sign something more complicated might be going on -- some kind of co-factor or confounder was paralyzing animals at the same time people were contracting poliomyelitis.
"I have found a disease appearing in one or two year old colts that shows a line of symptoms corresponding closely to anterior poliomyelitis in children," Manning wrote. (Don't you just want to scream, Wake Up!)
Although no one recognized it then, we believe that co-factor was pesticide. One of the coincident outbreaks in man and animal cited in Manning's chart was in Kelley, Washington, in 1910. As we've pointed out, many of the early outbreaks were in places where fruits and vegetables were grown intensively, like the Napa and San Joaquin valleys in California, and the blueberry-growing center in Eastern Maine. Orchard-heavy Washington state would certainly fit that bill. Apples were a prime target for moths, and thus a prime target for the new lead arsenate pesticide. Another early outbreak occurred in Galesville, Wisconsin, in 1907. Even today, the Chamber of Commerce logo there features an apple, and the annual Apple Affair is held the first Saturday in October. “Orchards from the area set up stands on the square where visitors can purchase apples and apple treats served up by local growers. Apple pie, apple slices, caramel apples, Apple Normandy, Queen's Apple, apple cider, apple juice -- if it's apple, you'll find it here.”
Yes, along with early polio outbreaks. Another example we wrote about from Washington State:
In January 1920, Veterinary Times published an article by J.W. Kalkus, head of Veterinary Science at the State College of Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, titled “Orchard Horse Disease.” “The writer recently had an opportunity of making an investigation of a disease which has been causing considerable loss among horses in certain sections of Washington."
It caused paralysis and death, and it went by several names, Kalkus reported, among them orchard horse disease; orchard poisoning; alfalfad horses; arsenate of lead poisoning; mold poisoning.
Regardless of the name, the circumstances were the same: “The condition occurs in enzootic form in the irrigated apple orchard districts. … The disease was little known prior to the last three years. … It is now claimed by many that it is practically impossible to keep a horse for any great length of time on an irrigated orchard tract, where orchard-grown hay is fed, without the animal attracting the disease. … Present knowledge indicates this disease is confined to the irrigated apple orchard districts where fruit is grown on a commercial basis, and where it is common practice to use arsenate of lead in spraying fruit trees.”
Alfalfa was grown as a cover crop between orchard trees. Lead arsenate spray was often applied so thickly that it dropped onto the alfalfa, giving it a gray color. While some veterinarians did not believe lead arsenate caused the problems – because it did not exactly mimic what was known of lead and arsenic poisoning – Kalkus seemed in little doubt.
So, to keep things simple: Poliomyelitis epidemics arose at the same time as new pesticides, in areas where pesticides were heavily used, causing paralysis in animals as well as people, which couldn't be explained by the virus alone, but could be explained by pesticide exposure.
As is so often the case in the history of medicine, we think, these clues have been overlooked because they didn't fit the paradigm. In this case, the paradigm was the germ theory that has held sway since the days of Pasteur. But these facts are strong evidence and point to an important lesson: Poisoning people, and especially children, is not a good idea, no matter the "greater good" the authorities might have in mind. By all means, let's feed a hungry and growing nation. But let's not carelessly and needlessly trigger a decades-long epidemic of debility and death, primarily affecting infants and children. We have to be able to walk and chew gum -- feed people and not kill children -- at the same time.
To my mind, the same lesson applies to any other technological intervention, and most especially vaccines. By all means, let's take reasonable steps to prevent deadly and disabling diseases, using vaccination as a public health tool when that makes sense. But let's not carelessly trigger a decades-long epidemic of debility and death, primarily affecting infants and children. We have to be able to walk and chew gum -- protect people from disease and not destroy children -- at the same time.
This seems about as mainstream as you can get: Let's not poison our kids. Parents are not going to put up with that, no matter what The Times or the medical establishment or the state legislature says. And they shouldn't.
(For bonus points, check out the headline right next to the one on vaccines: "Pill found promising in treatment of MS." Another environmental illness, another pill that someone's going to profit from. It starts to make you wonder if modern medicine is off its collective rocker. I vote yes.)
