| Dr. Mercola's Comment: | | | | 1962, the year before a vaccine for this disease |
| You may remember a the article I posted a couple of | | | | became available. Now, with all 50 states requiring that |
| months ago written by Dr. Donald Miller that provides a | | | | children be vaccinated against measles in order to |
| great overview on the toxicity of mercury from | | | | attend school, there were only 56 cases of measles in |
| various sources. After his piece was posted, Dr. Miller | | | | a population of 290 million people in 2003. |
| received responses from parents wanting to know | | | | These facts are well known and proudly cited by |
| what vaccines, if any, he would recommend children | | | | vaccine proponents. What is less known, and doctors |
| receive. | | | | are not taught, is that the death rate for measles |
| His response is a new piece that discusses the | | | | declined 97.7 percent during the first 60 years of the |
| mindset behind the vaccine madness and a different | | | | 20th century. The mortality rate was 133 deaths per |
| approach that differs greatly from "obediently following | | | | million people in the U.S. in 1900, and had dropped to 0.3 |
| the government's schedule." | | | | deaths per million by 1960. Measles caused less than |
| In Dr. Miller's view, and grounded in good science, | | | | 100 deaths a year in the U.S. before there was a |
| parents should consider a more "user-friendly" | | | | vaccine for this disease (in 1963). |
| vaccination schedule, one that takes the best interests | | | | The same thing happened with diphtheria and |
| of the individual into consideration rather than what the | | | | pertussis. Mortality rates dropped more than 90 |
| government judges best for society. | | | | percent in the early 20th century before vaccines for |
| That's a far better approach than the "one-size-fits-all" | | | | these diseases were introduced. This was due to |
| approach foisted on Americans that pushes the | | | | better nutrition (with rapid delivery of fresh fruit and |
| necessity of yearly flu vaccines although few people | | | | vegetables to cities and refrigeration), cleaner water |
| actually die from influenza and an admission by the | | | | and improved sanitation (removing trash from the |
| CDC last year these vaccines don't work anyway. | | | | streets and better sewage systems), not to vaccines. |
| By Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD | | | | The World Health Organization promotes mass |
| Vaccination is a controversial subject, and many | | | | vaccination, but knowing these facts states, "The best |
| parents worry about subjecting their children to them. | | | | vaccine against common infectious diseases is an |
| Readers of my article, "Mercury on the Mind," about | | | | adequate diet," fortified, one might add, with vitamin A. |
| vaccines and dental amalgams, have asked what | | | | Since the measles vaccine came into widespread use |
| vaccines I would recommend their children receive. | | | | in this country, this disease has virtually disappeared, |
| This article addresses that question. | | | | and it has prevented 100 deaths a year. But now, |
| In the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule | | | | instead, several thousand normally developing children |
| put out by the Centers for Disease Control and | | | | become autistic after receiving their MMR shot. |
| Prevention (CDC), 12 vaccines are given to children | | | | Termed "regressive autism," it accounts for about 30 |
| before they reach the age of two. Providers inject | | | | percent of the 10,000 to 20,000 children who are |
| them against the following: | | | | diagnosed with autism in this country each year. |
| * Hepatitis B | | | | To put to rest concerns that MMR vaccination might |
| * Diphtheria | | | | cause autism (in a small percentage of children), NEJM, |
| * Tetanus (lockjaw) | | | | in 2002, published a population-based study from |
| * Pertussis (whooping cough) | | | | Denmark, where its authors concluded, "This study |
| * Polio | | | | provides strong evidence against the hypothesis that |
| * Pneumococcal infections | | | | MMR vaccination causes autism." |
| * Hemophilus influenzae type b infections | | | | The NEJM did not disclose that the "Statens Serum |
| * Measles | | | | Institut," where three of the authors work, is a for-profit |
| * Mumps | | | | vaccine manufacturer, Denmark's largest, or that four |
| * Rubella (German measles) | | | | other authors have financial ties to this company. Only |
| * Chickenpox | | | | one of the eight authors is not associated with this |
| * Influenza (the flu) | | | | institute, and the CDC employs him. |
| Infectious disease was the leading cause of death in | | | | The study compares the prevalence of autism in |
| children 100 years ago, with diphtheria, measles, scarlet | | | | 440,000 MMR vaccinated and 97,000 unvaccinated |
| fever and pertussis accounting for most them. Today, | | | | children in Denmark born in the 1990s. A statistical |
