Dear Friends,
I am writing to you because of the proposed 2017 NYS laws eliminating or undermining religious exemptions to vaccination, mandating HPV and flu vaccines, undermining parental roles and responsibilities, and increasing government ability to do more than quarantine. The following proposed bills threaten religious liberty and parental rights:
S52 and A1810 would repeal the religious exemption.
S3546 and A4894 would require, for a religious exemption, an affidavit signed by a physician stating the physician has explained the medical risks of failure to immunize. (This is a form of intimidation. It undermines the intent of religious exemption and imposes medical reasons.)
S132 and A933 would mandate the HPV vaccine for all children born after January 1, 1996.
S5611 and A2469 would allow treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, including immunization, without parent or guardian consent.
S6346 and A1230 would mandate flu vaccine for children in daycare.
S2955 and A3912 would require school districts to report to the state Department of Education the number of exemptions requested, granted, and denied. (Schools already report exemptions to the Department of Health. To mandate they also report to the Ed. Dept. is a subtle form of intimidation of the school districts.)
A439 would provide for control and reporting of communicable diseases.
A680 would allow for removal of cases, contacts, carriers of communicable diseases who are “potentially” dangerous to the public health.
For more details about each bill, see the NYS Senate website at http://nyassembly.gov/leg/ or the NYS Assembly website at https://www.nysenate.gov/search/legislation and enter the bill number, for example “S52” or “A1810.”
Over the years I have discussed information regarding vaccines, most recently information on the HPV, hep. B and flu vaccines. Considering that the drug companies and the CDC and NYS Health Dept. have been pushing the HPV vaccine mandate for almost 10 years, one has to wonder what is going on and why! This becomes most egregious and sinister when paired with bills to take away religious exemptions and parental rights and responsibilities by allowing minors of any age to “request” the HPV and Hep. B vaccines without parental consent. If it is so important to the health of all children that these vaccines be given, there already are laws that could be pursued relating to child neglect or abuse. The truth seems to be that these bills have more to do with obliterating parental roles and increasing government control! As for minors requesting treatment for STD – minors can easily be intimidated by doctors and nurses or school officials. Also, minors are not truly capable of understanding various side effects. This bill also undermines parental rights.
To me, most of the proposed laws are meant to take away religious liberty and parental rights and use the mantra of “for the health of our children” to do so. I am very wary of giving additional power to health officials and I hope you are too.
If these proposed bills concern you, then I urge you to contact your State Senator and Assemblymember ASAP. The session ends in a few weeks and now is the time that these bills get pushed through. (One of my government contacts said NOW is the time to call them, so their staff can flag the bills and alert the lawmaker). So, please call your lawmaker's local office and tell the aide which bills you oppose and urge your lawmaker to vote NO on each.
To find out who your state senator is: https://www.nysenate.gov/registration/nojs/form/start/find-my-senator.
To find out who your state assembly person is: http://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/
Bonnie Franz
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
April 29th Lyme Disease Conference at Binghamton University
Dear Friends,
On April 29th I attended the Lyme Disease Conference at Binghamton University, sponsored by the Southern Tier Lyme Support, Inc. Check their website (see below) in June; I think they will be putting up a conference video then.
I want to give you some highlights of the talks so that you may be prepared. Why should you be prepared and knowledgeable about Lyme disease? Because companies are working on 2 vaccines for it! Some of you may remember the Lyme vaccine of 1998. It had to be taken off the market-mostly because there was little demand and, more importantly, the government could not protect doctors and drug companies because the vaccine was not mandated by State legislatures. So, the drug company got sued and took the vaccine off the market. However, because there are increasing cases of Lyme disease all over the country and because there are Lyme vaccines in research, at some future point a vaccine
will be mandated and forced upon us all.
Some things being said about Lyme disease can also be said about vaccine reactions:
There is under-reporting of Lyme disease; the CDC believes that cases are really 10 times more than those reported.
The CDC definition of an epidemic was quoted as now being 25 cases per 100,000, whereas, in years past, with even 3 cases of say, measles, public health officials would say there was an epidemic.
Dr. Kenneth Bock from Red Hook, NY spoke on "Brain Inflammation: The Role of Dysregulated Immune System in PANS/PANDAS, Lyme Disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder." He spoke on the gut-brain axis. (Dr. Andrew Wakefield was 17 years too early in his observations, and I think this vindicates him.) Dr. Bock said that with Autism Spectrum Disorder there is inflammation in the brain. He also said that part of the problem is that autism is defined as a behavioral, not a biological, disorder, which it should be.
He also said that veterinarians can diagnose Lyme disease in animals better and faster than M.D.s for they have better testing!
Dr. Richard Horowitz from Hyde Park, NY spoke on
"How Can I Get Better? An Action Plan for Treating Resistant Lyme and Chronic Disease." Dr. Horowitz said there could be a need for longer treatment of Lyme when there is persistent/chronic infection. Sometimes 3-4 drugs are needed to get rid of the disease in worst cases, and a rotating protocol is used. He also talked about the testing for Lyme and mentioned some tests because the usual ones are not accurate. He and Dr. Bock also talked about biofilms.
Apparently, a big problem is that insurance companies won't pay for Lyme because there is no Code for Lyme disease-also there is a large group of doctors who deny Lyme. Lyme disease also has co-infections and causes problems all over the body-in the gut, the heart, the brain, etc. He talked about different treatments-homeopathic, nutritional, probiotic, coconut oil, grapefruit seed extract, stevia, melatonin, meditation, saunas, hydration and of course, drugs.
It was a wonderful conference and I urge you to consider attending it next year, if you are so inclined, for there is an overlapping with vaccines.
Sincerely,
Bonnie P. Franz
Notes:
Southern Tier Lyme Support, Inc. conference details
https://www.southerntierlymesupport.org/2017-conference-info.html
https://www.facebook.com/events/1183417978372282/?active_tab=discussion offers a discussion of the conference and it is stated that the conference was recorded and will be posted at a later date.
Biofilms https://www.google.com/search?q=biofilms
On April 29th I attended the Lyme Disease Conference at Binghamton University, sponsored by the Southern Tier Lyme Support, Inc. Check their website (see below) in June; I think they will be putting up a conference video then.
I want to give you some highlights of the talks so that you may be prepared. Why should you be prepared and knowledgeable about Lyme disease? Because companies are working on 2 vaccines for it! Some of you may remember the Lyme vaccine of 1998. It had to be taken off the market-mostly because there was little demand and, more importantly, the government could not protect doctors and drug companies because the vaccine was not mandated by State legislatures. So, the drug company got sued and took the vaccine off the market. However, because there are increasing cases of Lyme disease all over the country and because there are Lyme vaccines in research, at some future point a vaccine
will be mandated and forced upon us all.
Some things being said about Lyme disease can also be said about vaccine reactions:
There is under-reporting of Lyme disease; the CDC believes that cases are really 10 times more than those reported.
The CDC definition of an epidemic was quoted as now being 25 cases per 100,000, whereas, in years past, with even 3 cases of say, measles, public health officials would say there was an epidemic.
Dr. Kenneth Bock from Red Hook, NY spoke on "Brain Inflammation: The Role of Dysregulated Immune System in PANS/PANDAS, Lyme Disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder." He spoke on the gut-brain axis. (Dr. Andrew Wakefield was 17 years too early in his observations, and I think this vindicates him.) Dr. Bock said that with Autism Spectrum Disorder there is inflammation in the brain. He also said that part of the problem is that autism is defined as a behavioral, not a biological, disorder, which it should be.
He also said that veterinarians can diagnose Lyme disease in animals better and faster than M.D.s for they have better testing!