--
Speaking of poison, did you catch the story this week about the $7 million payment to the man who
ate an astonishing two or three bags of popcorn a day and ended up with some of kind of weird lung thing?
I'm phrasing it that way because the media reports I saw gave it the "can you believe it?" treatment rather than really looking at what this is all about. From ABC's Elizabeth Vargas on Good Morning America: "Now to that man who's waking up a millionaire thanks to that lawsuit that started with a bag of microwave popcorn. Wayne Watson scored a $7 million verdict ..." Here Vargas audibly chuckles, I suppose at the absurdity of the verdicts people are "scoring" from juries these days.
Actually, Mr. Watson was waking up with half his lung capacity, as he will every morning for the rest of his life. The report casually notes that "popcorn lung is usually found in plant workers exposed to high levels of diacetyl, a natural flavoring used to give popcorn that buttery taste."
As my old partner Mark Benjamin, would have said, "There's your story right there." The sordid history of popcorn makers' attempts to hide the truth about the damage its manufacturing process was doing to its own employees is a disgusting saga, recounted in Doubt Is Their Product -- How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, by David Michaels.
I'd read about this a few years back, and dug out the book to refresh my memory. The take-home comment from the author: "Uncertainty is the basis of the strategy in the court cases in which the popcorn workers with destroyed lungs have sued flavor manufacturers. ... Given the inability and/or unwillingness of the regulatory apparatus to address workplace hazards, litigation may be the only means of compelling employers to protect their workers. When I told the popcorn-lung story at a 'Science for Judges' conference, one jurist suggested that the judicial system has become the last resort for these public health issues."
In other words, Sue the bastards! That's a familiar refrain in the autism-vaccine injury community, as you know, but of course that "last resort" is closed.
I have no doubt that if the manufacturers and regulators had been diligent, and put worker safety first, Wayne Watson would not be waking up a millionaire this morning -- or with half his lung capacity for the rest of his life, whichever narrative you prefer. Whether it's apples, popcorn, or vaccines, we need to let history teach us its real lessons -- that business and government will not necessarily put our personal well-being first, and we can no longer count on the Big Media to put things right.
Only we can do that. And I'm not telling you anything when I say we're all trying.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.
Benedetta, I'm not sure it simplifies anything, but it sure would be empowering to know if was connected, as food is something we can improve upon. But if it's a cumulative effect that builds up and gets worse over 1 to 3 generations, could it take that long to reverse the epigenetic changes, or can we change the results in one generation? I think it's both, depending on the severity. I spoke w/one woman recently whose son who is in his twenties and is in a new placement home. In the six months in the new home he has improved so much that she is amazed. The difference between the old home and the new home, aside from location, is the type of food they serve. I find that incredible hopeful. I think that vaccine injuries are inherent with the use of the product and no one escapes them. I think autism is the manifestation of the worst combination - the perfect storm.
Posted by: Jenny | September 24, 2012 at 11:29 AM
CT Teacher - not sure what state your daughter is in, but she might want to look up the precise language of the applicable vaccine exemption law in her state. In my state of California, the law states that the right of a child with a valid exemption to attend school is "unconditional". The only exception is that in the event of an outbreak the child may be excluded from school for their protection (crucial distinction, any school exclusion is to protect the unvaccinated child, not others from the unvaccinated child). Although I'm not aware of this ever actually happening, but perhaps it does.
California law is clear, once the exemption is in place the school is forbidden from taking any punitive or discriminatory action toward the child. Her state may be similar. If so, explaining the law along with hints of legal action is usually all it takes to get school bureaucrats to back down.
Posted by: Jeff C | September 23, 2012 at 09:51 PM
CT teacher:
Yes.
People have lost all common sense.
Except the ones who are awake and connecting the dots. . .painful as that is. . .and our numbers are growing daily.
The tide is slow to turn. And it is going to get uglier before it gets much better.
Posted by: Terri Lewis | September 23, 2012 at 07:12 PM
Taximom, you are so right. Our entire society has been so saturated with propaganda that people have lost the ability to reason. The medical mafia controls the public health message.
