Vaccine mandate laws are sweeping the nation hidden within the Trojan Horse of minor measles outbreaks that have not been deadly in this, a first world nation with sanitation, access to medicine and clean water (Detroit notwithstanding....)  I add this because the response to mandate balking has been to talk about close to 1000 deaths in Madagascar following a measles outbreak. Madagascar to most of us is an imaginary place where penguins fly airplanes and a dancing hippo flirts with a hypochondriac giraffe. In reality, it is one of the top 25 poorest countries in the planet, riddled with malnutrition, no sanitation and filthy water.  Take a peek at the stats from WHO on probability of death under the age of 5 in Madagascar versus the USA:  44 to 7.


The estimate from attendees whom we know was over 1300 protesters, there in America's Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota.

###

Hundreds Rally To Oppose Bill Limiting Vaccine Exemptions

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Hundreds of people opposed to requirements for childhood vaccines rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol Monday.

They were there to voice their opposition to a measure that would make it harder for parents not to vaccinate their kids.

A proposed Minnesota Senate bill would remove language in state law that allows parents to “conscientiously” object to the shots.

“We believe that parents should be able to make their own choice. They should be having this conversation with their doctor,” said Alicia Leiviska, of Health Choice Minnesota.

Those at the rally dispute the position by the medical and scientific community that vaccines are safe.

We invite you to listen to Laura Hayes' interview on VACCINATIONS and all the great interviews on Dr. Andy McCabe's program called Healthy Life! You'll see many familiar names on the interview list. Click here to look, listen and learn!  Thanks to Laura for her tireless fight for all of our kids - and us - as adult vaccine mandates are looming even as we speak.

Visit the site here.

by John Stone

The deadly charade continues. British television viewers were told on ITV NEWS on Thursday night that an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) was to investigate "the  resurgence of the anti-vaccination movement".  They should not be deceived into thinking however that the APPG on Vaccination is the equivalent of a parliamentary committee. The secretariat for the group - which itself  consists of five little known members of the House of Commons and two of the House of Lords - is listed as an organisation  called Results UK, which is in turn a satellite of GAVI, which we all know is a partnership of  the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO,  Unicef, the World Bank and the Pharmaceutical Industry etc. Every single vaccine manufacturer is represented within GAVI.

The strategy has been apparent since the summer of 2017 when the director of GAVI, Seth Berkley,  had an article published in the on-line Spectator - a British news journal - calling for "anti-vaxxers" to be banned from the web, when what he was really setting out to do was ban all criticism of vaccines from the web while simultaneously indulging in hate rhetoric. In the British context it might perhaps be a modestly hopeful sign that the present move comes from an undistinguished ad hoc group of parliamentarians rather than a standing committee: less helpful is the continuing treachery of the mainstream media which cannot any longer report anything without a having devious agenda behind it.

John Stone is UK editor of Age of Autism

The nutty Nutmeg state of Connecticut is considering a bill that would allow 9 year olds to consent to a Gardasil vaccine for the sexually transmitted disease of genital warts. Nine. Years. Old. Making a medical decision.  From our friends at FirstFreedoms.org:

###

From Autism Action Network

The US House of Representatives Oversight & Energy Subcommittee, of the Energy and Commerce Committee, will hold a hearing on the current measles outbreak and response efforts this Wednesday, February 27 at 10 am in the John D. Dingell Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The focus of the hearing was obvious in the press release, “Measles is a highly contagious, life-threatening virus that was previously eliminated in the United States thanks to the success of the measles vaccine,” the four bipartisan Committee leaders said. “Unfortunately, measles cases are on the rise as a consequence of the virus’s transmission among unvaccinated groups.” No critics of federal vaccine policy or the vaccine industry will be allowed to speak.

Please call Rep. Frank Pallone, the Chair of the Oversight & Energy Subcommittee and let him know you do not want the federal government to endanger our right to say “no,” and to let vaccine critics speak at the hearing:

(202) 225-4671

 And call Pallone’s boss,  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has ultimate control over what hearings are held and who is allowed to speak, with the same message:  

(202) 225-4965

 Please click on the link below to send messages to your member of the House and the two US Senators from your state letting them know that you support vaccine choice.

http://capwiz.com/a-champ/issues/alert/?alertid=80616671&queueid=11814080981

 The hearings appear to be the next phase in a script the vaccine industry has been following around the world to eliminate vaccine choice. First, predictable outbreaks of measles, which was considered little more than a childhood inconvenience a generation ago, has been rebranded as a killer disease. Outbreaks that until recently were considered insignificant are used to whip up hysteria by corporate media outlets that rely on advertising dollars from the big four drug companies, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi and Glaxo (who also control more than 80% of the global vaccine market). Governments are frightened and bribed into eliminating vaccine choice for their populations delivering unimpeded access to captive markets. This scenario has played out in Italy, France, Croatia, Romania and California, and now appears to be slated for all of the United States.

 Please share this message with friends and family, and please post to social networks. And if you support the work of the Autism Action Network please make a donation at www.autismactionnetwork.org

From AHRP

FYI & Action
History is repeating itself! Once again, a massive propaganda machine has fomented disease hysteria, preempting rational public health policy decisions. Last time around, coercive medical sterilizations were performed in the U.S.; their goal was to “cleanse the genetic pool of undesirables”. This time around, the objective is to increase utilization of vaccines, and thereby increase ever higher profit-margins.

The pharmaceutical industry in partnership with the U.S. government is determined to increase vaccination uptake by stripping parents of their human right to exercise their parental responsibility, which is to protect their child from risks of harm.

A growing number of parents have raised doubt about the assurances given that all vaccines are “safe and effective”. Parents are raising concerns about the empirical evidence of an ever increasing number of vaccinated children who suffer from debilitating chronic illnesses as never before. The failure of public health officials to examine the evidence and identify the cause of children’s chronic ailments, focusing solely on vaccination rates, has resulted in the loss of trust...(Continue reading at AHRP)

Note: We are a non-profit organization and will never endorse a candidate. Nor tell you how to vote. We will begin to cover the candidates for 2020 as they come out of the woodwork.   This fundraiser costs less than a month of Pfizer's breast cancer drug which runs a cool $9,850 per month.

Do any of you remember that David Kirby wrote a HuffPo post that Gillibrand as a newly minted Senator was calling for funding into vaccine safety? How quaint.  Senator Gillibrand: Supporter of Vaccine-Autism ResearchSenator Gillibrand: Supporter of Vaccine-Autism Research

Robert F Kennedy jr has said that he is being prevented from giving evidence at two Congressional hearings on the grounds that they are full. It is ever more essential that everyone contacts their representatives to insist that all sides should be heard, particularly if their representatives are members of those committees.

We re-publish the letter from last week giving details of the two hearings.

Note:  Pinterest seems to be under some serious acupressure......

By Cathy Jameson

What’s next?

Will they come after personal webpages?

Will they ban the books that have already been written?

Will they remove our ability to call each other from our home phones, disable our cell phones so we can text each other, or remove emails access from our personal computers?

---

Pinterest was never one of my favorite websites to visit. But with readers all over the world using all manner of social media platforms including Pinterest, I created an account for Age of Autism there several years ago. Once in a while, when I’d remember to, I’d pin something under our Great Reads, Good Movies, or Friends of AofA boards. A new book to check out, a documentary of interest, or an infographic that was making the rounds on other people’s advocacy pages were what I’d typically pin. Never more than an afterthought though, I’d spend more time adding links and reading material to our AofA Facebook fan page. With a much larger audience, FB was the place to be.

Late last year, I heard that Pinterest was shutting down individual and advocacy groups’ accounts for pinning misinformation about the US’ liability-free vaccines. I knew that it was just a matter of time that AofA would make that same hit list. In mid-December, I received an email from Pinterest that information I’d pinned on our boards long ago were in violation of one of their policies.

When that happened, I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t sad about it either. Visually unappealing to me, I never cared much for Pinterest’s layout and preferred to spend my time on other social media platforms. I’d honestly forgotten about people’s pages being pulled off of Pinterest’s until a dear friend mentioned it to me on Thursday evening. Friday morning, articles were being circulating about those recent unpinnings.  I tried to log on to see if we were still being banned from using Pinterest.

