Comments on: Antivaxxers and the media

By: Doctors Will Admit It

Doctors Will Admit It — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:46:03 +0000

I’m surprised that no one here has mentioned Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), which has been caused by several vaccines, most notably the 1976 Swine Flu vaccine and the current Menactra vaccine, which supposedly prevents bacterial meningitis. It is more likely that children will contract GBS from the Menactra vaccine than will die from bacterial meningitis. GBS causes ascending paralysis that can lead to respiratory failure.

In its ad, the company that makes Menactra states that if someone has had GBS, they cannot take the vaccine. This is because it is strong enough to cause GBS, which usually goes into remission, to return.

My daughter had GBS when she was 4. Up until then, I diligently vaccinated all my children. However, after she got GBS her doctors – experienced specialists, not just general practitioners – warned me of all the real dangers of vaccines, and told me to never vaccinate her again, and to reconsider vaccinating any of my other children. When one is no longer able to take a vaccine, doctors are surprising candid about their safety.

GBS is rare, but it is a horrible thing to live through. Many of the diseases “prevented” by vaccines are less damaging to the body than GBS.

By: When topless models go bad « Cubik’s Rube

When topless models go bad « Cubik’s Rube — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:47:15 +0000

[...] craze is a hugely important one to address, and I’m strongly on the side of people like Phil Plait, Steven Novella, and Orac (and Orac, and Orac, and Orac, and…). There are a lot of great [...]

By: New Camera Obscura/Hipster Runoff « steve cross loves music and science

New Camera Obscura/Hipster Runoff « steve cross loves music and science — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:02:15 +0000

[...] somewhat of an antivaxxer (people who claim that vaccines cause autism- read more about them here), which is appalling, but some of the stuff on his website is [...]

By: BadMormon » Science does work

BadMormon » Science does work — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:25:57 +0000

[...] Antivaxxers and the media | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine. This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. « Enjoying what you do [...]

By: Phil Plait

Phil Plait — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:49:18 +0000

M. Jones: you don't have to guess. Kennedy is grossly, hugely anti-science. His rails against vaccinations are based on bad logic, bad evidence, and all manners of wrongness. Here's a good place to start.

By: M. Jones

M. Jones — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:48:28 +0000

Your anti-science. Seriously.

To be clear, I am not against immunizations. I am against the way that they are currently manufactured, marketed and mandated. Vaccines unnecessarily contain ingredients like aluminum, formaldehyde and thimerosal. There are ways to manufacture these vaccines without these ingredients but these changes are simply are not cost effective to the pharmaceutical companies.

Many of the vaccines are also developed from animal ingredients including cell cultures of chick embryos, monkey kidney cells, fetal bovine serum, and embryonic guinea pig cell cultures. Xenotransplantation is so controversial and moratoriums for it exist because it is a public health risk due to possible viral transmissions. Yet very few in the medical community seem concerned with the development of vaccines using animal cell cultures.

Further, according to the manufacturers own product inserts, they have not been “evaluated or tested for their carcinogenic potential, mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility” or “reproductive capacity.” There have been no long term studies on the cumulative effect on the child’s developing immune system of combining all these vaccines together. All studies are in the short term, week and months, not years.

As far as the mandated schedule, one serious issue I have is Hepatitis B, it is primarily transmitted through injection drug abuse and unprotected sex. Why we inject one day old infants with this vaccine is beyond me. Why we inject infants with known carcinogens, neurotoxins and cell cultures from various animals is also beyond me. The science and techniques are there for the companies to manufacture these vaccines differently. But, profit margins matter more than people apparently. And the medical community isn’t exactly taking a stand against their current practices.

If you haven’t read it, here is Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr.’s investigation in to the government cover-up of the mercury/autism scandal. Let me guess, Robert F. Kennedy’s Jr. is anti-science too.

By: Stephanie Chasteen

Stephanie Chasteen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:50:20 +0000

I was just forwarded an article from a friend about the dangers of mammography. I am wondering if this has the same level of believability as the anti-vaccine stuff, or if there is something to it? The crux of the argument was that the doses of radiation from mammography could potentially induce cancer since breast tissue is particularly sensitive to radiation, and mammograms only detect late stage cancer anyhow. They were advocating thermography instead. Anyone know anything about this?

Here are some anti-mammogram links:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/03/06/mammography-dangers.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/03/06/mammograms-part-three.aspx