My 6 yr old grandson, who has had only 2 vaccinations,is discriminated against in the public school When my daughter asked his Kindergarten teacher to make sure that he be placed with a calm, low key 1st grade teacher, the K teacher told her that she had no input into the placement because of his vaccination status. The school wanted to be sure that he not be in class with any children with immune issues, because they fear that he is a disease carrier. So, she would have to be happy with whomever he got. Where did this idiotic thinking come from? Why, the media, of course. This is pure propaganda, used by the medical cartel, to convince the public that non- vaccinated children are a bunch of little Typhoid Marys. I am not aware of any scientific evidence that proves that non-vaccinated kids are disease carriers. Other parents, however, fear them like the plague. This is the result of medical/media propaganda. My daughter dare not tell any of her friends or her son's friends about his vaccination status, because he would have no playmates if she did.
Have people lost common sense? I know the schools have, in many, many ways.
Posted by: CT teacher | September 23, 2012 at 05:05 PM
Once upon a time there was abeautiful girl named Melody who sold real estate and loved horses and was successful at finding rich boy friends. Melody wanted to look good and feel good , so she had lots of plastic surgery and she ate lots of good food. The good food was largely brown rice, and fish. From the fish she got mercury poisoning and from the brown rice, arsenic poisoning and lots of diseases as a result. Melody saw about 26 doctors and she was not getting much better, so she left her beloved horse behind and moved far away to another city to be near a doctor who treats people like her and autistic children. Melody has a cute little apartment, a new boyfriend who looks like Barishnykov, a pik line that goes in her arm and into her heart , heaps and heaps of medications and an 80 year old father to take good care of her. What could be better? .... This charming little modern day fairy tale will be set to the music, "Born in the U.S.A."
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | September 23, 2012 at 03:29 PM
Re: "Whether it's apples, popcorn, or vaccines, we need to let history teach us its real lessons -- that business and government will not necessarily put our personal well-being first, and we can no longer count on the Big Media to put things right."
Why don't more people make the effort to educate themselves about vaccines and autism? As the Bible says, "For lack of knowledge the people perish"...
Here are just a few articles from www.naturalnews.com that would go a long way in waking people up:
• The great thimerosal cover-up: Mercury, vaccines, autism and your child's health
• Vaccines cause autism: Supporting evidence
• Soaring Autism Rates Linked to Environmental Causes
• Researching genetics as a cause of autism - An expensive attempt to marginalize vaccine causation
• 78 percent increase in childhood autism rates over past decade coincides with sharp uptick in vaccination schedules
• CDC vaccine scientist who downplayed links to autism indicted by DOJ in alleged fraud scheme
• Government vaccine compensation payouts prove autism link
• The government's demonic strategy against parents of autistic children
• Facebook crowdsourced investigation exposes vaccine denials of SIGA Technologies
• Evidence-based vaccinations: A scientific look at the missing science behind flu season vaccines
• The Health Ranger interviews neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock on mandatory vaccine trials, fraudulent vaccine science and vaccine ethics
• Institute of Medicine adverse reactions report admits MMR vaccines cause measles, seizures, anaphylaxis and other health problems
• Flu vaccines revealed as the greatest quackery ever pushed in the history of medicine
• NaturalNews exposes secret vaccine industry ties and military involvement with Institute of Medicine, reveals fatal conflicts of interest at IoM
• Vaccine philosophical exemptions: A moral and ethical imperative
Posted by: AutismGrandma | September 23, 2012 at 02:30 PM
It is time to create another map of the USA. Gates in the state of Washington, Pharmaceutical headquarters in NJ. Oil owned states in Louisiana, and so on....
Posted by: Shell Tzorfas | September 23, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Jenny;
Is your thinking that if we reduce carbs it is really reducing plant food that have been sprayed with pesticides?
Could it be that simple?I had not thought of it like that.
I have been trying to figure out what is going wrong in glycolsis, or the Krebs cycle, or the electron transfer system or maybe it is the lipid transfer system and lipid metabolism??? Why carbs to glucose for energy is faulty and why the fats to ketones for energy is better?
Dan;
Very good article. Thanks for your desire and struggle to be here for the lonnnnngggg run.
And if apple juice is suppose to be a chealator, but it too is filled with arsenic lead ????