Dr. Richard Horowitz from Hyde Park, NY spoke on
"How Can I Get Better? An Action Plan for Treating Resistant Lyme and Chronic Disease." Dr. Horowitz said there could be a need for longer treatment of Lyme when there is persistent/chronic infection. Sometimes 3-4 drugs are needed to get rid of the disease in worst cases, and a rotating protocol is used. He also talked about the testing for Lyme and mentioned some tests because the usual ones are not accurate. He and Dr. Bock also talked about biofilms.
Apparently, a big problem is that insurance companies won't pay for Lyme because there is no Code for Lyme disease-also there is a large group of doctors who deny Lyme. Lyme disease also has co-infections and causes problems all over the body-in the gut, the heart, the brain, etc. He talked about different treatments-homeopathic, nutritional, probiotic, coconut oil, grapefruit seed extract, stevia, melatonin, meditation, saunas, hydration and of course, drugs.
It was a wonderful conference and I urge you to consider attending it next year, if you are so inclined, for there is an overlapping with vaccines.
Sincerely,
Bonnie P. Franz
Notes:
Southern Tier Lyme Support, Inc. conference details
https://www.southerntierlymesupport.org/2017-conference-info.html
https://www.facebook.com/events/1183417978372282/?active_tab=discussion offers a discussion of the conference and it is stated that the conference was recorded and will be posted at a later date.
Biofilms https://www.google.com/search?q=biofilms
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Visiting NY Lawmakers
Dear Friends,
Last year, I read that a NY lawmaker was going to propose a bill to take away the religious exemption to vaccinations, for such a bill had already passed in California. Since NY lawmakers like to follow either the Federal government or other States, I knew people had to mobilize.
Since the lawmakers were in recess and back in their home districts, I thought a very good time to contact them would be in the Fall. Thus, I was able to get two other women to come with me to the local offices of our representatives. (I live in Northern New York and because the population is smaller our lawmakers cover more territory. Our Assemblymember covers St. Lawrence County and Jefferson County, while our NY State Senator covers St. Lawrence County, Jefferson County and Oswego County. They both have offices in Dulles State Office Building in Watertown, but also have local offices in each County.)
I was able to get two other women to come with me in November to our State Senator's local office in Ogdensburg. We met with her aide and gave him some information and urged him to pass on to her our opposition to the proposed bill. He then assured us that she was in favor of religious rights and would vote against the proposed bill. We did the same with the aide of our Assemblywoman, although her office is located in Canton. That aide let us know that the Assemblywoman also was in favor of religious rights. The aide also told us that she, personally, was in favor of vaccinations.
Visiting the local offices of our representatives was fairly convenient for none of us had to travel very far and thus, it did not take up a lot of our day. The visits typically lasted about one- half hour and gave us each the opportunity to voice our position and ask questions, as well as to have time for the aides to ask us questions. The aides also commented that it was a good time for they were not in the midst of the busy Legislative Session and they appreciated the timing of our visit.
As 2016 came and the Legislative Session started, I thought it would be good to try and get someone from the other Counties to do the same. I had a contact in Jefferson County and she was willing to see the lawmakers in their Watertown offices, as long as I came along and did most of the talking for she felt she couldn't do the issue justice. However, she had lost touch with anyone she previously knew who was interested in the issue. I also had another contact who never got back to me, but had stated that her daughter was interested in the issue.
In March I contacted the lawmakers' offices to set up an appointment. And the following experiences are something I never imagined or have previously experienced in any other lawmaker contact over 30 years!! The Assemblywoman's staff right away gave me an appointment day and time. They asked who else would be coming and I gave the name of the other woman (this is a usual procedure). I am sorry to say, however, the “scheduler” for the State Senator has put us off since April and we have yet to have had an appointment with her! To me, this is most unusual behavior for a lawmaker's office.
For the appointment with the Assemblywoman I did things differently from when I met with the aides in the local offices. By the April appointment, I had purchased copies of “Bought,” a film that covered vaccines, big pharma and our food supply. So, I brought along a copy to give to the Assemblywoman. I also brought along information regarding the HPV vaccine and info from the Cochrane Collaboration (www.cochrane.org) regarding the flu vaccine for children, healthcare workers and those over age 65. (The Cochrane Collaboration is an independent network of researchers, professionals, patients, etc. who work to help us make informed choices using best evidence from research. They are supported, in part, by the World Health Organization, Wikipedia, Wiley Medical Publishing and others). I also brought a copy of my 2000 brochure, “13 Reasons Not to Vaccinate.”
We had been told in advance that the Assemblywoman had another appointment and that basically we had 30 minutes with her. No problem, except that she spent most of the time talking social stuff with us. Aware of the time constraint, I kept coming back to the issue and also gave her the above-mentioned information, which she glanced at while I was talking. She stated that a group of young mothers had seen her a few weeks earlier on the issue. She also stated that they had wanted her to do something in writing, but she refused. The Assemblywoman stated that she gave her word and that is enough. (Again, something unusual for lawmakers for they usually tout how many letters, etc. they respond to from constituents.)
However, in order to try and get some response about vaccination from her, about a month later, I wrote the Assemblywoman and asked what she thought of the information and documentary that we left with her. Until now, no response.
I wanted to share this experience with you because I hope it encourages you to call or visit your lawmakers and, hopefully, bring even one other person with you, for numbers count. Of course, the best way to judge how effective we are is to then see how our lawmakers vote when the issues come up.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Franz
P.S. If you know of anyone who lives in my Legislative Districts, please have them contact me for I still plan on getting to see our State Representative and if I can bring more people, so much the better.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Religious Exemption at Risk in New York
Dear
Friends,
How
important are “rights” to you? Religious rights? If they are, then
read on for the 2016 New York State Legislative session is ready
to take those rights away from you.
Assembly
bill 08329 and Senate bill 06017 are bills to repeal the
religious exemption to vaccination in New York State. These bills
are in the forefront because of the 2015 “measles outbreaks” in
California, and because the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is
pushing for it. Lawmakers usually do what the CDC recommends.
Also, The March of Dimes has come out in support of this bill—not
a surprise for they have supported the use of vaccines for over 75
years.* Ironically, 99% of public school students are fully
immunized and 88% of private school students.**
Thus, the aim of these bills is to put ultimate control of our lives in the hands of the government and the medical profession, where virtually 100% agree that vaccinations should happen and for all age groups.
According
to the Cochrane Collaboration (a global, independent network
funded by the World Health Organization, Wikipedia, Wiley,
Guidelines International Network and others), the
MMR vaccine is
associated with aseptic meningitis, but not autism. However, in
their February 15, 2012 article “Using the combined vaccine for protection of children against measles, mumps and rubella,” their
conclusion is that “The design and reporting of safety outcomes in
MMR vaccine studies, both pre-and post marketing, are largely
inadequate.”***
I would
like to focus on the historical perspective by referring to the
work of one who I consider the first whistleblower
in regard to vaccines: In 1967 Sir Graham Wilson, MD, wrote THE
HAZARDS OF IMMUNIZATION. He stated:
“...The woeful record I present of the accidents attendant on immunization...have never been reported in print, either through fear of compensation claims, or of giving a weapon to anti-vaccinationists...”, p. 4.
I am not
surprised at this, nor should you be. For over 20 years, the
Institute of Medicine (IOM) has
commented on the lack of research into the safety and
effectiveness of vaccines. And, apparently, when such research is
done and shows negative effects that jeopardize the pro-vaccine
movement, it is suppressed.
So, if you want to fight to protect our rights, now is the time for you to take Action.
Rita Palma
of My Kids, My Choice,**** and Jim Gilmore of Autism Action Network***** have been going around NYS trying to organize people
to contact their lawmakers. This needs to be done by June 1 for
after that the Legislative Session goes by very fast and it is too
late. It is time for good people to take a stand, otherwise, we're
boiled frogs.
