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BE AN INFORMED PARENT
Magda Taylor, Co-ordinator of The
Informed Parent
Vaccination is a procedure that
most of us do not think to question, even when becoming
a new parent. Officials from the health department often
state that the vast majority of parents have their babies
vaccinated, which is true. However this statement does
not reflect the main reason behind such a high uptake.
Most parents take their children to be vaccinated in
the belief that the procedure and all the many vaccines
on offer must be extremely safe and effective.
As a first-time mother, about 13
years ago, it didn't even cross my mind to look into
this issue, instead I diligently reported to my surgery
for all of my baby's early vaccinations.
Parents naturally want their babies
to be safe, healthy and assume that it is essential
to 'protect' their children from the numerous virus
and bacteria that surround us. Fear of the germ has
been propagated since Louis Pasteur came up with the
'Germ Theory of Disease' and this belief system has
flourished since. It is interesting to note that Pasteur,
himself, declared on his death-bed that 'the seed (germ)
is nothing, the soil (body) is everything'.
It wasn't until my second child
was 12 months old that I started to investigate this
subject, which was triggered by a 2-page article entitled
'Vaccination: The Hidden Facts'. I began to wade my
way through a great deal of literature on this, what
I would now term, highly questionable procedure.
The subject is vast and impossible
to cover in this article, but I would like to focus
on a few important points that are often neglected.
One important aspect that is rarely
raised is the procedure itself and parents are often
told that receiving a vaccine is like having a mild
dose of the disease. This is totally incorrect as in
normal circumstances virus or bacteria enter the human
system through the mouth or nose, triggering a natural
immune response. By vaccinating, our first line of defence,
the skin, is punctured and the vaccine is introduced
directly into the body by-passing one branch of the
immune system entirely.
In recent years, because of the
increase of knowledge on the immune system, there is
a growing concern amongst some scientists that wrongly
stim-ulating the immune system could lead to a skewed
system.
The implications of skewing
the Th1/Th2 immunity is explained simply by Hilary Butler,
a vaccine researcher.
She explains - "The Th1 system is the 'search and
destroy' defence of the body and sets in motion a clear
sequence of events which have the focus of find that
thing, collect it, show us what it is and at the same
time destroy it." The Th2 is the other side of
the linking circle. It is called humoral immunity, and
takes place further down the line than cellular (Th1)
immunity. About the same time as the Th1 immune system
is surrounding, killing and getting rid of the problem,
particles of the 'problem' are being presented to the
cells which make antibodies. In order for there to be
a long-lasting antibody response, there must be a strong
Th1 response. These immune responses work hand-in-hand,
but a healthy immune system is Th1 focused, since 'search
and destroy' is the most needed capacity of the immune
system in every day life. "Vaccines injected into
babies do not in any way, shape or form resemble an
inhaled or swallowed germ because they are changed,
attenuated, and injected as multi-antigens into the
body. Consequently, because of the by-passing of the
Th1 branch of the system there is over-stimulation of
the Th2 branch, which teaches the body to be in a chronically
reactive mode. People who have allergies, asthma and
auto-immune disease have what is known as a Th2-skewed
immune system."
So it is important to bear this
in mind when deciding on any one of the injectable vaccines
on offer, as they will all trigger this unnatural response
to take place.
Antibody production must also be questioned because
parents are led to believe that if their child is vaccinated
they will develop a certain level of antibodies and
therefore be protected. This again is incorrect. It
is true that anti-bodies play a role in immunity, but
even the World Health Organisation admit that antibody
level does not equal protection. In other words some
individuals with high levels of antibodies can still
develop disease. So when the statement is made that
a vaccine 'takes on' 90-95% of its recipients, this
simply means that the majority will develop a certain
level of antibodies. This should not be misconstrued
to mean that the majority will be 'protected', as many
outbreaks of disease occur in highly vaccinated populations.
Another area which is often greatly
overlooked are the contents of the vaccines. Many parents
go to great lengths to study the ingredients of baby
foods, drinks and toiletries and yet rarely question
what products are being injected into their babies bodies.
Highly toxic substances such as
mercury, aluminium and formaldehyde, along
with various animal and bird products are commonly used
in vaccine manufacturing.
The use of tissue from other species
will always carry the risk of contamination, and this
is not theoretical, as even in the 1950s the use of
monkey kidney cells in the polio vaccine were found
to be contaminated by a cancer-causing monkey virus,
SV40.
The above points are just the tip
of an enormous iceberg but I hope this will give you
a thirst for finding out more and reach-ing a decision
you feel confident with. Reactions are not so rare,
but the reporting of them is, and there are many health
problems emerging amongst today's child-ren which appear
to stem from a weakened immune system.
Do vaccines play any role in making
our children healthy?
It's for you to find out.
For further information on The Informed
Parent or subscribing to the quarterly publication,
please send a SAE to:
The Informed Parent
P O Box 870
Harrow
Middlesex
HA3 7UW
Recommended reading:
Vaccination - The Medical Assault on the Immune System
by Viera Scheibner, PhD.
Mass Immunisation - A Point in Question
by Trevor Gunn, BSc.
A Parent's Dilemma
by Greg Beattie
Health - The Only Immunity
by Ian Sinclair
Copies of the above titles
are all available from
The Informed Parent.
Websites for further information
on immunisation:
www.singlevaccine.com
Gives information on doctors who are willing to
administer the MMR vaccine in 3 seperate doses.
www.immunisation.org.uk
NHS site with information on all children's vaccines
www.bmj.com
Site of the British Medical Journal.
Here you can research the topic using BMJ past articles.
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