| the leading causes of death in children less than five | | | | slight-of-hand in age adjustment makes the study |
| years of age are accidents, genetic abnormalities, | | | | show no causal effect. But, when unmasked and |
| developmental disorders, sudden infant death | | | | reformatted, the data actually shows a statistically |
| syndrome and cancer. A basic tenet of modern | | | | significant association between MMR vaccine and |
| medicine is that vaccines are the reason. There is | | | | autism (as Carol Stott and her coauthors make clear in |
| growing evidence that this is so, but perhaps not quite | | | | "MMR and Autism in Perspective: The Denmark |
| in the way conventional medical wisdom would have it. | | | | Story," in the Fall 2004 Journal of American Physicians |
| The Conventional Schedule | | | | and Surgeons, posted online). |
| A 15-member Advisory Committee on Immunization | | | | Pediatrics and the Journal of the American Medical |
| Practices at the CDC decides which vaccines should | | | | Association also have published studies like this |
| be on the Childhood Immunization Schedule. It calls for | | | | supporting U.S. vaccine policy, written by authors with |
| one vaccine, against hepatitis B, to be given on the day | | | | similar, undisclosed conflicts of interest. |
| of birth; seven vaccines at two months; 6 more | | | | Looking elsewhere, however, one comes across a |
| (including booster shots) at four months; and as many | | | | number of disquieting facts about vaccines. |
| as eight vaccines on the six-month well-baby visit. | | | | 1. Investigators have found, for example, live measles |
| Before a child reaches the age of two, he or she will | | | | virus in the cerebral spinal fluid in children who become |
| have received 32 vaccinations on this schedule, | | | | autistic after MMR vaccinations. |
| including four doses each of vaccines for Hemophilus | | | | 2. Antibodies to measles virus are elevated in children |
| influenzae type b infections, diphtheria, tetanus and | | | | with autism but not in normal kids, suggesting that |
| pertussis -- all of them given during the first 12 months | | | | virus-induced autoimmunity may play a causal role. |
| of life. Seven vaccines injected into a 13-pound, | | | | 3. A study published in Neurology this year implicates |
| two-month old infant are equivalent to 70 doses in a | | | | hepatitis B vaccine as a causative factor in multiple |
| 130-pound adult. | | | | sclerosis. |
| The schedule states, "Your child can safely receive all | | | | One For All |
| vaccines recommended for a particular age during one | | | | A communitarian ethic increasingly governs health care |
| visit." Public health officials, however, have not proven | | | | in the U.S. It places a greater value on the health of the |
| that it is indeed safe to inject this many vaccines into | | | | community, on society as a whole, than on the health |
| infants. What's more, they cannot explain why, | | | | of particular individuals. Public health officials have put |
| concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, | | | | together a vaccination schedule designed to eliminate |
| there has been an explosion of neurologic and immune | | | | infectious diseases to which the population is prey. |
| system disorders in our nation's children. | | | | Officials recognize that these vaccines will harm a |
| Fifty years ago, when the immunization schedule | | | | small percentage of (genetically susceptible) individuals, |
| contained only four vaccines (for diphtheria, tetanus, | | | | but it is for the common good. The communitarian |
| pertussis and smallpox), autism was virtually unknown. | | | | code posits that it is morally acceptable, if necessary, |
| First discovered in 1943, this most devastating malady, | | | | to sacrifice a few for the good of the many. Or as |
| in what is now a spectrum of pervasive | | | | one observer more bluntly puts it, "Individual sheep can |
| developmental disorders, afflicted less than 1 in 10,000 | | | | be sheared and slaughtered if it is for the welfare of |
| children. | | | | their flock." |
| Today, one in every 68 American families has an | | | | In this framework, health care providers become |
| autistic child. Other, less severe developmental | | | | agents of the state charged with injecting vaccines |
| disorders, rarely seen before the vaccine era, have | | | | into people that the central planners deem necessary. |
| also reached epidemic proportions. Four million | | | | Physicians who remain true to their Hippocratic Oath |
| American children have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity | | | | and place the interests of their patient above that of |
| Disorder (ADHD). One in six American children are | | | | the herd are considered to be out of step with the |
| now classified as "Learning Disabled." | | | | times, if not an anachronism. |
| Our children are also experiencing an epidemic of | | | | Like central planners everywhere, the CDC's Advisory |