If anyone lives in the 48th Senate District (St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Oswego Counties) with Patty Ritchie as the representative and the 116th Assembly District (River District) with Addie Russell as the representative, contact me at bonnie@nyvic.org.
Bonnie
Franz
* “Bill would eliminate religious exemptions for childhood vaccinations,” The Legislative Gazette, January 27, 2016
** “Thousands of N.Y. Children lack immunization,” Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, New York, June 15, 2015
*** http://www.cochrane.org/CD004407/ARI_using-the-combined-vaccine-for-protection-of-children-against-measles-mumps-and-rubella
**** http://www.mykidsmychoice.com
***** http://www.autismactionnetwork.org Email: jgilmore@autismactionnetwork.org
Sunday, July 19, 2015
“News” stories abut the measles' “epidemic”
Note: Apologies to Bonnie and readers. This blog entry was supposed to be published in March, 2015, but, unfortunately, it also dropped through the cracks.
Dear Friends,
Here it is March and we have been getting a steady stream of “news” stories abut the measles' “epidemic” with new scares of a measles worldwide “pandemic.” The stories have been in numerous newspapers, along with editorials promoting vaccines; many TV shows, including The Doctors and Dr. Oz; magazines such as Bottom Line—you name it, and there was probably a story dealing with vaccination.
Perhaps you've heard the stories about measles' parties in California—with doctors coming out against them—while at the same time admitting that a case of measles will bring life-long immunity. (The Doctors TV show, March 4, 2015).
Or, maybe you've heard that it is primarily rich parents in California who didn't get their children vaccinated. How selfish they are—putting others at risk!!! Or, the stories of it being mostly poor or uneducated parents refusing vaccines for their children.
This has led to lawmakers now taking advantage and going after philosophical and religious exemptions—leaving only the medical exemption. Even in the Congress, it is mostly Democrats, such as Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsoring legislation for Forced Adult vaccination! (Years ago, I was told by a NYS legislative aide that the Democrats initiate vaccination legislation and then embarrass Republicans to go along with it—the idea being that Republicans don't care about the health of our children—a sad commentary on both political parties).
(Back around 1998, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics voted to work to do away with the religious and philosophical exemptions—seems like they will finally get their way—they are better organized and more persistent than we are).
If you go back to December of 2014 there were a few news articles about mumps--”Mumps invades the NHL,” Watertown Daily Times, December 12, 2014. Or the March 1 issue of Bottom Line with the small article headline “The Mumps is Back.” That little article ended with “Teens and young adults may need a booster if mumps appears in the community.”
In reviewing my files I came across a letter I sent to the Editor of the Watertown, NY Daily Times, April 7, 1992 referring to the news reports of measles outbreaks at that time—then officials were blaming nurses for not properly storing the vaccines. The information I gave in that letter remains true today.
“Some facts ( I wrote in 1992) left out of any discussion of vaccine failure are that even a properly-administered live measles vaccine lasts up to 15 years, Mumps vaccine lasts for at least 10 ½ years and the rubella vaccine doesn't really work. The Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases stated those facts as early as 1985...”
Thus, the bottom line remains that anyone who has received the MMR vaccines is susceptible throughout their lives to the diseases and the government and medical profession will take advantage of any new outbreak to scare people into getting constantly revaccinated instead of reevaluating the vaccine program. They can get away with it because there is no knowledge of the history and there is not enough outcry against it.
Until next time,
Bonnie P. Franz
Dear Friends,
Here it is March and we have been getting a steady stream of “news” stories abut the measles' “epidemic” with new scares of a measles worldwide “pandemic.” The stories have been in numerous newspapers, along with editorials promoting vaccines; many TV shows, including The Doctors and Dr. Oz; magazines such as Bottom Line—you name it, and there was probably a story dealing with vaccination.
Perhaps you've heard the stories about measles' parties in California—with doctors coming out against them—while at the same time admitting that a case of measles will bring life-long immunity. (The Doctors TV show, March 4, 2015).
Or, maybe you've heard that it is primarily rich parents in California who didn't get their children vaccinated. How selfish they are—putting others at risk!!! Or, the stories of it being mostly poor or uneducated parents refusing vaccines for their children.
This has led to lawmakers now taking advantage and going after philosophical and religious exemptions—leaving only the medical exemption. Even in the Congress, it is mostly Democrats, such as Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsoring legislation for Forced Adult vaccination! (Years ago, I was told by a NYS legislative aide that the Democrats initiate vaccination legislation and then embarrass Republicans to go along with it—the idea being that Republicans don't care about the health of our children—a sad commentary on both political parties).
(Back around 1998, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics voted to work to do away with the religious and philosophical exemptions—seems like they will finally get their way—they are better organized and more persistent than we are).
If you go back to December of 2014 there were a few news articles about mumps--”Mumps invades the NHL,” Watertown Daily Times, December 12, 2014. Or the March 1 issue of Bottom Line with the small article headline “The Mumps is Back.” That little article ended with “Teens and young adults may need a booster if mumps appears in the community.”
In reviewing my files I came across a letter I sent to the Editor of the Watertown, NY Daily Times, April 7, 1992 referring to the news reports of measles outbreaks at that time—then officials were blaming nurses for not properly storing the vaccines. The information I gave in that letter remains true today.
“Some facts ( I wrote in 1992) left out of any discussion of vaccine failure are that even a properly-administered live measles vaccine lasts up to 15 years, Mumps vaccine lasts for at least 10 ½ years and the rubella vaccine doesn't really work. The Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases stated those facts as early as 1985...”
Thus, the bottom line remains that anyone who has received the MMR vaccines is susceptible throughout their lives to the diseases and the government and medical profession will take advantage of any new outbreak to scare people into getting constantly revaccinated instead of reevaluating the vaccine program. They can get away with it because there is no knowledge of the history and there is not enough outcry against it.
Until next time,
Bonnie P. Franz
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Past and Present
Note: Apologies to Bonnie and readers. This blog entry was supposed to be published in early 2015, but, unfortunately, dropped through the cracks.
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year 2015!
I thought it might good to start the New Year with some reflection. It has been over 40 years since I began to pay attention and then get active in the choice in vaccination movement. And, boy, has there been changes — more vaccines and more doses of vaccines, forced on all ages! From the womb to the tomb.
When I was a child in the 1950's, the vaccines required for school entrance were DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) vaccines. In elementary school, I remember having to get the polio vaccine. My mother brought me to our family doctor for the shot because she didn't trust mass vaccination at school, even though it was free. When I entered college (1965) I got the smallpox vaccine (it was discontinued in 1972) and a tetanus booster.
By the 1960's when my nieces and nephews came along, so did the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines. Since then, as many of you know, more vaccines and more doses have become the norm.
Beginning in the 1980's opposition to vaccines became better organized and in 1982 we had the founding of Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT) because of children damaged by the DPT shot. The name was later changed to the National Vaccine Information Center and it was, and still is, the only nationwide, grass-roots parents' group dedicated to vaccine choice and safety (www.nvic.org)
I became involved with the DPT organization in 1984 in Endicott, New York and met a number of parents whose children were brain damaged or died from the DPT shot. They came from all over the State for support and help. This also became the beginning of meeting parents who wanted to avoid vaccines for their children.
Beginning in 1997, the National Vaccine Information Center had their first conference in Virginia. These were followed by conferences in 2000 and 2002 and again in 2009. At one of the earlier conferences I met members of New Yorkers for Vaccine Information and Choice (NYVIC) and became involved in the work they were doing.
In the 30 years since my Endicott involvement, there have been a small number of children who were unvaccinated (about 1% of the population). We are now in the second generation of unvaccinated children — so now I have some questions:
1) Did you obtain an exemption from vaccination for your children?
a) When?
b) Was it difficult for you to obtain?