Following the Hannah Poling award in 2008 Julie Gerberding, at the time Director for the centers for Disease Control, told Sanjay Gupta on CNN:

"Now, we all know that vaccines can occasionally cause fevers in kids. So if a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines. And if you’re predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism."

On separate occasions the Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration told journalists Sharyl Atkisson and David Kirby:

"The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures."

The United States Government told you vaccines cause autism.

Note: Thank you to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his team at Children's Health Defense for this important action alert.  We are on on the defense as regards vaccination mandates and personal choice because the heavy hand of pharma in government is on the offensive. Measles equals mandates.  It is incongruous to claim to be pro choice, feminist, MeToo or part of any progressive group that demands equality and personal rights and back mandates.

###

Maintaining Medical Freedom: Urgent Action Required!

Threats to end religious and philosophical vaccine exemptions have just been ratcheted up to an unprecedented federal level. If parents and caregivers are stripped of the ability to make healthcare decisions for their children, reinstating that ability may be nearly impossible. We need to take action now to prevent the government from dictating what is injected into our children.

On Wednesday, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb hinted in a CNN interview that if non-medical vaccine exemptions were not abolished at the state level, federal health agencies may intercede. This is especially ominous considering two critical upcoming vaccine-related hearings recently announced on Capitol Hill:

• Wednesday, February 27, 10:00 a.m. The Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the current measles outbreak and response efforts.
• Tuesday, March 5, 10:00 a.m. The HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) will hold a hearing, Vaccines Save Lives: What is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?

We absolutely must have representation at these hearings. It’s crucial that we have as many parents and advocates as possible in attendance at both. And if your Senator or Congressional representative is on one of these committees, it is critical that they hear from you! Click here for the Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee members and here for the HELP Committee members.

1000 words...... doncha know.

Paul Shattuck

By Anne Dachel

This is the frightening future for the coming generation(s) of autistic children in America:  DENIAL.

Anyone who reads the Feb 20, 2019 piece in The Atlantic entitled,The Coming Care Crisis as Kids With Autism Grow Up—The number of adults with autism diagnoses is soaring, but there aren’t enough programs and services to meet the demand, by writer and doctoral candidate Noah Remnick,  will understand that members of the press just don’t care.

First of all, the “crisis” Remnick sees when it comes to autism is the lack of services for adults. AUTISM itself is not a crisis, in fact Remnick assures us that autism has always been here, we just didn’t notice.

Although people with autism have always existed, the United States saw a tremendous spike in diagnoses beginning in the late 1990s, due in part to increased public awareness of the disorder and improvements in evaluation.

How is that possible?  How could educators, parents, and doctors over many past generations never have recognized the collective signs and symptoms of autism? Why have schools during the last twenty years had to train teachers to deal with autistic students? (We’ve had disabled children in school by federal law for the past 45 years.)

Remnick acknowledges that the explosion in autism among children began in the last 90s, yet the statistics he cites to compare are from AFTER THE 1990s.

About one in every 59 children is diagnosed with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from one in every 150 in 2000.

Once you cede to the government the right to inject whatever a group of government officials deems appropriate into your body, where are you?

A blatantly corrupt agency led by a pharmaceutical industry insider, Scott Gottlieb, is pretending that the United States is in crisis over a few cases of measles. But the real point is that by extending the grip of government mandates it is using measles as a pretext to submit a subject population to an ever longer list of products which that population has to pay for through its taxes, and ultimately through its health. 

If they wanted to target measles they would just step up vaccination in the locality of the outbreaks, but this is not what this is about, it is about enslaving a population to an industry, which only concerns itself with profit, and has no liability for its products. The health crisis in America today and in many other developed countries is not about infectious disease, it is about neuro-developmental disorders and chronic ill-health. Our governments have no explanation of this phenomenon but they just go on vaccinating with a longer list of products against diseases which in most cases are not that dangerous, or that you are relatively unlikely to get, while being actively hostile to reports of harm. And the FDA has hundreds of more products in the pipeline which it is itching to license, and which the ACIP will no doubt nod through to the schedule.

This is becoming the greatest tyranny of our time.

By John Stone

Having raised the issue of Heidi Larson's intervention in the vaccine debate on the BBC last week, it is worth considering - given her global status as vaccine confidence chief - how much she actually knows, but also her lack of professional accountability. Indeed, the first time she came to the attention of Age of Autism was when she wrote an article in New Scientist helping to lobby the United Nations (successfully as it turned out)  not to place a ban on mercury in vaccines under the title: "Poison pill: Not all mercury is toxic". Troubling perhaps in retrospect apart from the very poor argument is that the case was not being made by a medical doctor or toxicologist, but someone who was not professionally accountable for such an opinion. We met the same problem with her recent broadcast:

Well, I think the main thing is there most incredibly extensive safety around vaccines - the processes that go around vaccines,  the reasons there is quite a while between when vaccines are developed and when children actually get them is because the system has become more and more and more robust around safety. Frankly, partly because of the public cry  for this,  but it has always been that way from a safety perspective because the government frankly is accountable and if it is recommending and requiring in some senses these vaccines in some senses it is not in the interest of the governments or the producer to be recommending something which is going to cause any damage. 

You could say this sounds like a satirical parody of someone defending vaccine safety. It is not merely that we find ourselves in disagreement over facts, it is actually that the language is vague and she does not seem to remotely know what she is talking about. Of course, it would be much easier to advocate that vaccine are safe, carefully trialed and monitored, if you really did not know anything much about it beyond your own propaganda.

Previously, Larson has pronounced herself concerned about vaccine safety. She told Johnson & Johnson website in 2017:

Yes, there are potential risks—there will always be potential risks with any medical treatment. And we don’t talk enough about that.

Which is all very well perhaps until you accuse the people who are talking about it of the equivalent of "hate crime". Adriana Gamondes reported in these columns last month:

The corporation was so uninterested in Brabant’s adverse reaction [to a yellow fever vaccine] that even Dr. Heidi Larson—lead researcher for the Gates Foundation’s Vaccine Confidence Project—called the company’s response “inadequate” and suggested that the vaccine formulation—which has not changed since the 1960’s—is not only outdated but being given in too large a dose. Interestingly, Larson holds up Sanofi-Pasteur’s conduct in this case as an example of the damage corporations do to public confidence in vaccination.

But is it going too far to suggest that Brabant's injuries seem real to Larson because she and he had both worked for UNICEF: they are part of the same class - the rest of us can apparently go hang. And you become credible because you move in the right circles:

Hedda Get Better - a doll from the early 1960s owned by Kim Rossi's sister.

By Teresa Conrick

Measles.  If you were born before 1957, you do not need to get a measles vaccination. That would be an MMR vaccine, as measles vaccine is not available as a single, live, virus vaccine but instead is a triple, live, virus vaccine with both Mumps and Rubella attached with it. This is according to the CDC and the NYT as they report in this blog

“If you were born before 1957, you probably don't need the vaccine. Why 1957? The measles vaccine was first produced in 1963, so people who were children before the late '50s or early '60s were almost certainly exposed to measles and have lifelong immunity.”

“Lifelong immunity”…….we do not hear that term anymore as vaccination has replaced it.  Instead, children today are needing 1,2 and possibly a 3rd dose of MMR  according to this article about Mumps, another childhood illness that seems to be making a comeback.  The reason -- “Either today’s mumps strains have evolved to elude the immune response triggered by the vaccine, or protection from the vaccine simply wanes over time.”  Either way, it looks like the MMR vaccine is not a perfect fix yet discussing that has set off a chain reaction in our communities.   We seem to be witnessing a new type of civil war -- the “pro-vaxx” vs the “anti-vaxx.”  Instead of a Mason-Dixon line, this line defines those who want medical choice (Vaccine Exemptions) vs those who don’t.  Let’s look at some facts.

Measles

In the olden days, measles was a part of childhood.  Children in the Victorian days died at an increased rate and up into the 1940’s, but as antibiotics became the go to medications for bacterial infections, deaths diminished.   The knowledge that measles can lead to bacterial infections, like pneumonia , has been significant in our understanding of these viral illnesses. Bacteria became the killers, just like in influenza.  Measles can be fatal but that is more often in developing countries .