| autoimmune disorders: Type I diabetes, rheumatoid | | | | Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) |
| arthritis, asthma and bowel disorders. There has been | | | | promulgates a self-serving, one-size-fits-all vaccine |
| a 17-fold increase in Type I diabetes, from 1 in 7,100 | | | | policy. Members of this committee have ties to |
| children in the 1950s to 1 in 400 now. Juvenile | | | | vaccine makers, such that the CDC must grant them |
| rheumatoid arthritis afflicts 300,000 American children. | | | | waivers from statutory conflict of interest rules. Even |
| Twenty-five years ago, this disease was so rare that | | | | so, and with little evidence to show that it is safe to |
| public health officials did not keep any statistics on it. | | | | subject young children to the ACIP's crowded |
| There has been a four-fold increase in asthma, and | | | | immunization schedule, states nevertheless dutifully |
| bowel disorders in children are much more common | | | | make its vaccine recommendations compulsory. |
| now than they were 50 years ago. | | | | All 50 states require children to be immunized against |
| The Deteriorating Health of Children | | | | measles, diphtheria, Hemophilus influenzae type b, polio, |
| Health officials consider a vaccine to be safe if no bad | | | | and rubella in order to enroll in day care and/or public |
| reactions -- like seizures, intestinal obstruction or | | | | school. Forty-nine states also require vaccination |
| anaphylaxis -- occur acutely. The CDC has not done | | | | against tetanus; 47, against hepatitis B and mumps; and |
| any studies to assess the long-term effects of its | | | | 43 states now require vaccination against chickenpox. |
| immunization schedule. To do that, one must conduct a | | | | In order to shield themselves from any liability for |
| randomized controlled trial, the lynchpin of | | | | making vaccinations compulsory, all states provide a |
| evidenced-based medicine, where one group of | | | | medical exemption and 47, a religious exemption. |
| children is vaccinated on the CDC's schedule and a | | | | Nineteen states allow a philosophical exemption. Some |
| control group is not vaccinated. | | | | require only a letter from a parent and others, from a |
| Investigators then follow the two groups for a number | | | | physician or church leader. (To see the exemptions |
| of years (not just three to four weeks, as has been | | | | allowed in your state, their wording and requirements, [ |
| done in vaccine safety studies). Concerns that | | | | here.) Parents, of course, can refuse vaccinations, but |
| vaccinations in infants cause chronic neurologic and | | | | if they want to enroll their child in public school they will |
| immune system disorders would be put to rest, and | | | | need to obtain one of these exemptions. |
| their safety certified, if the number of children who | | | | Doctors who conclude that the risks of the |
| develop these diseases is the same in both groups. | | | | government's immunization schedule outweigh its |
| No such studies have been done, so vaccine | | | | benefits are placed in a difficult position. If they counsel |
| proponents cannot say that vaccines are indeed as | | | | parents not to have their children follow it, health care |
| safe as they think they are. (One proponent, | | | | plans, which track vaccine compliance as a measure |
| interviewed by Dan Rather on 60 Minutes, who has | | | | of "quality," will find them wanting. |
| financial ties to the vaccine industry that he did not | | | | Weighing The Risks |
| disclose, claims that vaccines "have a better safety | | | | And if their patient should contract and develop |
| record than vitamins." He neglected to mention that the | | | | complications from the disease the vaccine would |
| U.S. government has paid out more than $1.5 billion in its | | | | have prevented, they may find themselves confronting |
| Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to families of | | | | a lawsuit. If a child becomes autistic following a |
| children who have been injured or killed by vaccines.) | | | | vaccination, however, the doctor is protected from any |
| There is a growing body of evidence that implicates | | | | liability because the government requires it and the |
| vaccines as a causative factor in the deteriorating | | | | child's parents, if they had chosen to do so, could have |
| health of children. The hypothesis that vaccines cause | | | | obtained an exemption. (Anti-vaccine advocates call |
| neurologic and immune system disorders is a legitimate | | | | developing autism, asthma and Type I diabetes after |
| one -- vaccines given in multiple doses, close together, | | | | vaccinations "vaccination roulette.") |
| to very young children following the CDC's | | | | Parents should have the freedom to select whatever |
| Immunization Schedule. This hypothesis should be | | | | vaccination schedule they want their children to follow, |