2) Were there any problems in school?
3) Were there disease “outbreaks” and
a) if so, did you keep your child out of school or
b) did you get them vaccinated?
4) Did your child(ren) ever get the diseases? How did you handle it?
5) Did you become active in the movement?
a) Why or why not?
b) How?
For the unvaccinated young adults:
1) Do you have the same belief about vaccination as your parents?
2) Have you taken any vaccines?
3) Which ones?
4) Why?
5) Are you looking for vaccine exemptions for your children?
6) Are you vaccinating your children?
7) Did you have any problems in college or on your job about not vaccinating? How did you resolve it?
8) Are you active in the vaccine choice movement?
a) Why or why not?
b) How?
I've looked a little bit at the past and the present. But, now, on to the future!
My resolution is to write more of what is happening regarding vaccination in New York State — after all, some things never change!
What do you think needs to be done in 2015 for the free choice in vaccination movement? What are you willing to do to help make change possible?
Best wishes and until next time,
Bonnie Plumeri Franz
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year 2015!
I thought it might good to start the New Year with some reflection. It has been over 40 years since I began to pay attention and then get active in the choice in vaccination movement. And, boy, has there been changes — more vaccines and more doses of vaccines, forced on all ages! From the womb to the tomb.
When I was a child in the 1950's, the vaccines required for school entrance were DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) vaccines. In elementary school, I remember having to get the polio vaccine. My mother brought me to our family doctor for the shot because she didn't trust mass vaccination at school, even though it was free. When I entered college (1965) I got the smallpox vaccine (it was discontinued in 1972) and a tetanus booster.
By the 1960's when my nieces and nephews came along, so did the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines. Since then, as many of you know, more vaccines and more doses have become the norm.
Beginning in the 1980's opposition to vaccines became better organized and in 1982 we had the founding of Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT) because of children damaged by the DPT shot. The name was later changed to the National Vaccine Information Center and it was, and still is, the only nationwide, grass-roots parents' group dedicated to vaccine choice and safety (www.nvic.org)
I became involved with the DPT organization in 1984 in Endicott, New York and met a number of parents whose children were brain damaged or died from the DPT shot. They came from all over the State for support and help. This also became the beginning of meeting parents who wanted to avoid vaccines for their children.
Beginning in 1997, the National Vaccine Information Center had their first conference in Virginia. These were followed by conferences in 2000 and 2002 and again in 2009. At one of the earlier conferences I met members of New Yorkers for Vaccine Information and Choice (NYVIC) and became involved in the work they were doing.
In the 30 years since my Endicott involvement, there have been a small number of children who were unvaccinated (about 1% of the population). We are now in the second generation of unvaccinated children — so now I have some questions:
1) Did you obtain an exemption from vaccination for your children?
a) When?
b) Was it difficult for you to obtain?
2) Were there any problems in school?
3) Were there disease “outbreaks” and
a) if so, did you keep your child out of school or
b) did you get them vaccinated?
4) Did your child(ren) ever get the diseases? How did you handle it?
5) Did you become active in the movement?
a) Why or why not?
b) How?
For the unvaccinated young adults:
1) Do you have the same belief about vaccination as your parents?
2) Have you taken any vaccines?
3) Which ones?
4) Why?
5) Are you looking for vaccine exemptions for your children?
6) Are you vaccinating your children?
7) Did you have any problems in college or on your job about not vaccinating? How did you resolve it?
8) Are you active in the vaccine choice movement?
a) Why or why not?
b) How?
I've looked a little bit at the past and the present. But, now, on to the future!
My resolution is to write more of what is happening regarding vaccination in New York State — after all, some things never change!
What do you think needs to be done in 2015 for the free choice in vaccination movement? What are you willing to do to help make change possible?
Best wishes and until next time,
Bonnie Plumeri Franz
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Polio vaccine and unintended consequences
Dear Friends,
Below is some more information from my files on the polio vaccine. Over the course of the last year, I have pretty much shared with you what I consider the most important information from my files. I hope this is of help to you.
Vaccination has always been a controversial issue and will continue to be. Just look at the news recently on the flu vaccine and especially on Dr. Wakefield and the MMR vaccine.
High on a recent survey was public concern for vaccine safety. Although the following installment has to do with the “unintended consequences” of the polio vaccine, there are current reports of adverse effects of the HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine pushed over the last 3 years for girls and women, and now males. What we always need to remember is that there are ALWAYS consequences to all vaccines.
As a child growing up in the 1950’s, I remember the fear generated by stories of polio and the pictures and TV coverage of children and adults in the iron lung—helpless and boxed in. It is easy to understand why parents allowed their children to get polio shots. After all, there was so much good the shots would do.
However, as with so many things, the solution—-a vaccine—-created problems which the scientists and government kept from the public.
If parents of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s knew that the polio vaccine would cause polio, some cancers (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung, brain, and bone) and possibly AIDS, would they have vaccinated their children? Would they have been so compliant with having their children line up for shots or sugar cubes?
Why are the parents of 2011 willing to still bring their children to doctors and clinics for shots?
Below are some stories about the consequences of the polio vaccines.
April 13, 1991 Vol. 17-15 of the Canada Diseases Weekly Report discussed requests to use OPV for unlicensed uses by provincial programs:
“The use of live oral polio vaccine (OPV) or any other live vaccine for treatment of warts or recurrent herpes simplex infections is totally inappropriate. There is no theoretical justification for such therapy and the only controlled trial showed no benefit in treating recurrent herpes with OPV. There is a potential for serious side effects particularly if recipients or their contacts have unrecognized immunodeficiency.”
In the November 29, 1991 issue of Science there was a brief article “Polio Vaccine Ruling”:
“A U.S. District Court judge has ruled the government liable for injuries caused over several decades by oral polio vaccine, asserting that the federal Division of Biologics Standards (DBS)—-now known as the Office of Biologics Research and Review—-violated its own regulatory standards… This case is only the latest in almost two decades of court battles over Albert Sabin’s vaccine.”
Maryland judge J. Frederick Motz wrote “…DBS officials arrogated to themselves the power to define what constituted an acceptable risk, thereby undermining the rule of law and threatening long-term public confidence in the regulatory system itself. The government cannot simply now rewrite history to retell events as it wishes they had unfolded.”
The attorney for the plaintiffs, Marc Moller, stated “…the government’s willingness to play footloose with the law whenever it was comfortable to do so would not have been exposed but for our piece of litigation.”
The April 13-19, 1992 issue of The Washington Post National Weekly Edition had an article by Tom Curtis “Did a Polio Vaccine Experiment Unleash AIDS in Africa?” with the subtitle “The virus probably passed from monkeys to humans”:
Mr. Curtis believed that AIDS could be traced to an early polio vaccine program, namely, that in Africa, using the polio vaccine devised by Hilary Koprowski of Philadelphia’s Wistar Institute. Koprowski was “… the first to administer live, weakened polio virus to human beings, initially in 1950… Starting in 1957, Koprowski’s Congo vaccines were the first ones administered to a large human population, sprayed into the mouths of hundreds of thousands of Africans. There was virtually no follow-up, which Koprowski blames on the Congo’s subsequent independence and civil war.”
“After SV40 was discovered, vaccine makers switched from Indian rhesus monkeys to African green monkeys. But in the early 1980’s, researchers discovered that many such monkeys were infected with a retrovirus related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the one that caused AIDS in humans. This retrovirus cousin of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus(SIV),could have been present in any vaccine made from the tissues of these monkeys before 1985, the year when sophisticated testing was instituted.”
“Although they switched monkey species, scientists continued to put unknown monkey viruses into the human population.”