I can't think anymore and just must hold on the one truth I do know-- and thatis it was DPT, Tetanus, hep B and flu shots that caused my family to have vaccine reactions.
It maybe all about the metal load we carry around but what in the heck is a bunch of vaccines adding more?
And it maybe not just the mercury, aluminium added to an already overload of arsenic and lead -- but the darn toxin of the tetanus and the pertusiss too.
And on top of that there are other things too as in soaporin or what ever it is called - what ever poison they found that existed in honeysuckle vines.
That's a whole lot of poison in one little shot
Posted by: Benedetta | September 23, 2012 at 09:41 AM
Yes, great article. And I think word is getting out. More attention is being placed on the residues of using arsenic in our agriculture. Consumer Reports is doing a piece on the high levels of arsenic in rice (watch out, folks, who do gluten free, and rely heavily on rice). It gets down into the nitty gritty of lead being used since 1910, 1/2 of it since the 60's, babies' exposure, reminds us of the apple juice/arsenic investigation results released earlier this year, gives the allowable load in water, has links to the results. It talks about how arsenic in chicken manure, manure then used as fertilizer (reminiscent of David Kirby's "Animal Factory") I don't think it mentions the R.I.C.E. Act, which would force the FDA to set an arsenic level in food.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm
This brings to light some baby raising patterns: Could the apparent increase since the 60's have set up that generation of parents who would have babies in 90's for an epigenetic susceptibility to autism, causing damage so severe the babies can't excrete any toxins, much less toxins shot straight into the blood? If your child is lactose intolerant/has casein problems, do parents substitute apple juice for milk? (I know I did) If they have gluten issues, do you automatically go to rice? How much additional risk would that put on a child's body if they already have trouble excreting toxins? It makes paleo eating and Weston Price style eating very attractive at this point. Could it explain why sometimes the special carbohydrate diet is somewhat more successful than just a GF/CF diet according to the last time I looked at the Defeat Autism Now site?
Posted by: Jenny | September 23, 2012 at 08:09 AM
Thanks Dan, another outstanding article.
Elizabeth Gillespie
Posted by: AussieMum | September 23, 2012 at 03:38 AM
Thanks for a more positive take on the vaccine wars. I have been glum recently because I fear parents are getting so severely harassed for not vaccinating kids. And it's impossible to walk into a pharmacy without getting bombarded with vaccination pressure. I'm waiting for the black market to step up with some faked medical forms. It's already happened in places like Russia--where parents get a full vaccine form filled out with dates and shots, the whole deal so that that kid can get out of all the shots and not get hassled because the school thinks the records they have are authentic. If it's happening in Russia it probably is happening here as well. So.... is that progress. We are so polarized around this issue that one of the best options is to counter lies with lies.
Posted by: Kapoore | September 23, 2012 at 12:40 AM
I'm from Washington State and for 10+ years, I have tried to spread your message on thimerosal, your articles and columns, starting of your investigations from Science News, and your book, "Age of Autism". The pharm companies can not hide their poisoning forever.
Posted by: ldb | September 22, 2012 at 11:05 PM
"Only we can put things right." We are all trying, and if for no other reason than to put the story down in the annals of history. If anyone is left to actually read our accounts of the toxic (pun intended) relationship between government, pharma and media, then maybe, just maybe they might learn enough to save the human race!
Posted by: Cynthia Cournoyer | September 22, 2012 at 10:21 PM
@Dan Olmstead: Brilliant post.
No, we can't count on Big Media to get it right. Big Media is the mouthpiece of Big Pharma. They present the viewpoint they are told to present, or they lose funding.
We can look back to the 1930's and see exactly how the media was set up to present things in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Apparently, Big Pharma looked back at that, too, and learned a lot from it, because they are following the exact same strategy.
I don't say this as a way to sling mud at Big Pharma. I say this because I think we need to know EXACTLY what strategies we are fighting against, and how they were put in place, and when.
It's like a chess game, but the other side started moving before we even got our pieces on the board. By the time we realized what game we were playing, they alread had several queens (as in, propaganda firmly entrenched in children's books, TV shows, the news media owned by pharma board members, pre-eminent philanthropists owning vaccine foundations, and the FDA and medical school instruction positions filled by paid pharma consultants).