| tested by a large-scale, long-term randomized | | | | especially since health care providers and the |
| controlled trial. | | | | government (except via its Vaccine Injury |
| Rather than obediently following the government's | | | | Compensation Program) cannot be held accountable |
| schedule, there is now sufficient evidence, grounded in | | | | for any adverse outcomes that might occur. But if |
| good science, to justify adopting a more user-friendly | | | | parents elect to not follow the CDC's immunization |
| vaccination schedule. One which is in the best interests | | | | schedule, delaying some vaccinations, refusing others, |
| of the individual as opposed to what planners judge | | | | or avoiding them altogether, then they must accept the |
| best for society as a whole. | | | | risk that their child might contract the disease that the |
| New knowledge in neuroimmunology (the study of | | | | vaccine against it most likely would have prevented. |
| how the brain's immune system works) raises serious | | | | One consideration, which vaccine proponents do not |
| questions about the wisdom of injecting vaccines in | | | | address, is this: Could contracting childhood diseases |
| children less than 2 years of age. | | | | like measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox play a |
| A Child's Best Time Table | | | | constructive role in the maturation of a person's |
| The brain has its own specialized immune system, | | | | immune system? Or, to put it another way, does |
| separate from that of the rest of the body. When a | | | | removing natural infection from human experience |
| person is vaccinated, its specialized immune cells, the | | | | have any adverse consequences? |
| microglia, become activated (the blood-brain barrier | | | | Our species' immune system -- a one-trillion-cell army |
| notwithstanding). Multiple vaccinations spaced close | | | | that patrols our (100-trillion-cell) body -- serves two |
| together over-stimulate the microglia, causing them to | | | | main purposes: |
| release a variety of toxic elements -- cytokines, | | | | * It destroys foreign invaders -- viruses, bacteria, and |
| chemokines, excitotoxins, proteases, complement, free | | | | other pathogens. |
| radicals -- that damage brain cells and their synaptic | | | | * And it destroys aberrant cells in the body that run |
| connections. Researchers call the damage caused by | | | | amuck and cause cancer. |
| these toxic substances "bystander injury." | | | | Our Natural Defense System |
| (Pediatricians and other professional colleagues who | | | | Behind the barricades of skin and mucosa, our innate |
| question this should read these two reviews by the | | | | immune system (composed of phagocytes, natural |
| neurosurgeon Russell L. Blaylock: "Interaction of | | | | killer cells and the 20-protein complement system), |
| Cytokines, Excitotoxins, Reactive Nitrogen and Oxygen | | | | which all animals have, is the body's first line of |
| Species in Autism Spectrum Disorders," in the Journal | | | | defense. It reacts to invaders lightening fast and |
| of the American Nutraceutical Association [JANA | | | | indiscriminately, but it is not very good at eliminating |
| 2003;6(4):21 -- 35], with 167 references. And "Chronic | | | | viruses and cancerous cells. |
| Microglial Activation and Excitotoxicity Secondary to | | | | Vertebrates have evolved a second line of defense: |
| Excessive Immune Stimulation: Possible Factors in Gulf | | | | The adaptive immune system. It targets specific |
| War Syndrome and Autism," in the Journal of | | | | viruses and bacteria and has better artillery for |
| American Physicians and Surgeons [JAPS | | | | eliminating cancerous cells. This system matures during |
| 2004;9(2):46 -- 52], posted online, with 54 references.) | | | | childhood, and it has a cellular (Th1) and humoral (Th2) |
| In humans, the most rapid period of brain development | | | | component (Th = helper T cell). |
| begins in the third trimester and continues over the first | | | | The viruses that cause measles, mumps and |
| two years of extra uterine life. (By then, brain | | | | chickenpox have infected countless generations of |
| development is 80 percent complete.) Until randomized | | | | humans, akin to a rite of passage for each member of |
| controlled trials demonstrate the safety of giving | | | | our species. Contracting these diseases strengthens |
| vaccines during this time of life, it would be prudent not | | | | both parts of the adaptive immune system (Th1 and |
| to give any vaccinations to children until they are | | | | Th2). Mothers who have had measles, mumps and |
| 2-years-old. | | | | chickenpox transfer antibodies against them to their |
| From a risk-benefit perspective, there is growing | | | | babies in utero, which protect them during the first year |
| evidence that the risk of neurologic and autoimmune | | | | of life from contracting these infections. |
| diseases from vaccinations outweigh the benefits of | | | | Vaccinations do not have the same effect on the |