“New Polio Shot May Be Safer” was a brief in The New York Times of August 11, 1993:
“A new, beefed-up version of the old polio vaccine, based on killed virus, may provide better protection against this disease and, at the same time, prevent the rare cases of paralytic polio that occur among the recipients of the currently used Sabin vaccine… The new vaccine, based on an inactivated polio virus but with enhanced potency, is approved for general use and is often used to prevent polio in people with immune disorders.”
“Scientists Adapt Inactivated Polio Virus to Create ‘Vaccine Cocktail’” was the page one headline of Sept. 2, 1994, of the Watertown (NY) Daily Times:
“An inactivated polio virus could be turned into a ‘vaccine cocktail’ against many diseases by loading it with gene fragments from other viruses… This might make it possible to use the manipulated polio virus as a carrier for vaccines against AIDS, influenza, pneumonia and other contagious diseases that take root in mucous membranes.” The study was reported in the journal Science… ”in the Science study…” reported manipulating a polio virus so that it contained genes from part of the cholera, influenza, and HIV viruses. None of the engineered genes can cause disease…”
The July 25,1995, issue of The Washington Post had a health article by Steve Sternberg: “Which Polio Vaccine Is Really Better?” The article came out within a month after Salk’s death:
“For more than a decade, the only polio cases originating in this country have come from one source: Sabin’s polio vaccine, which is squirted into an infant’s mouth… As a result, the nation’s most influential vaccine advisory group decided on June 29 that the time for change has come. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agreed to draw up a new strategy…”
“Salk made his by killing the virus with formaldehyde. Still, using Sabin’s live-virus vaccine confers a public health benefit, that-–until now—-has outweighed its risks, at least in the minds of many experts… Once the oral vaccine’s strain of virus has taken hold in the gut, two things happen. White blood cells are primed to destroy any wild polio virus that might later enter the intestinal tract. Also, vaccine recipients begin to shed weakened virus in their feces, a process which may last weeks or months. Any susceptible person who comes in contact with these germs—-by changing diapers, perhaps—-may also build an immunity to the ravages of the disease.”
(P.S. - or “catch” polio as in the case of a Midwest farmer who sued the government, which denied it. He lost everything in the 1980’s, including his life. The family’s story was on “60 Minutes” and done by Morely Safer. It wasn’t until the late 1990’s that the truth came out. He and his family were right. The vaccine caused his polio. But he still lost his lawsuit, his farm and his life.)
“When the Vaccine Causes the Polio” by Christine Gorman in the October 30, 1995, issue of Time, stated “One in five American children is unvaccinated for polio. These children, or anyone with a weakened immune system, could contract the disease.”
“After weighing the risks and benefits, the CDC panel decided to split the difference. Their recommendation, which is slated to become official policy in 1996, is to inoculate infants twice with the killed-virus and then twice more with the live-virus vaccine.
“Inactivated polio vaccine for the United States: a missed vaccination opportunity” by Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal of October, 1995 (Vol. 14, No. 10):
He discussed his support for the IPV vaccine change in the immunization schedule. He cited the June, 1995, meeting of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices that had been followed by a 2-day symposium organized by the Institute of Medicine, and the CDC.
“Soon after the beginning of studies with OPV, a phenomenon became evident that is now better understood through analysis by the tools of molecular biology: reversion to virulence. Attenuation of live polio virus strains by passage in cell culture was the result of relatively few mutations, which have now been identified. When the attenuated strains multiply in the intestinal tract of vaccines, reverse mutation occurs normally in the RNA genomes. Unfortunately, the revertants have a selective advantage for replication in the intestinal cells and soon outgrow the original attenuated mutants. These revertants have altered properties, including some increase in neuro-virulence.
“The herd effect of OPV is based on the intestinal immunity induced by the live virus and by spread of the vaccine strains to unvaccinated children. That spread occurs is beyond question, but the estimation of its importance is disputed. In United States inner city populations, a CDC study suggested that 10% to 20% of unvaccinated children had been vaccinated by contact.”
New York magazine of November 11, 1996, had an article by Pat Wechsler, “A Shot in the Dark” subtitled: "When a vaccine became available that would eradicate polio, a panicked government rushed it to the public. But did it act too quickly? Early batches of the vaccine were contaminated with a monkey virus that now may be linked to cancer. And New York is one of the areas most at risk.”
“Scientists have been aware since the late fifties that this virus—-later identified as Simian Virus 40, or simply SV40—-caused deadly tumors in laboratory hamsters. But they are only now finding the footprints of SV40 in humans in rare lung, bone, and brain cancers… experts increasingly fear that the rogue monkey virus may play a direct role in causing cancer in some adults.”
“Tests of stored vaccine—-conducted by the National Cancer Institute in 1963--revealed that 19 states, including New York, Pennsylvania, and most of New England, received heavily contaminated shipments of vaccine between May and July 1955. That translated into close to 4 million children being inoculated with high levels of SV40… there is strong probability that a significant number of the batches produced between April 1955 and March 1963 were tainted. So far, however, the Food and Drug Administration has not been forthcoming…”
“Unless one is an animal handler or a lab technician—-or has spent time in the jungles of India or the Philippines—-there is only one confirmed way to be exposed to SV40: the polio vaccine, often handed out free of charge by the government.”
The first major epidemic in the US was recorded in NYC in 1916—-9,023 cases and 2,448 deaths. 1952 peak year—-60,000 people contracted the disease and 3,000 deaths with thousands paralyzed.
In June, 1955, Dr. John Enders, a Harvard virologist who had won a Nobel prize for his work on developing a polio vaccine, suggested that “It was indeed the technique for producing the vaccine that was flawed.” He also warned that “beyond the risk of failing to kill the polio virus, the defective technique raised the risk of including other agents whose presence may or may not be recognized.”
In 1957 another great name, Dr. Maurice Hilleman who joined Merck laboratories, “…became the first person to name and describe an unknown virus from the monkey renal cells that turned out to be SV40.”
“As early as 1960, some batches were tested and found to be contaminated with SV40. The public was never told.” Officials were afraid of starting a panic, for “If you added to that the fact that they found live [monkey] virus in the vaccine, there would have been hysteria,” Hilleman said.
Janet Butel, a prominent researcher at Baylor College of Medicine, was quoted: “In hindsight, we had a piece of data that should have shown us something… But at the time, the risk-benefit ratio of using the vaccine was huge.” Ironically, the government didn’t mind keeping a harvest of cranberries from market because they were exposed to a pesticide that caused cancer in lab rats.”
“Scientists are not prone to public speculation, but some privately suggest that humans may have begun to transmit SV40 among one another in the same ways its original monkey hosts have done for generations—-through some form of contact, sexual or otherwise. Whatever the answer, it is clear that after decades of silence, the secret about SV40 and the polio vaccine is now out of the box.”
“Shocking STAR medical file: “POLIO VACCINE AND CANCER: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW” was the title in the tabloid's November 26, 1996, issue: “Even more frightening, some scientists believe the virus may have already mutated and can be transmitted through human contact—-ultimately causing an epidemic similar to AIDS.” The article then went on to list the 34 states that received contaminated batches.
On January 27, 1997 the Office of Vaccines Research and Review sponsored a “SV40 Workshop: Summary and Future Directions.”
The workshop was sponsored by US government groups from the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the FDA (6 governmental agencies provided taxpayer funding).
One item I found interesting in the summary was that SV40 was present in the adenovirus vaccines from 1956-1961. This is a vaccine usually given to our troops.