Winning this "game" is going to be a lot more difficult and complicated than simply pointing out the obvious truths, because the people who need to listen to us have already been blinded and deafened by a lifetime of propaganda.
Posted by: Taximom | September 22, 2012 at 05:45 PM
And it's the Boy Scouts' popcorn fundraising time of year, too.
I wonder if they have seen the latest GMO corn science?
Posted by: Jenny | September 22, 2012 at 05:33 PM
@Bob Moffit: I, too, had thought that the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit was a frivolous one, until I actually looked it up and learned that the woman involved had suffered third degree burns to her thigh, was hospitalized for 8 days, and needed a skin graft operation.
There had been over 700 similar claims prior to this case, between 1982 and 1972, so it's not like McDonald's was unaware of the problem.
I wonder if the producers of "Hot Coffee" would be willing to take on the vaccine industry?
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/the-truth-about-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-lawsuit-why-it-matters-video.html
Posted by: Taximom | September 22, 2012 at 05:30 PM
You seem optimistic about the tides turning. From where I stand, I see it getting A LOT worse before it gets any kind of better. We just moved to get better services for our "severe" son and I have to get a doctor signature on some paperwork to get on the endless (literally) wait list for medicaid waiver services so that he can qualify for 2 hrs/week respite. I'm not even doing it for the respite, but rather so that he is COUNTED. In any case, we can't find a doctor. I have called three practices and none will take people who do not vaccinate. My husband's work is requiring the flu shot. The kids' new schools gave me huge hassles about the exemptions (one is in a private school, and unlike public schools, they absolutely *can* reject religious exemptions - much easier to get religious exemption in public school). The pressure is on. I have never felt the climate is worse than it is right now. The irony is that all of us with vaccine-injured children have done such a tremendous job educating our friends and family that they are not vaxing which has created backlash that has made it harder FOR US to get exemptions for our vaccine-injured children! Don't misunderstand, I'm glad people are wising up, I just find it ironic.
Posted by: Kristine | September 22, 2012 at 05:10 PM
Thank you, Dan. You've always been so eloquent in calling it like it is. Make a bumper sticker:
Don't poison our kids!
I think so much has to do with our food, vaccines, drugs, and pesticides.
I read years ago the studies in europe that said polio was on the downside of its lifecycle and the vaccine was started at that time, so who really knows if the vaccine ever really made the contribution that they claimed or rather polio was on the down trend naturally.
I would like to hear the TACA slogan everywhere: Autism is Treatable.
I would also like to hear: Autism is preventable.
Thinking like that would lead to all sorts of new innovations for our children. Instead we have public health holding policies in place that are poisoning our kids. And they act like they don't understand what is going on, and we should all just roll over and accept this.
Time for everyone to be like Dan and show up and ask questions at public forumns, government meetings, conferences, stock holder meetings, etc.
Thanks Dan Olmstead.
Posted by: MotherofPossibility | September 22, 2012 at 04:29 PM
Thanks Dan..I received an e-mail this week showing lab rats( I ain`t happy about rats being treated this way ) of the same family .Two of the four had been fed nothing but corn from GM Monsanto...The other two fed on organic corn...The two fed on GM Monsato looked as if they had been swallowing plates ..this was cancer tumors from the corn all up and down the gut and they looked twice the size of the sibling rats who never had any tumors .....
From this I can say that if you give people cancer from food... the Pharma scores yet again with false treatments for cancer..
To much to comment on Dan but great again
Angus
Posted by: Angus Files | September 22, 2012 at 03:37 PM
The flu shot promotions get more aggressive every year. I believe if you get a "Trick or treat" flu shot at Walgreen's you can get $3.99 off your $25.99 Halloween costume that is made in China for $1.99.
I believe a gallon of flu vaccine retails for about $320,000, all of the "fast buck franchises" are on board with this...
*********************
The money that big pharma makes from vaccines, is chicken feed compared to the money they make off the life long auo-immune disorders that vaccines create
Vaccine profit is just a little extra gravy for these sickos.