| avoiding the childhood infections that they prevent. An | | | | immune system as naturally acquired diseases do. |
| exception is hepatitis B vaccine for infants whose | | | | They stimulate predominantly the Th2 part of this |
| mothers test positive for this disease. | | | | system and not Th1. (Over-stimulation of Th2 causes |
| A user-friendly vaccination schedule prohibits any | | | | autoimmune diseases.) The cellular Th1 side thwarts |
| vaccines that contain thimerosal, which is 50 percent | | | | cancer, and if it does not become fully developed in |
| mercury. Flu vaccines contain thimerosal, which is | | | | childhood, a person can be more prone to have |
| reason enough to avoid them. | | | | cancer as an adult. |
| One should also avoid vaccines that contain live | | | | Women who had mumps during childhood, for |
| viruses. This includes the combined measles, mumps, | | | | example, are found to be less likely to have ovarian |
| and rubella (MMR) vaccine; chickenpox (varicella) | | | | cancer than women who did not have this infection. |
| vaccine; and the live-virus polio (Sabin) vaccine. This | | | | (This study was published in Cancer.) Could the fact |
| stricture would not apply to the smallpox vaccine (also | | | | that cancer has become a leading cause of death in |
| a live-virus one), if a terrorist-instigated outbreak of | | | | children be a result of vaccinations? Only a |
| smallpox should occur. | | | | randomized controlled trial can conclusively answer this |
| Finally, a user-friendly vaccination schedule requires | | | | question. |
| that vaccinations, after the age of two, be given no | | | | With rare exception, a well-nourished child who |
| more than once every six months, one at a time, in | | | | contracts measles will recover smoothly from the |
| order to allow the immune system sufficient time to | | | | infection. Fifty years ago, almost all children in the U.S. |
| recover and stabilize between shots. | | | | had measles. And after contracting this disease, one |
| Which vaccines should be put on this schedule (among | | | | has a life-long immunity to it. |
| those that do not contain live viruses or thimerosal) is | | | | The protection provided by vaccination is temporary. |
| not entirely clear. The top four would be: | | | | Adults who contract measles (when the protective |
| * Pertussis (acelluar -- aP -- not whole cell) vaccine. | | | | effects of the vaccine wears off) are much more |
| * Diphtheria (D) vaccine. | | | | likely to have neurological, testicular and ovarian |
| * Tetanus (T) vaccine (the first three on this list are to | | | | complications. Likewise, rubella is a benign disease in |
| be given separately, not together, as is usually the | | | | children, but if a woman acquires it during pregnancy, |
| case). | | | | fetal malformations may develop. |
| * The Salk polio vaccine, with an inactivated (dead) | | | | One can argue, heretical as such an argument may be, |
| virus, one that is cultured in human cells, not monkey | | | | that it would be better to let children have measles, at |
| kidney cells. | | | | an age when the infection helps the adaptive immune |
| Perhaps, it should only contain these four vaccines. A | | | | system mature in a balanced Th1/Th2 fashion and |
| good case can be made for avoiding the three other | | | | complications from this disease are minimal, rather than |
| newer vaccines on the CDC's schedule: The hepatitis | | | | vaccinate them against this disease (especially |
| B, pneumococcal conjugate (PCV7) and Hemophilus | | | | considering the risks of vaccination). |
| influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines. | | | | Pertussis and Diphtheria are a different matter. These |
| Your Doctor Won't Like This | | | | diseases are more virulent. Children who contract |
| Your pediatrician will not like this schedule. They are | | | | whooping cough (pertussis) can be incapacitated for |
| taught in medical school and residency training that | | | | more than a month. Polio can be devastating in |
| childhood immunizations are essential to public health. | | | | susceptible individuals. And no one wants to get |
| As one pediatrician puts it, "Achieving adequate and | | | | tetanus (lockjaw). A user-friendly vaccination schedule |
| timely vaccination of young children is the single most | | | | would include vaccines against these diseases. |
| valuable thing a doctor can do for a patient." They do | | | | Whatever vaccination schedule one chooses, mothers |
| not question what their professors teach them, nor are | | | | should breast-feed their child for as long as possible -- |
| they inclined to critically examine studies in Pediatrics | | | | a year or more. Failing that, add Omega-3 fatty acids, |
| and the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that | | | | especially DHA (docosahexanoic acid), to the child's |
| tell them vaccines are safe. | | | | formula. |
| There were 482,000 cases of measles in the U.S in | | | | |