“Book Revives Theory AIDS Virus Began in African Polio Vaccine Tests” was an article in the December 2, 1999, Watertown (NY) Daily Times:
“This provocative theory seemed far-fetched when it first came to public attention in an article in Rolling Stone in 1992. Most AIDS experts dismissed it after a scientific committee reviewed the theory and deemed the probability very low. But that panel based its conclusion in part on a published finding that was later shown to be in error.”
“In ‘The River’ (Little, Brown), Edward Hooper suggests that an experimental oral polio vaccine might have been made with chimpanzee tissue contaminated with an ancestor of the virus that was to cause AIDS… Hooper…has done a prodigious amount of research since 1990… he builds a case based entirely on circumstantial evidence that he accumulated in hundreds of interviews and exhaustive library research.”
Still even if the vaccine thesis is disproved, Hooper’s research has embarrassed scientists. He has found that leading researchers kept sloppy records and that prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals published reports that omitted crucial details.”
“Betrayed by Polio Vaccine” by Glenn Coin was the Syracuse (NY) Post Standard headline of October 8, 1999:
His article told the story of 2-month old Zachary Strain who got his oral polio and then a few weeks later developed a fever and polio, nearly paralyzed from the neck down.
“Doctors don’t know for sure if the disease is polio… Doctors are certain Zachary has been infected with an enterovirus, a family of hundreds of viruses that includes polio… Still, one infectious disease expert cautions against assuming Zachary has polio unless laboratory tests are definitive.”
(My update—Zachary died on January 22, 2002. His obituary read that he contracted polio from a vaccine he received in May, 1999 but died of pneumonia.)
The Herald-Sun, Durham, North Carolina of Sept. 12, 2000, had an article “Lab tests find no link to polio vaccine, AIDS”:
“Independent laboratory tests in London found no evidence to support the theory that an experimental polio vaccine used on about 1 million Africans in the 1950’s inadvertently triggered the AIDS epidemic… The prevailing theory is that a hunter became infected after being scratched by a chimp when trying to capture it or after cutting himself while butchering the animal. However, some experts suspect that polio vaccine made with contaminated chimpanzee cells may have been the culprit.”
Brian Vastag wrote “At Polio’s End Game, Strategies Differ” in the JAMA of December 12, 2001, Vol. 286, No. 22:
“…originally the primary partners—-WHO, the CDC, UNICEF, and Rotary International—-had planned an abrupt end to international immunization. But last year’s outbreak of vaccine-induced polio on the island of Hispaniola…fractured that plan.”
“Polio experts have known for decades that OPV, which uses a live-attenuated virus, can cause polio. In fact, as far back as 1977 the Institute of Medicine noted that vaccine-caused polio outstripped natural cases in the United States… But on Hispaniola, the virus did what had been predicted but never seen, namely ‘backmutating’ to a communicable strain…As this new virus spread across the island, it shed from the unimmunized population, growing meaner and meaner with each hop. After 2 or 3 years, it had regained its virulence.”
“One option…is a ‘big bang’ worldwide immunization push followed by country to country voluntary vaccination… Another strategy calls for switching the entire world to IPV for a set period, allowing OPV strains to die off while maintaining population immunity.”
In the July 19, 2002 issue of The Wall Street Journal, the science journal column by Sharon Begley was devoted to “Are Tainted Vaccines Given to Baby Boomers Now Causing Cancer?”
She recounts some of the history of 1961, but she jumps ahead to 1999 when Dr. Herbert Ratner, a former public health official in Oak Park, Illinois, invited Dr. Michele Carbone of Loyola University School of Medicine over for coffee. Dr. Ratner had refused to give the Salk polio vaccine for he felt it wasn’t safe. He saved 7 vials in his basement refrigerator for 44 years and gave them to Dr. Carbone who investigated the possibility that the SV40-contaminated vaccines caused some cancers.
“Amid dueling data, some facts are uncontested. An estimated 2/3 of the polio vaccines—the oral Sabin and the injected Salk—administered from 1955-1962 contained SV40… Contaminated vaccine was also given to children and some adults in Australia, Canada, Denmark and Germany, and possibly Russia, Mexico and other countries.”
Some cancers caused by SV40: lung, brain, bone, blood. The experts claim that the cancers are rare, except “With non-Hodgkin lymphoma, we’re no longer talking about rare malignancies. This cancer has spiked 82% in the U.S. since 1973…”
“Today’s children are at no risk from polio vaccine; it’s now grown in SV40-free cells.”
COMMENTARY:
It boggles my mind that since 1977 the IOM knew polio vaccine caused polio, so its "safety" was questionable. Yet the IOM seemingly did nothing to protect the public, but did all in order to protect vaccinations from public rejection and uproar.
Since then it has gotten worse, as government has institutionalized vaccines (President Clinton’s Executive Orders in the 1990’s—Interagency Cooperation) and now vaccines are being job-mandated.
The rush for a quick fix led to a rejection of alternative solutions, such as nutritional, and ignored the cases of polio and cancer caused by the vaccine to be factored into the “risk/benefit” analysis.
To me, the polio vaccine is the prototype for what we see today. Researchers come up with a product, ignore or deny some results and possible alternatives. They present a rosy picture for vaccine outcomes.
Then, when the problems undeniably surface, still deny. Then, after public memory is numbed, they admit errors, but come up with new solutions based on new technology that has not been carefully studied, deny possible risks…
I see this happening again with the HPV vaccine and also genetic engineering.
Unfortunately, the public still accepts forced vaccination because we don’t want to make the real changes in our behavior and attitude that might be necessary. For whatever reason, the majority of us are still willing to line up to get whatever vaccine is being promoted for our health because the government and science “say so” and celebrities generally promote and endorse vaccination.
Public “concern” over vaccine safety is not enough; we need public action and more than just the few hundred people who write letters to lawmakers, newspapers, or show up at rallies and conferences. We still have not reached the tipping point for meaningful change regarding mandatory vaccination policies--just look at State legislative calendars each year with proposed new vaccine mandates.
Bonnie Plumeri Franz
Below is some more information from my files on the polio vaccine. Over the course of the last year, I have pretty much shared with you what I consider the most important information from my files. I hope this is of help to you.
Vaccination has always been a controversial issue and will continue to be. Just look at the news recently on the flu vaccine and especially on Dr. Wakefield and the MMR vaccine.
High on a recent survey was public concern for vaccine safety. Although the following installment has to do with the “unintended consequences” of the polio vaccine, there are current reports of adverse effects of the HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine pushed over the last 3 years for girls and women, and now males. What we always need to remember is that there are ALWAYS consequences to all vaccines.
As a child growing up in the 1950’s, I remember the fear generated by stories of polio and the pictures and TV coverage of children and adults in the iron lung—helpless and boxed in. It is easy to understand why parents allowed their children to get polio shots. After all, there was so much good the shots would do.
However, as with so many things, the solution—-a vaccine—-created problems which the scientists and government kept from the public.
If parents of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s knew that the polio vaccine would cause polio, some cancers (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung, brain, and bone) and possibly AIDS, would they have vaccinated their children? Would they have been so compliant with having their children line up for shots or sugar cubes?
Why are the parents of 2011 willing to still bring their children to doctors and clinics for shots?
Below are some stories about the consequences of the polio vaccines.
April 13, 1991 Vol. 17-15 of the Canada Diseases Weekly Report discussed requests to use OPV for unlicensed uses by provincial programs:
“The use of live oral polio vaccine (OPV) or any other live vaccine for treatment of warts or recurrent herpes simplex infections is totally inappropriate. There is no theoretical justification for such therapy and the only controlled trial showed no benefit in treating recurrent herpes with OPV. There is a potential for serious side effects particularly if recipients or their contacts have unrecognized immunodeficiency.”