Credit for this photo - my thanks to https://qz.com/651644/a-19th-century-disease-is-on-a-dramatic-rise-in-the-uk-what-do-we-know-about-it-so-far/

Both scarlet fever and measles, well-known Victorian diseases,  could kill as each had no nemesis to target it before the birth of antibiotics. Don’t get me wrong, as measles did have some complications later too -- “From 1985 through 1992 , diarrhea was reported in 8% of measles cases, making this the most commonly reported complication of measles. Otitis media (ear infection) was reported in 7% of cases and occurs almost exclusively in children. Pneumonia (in 6% of reported cases) may be viral or superimposed bacterial, and is the most common cause of measles-related death.”

By John Stone

Heidi Larson, the director of Vaccine Confidence Project, was seen and heard on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire Show on Friday morning. Here is an extract:

HL: Well, I think the main thing is there most incredibly extensive safety around vaccines - the processes that go around vaccines,  the reasons there is quite a while between when vaccines are developed and when children actually get them is because the system has become more and more and more robust around safety. Frankly, partly because of the public cry  for this,  but it has always been that way from a safety perspective because the government frankly is accountable and if it is recommending and requiring in some senses these vaccines in some senses it is not in the interest of the governments or the producer to be recommending something which is going to cause any damage. 

 VD: Should Facebook  take these private groups down?
 
HL: I think the issue with Facebook is a difficult one because on the one hand they are asked not to dig into  people's personal areas and on the other hand being asked to go and take things down so I think from a Facebook perspective its difficult to do that. From a public health perspective as we saw in the letter from Andrew Schifft (sic) to Mark Zuckerberg that this is something in the league of like hate crime....

Of course, it is hard to know where to begin. Heidi may pronounce herself satisfied with vaccine technology but frankly she is just emoting - and she has no right to take the matter out of the public's hands. To the best of my knowledge since I have been involved in these matters, the only attempts I have seen to reassure the public have been socially repressive. Obviously, we are in a situation of accelerating unpleasantness with every last measles case being hyped as if it was Ebola. But as readers will be aware when I quizzed the UK's outgoing Chief Medical Officer about the evidence basis for MMR safety she came out only with generalities and only named the very weak Luke Taylor "meta-analysis" for the safety of the products. Dame Sally could not cite pre-marketing trials against placebo (or any pre-marketing trials at all), she could only cite a paper published 26 years after the products were introduced in the U.K. 1988, while the earliest of the papers reviewed in it was published no earlier than 2002. It may be that this is what Larson had in mind: that before the public concern there had been no proper studies, and then there were the studies our governments did produce when they were in a corner - and these studies were anything but "more and more and more  robust".  As I wrote to Dame Sally:

By Cathy Jameson

After our much-needed family getaway last week, it was time to get back to reality this week.  For the kids, that meant catching up on homework and school projects.  For me, it meant reading up on whatever news I missed while we were out of town.  I knew that the measles had started to make headlines both here and abroad a while ago.  I also knew that some states were attempting to remove parents’ rights again, but I was not prepared for just how much news was being made about measles and vaccines in just the few days we were away.  You’d think that the US was under multiple “vaccine-preventable disease” threats!  According to the CDC, we’re not. 

Source:  CDC

Source:  CDC

So what’s all the recent fuss about then?  It’s still the mainstream news outlets’ favorite of all seasons – flu shot season, but I’ve seen more stories than ever before about the measles.  Some have said that it’s because it’s legislative season. With almost all 50 states in their legislative sessions right now, that makes sense.  “Legislative measles” has made for some good news for the media lately!  So have other “legislative diseases”.

A recent interview with British general practitioner, Dr Jayne Donegan, talking about her strange story to Polly Tommey when in 2007 she was tried before a General Medical Council tribunal and completely exonerated. With thanks to Peeps TV.

A written account by her of these events can be found at her website.

by John Stone

In November we published an extract from a letter to myself from the British Government's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, and the full text of her letter has now been published by the British Government under Freedom of Information. However, the timing is somewhat interesting. While the text was apparently released by her department on 21 Dec last year it was not actually published to the web till two days before she announced her retirement on 8 February. Clearly you would expect someone in her position to present the best evidence available.Here is the full text of her letter below with my original article underneath (with thank to Angus Files for pursuing this matter). I had asked Dame Sally to support her statement "It's a safe vaccine -we know that". This was her reply:

Vaccine safety is extremely important and taken seriously, and the safety of MMR vaccines has remained under continual review. As with any vaccine, MMR vaccines can have side effects in some people, and these are listed in the product literature. The potential for side effects has to be balanced against the benefits of protection against what can be very serious and potentially life threatening infections. When safety issues have been confirmed in the past these have been acted upon. Your e-mail refers to the action taken with Urabe mumps-containing vaccines, and another example includes the identification and precautions around the risk of immune thrombocytopenic purpura with MMR vaccines. Should emerging evidence confirm any new risks, I can assure you that appropriate action would be taken.

Specifically in relation to whether MMR vaccines may be a cause of autism, a substantial body of population-based research has found no evidence to suggest a causal association. This ev-idence (not just for MMR, but other types of vaccine) is available for review in the published medical literature, and was summarised in a meta-analysis in 2014 which is free to download (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X14006367?via%3Dihub).

In relation to vaccine safety monitoring more generally, I can assure you that systems are in place to keep safety under review. This includes continual review of suspected adverse reac-tion reports (such as those submitted through the Yellow Card Scheme), evaluation of GP and hospital-based health records linked to immunisations, review of worldwide data and close collaboration with international health authorities. 

We know that confidence in the UK vaccine programme is at very high levels and the vast ma-jority of parents choose to have their children protected by vaccination. Vaccines are one of the best public health interventions we have - saving lives and preventing millions of people from getting life-threatening diseases.

Drs DeStefano and Offit are authors.

Accepted Manuscript
Principal Controversies in Vaccine Safety in the United States
Frank DeStefano, MD, MPH Heather Monk Bodenstab, PharmD Paul A Offit, MD
Clinical Infectious Diseases, ciz135, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciz135

Read the full Manuscript here.

ABSTRACT

Concerns about vaccine safety can lead to decreased acceptance of vaccines and resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. We summarize the key evidence on some of the main current vaccine safety controversies in the United States, including:

1) MMR vaccine and autism;
2) thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders;
3) vaccine-induced Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS);
4) vaccine-induced autoimmune diseases;
5) safety of HPV vaccine;
6) aluminum adjuvant-induced autoimmune diseases and other disorders; and
7) too many vaccines given early in life predisposing children to health and developmental problems.

A possible small increased risk of GBS following influenza vaccination has been identified, but the magnitude of the increase is less than the risk of GBS following influenza infection. Otherwise, the biological and epidemiologic evidence does not support any of the reviewed vaccine safety concerns.

You can comment on this article at the site. Please feel free to add your own interpretation of the statements made in this manuscript in our comments. Some immediate content questions:

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that has a strong genetic component and whose genesis begins in utero. WORD SALAD: Where is the citation and/or incontrovertible proof?  Here is a recent article on regressive autism. No genetics mentioned.

The authors found no sudden change in the incidence of autism after introduction of MMR vaccine and no association between receipt of the vaccine and development of autism.  WORD SALAD: "sudden" and "receipt".  Autistic regression takes place over time.

Ethylmercury is broken down and excreted much more rapidly than methylmercuryand is thereforemuch less likely to accumulate in the body and cause harm WORD SALAD: "less likely" is hardly scientific nor reassuring.  WORD SALAD: Thimerosal is the "safe" mercury... read The Comparable Dangers of Ethylmercury and Methylmercury

Made with Gianna in 1999

Dear, Gianna. Here it is, 20 years later. I love you as much as I did when you were a 2 year old little girl. I love you just as you are. I do not love your autism. I never have. I never will. I love that you smile and laugh and bring everyone around you joy. I do not love that you are in a day program instead of working in a career you love after college. I love that you look out for your sisters who also have autism. I love that you are kind. I love that you remember what's on the calendar every single day when I can't remember what day it is. I do not love that you will never have a true Valentine of your own with whom to share love, sex and a life. I love that you bowled 120 this week with your friends. I love that you recited Good Night Moon with your sister as the two of  you lay in your room before going to sleep. I love that she helped you remember the words and you giggled. I love that you are OK with visiting your dad four nights a month instead of having an intact family. I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my Gianna you'll be.

Love, Mom

2018

My daughter got GUARDIANSHIP when she turned 18

There is an 18 year old who is DEFYING his parents. ALERT THE MEDIA!!!