Posted by: Barry | September 22, 2012 at 03:35 PM
I wonder, which environmental factor has shortened life expectancy of poor white people in the US so dramatically since 1990? Is it cheap GMO junk food, or toxic vaccines and other medications pushed on these people by Medicaid? The US is now at the bottom of all developed countries in longevity and health. We must admire, however, the Latino people, who even if uneducated and poor, are still smart enough not to take pharma and Monsanto poisons into their bodies and therefore are healthier live longer than the overmedicated whites.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/life-expectancy-for-less-educated-whites-in-us-is-shrinking.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1
Posted by: no-vac | September 22, 2012 at 01:33 PM
speaking of polio- SV40 is a figment of your imagination, as is the IOM report confirming the polio vax infected over 5 million with SV40 which passes generationally.
SV40 and liver cancer and childhood brain cancers are of course linked- except n the bizarro world of US Govt health policy.
Posted by: Ottsochnaut | September 22, 2012 at 01:09 PM
Great insight Dan,
However, since it is nearly impossible to sue vaccine manufacturers for their toxic products, we must start suing the corrupted criminal political idiots – the state bureaucrats, who push them on our children (governors, legislators, school supervisors). And we should demand that these scoundrels pay heavily from their own pockets and not from public funds. We should destroy them, as they are destroying our children. They are the worst enemies of the US.
Posted by: no-vac | September 22, 2012 at 01:06 PM
Great wrap-up!
Posted by: Twyla | September 22, 2012 at 12:09 PM
"We have to be able to walk and chew gum -- feed people and not kill children -- at the same time."
I've been reading AOA for a long time now, and have loved a great many stories. But for my money this is the quote that sums up everything that is wrong with public health and regulatory apparatus right now. They continually present the problem as an either/or. Either everyone has to get the shots OR we are all going to die of preventable diseases. Either we can have natural foods OR we can grow enough crops to feed everyone. Either we can burn mercury-spewing coal for energy OR we can all sit in the dark and freeze.
The facile corporate fear-mongering is just so much BS, and the smart people are on to it. We can put men on the moon and live cameras on Mars. We can build giant machines to smash two infinitesimally small particles into each other. We should be able to make vaccines that don't harm people, grow foods that provide nutrition without damaging health, make energy that doesn't poison the environment. To walk and chew gum at the same time.
Posted by: Garbo | September 22, 2012 at 11:46 AM
The flu shot promotions get more aggressive every year. I believe if you get a "Trick or treat" flu shot at Walgreen's you can get $3.99 off your $25.99 Halloween costume that is made in China for $1.99.
I believe a gallon of flu vaccine retails for about $320,000, all of the "fast buck franchises" are on board with this...
Posted by: cmo | September 22, 2012 at 10:07 AM
Dan .. don't know if you had the opportunity to view an HBO produced documentary called "Hot Coffee" .. which I found extremely interesting. The documentary revisits some well-known lawsuits .. most notably .. the woman awarded millions for "spilling hot McDonald's coffee on herself". Admittedly, I had always believed the large award was unjustified .. until I actually saw the injuries this woman suffered .. and .. learned through the discovery process .. that she was not the first to sue McDonald's after suffering burn injuries from drinking their "hot coffee".
In any event, this documentary changed my support for what I had previously strongly supported .. "tort reform" .. to stop "frivolous lawsuits" from causing so much unwarranted attention by our judicial system.
I suspect the million dollar award for "eating too much popcorn" will receive the same wide-spread public ridicule and scorn .. as did that woman who "spilled coffee on herself".
We should all remember .. the highest priority of any corporation is to protect their "profits" as well as their "products" .. even if their manufacturing process contributes to producing unsafe products .. that may cause undue suffering and harm to the people that use them.
Thimerosal is a prime example of a substance used as a "preservative" to protect the shelf-life of the vaccines for a long time .. and .. I suspect it's "cost effectiveness" far outweighs any manufacturing concerns regarding its toxcity to those who use it.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | September 22, 2012 at 07:24 AM
The answer Dan from Francis Collins's National Institutes of Health will be that people will eventually have to be genetically modified to cope with their licensed toxic burden.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/06/an-open-letter-to-the-national-institutes-of-health-54-of-american-children-suffer-from-chronic-heal.html
Posted by: John Stone | September 22, 2012 at 06:48 AM