In the November 29, 1991 issue of Science there was a brief article “Polio Vaccine Ruling”:
“A U.S. District Court judge has ruled the government liable for injuries caused over several decades by oral polio vaccine, asserting that the federal Division of Biologics Standards (DBS)—-now known as the Office of Biologics Research and Review—-violated its own regulatory standards… This case is only the latest in almost two decades of court battles over Albert Sabin’s vaccine.”
Maryland judge J. Frederick Motz wrote “…DBS officials arrogated to themselves the power to define what constituted an acceptable risk, thereby undermining the rule of law and threatening long-term public confidence in the regulatory system itself. The government cannot simply now rewrite history to retell events as it wishes they had unfolded.”
The attorney for the plaintiffs, Marc Moller, stated “…the government’s willingness to play footloose with the law whenever it was comfortable to do so would not have been exposed but for our piece of litigation.”
The April 13-19, 1992 issue of The Washington Post National Weekly Edition had an article by Tom Curtis “Did a Polio Vaccine Experiment Unleash AIDS in Africa?” with the subtitle “The virus probably passed from monkeys to humans”:
Mr. Curtis believed that AIDS could be traced to an early polio vaccine program, namely, that in Africa, using the polio vaccine devised by Hilary Koprowski of Philadelphia’s Wistar Institute. Koprowski was “… the first to administer live, weakened polio virus to human beings, initially in 1950… Starting in 1957, Koprowski’s Congo vaccines were the first ones administered to a large human population, sprayed into the mouths of hundreds of thousands of Africans. There was virtually no follow-up, which Koprowski blames on the Congo’s subsequent independence and civil war.”
“After SV40 was discovered, vaccine makers switched from Indian rhesus monkeys to African green monkeys. But in the early 1980’s, researchers discovered that many such monkeys were infected with a retrovirus related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the one that caused AIDS in humans. This retrovirus cousin of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus(SIV),could have been present in any vaccine made from the tissues of these monkeys before 1985, the year when sophisticated testing was instituted.”
“Although they switched monkey species, scientists continued to put unknown monkey viruses into the human population.”
“New Polio Shot May Be Safer” was a brief in The New York Times of August 11, 1993:
“A new, beefed-up version of the old polio vaccine, based on killed virus, may provide better protection against this disease and, at the same time, prevent the rare cases of paralytic polio that occur among the recipients of the currently used Sabin vaccine… The new vaccine, based on an inactivated polio virus but with enhanced potency, is approved for general use and is often used to prevent polio in people with immune disorders.”
“Scientists Adapt Inactivated Polio Virus to Create ‘Vaccine Cocktail’” was the page one headline of Sept. 2, 1994, of the Watertown (NY) Daily Times:
“An inactivated polio virus could be turned into a ‘vaccine cocktail’ against many diseases by loading it with gene fragments from other viruses… This might make it possible to use the manipulated polio virus as a carrier for vaccines against AIDS, influenza, pneumonia and other contagious diseases that take root in mucous membranes.” The study was reported in the journal Science… ”in the Science study…” reported manipulating a polio virus so that it contained genes from part of the cholera, influenza, and HIV viruses. None of the engineered genes can cause disease…”
The July 25,1995, issue of The Washington Post had a health article by Steve Sternberg: “Which Polio Vaccine Is Really Better?” The article came out within a month after Salk’s death:
“For more than a decade, the only polio cases originating in this country have come from one source: Sabin’s polio vaccine, which is squirted into an infant’s mouth… As a result, the nation’s most influential vaccine advisory group decided on June 29 that the time for change has come. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agreed to draw up a new strategy…”
“Salk made his by killing the virus with formaldehyde. Still, using Sabin’s live-virus vaccine confers a public health benefit, that-–until now—-has outweighed its risks, at least in the minds of many experts… Once the oral vaccine’s strain of virus has taken hold in the gut, two things happen. White blood cells are primed to destroy any wild polio virus that might later enter the intestinal tract. Also, vaccine recipients begin to shed weakened virus in their feces, a process which may last weeks or months. Any susceptible person who comes in contact with these germs—-by changing diapers, perhaps—-may also build an immunity to the ravages of the disease.”
(P.S. - or “catch” polio as in the case of a Midwest farmer who sued the government, which denied it. He lost everything in the 1980’s, including his life. The family’s story was on “60 Minutes” and done by Morely Safer. It wasn’t until the late 1990’s that the truth came out. He and his family were right. The vaccine caused his polio. But he still lost his lawsuit, his farm and his life.)
“When the Vaccine Causes the Polio” by Christine Gorman in the October 30, 1995, issue of Time, stated “One in five American children is unvaccinated for polio. These children, or anyone with a weakened immune system, could contract the disease.”
“After weighing the risks and benefits, the CDC panel decided to split the difference. Their recommendation, which is slated to become official policy in 1996, is to inoculate infants twice with the killed-virus and then twice more with the live-virus vaccine.
“Inactivated polio vaccine for the United States: a missed vaccination opportunity” by Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal of October, 1995 (Vol. 14, No. 10):
He discussed his support for the IPV vaccine change in the immunization schedule. He cited the June, 1995, meeting of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices that had been followed by a 2-day symposium organized by the Institute of Medicine, and the CDC.
“Soon after the beginning of studies with OPV, a phenomenon became evident that is now better understood through analysis by the tools of molecular biology: reversion to virulence. Attenuation of live polio virus strains by passage in cell culture was the result of relatively few mutations, which have now been identified. When the attenuated strains multiply in the intestinal tract of vaccines, reverse mutation occurs normally in the RNA genomes. Unfortunately, the revertants have a selective advantage for replication in the intestinal cells and soon outgrow the original attenuated mutants. These revertants have altered properties, including some increase in neuro-virulence.
“The herd effect of OPV is based on the intestinal immunity induced by the live virus and by spread of the vaccine strains to unvaccinated children. That spread occurs is beyond question, but the estimation of its importance is disputed. In United States inner city populations, a CDC study suggested that 10% to 20% of unvaccinated children had been vaccinated by contact.”
New York magazine of November 11, 1996, had an article by Pat Wechsler, “A Shot in the Dark” subtitled: "When a vaccine became available that would eradicate polio, a panicked government rushed it to the public. But did it act too quickly? Early batches of the vaccine were contaminated with a monkey virus that now may be linked to cancer. And New York is one of the areas most at risk.”
“Scientists have been aware since the late fifties that this virus—-later identified as Simian Virus 40, or simply SV40—-caused deadly tumors in laboratory hamsters. But they are only now finding the footprints of SV40 in humans in rare lung, bone, and brain cancers… experts increasingly fear that the rogue monkey virus may play a direct role in causing cancer in some adults.”
“Tests of stored vaccine—-conducted by the National Cancer Institute in 1963--revealed that 19 states, including New York, Pennsylvania, and most of New England, received heavily contaminated shipments of vaccine between May and July 1955. That translated into close to 4 million children being inoculated with high levels of SV40… there is strong probability that a significant number of the batches produced between April 1955 and March 1963 were tainted. So far, however, the Food and Drug Administration has not been forthcoming…”
“Unless one is an animal handler or a lab technician—-or has spent time in the jungles of India or the Philippines—-there is only one confirmed way to be exposed to SV40: the polio vaccine, often handed out free of charge by the government.”
The first major epidemic in the US was recorded in NYC in 1916—-9,023 cases and 2,448 deaths. 1952 peak year—-60,000 people contracted the disease and 3,000 deaths with thousands paralyzed.
In June, 1955, Dr. John Enders, a Harvard virologist who had won a Nobel prize for his work on developing a polio vaccine, suggested that “It was indeed the technique for producing the vaccine that was flawed.” He also warned that “beyond the risk of failing to kill the polio virus, the defective technique raised the risk of including other agents whose presence may or may not be recognized.”