18 year olds are able to go to war where they may fight and lose their lives.
18 year olds are vaping and Juuling a because they want to smoke.
18 year olds are thinking about sex. A lot. Maybe even having sex.
18 year olds can get a legal abortion.
18 year olds can get birth control.
18 year olds sneak alcohol from the fridge and Rx drugs from Mom and Dad's medicine cabinet because they want to get high.
18 year olds can vote.
18 year olds are legal adults with rights including medical rights
So how is an 18 year old who took on his own medical care and got himself vaccinated news?

It's a PR stunt.  You don't have to be an adult to figure it out.

18 By Alice Cooper

Lines form on my face and hands
Lines form from the ups and downs
I'm in the middle without any plans
I'm a boy and I'm a man

Measles Mania is sweeping the country - and laws to remove vaccine exemptions are in play. Here's a primer on how to get involved in stopping the assault on your family's medical choice and rights. It's 2019. Our bodies include our immune systems.

Measles hysteria + dozens of legislative bills unveiled across the country to mandate more vaccines for children and reduce or eliminate exemptions. Is the timing a coincidence? Dawn Richardson, Director of Advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center (www.NVICAdvocacy.org) joins us today for an update on nationwide vaccine legislation and shares some expert tips on how you can get involved in the political process in your state, defending the medical rights of families everywhere.

Note: Here's a story, of a man named Quackenboss....Excerpted from Levi Quackenboss. The measles hysteria continues.

###

Yeah, I’m totally going there. I know this vaccination subject is pretty touchy with the undertones of intolerance, discrimination, and bigotry and all, but after seeing a letter written to a “mom who decided not to vaccinate her kids against measles,” I just couldn’t sit by while parents are thrown under the bus and innocent kids get sick and die.

To be perfectly frank, I was a bit offended that this letter wasn’t written to dads too but for the sake of prioritizing stupid, there are more important things to address…like the fact that kids in this country do not “get sick and die” from measles. Hello? When was the last time a kid died from measles in America? Here’s a clue…it wasn’t yesterday. Disney ain’t deadly and neither are the measles.

So here goes.

Dear Mom who thinks I should vaccinate my kid against the measles,
I get it. You’re like a mama bear. A mama bear that spends a little too much time watching CNN and reading anti-vaxxer hate articles on TIME. Ain’t nobody subjecting my kiddo to a bullshit rash!

I totally agree. We should all protect our children from anything that’s going to hurt them. So I hope you don’t mind that I demand a little something more from the scientific community before I shoot my kid up with a harmful vaccine that doesn’t work. You know…like studies that aren’t done by the makers of the vaccines or the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” and studies that aren’t manipulated by the CDC. My kid is worth a proper safety study and so is yours. At least I think so.

{Read Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth and Parenting Decisions}

But go ahead … walk down the street and tackle my kid to the ground and shove a big ole shot in his leg with the MMR vaccine. I’ll shove a big ole lawsuit in your face. You wouldn’t want me to tackle your child to the ground because he’s not in quarantine for six weeks after receiving a live vaccine, would you? You know … to protect MY baby bear.  Read more here.

By Ginger Taylor, MS

LD 798, An Act To Protect Maine Children and Students from Preventable Diseases by Repealing Certain Exemptions from the Laws Governing Immunization Requirements

The Bill simply removes all religious and philosophical vaccine exemptions, for anyone, from anywhere in the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Health and Human Services law.

"SUMMARY
Current law allows exemptions from immunization requirements based on religious or philosophical beliefs for students in elementary and secondary schools and schools and health care facilities. This bill removes those exemptions. The bill also directs the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services to remove any immunization exemptions based on religious or philosophical beliefs from their rules and requires the Department of Education to adopt rules allowing a student who is covered by an individualized education plan and has elected a philosophical or religious exemption from immunization requirements to continue to attend school under the existing exemption as long as an appropriate medical professional provides a statement that the medical professional has provided information on the risks and benefits associated with the choice to immunize."

Sticks Lead to Stones: We Need to be Very Angry at School Abuse of the Disabled
A West Virginia Public School in the News Over Barbaric Treatment of Nonverbal Students With Autism

By Adriana Gamondes

The written transcript of the KUTV news report below starts off with a trigger warning:

A warning: What you are about to read is disturbing.

But I don’t believe in trigger warnings when the public and official response to the ongoing epidemic of abuse of disabled children has been mostly insufficient if not downright passive or complicit.

 From Salt Lake City’s KUTV: Watch Video here.

A hidden recording device in a special education classroom is raising alarming questions about what went on inside a classroom at an elementary school in Berkeley County, West Virginia.

Instructor #1: "I ought to backhand you right in your teeth. How is that for anxiety?"

According to parents, that's a secret audio recording of an instructor talking to children inside a special education class at Berkeley Heights Elementary School in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Amber Pack sent her 8-year-old daughter to class with a recording device after the child didn't want to go back to school. (WJLA)

Instructor #1: "This one I could punch her right in her face."

A different instructor in the same class.

Instructor #2: "You got to go pee-pee? Pee-pee? Or do you not have to go pee-pee and you just want to go **** *** in a chair?"

There's more:

Instructor #2: "I'm going to pull your hair until you start crying."

Instructor #3: "Don't throw it. Don't throw. You animal you."

Instructor #2: "Yep. You wench."

Instructor #2: "You're like a pygmy. You're like a pygmy thing."

The next day Pack alerted the school district and the Martinsburg Police Department.

The story goes on to report that the three staff members were put on “administrative leave.” If this case follows the national pattern, these teachers will simply be placed in other school systems, just like clerical abusers in the church had been for years.

The above is only one example of countless cases of abuse and mistreatment of the disabled in schools and institutions across the US.  When taken a step further, this mistreatment has, according to a decades-old study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, led to the deaths of up to three disabled individuals a week, mostly children.

Our John Stone puts measles hysteria in perspective in his response in BMJ:

The WHO and the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf
Re: Measles cases in Europe tripled from 2017 to 2018 Jacqui Thornton. 364:doi 10.1136/bmj.l634

Let us get a handle on this. I just looked up the population of Europe for 2018 on Google and discovered a figure of 738 million, so the chances of dying of measles last year in Europe was less than 1 in 10 million. While it seems unlikely that vaccination can ever eliminate measles - notably because the vaccine sheds - could this just possibly be a distortion of policy?

A couple of other observation regarding Jacqui Thornton's article [1]: (a) the number of cases is likely be an artefact of the drive to identify them; (b) 61% hospitalisation does not sound credible.

[1] Jacqui Thornton, 'Measles cases in Europe tripled from 2017 to 2018', BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l634 (Published 07 February 2019)

Measles cases in Europe tripled from 2017 to 2018
BMJ 2019; 364 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l634 (Published 07 February 2019)

Cite this as: BMJ 2019;364:l634

More than 80 000 people in 47 of 53 European countries contracted measles in 2018, with 61% hospitalised and 72 deaths, the World Health Organization has said.

The total number of people infected with the virus in 2018 was the highest this decade—three times the total reported in 2017 (23 927 cases) and 15 times the record low recorded in 2016 (5273 cases).1

Despite more children in the WHO European region being vaccinated against the disease than ever before, progress on vaccination is uneven between and within countries. This leaves clusters of susceptible people unprotected, particularly in middle income countries, WHO said.

February, 2019

We are well into the  measles panic season. This happens each winter here in the USA. A handful of non-fatal measles cases storms the news as if EbolaPlague just wiped out half the population.  Like the old song from the musical South Pacific, "You've Got to be Carefully Taught." That song was about taboo love and prejudice. Today, the only openly acceptable prejudice is against the vaccine safety/choice community. Us. You. Me. Those of us who were painphully taught by pharma, pediatricians and public health.

The fear churned up by media reports of imminent threat allows legislation that removes vaccination choice to sail through states like the Titanic sailing out of port. And we know what happened to the Titanic. It's our rights that hit the iceberg. And the children are the first victims thrown overboard.   Here are the lyrics, altered pfor the current times with apologies and credit to Roger Hammerstein.

You've got to be taught to hate and phear
You've got to be taught phrom year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carephully taught

You've got to be taught to be aphraid
Of people whose vax choices are differently made
And people pfor whom pharma will not be obeyed
You've got to be carephully taught

You've got to be taught bephore it's too late
Bephore you are six or seven or eight
To hate the antivaxxers you are told to hate
You've got to be carephully taught

By Cathy Jameson

I missed a lot of news this week. Too busy taking care of things at home while prepping for a much-needed family trip away, I stopped reading about the measles, about states ready to remove religious exemptions, and about other stories the media wanted me to worry about. As important as some of the news topics are, I had other important things on my mind.

Taking a child with seizures and regressive autism on vacation is doable, we've done it countless times before. But every trip, even if we've been to the location before, takes careful planning. I haven't ranked the importance of each, but I must always consider Ronan's health and safety for each adventure we hope to take. Those, and which of Ronan's daily, necessary supplies we'd need to bring while we're far from home must be packed well before I think about simpler things, like what outfits I'd like to bring for me.

Health-wise, we've had a mild winter so far. I reported that to one of the nurses assigned to us days before we left. Curious if we still say no thank you to the flu vaccine because of a reaction Ronan had previously, she asked if Ronan had gotten sick with the flu since last "flu season". I shared, "Nope, he hasn't." "Even without the shot?" she was curious. "Yep, even without opting for the shot," I stated. Ronan's siblings had the sniffles when winter started, but he's been healthy for a good stretch of time. We wanted to take advantage of the optimal health Ronan's been experiencing, so we made plans to leave town sooner than later. The siblings were looking forward to that because it would mean missing a few days of school. I normally wouldn't pull the kids out of the classroom in the middle of the week, but when every door opens for us to go away as a family, we go.

Able to pack their own bags, the kids got their flip flops, swimsuits, comfy clothes, and a few of their books packed right away. Fueled by their excitement, they packed quicker than I could. Requiring loads more time and attention, Ronan can't just walk out of the house with a backpack like his siblings can. He needs multiple changes of clothing, pull ups and diapers including swim diapers, waterproof sheets to put over whatever bed he'd be sleeping in, his favorite books and pictures, a communication device, the iPad, his food, and the blender so that I can puree his food. He wouldn't be too excited that the blender was going to travel with us, but dsyphagia, like autism, doesn't take a vacation. Getting everything ready wouldn't be hard; we have everything he needs at home. It was a matter of making sure I had enough diapers, pull ups...and everything else when we got to our destination. We could certainly buy things where we were going, but I didn't want to have to spend more money than we already budgeted for the fun activities we couldn't wait to do. We were planning on going to a water park, the beach, a museum, and a few other places that required admission. Packing and bringing whatever we could from home, it looks like we're on the run with how full the back of the car is with all of Ronan's things! Medically fragile kids require a lot of equipment. There’s no getting around that. How well our vacation plans go will sometimes depend on how comfortable Ronan is. If he wants all of his comforts of home, we bring them. Once we got to our first destination, I was happy to discover that I only left behind one thing - his toothbrush. I remembered everything else, which is a lot, and was happy to spend a few cents more than I usually would for a new toothbrush.

With how many miles we've logged up and down the east coast since Ronan was a baby, I was not worried about how he would do in the car when it was time for us to hit the road. He does so well! He used to need to be "plugged in" either with a movie or a game on the iPad, but Ronan can now go miles down the road without wanting to play on any devices. The longest trip where he's been content to read or look out the window at the passing scenery has been two hundred miles. That’s a feat for any kid, let alone a child with autism. Many years ago, Ronan couldn't get beyond our driveway without a requesting a movie, and usually one he wanted us to play over and over again.

This trip would be shorter than the one we took at Christmas, but was just as important. We'd be spending time with family. Having gone through some trying times the last few months ago, we were going to be able to put life on pause for a few days. That meant no alarm clocks, no therapy appointments to run to, no phone calls to case managers, and no nagging emails to return. It would be just us doing whatever we wanted for a few days. We'd be in close quarter, but it was the time we'd get to spend together that I was most looking forward to.

We were appalled to read Senator Richard Pan's Facebook post claiming that the medical community could not allow "white privilege" to bolster vaccine exemptions. We have enough issues in the vaccine safety and/or refusal community without bringing in race. All races are seriously affected by autism and vaccine injury. The CDC Whistleblower William Thompson, himself white, openly discussed the tampering of MMR science to downplay (eradicate) the signal that African American toddlers were at a higher risk for an autism diagnosis based on when they received the vaccine. Avonte Oquendo died in the ice cold East River in New York after bolting from his autism school in Queens and became the face of wandering danger.

We bring back Adriana Gamondes' post from 2014, originally called The Color by Numbers Epidemic: Formerly Low Autism Rates among Ethnic Groups Skyrocketing After Massive, Coercive Campaign to Vaccinate “Underserved” Minorities.

By Adriana Gamondes

…displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.

~Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A recent study in Pediatrics reports that autism rates now appear to be higher among the children of American born Hispanic and African American mothers and among children of mothers within certain immigrant groups:

The study group comprised children born in Los Angeles County with a primary diagnosis of autism at ages three to five years from 1998 through 2009. The children were linked to 1995–2006 California birth certificates (7,540 children with autism from a total 1,626,354 births). The investigators identified a subgroup of children with autism and a secondary diagnosis of mental retardation; they investigated differences in language and behavior among this subgroup.

The researchers found an increased risks of being diagnosed with autism overall and specifically with coexisting mental retardation in children of foreign-born mothers who were black, Central/South American, Filipino, and Vietnamese, as well as among United States-born Hispanic and African American/black mothers, compared with US-born Caucasians. Compared to children of US-born Caucasians, children of US African American/black and foreign-born black, foreign-born Central/South American, and US-born Hispanic mothers were at higher risk of autism, characterized by both severe emotional outbursts and impaired language skills.

This report is a dramatic turnaround from only a few years ago, when the CDC reported an entirely different pattern among ethnic groups in the US:

Non-Hispanic white children were approximately 30% more likely to be identified with ASD than non-Hispanic black children and were almost 50% more likely to be identified with ASD than Hispanic children.

The earlier CDC study went on to say that it was unknown whether the disparities in ethnic rates existed because of differences in recognition or diagnosing:

The extent to which this variation might be attributable to diagnostic practices, underrecognition of ASD symptoms in some racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic disparities in access to services, and regional differences in clinical or school-based practices that might influence the findings in this report is unclear.

But as David Kirby reported in the Huffington Post in 2009, not even National Institute of Health director Thomas Insel thought the rise in autism could be explained away by changes in diagnostic practices or “increased recognition,” so it might follow that the formerly low rates of autism among minority children could not be entirely explained by lack of recognition.  Not only were rates of autism among minorities lower, as autism rose among white children in the US, rates among Hispanics in some regions were even dropping:

In 2006, the rate among non-Hispanic white children was 102-per-10,000, but among black children it was 76-per-10,000, a 34 percent difference, and among Hispanic children it was 61-per-10,000, a difference of 67 percent.

Inexplicably, the rate among Hispanics in Alabama actually plummeted during the period in question, by 68 percent, from an already low 19-per-10,000 in 2002 to an almost rare 6-per-10,000 in 2006. Meanwhile, with the exception of Arizona, the CDC said, "prevalence among Hispanic children did not change significantly within any of the other10 sites."

For the record, my own affected twins have sixteen different nationalities, including Hispanic, North African and Amerindian as well as European. Regarding the issue of autism within various ethnic communities, when rates were low there were many public discussions of “cultural differences” that could supposedly account for cases being ignored, as if minority parents don’t notice or care when children don’t reach milestones, or that there’s more “cultural acceptance” in some quarters of children who don’t speak, sleep or who exhibit endless raging meltdowns. It should be interesting to hear what the next apologia will be now that rates among the same groups have exploded, and bitterly fascinating to see whether the pop-psych hypothesis of the “autistic killer” receives more media play as a result of the epidemic being racialized, particularly in light of the fact that the theory was founded on arguably racist research. It will also be curious to watch what happens with “investor confidence” in the multi-billion dollar autism drug market now that fresh blood has been thrown into the pool.