In 1957 another great name, Dr. Maurice Hilleman who joined Merck laboratories, “…became the first person to name and describe an unknown virus from the monkey renal cells that turned out to be SV40.”
“As early as 1960, some batches were tested and found to be contaminated with SV40. The public was never told.” Officials were afraid of starting a panic, for “If you added to that the fact that they found live [monkey] virus in the vaccine, there would have been hysteria,” Hilleman said.
Janet Butel, a prominent researcher at Baylor College of Medicine, was quoted: “In hindsight, we had a piece of data that should have shown us something… But at the time, the risk-benefit ratio of using the vaccine was huge.” Ironically, the government didn’t mind keeping a harvest of cranberries from market because they were exposed to a pesticide that caused cancer in lab rats.”
“Scientists are not prone to public speculation, but some privately suggest that humans may have begun to transmit SV40 among one another in the same ways its original monkey hosts have done for generations—-through some form of contact, sexual or otherwise. Whatever the answer, it is clear that after decades of silence, the secret about SV40 and the polio vaccine is now out of the box.”
“Shocking STAR medical file: “POLIO VACCINE AND CANCER: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW” was the title in the tabloid's November 26, 1996, issue: “Even more frightening, some scientists believe the virus may have already mutated and can be transmitted through human contact—-ultimately causing an epidemic similar to AIDS.” The article then went on to list the 34 states that received contaminated batches.
On January 27, 1997 the Office of Vaccines Research and Review sponsored a “SV40 Workshop: Summary and Future Directions.”
The workshop was sponsored by US government groups from the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the FDA (6 governmental agencies provided taxpayer funding).
One item I found interesting in the summary was that SV40 was present in the adenovirus vaccines from 1956-1961. This is a vaccine usually given to our troops.
“Book Revives Theory AIDS Virus Began in African Polio Vaccine Tests” was an article in the December 2, 1999, Watertown (NY) Daily Times:
“This provocative theory seemed far-fetched when it first came to public attention in an article in Rolling Stone in 1992. Most AIDS experts dismissed it after a scientific committee reviewed the theory and deemed the probability very low. But that panel based its conclusion in part on a published finding that was later shown to be in error.”
“In ‘The River’ (Little, Brown), Edward Hooper suggests that an experimental oral polio vaccine might have been made with chimpanzee tissue contaminated with an ancestor of the virus that was to cause AIDS… Hooper…has done a prodigious amount of research since 1990… he builds a case based entirely on circumstantial evidence that he accumulated in hundreds of interviews and exhaustive library research.”
Still even if the vaccine thesis is disproved, Hooper’s research has embarrassed scientists. He has found that leading researchers kept sloppy records and that prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals published reports that omitted crucial details.”
“Betrayed by Polio Vaccine” by Glenn Coin was the Syracuse (NY) Post Standard headline of October 8, 1999:
His article told the story of 2-month old Zachary Strain who got his oral polio and then a few weeks later developed a fever and polio, nearly paralyzed from the neck down.
“Doctors don’t know for sure if the disease is polio… Doctors are certain Zachary has been infected with an enterovirus, a family of hundreds of viruses that includes polio… Still, one infectious disease expert cautions against assuming Zachary has polio unless laboratory tests are definitive.”
(My update—Zachary died on January 22, 2002. His obituary read that he contracted polio from a vaccine he received in May, 1999 but died of pneumonia.)
The Herald-Sun, Durham, North Carolina of Sept. 12, 2000, had an article “Lab tests find no link to polio vaccine, AIDS”:
“Independent laboratory tests in London found no evidence to support the theory that an experimental polio vaccine used on about 1 million Africans in the 1950’s inadvertently triggered the AIDS epidemic… The prevailing theory is that a hunter became infected after being scratched by a chimp when trying to capture it or after cutting himself while butchering the animal. However, some experts suspect that polio vaccine made with contaminated chimpanzee cells may have been the culprit.”
Brian Vastag wrote “At Polio’s End Game, Strategies Differ” in the JAMA of December 12, 2001, Vol. 286, No. 22:
“…originally the primary partners—-WHO, the CDC, UNICEF, and Rotary International—-had planned an abrupt end to international immunization. But last year’s outbreak of vaccine-induced polio on the island of Hispaniola…fractured that plan.”
“Polio experts have known for decades that OPV, which uses a live-attenuated virus, can cause polio. In fact, as far back as 1977 the Institute of Medicine noted that vaccine-caused polio outstripped natural cases in the United States… But on Hispaniola, the virus did what had been predicted but never seen, namely ‘backmutating’ to a communicable strain…As this new virus spread across the island, it shed from the unimmunized population, growing meaner and meaner with each hop. After 2 or 3 years, it had regained its virulence.”
“One option…is a ‘big bang’ worldwide immunization push followed by country to country voluntary vaccination… Another strategy calls for switching the entire world to IPV for a set period, allowing OPV strains to die off while maintaining population immunity.”
In the July 19, 2002 issue of The Wall Street Journal, the science journal column by Sharon Begley was devoted to “Are Tainted Vaccines Given to Baby Boomers Now Causing Cancer?”
She recounts some of the history of 1961, but she jumps ahead to 1999 when Dr. Herbert Ratner, a former public health official in Oak Park, Illinois, invited Dr. Michele Carbone of Loyola University School of Medicine over for coffee. Dr. Ratner had refused to give the Salk polio vaccine for he felt it wasn’t safe. He saved 7 vials in his basement refrigerator for 44 years and gave them to Dr. Carbone who investigated the possibility that the SV40-contaminated vaccines caused some cancers.
“Amid dueling data, some facts are uncontested. An estimated 2/3 of the polio vaccines—the oral Sabin and the injected Salk—administered from 1955-1962 contained SV40… Contaminated vaccine was also given to children and some adults in Australia, Canada, Denmark and Germany, and possibly Russia, Mexico and other countries.”
Some cancers caused by SV40: lung, brain, bone, blood. The experts claim that the cancers are rare, except “With non-Hodgkin lymphoma, we’re no longer talking about rare malignancies. This cancer has spiked 82% in the U.S. since 1973…”
“Today’s children are at no risk from polio vaccine; it’s now grown in SV40-free cells.”
COMMENTARY:
It boggles my mind that since 1977 the IOM knew polio vaccine caused polio, so its "safety" was questionable. Yet the IOM seemingly did nothing to protect the public, but did all in order to protect vaccinations from public rejection and uproar.
Since then it has gotten worse, as government has institutionalized vaccines (President Clinton’s Executive Orders in the 1990’s—Interagency Cooperation) and now vaccines are being job-mandated.
The rush for a quick fix led to a rejection of alternative solutions, such as nutritional, and ignored the cases of polio and cancer caused by the vaccine to be factored into the “risk/benefit” analysis.
To me, the polio vaccine is the prototype for what we see today. Researchers come up with a product, ignore or deny some results and possible alternatives. They present a rosy picture for vaccine outcomes.
Then, when the problems undeniably surface, still deny. Then, after public memory is numbed, they admit errors, but come up with new solutions based on new technology that has not been carefully studied, deny possible risks…
I see this happening again with the HPV vaccine and also genetic engineering.
Unfortunately, the public still accepts forced vaccination because we don’t want to make the real changes in our behavior and attitude that might be necessary. For whatever reason, the majority of us are still willing to line up to get whatever vaccine is being promoted for our health because the government and science “say so” and celebrities generally promote and endorse vaccination.
Public “concern” over vaccine safety is not enough; we need public action and more than just the few hundred people who write letters to lawmakers, newspapers, or show up at rallies and conferences. We still have not reached the tipping point for meaningful change regarding mandatory vaccination policies--just look at State legislative calendars each year with proposed new vaccine mandates.
Bonnie Plumeri Franz
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