What’s also bitterly fascinating—and not mentioned in media coverage of the recent study on high rates of autism among ethnic groups— is that there had also been a radical shift in ethnic and economic demographics regarding vaccine uptake. At one time, for instance, African Americans were the least compliant and most “under-vaccinated”:

Factors That Distinguish Fully Vaccinated Children from Undervaccinated Children (2001 NIS)

These analyses indicated that, compared with fully vaccinated children, undervaccinated children were significantly more likely to be black than Hispanic or non-Hispanic white; younger; or foreign-born than born in the United States. Undervaccinated children were significantly more likely to have a mother who was young; widowed, divorced, or separated than married; had educational attainment that was high school or less than a college degree; and whose preferred language was English than Spanish. Finally, undervaccinated children were significantly more likely to live in a household with an annual income below the poverty level than in a household with an annual income greater than $75 000…

Unfortunately the study above, which was originally accessed in June, 2011, may have been bowdlerized—the title and text altered.  In any case, the old link to the 2001 study (Pediatrics)  now redirects to a 2004 study which weaves in the updated issue of “unvaccinated” privileged white children whose parents avoid vaccines rather than having reduced access—something not mentioned at all in the 2001 study. The original 2001 title appears only in the citations of other studies at this point.  

The American Academy of Pediatrics being behind a bill that takes away authority to sign off on the current Connecticut Religious vaccine exemptions from school nurses.  Why would you remove the school nurse? And why would doctors be pleased by that? What more needs to be said?

###

By Jack Kramer

HARTFORD, CT — In 2015, in the midst of a measles outbreak in California, Connecticut’s legislature passed a law requiring parents to present an annual notarized statement of their vaccine exemption to schools and day cares.

That law was only passed after a heated debate of whether government was stepping into an area where it didn’t belong — religion. That’s because most of the non-medical reasons parents give for opting out of vaccines are based on religion. Before 2015, parents only had to submit the form once upon entrance to a school or day care.

The debate is about to repeat itself Thursday when the Children’s Committee holds a public hearing on a new bill that would eliminate a school nurse as one of the people approved to sign off on the forms.

Three dozen letters opposed to the bill have been submitted already.

The bill does not seek to eliminate the current religious exemption, but opponents don’t necessarily believe that.

The bill seeks “to permit ordained, commissioned and licensed members of the clergy to acknowledge parental statements concerning religious objections to vaccinations required for enrollment in public and nonpublic schools under the jurisdiction of local and regional boards of education, and to prohibit school nurses from acknowledging such statements.”

Currently, Connecticut allows attorneys, judges, family support magistrates, town clerks, justices of the peace, and school nurses to sign the forms.

“I have heard from school nurses across the state that parents are coming to them to sign the religious exemption form, to allow their unvaccinated kids to attend school,” Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, said.

Linehan co-chairs the Children’s Committee, which proposed the legislation.

Note: From Corvelva in Italy. The speech is translated by an interpreter.

###

Dr. Loretta Bolgan’s Speech at the covention “Vaccinating safely” organized by the National Association of Chartered Biologists - January 25th 2019

Dr. Bolgan reports on the studies conducted in cooperation with Corvelva association, presenting the analysis preliminary results on some vaccines vials commissioned by the association to accredited laboratories. These results have raised serious questions about the vaccines (in use in Italy and not just) safety and efficacy that need further examinations, that is why it seemed appropriate to disclose them to the public and also to the authorities responsible for protecting public health.

Dr. Bolgan mentions here the most important points, highlighting the quali-quantitative aspect of these products on the market, on both chemical-protein and metagenomic-biological profiles.

It is to be hoped these first observations will open an honest scientific debate on the topic of safety and efficacy of these products currently on the market and in use by the population, in the light of the regulations on mandatory vaccination and of the compliance with international guidelines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZnwTpf7-s0&feature=youtu.be

Note: Many states, including my state of Connecticut, are going after religious vaccine exemptions as a way to remove parental medical choice. 

###

ALBANY — With measles outbreaks reported in the Hudson Valley and New York City, state lawmakers are considering legislation that would end the ability of parents to get religious exemptions from requirements that their children be vaccinated.

Critics of the exemptions contend they amount to a loophole that endangers not only the children who don't get vaccinated but also those with whom they come into contact.

"The outbreaks taking place right now in New York underline the importance of making sure that every possible person is vaccinated," said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx.

Dinowitz said he believes that many parents who refrain from having their children vaccinated do it because they have been convinced by "discredited" studies that the immunizations can lead to autism or other disabilities. The best way to prevent an outbreak, the lawmaker said, is to minimize the number of people who have not had a measles shot.

The federal Centers for Disease Control says the measles virus is highly contagious. The virus can not only cause a fever and a rash, but infections can also lead to pneumonia and even death. Unvaccinated children are believed to be particularly susceptible.

One anti-vaccine activist, Patricia Finn, a Rockland County lawyer who has been involved in legal challenges to mandatory immunizations, contended that the push to end the religious exemption in New York is part of a "scheme" intended to benefit the pharmaceutical industry.

She said that opponents of the exemptions have embraced the "herd immunity" premise that suggests prevention of an outbreak can occur if at least 97 percent of the population has been vaccinated. "They want to eliminate exemptions to achieve herd immunity but herd immunity doesn't exist," she maintained. "Vaccines can actually spread measles and that is probably what is happening."

But Finn's assertion differs dramatically from the advice provided by state health officials.

Read more at TheDailyStar HERE.

jmahoney@cnhi.com

Note: There are few people I admire as much as Leslie Phillips in our community. I've known her for many years, and together, our kids have grown from children to  young adults with autism. Her son has weathered one of the most difficult versions of autism that I know. And her family has paid a steep price. Most of us are quiet about the agony we face when the doors close. Or when the cameras turn off. Thank you to Leslie for this interview. It's really hard to get your point across to the mainstream media and not be edited into either a 1 second soundbite or a into a caricature.

The article is about FIVE active cases of measles. 1-2-3-4-5. The Brady Bunch had six cases of measles and got a sitcom.

Houston TX— People, considered to be “anti-vaxxers” are getting the blame for a spike in measles cases reported in the Houston area, throughout Texas, and in different regions of the U.S., but these parents say they are not opposed to all vaccinations. They just want more research to combat what they call “a one size fits all” approach to vaccinations.

"It’s wise to consider all the possibilities because the consequences for vaccines injuring my family have been really horrific,” says Leslie Phillips, a mother to three children who claims her youngest son Andrew had an adverse reaction to vaccinations that he received as a baby.

Phillips is also a member of several non-profit groups and has dedicated her life advocating for her son, and for other parents, hoping to spare them from what happened to her.

"People have the right to look at the risk and benefits of any medical procedure and vaccines are no different," adds Phillips. "They have risks.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention website, the last death due to measles was only one person in 2015.

Phillips says that website has great facts, but she advises to look deeper.

"But if you look at their vaccine adverse events reporting system, there have been more than 100 deaths by the vaccine, and if you look at the history, it’s even more troubled,“ explains Phillips. She suggests that like with most medical procedures, you may want to get a second opinion if there is something that concerns you about vaccinations.  Read more here.

NOTE: Our dear friend and colleague wrote this post on January 31st, 2015. Winter is when Measles rears its spotty head annually and the media goes wild pushing the pro-vaccine agenda. Dan's approach is classic Dan, nuanced, carefully crafted and inclusive.  I miss him every day.  Kim

January 2015

By Dan Olmsted

If the CDC wants to stop the spread of measles, they need to stop spreading autism. It's nowhere near an acceptable tradeoff. 

Repeat after us: Vaccines recommended by the CDC are causing the epidemic of autism and related disorders in America’s children. That is far worse than any conceivable risk from measles or any other vaccine preventable disease any American child could conceivably catch in modern day America.

That is the argument Mark Blaxill and I lay out in our new book, Vaccines 2.0, about the bloated and runaway vaccine schedule, and that is what makes the media and mainstream medicine's obsession with the measles cases out of Disneyland downright goofy. Yes it's also true as we’ve reported here, that the vaccine isn't terribly effective, that vaccinated people are spreading it, that many of the cases may not even be measles, that measles as it exists in a first world country in the 21st century is not a fatal illness (see chart), that catching measles might be an immunologically useful event in a person’s life that it is dangerous to interrupt.

There are good or at least interesting arguments for all these things. But -- and here is the heart of the matter -- whether any of them are true, measles is not worth fighting when it is glued to a public health strategy that leads directly to the epidemic of chronic and developmental diseases now besetting us.

Of course, to use the shorthand by which journalists introduce controversy, others disagree. They say a link between vaccines and autism has been disproven when it has only grown. They say it has been discredited when it has only been confirmed. They say it has been debunked when it has only been suppressed.

But this is where we have to take our stand, on first principles. It's basic logic (I believe it's called modus ponens, and I learned it in junior high). If the current vaccine schedule is responsible for the rise of autism and related disorders, then the conquest of such diseases as measles would need to be evaluated in that disturbing context, and not just on its own merits as standalone public health developments.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch names Merck its No. 1 top pick in the U.S. pharmaceutical space and tells investors to expect big returns from its cancer drug. From CNBC.

Welcome to Pharmerica, where doctors have been replaced by bureaucrats who decide what treatments you can have. Where doctors are the final sales force for pharma. Where politicians decide what vaccines you  must have to work or go to school.  Cancer is rampant despite decades of research.  And an entire division is free from any product liability, unlike Vioxx. What a market. What a world.

Note: Thank you to author James Grundvig, who is a contributor to Epoch Times and the author of “Master Manipulator: The Explosive True Story of Fraud, Embezzlement and Government Betrayal at the CDC.” He lives and works in New York City.

What are we doing to ourselves as technology races ahead of ethical and medical review? Not that medical review is ethical, as industry buys whatever study results they need to profit.  The irony of disguising cell towers as trees - which give us the oxygen we need to live - is as thick as a forest.

###

The Threat 5G Poses to Human Health

The crime scene was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. One hundred and fifty dead birds lay sprawled on the ground, fallen out of trees in a park in The Hague, Netherlands.

The second such occurrence last autumn made Dutch citizens look up and wonder. With robust starlings turned upside-down at their feet, the usual suspects of disease, pollution, and foul play were dismissed.

The culprit stood atop a nearby train station—a mast with new 5G network antennas. The test of the telecom system failed in more ways than imagined. As a result, the Dutch ministry postponed its 5G-spectrum auction until 2020.

For decades, the telecommunications industry and governments haven’t invested enough money on safety studies of electromagnetic field (EMF), and radiofrequency (RF), and their effects on human health.

This neglect is despite that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in a joint 2011 press release, said they found EMF radiation “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

Radiofrequency pollution has been overlooked for its potential health effects on people. It’s not just the rollout of 5G networks that are a cause for concern. Extremely low frequencies of WiFi routers, hotspots, and cellphones also pose a serious threat, particularly to children.  READ MORE HERE.

Note: Thank you to our Dan Burns for sharing this beautiful blog entry from Autism and Other Things by Robert Hughes Walker and his wife Ellen with us.  I often use music to soothe my girls, especially my oldest daughter. When she is struggling, I start to sing "Sing," or "We're a Family," from Sesame Street.  Hospitals can be anything but hospitable to people with autism. The bright lights, untrained staff, strange smells can be overwhelming. Please enjoy this lovely bit of salve in a world that is far too rough overall.  

###

Please view the blog to see the photos. Worth the click.

By Walker's Mom, Ellen

As a dedicated Law & Order viewer, I’m very familiar with the good cop-bad cop bit detective teams use to wrangle the truth from a perp. But now, in real life, I have witnessed the amazing miracle a team of big-hearted police officers can work on a guy in serious trouble by using a good cop-good cop routine.

Hit with a severe paradoxical reaction to a med meant to calm him, Walker, our 33-yr-old gentle son with autism, suddenly was raging through the house, shouting, striking out. We called his psychiatrist and quickly headed off to a hospital for help. (Driving in the pouring rain in rush hour traffic with Walker beside himself, shouting and fighting, but I digress.)

The moment we entered Loyola Medical Center Emergency Room’s first sliding door, Walker grabbed me and bit my hand. Hard. Blood, a scream. And lots of police officers all at once.

Like all autism parents, especially those with jumpy, nonverbal, 6’3” guys like our son Walker, my husband Robert and I can easily imagine how things often go very wrong very quickly when the police get involved.

And here they were suddenly, a bunch of them with bullet-proof vests, badges, taser guns in holsters. About 5 grabbed Walker, held him, while another one took me to a nurse. We were reunited at Walker’s ER cubicle, with Walker now surrounded by 7 large officers, led by Sergeant Keith Miller.

Robert and I, sitting nearby, were overwhelmed with fear, sadness, you name it. Walker was contained. He needed help – blood tests, an EKG, calming meds – but was too wild and upset to accept it.

Then, things changed. When Walker jumped up from the examining table to escape, the policemen instantly turned it into a game.

“Walker gets up!” they cheered.
They helped him sit back down.
“Walker sits down.”
And he did.
“Walker scoots back.”
He did.
“Walker lies down.”
Yes!

“High Fives All Around.”
And, amazingly, Walker smiled and High Fived every one of them.

Immediately, he tried to escape again.

imprimatur meaning: 1. official permission to do something that is given by a person or group in a position of power:

"Creating a system to ensure that medical exemptions are scientifically justified isn’t just a public safety issue. It’s also imperative for ensuring that white privilege isn’t given the imprimatur of the medical establishment, using it to sidestep democratically enacted law."

This is one of the most disturbing messages we've seen from Senator Richard Pan, archipuppet of California's SB277 bill that removed and tightened vaccine exemptions since he said that water is the most toxic ingredient in any vaccine.

We in the vaccine safety, medical freedom communities (plural because we are not monolithic in our thinking, and that's a good thing) are the last exposed, unprotected and targeted group for bullying.  In his Facebook message, Pan turns to racially profiling us. White privilege? Offensive beyond belief.

White Privilege: inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice.

Pan is likely referring to this study - Sociodemographic Predictors of Vaccination Exemptions on the Basis of Personal Belief in California.

The right to make healthcare decisions has nothing to do with race.  Pan is using political rhetoric to divide us in a nation already splintering.

When is a woman's right to choose going to include vaccination choice for herself and her family? Dan Olmsted was clear when he said AofA is agnostic politically. We are a non-profit and will never endorse a candidate or a political party. We write about how each party addresses vaccination safety and medical freedom and sometimes that seems as if we are praising or damning one side or the other. That said, we've asked time and again how both sides of the aisle miss the mark so wide when it comes to vaccination choice. The pro-life, most often Republican side of the aisle wants to protect unborn babies. But at day 1, the government knows best. The pro-choice, most often Democrat side of the aisle wants to allow a women to choose whether or not to carry her child to term, but her right to choice ceases the moment the baby is born.

I read a Tweet yesterday that brought back my frustration over this topic. Here is the verbiage from the politician's website. His or her name is irrelevant. See the disconnect?

[XYZ politician] will oppose any attempt by politicians to interfere in a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. She will fight against any proposed legislation that would impose medically unnecessary restrictions on reproductive health care providers or limit the ability of a woman to make the best decision for her health with her doctor.

By Cathy Jameson

I tuned into a talk radio station the other day while a story about a troll factory in Russia was being discussed.  Troll factory?  My imagination conjured up a Willy Wonka meets Dr. Seuss setting with loads of oddly behaving characters.  I’ve heard of trolls wreaking havoc on the internet but hadn’t heard the term troll factory being used before.  I had to find out more.  Focusing my attention back on the radio, I learned that the discussion was about an investigation about Russians and the 2016 election.  I knew about that story and thought that the word troll was a good word to describe those who meddled in that event.  One of the goals trolls have is to turn people against each other.  When a hoard of trolls comes together to spread misinformation and cause confusion and doubt, they may come from one source like that factory overseas.

Working together to distract and destroy, AofA has had its fair share of trolls over the years.  Trolls haven’t just descended here on our posts; we’ve encountered them on our social media pages, too.  Interfering in parent-to-parent online conversations, they work hard to discredit us.  Regardless of their persistent criticism and attacks, some of them personal, we’ve remained vigilant to our mission – sharing resources and parenting stories with those who seek information about autism and other topics related to autism, including liability-free vaccines.

Our goal is simple – share knowledge and our experience. 

Their goal – make us sound crazy at all costs.

Leaving negative messages wherever they can, I see an increase in troll presence whenever a story about liability-free vaccines makes the news.  They come out in full force when the diseases those liability-free vaccines haven’t prevented is in the news, too.  Quick to blame the vaccine hesitant, the under-vaccinated or the completely unvaccinated, an outbreak couldn’t possibly be the fault of a vaccine, they spout.  When we point out that vaccines have been recalled in the past, have lost their efficacy over time, and have not been studied as officials claim they have hasn’t helped.  Rather than learn those truths, trolls insist it’s always the fault of the unvaccinated. 

I don’t spend too much of my time in their arena, but sometimes I can’t help but notice their input.  They are vocal.  They are persistent.  They are everywhere.  Are they being paid to leave their thoughts on as many vaccine news threads as they do?  I can only assume that there’s some sort of financial incentive.  Why else would these complete strangers verbally abuse parents of vaccine injured children at the rate they do? 

No way. We are not going to accept the same treatment of our children, many  now fully grown adults, with autism going forward. It's not Groundhog day for us any longer. Housing? We demand it. Jobs? Yes, with dignity and honor. Healthcare? Fully respecting their unique needs and very real basic human rights.

In a few days, look for the launch of Autism Ages - a new online community where YOU ask the questions, provide the answers and together, we forge a safe and meaningful and inclusive life for adults ANYWHERE on the spectrum, from the preverbal man or woman who needs 24/7 support to the Aspergerian who wants to hold down a job commensurate with his or her intelligence and ability.

I'm setting up the site by myself - and it's a job and a half let me tell you. Expect a shell version to start - BETA if you will - and let's help it take off.   I will email everyone who has already contacted me ASAP - to join the list, send me an email at AutismAges@gmail.com.

Thanks! KIM

If Jane has 124 apples, and 93 of them are rotten to the core, riddled with worms and covered in pesticides, what percentage of apples should be thrown away immediately?

If Acme Motor sales has 124 cars on the lot and 93 of them have flat tires, sugar in the gas tank and have a family of flying squirrels dining on the wires and firmly ensconced in the engine, what percentage of the cars are lemons?

If you think the American medical system isn't a disgrace, check out this article. Pharma sales is outright bribery. In the record business 60 years ago, the Payola scandal changed how record sales people would work with radio station programmers and disc jockeys after bribes were exposed. That was a pay for air play. In the liquor business, men with black bags full of money walked into bars and helped the owners "choose" a brand.   In the 1990s, I took my first and only trip to Indianapolis to meet with the VIOXX team at Pfizer. There, my company presented the incentive gifts for the doctors who would prescribe the drug - long since removed from the market for killing. The gifts included diamond earrings for wives and girlfriends. Reps still bring lunch and donuts and the like to doctors. I've seen the young men and women, tidily dressed with their briefcases, sitting earnestly in the waiting room. Me? I'd bring lunch too. Here's your knuckle sandwich!

In a trial in Boston, Massachusetts (home to the Puritans, ha ha), a pharma exec is said to have given a lap dance to a doctor in a bid for opioid drug sales. In the midst of the "#MeToo" movement, where women are clamoring against sexual harassment, some women will still use their feminine wiles to get what they want: sales commissions.  Power. Success!!!  Mama mia.  You know what? I don't give a rat's patooty if women use sex for success. That's part of liberation and choice. If she wasn't forced. If she made the decision to go for the doctor's weak point, that's hers to decide. But make no bones about it - MEDICINE IS FILTHY. Your health does not come first. Or second. Or third. It's a game of sales, commissions, quotas, getting patients in and out of the office in 9 minutes and bowing to pharma and medical device companies. To think otherwise is quaint at best.

Vaccines are no different except it's the government giving the lap dances to doctors while the patients get... well, this is a family blog. You know what word to insert.

KIM

Pharmaceutical Executive Once Gave Lap Dance to Doctor in Alleged Opioid Bribe Scheme, Witness Testifies

A former pharmaceutical executive accused of joining in a scheme to bribe doctors into prescribing a powerful painkiller once gave a lap dance to a doctor the company was pressuring to get his patients on the drug, her onetime colleague said Tuesday.

Jurors heard the testimony on the second day of the closely watched federal trial in Boston against Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor and four other former executives. They include Sunrise Lee, whom prosecutors have described as a former exotic dancer who was hired to be a regional sales manager even though she had no experience in the pharmaceutical world.

The executives are charged with conspiring to pay doctors kickbacks in the form of fees for sham speaking events that were billed as opportunities for other physicians to learn about the drug, a highly addictive fentanyl spray. In reality, prosecutors say, the events were mainly social gatherings for doctors and their friends to enjoy a fancy meal.

Note: This came as a surprise to us. The New York Times is notoriously pro-vaccine, and vicious toward the vaccine safety and choice communities.  We are pleased to see concern regarding vaccine safety, even from across the globe. Where there is risk, there must be choice. Otherwise, which nation is Communist?

If a Government Can’t Deliver Safe Vaccines for Children, Is It Fit to Rule?>Another scandal over shoddy drugs in China, another hit to the Communist Party’s legitimacy.

Thank you to Lyn Redwood of Children's Health Defense for this report on the latest Mercktastrophe.

On Wednesday January 9th, I attended Science Day Presentations in the Jennifer Robi vs. Merck and Kaiser Permanente case in Los Angeles Superior Court. I want to report to our community on the outcome of this important event and provide some personal commentary.

It is difficult to describe the feelings of elation and frustration that I experienced during the full day of furious arguments that began at 9:30 am before Judge Maren Nelson. Due to the restrictions of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, my son and thousands of children like him, have never been able to have their injuries acknowledged in a court of law.  This day gave families around the globe whose children’s health was permanently harmed by the HPV vaccine a glimmer of hope that their injuries and suffering would finally be acknowledged. The frustration I felt came from the obvious fact that the science relied on by our federal agencies to approve the HPV vaccine was criminally inadequate and that Jennifer’s injuries and those of the thousands of others like her could have been prevented.

Prior to Science Day, plaintiffs’ attorneys worried that because Judge Nelson threw out a $472 million 2017 jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson for causing ovarian cancer in women exposed to its asbestos-containing baby powders, the Court might not be very receptive to their arguments here. However, Judge Nelson gave scrupulous attention to the science presentations by both sides and clearly seemed to be approaching the Robi case with an open mind.

A red-letter day

After 20 years of advocating for vaccine safety, this was the first time that I’ve watched vaccine science issues adjudicated in a true court of law.  It was truly a red-letter day. Jennifer’s lawyers brilliantly laid bare Merck’s anemic case for Gardasil, dissecting the science in withering presentations challenging both the efficacy and safety of the Gardasil vaccine, and then chronicling the horrifying agency and corporate corruption that lead to its approval.

Jennifer Robi is a 24-year-old former athlete and scholar who has been confined to a wheelchair since receiving her third Gardasil vaccines at age sixteen. She suffers continual uncontrolled neuro/muscular contractions (jerking) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and many other symptoms of systemic autoimmune dysregulation.

Jennifer’s attorney, Sol Ajalat, initially brought her case in Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and then, following a judgment in the program, elected to proceed in civil court. Since VICA (the Vaccine Injury Compensation Act) forbids recoveries for product defect or negligence, Ajalat brought Jennifer’s civil case under the theories that Merck committed fraud during its clinical trials and then failed to warn Jennifer (and, by implication, other injured girls) about the high risks and meager benefits of the vaccine.

In order to support Sol Ajalat and his sons Greg, Larry, and Steve, who compose the Los Angeles firm Ajalat & Ajalat, a blue ribbon A-Team of the nation’s leading plaintiffs’ law firms have joined Jennifer’s trial team. These include the firms most feared by Pharma: Weitz & Luxenberg (countless major pieces of litigation over 30 years), Morgan & Morgan (Vioxx, Phenphen, Breast Implants, Tobacco), Baum Hedlund, (Monsanto $289 million verdict 2018 and the $54 million 2000 verdict against Bayer in Haemophiliac/AIDS case) as well as Children’s Health Defense’s own Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Kim Mack Rosenberg (a co-author of The HPV on Trial). The plaintiff’s bar has steered clear of vaccine lawsuits since the 2008 Thimerosal fiasco which nearly bankrupted several big firms. Now, Merck, through its reckless overreaching with Gardasil—a public health flimflam currently emerging as the most dangerous vaccine in history—has brought the nation’s leading trial lawyers back to the brawl.

The three Merck attorneys who made presentations were Dino Sangiamo, Sally Bryan, and Christina Gaarder. Jo Lyn Valoff represented Kaiser.  Read more at the Child Health Safety website here.