Let’s clear some things up.
I am not against medicine, science or technology.
If it weren’t for all those things, I probably would have died during my first pregnancy/birth. Several friends of mine would have had tiny caskets to bury instead of enjoying a healthy toddler today. Others I know would have died from cancer long ago. The list goes on.
With that being said, there are a lot of tenets surrounding medicine, science and technology that I question. I think we all should question, be willing to at least dig for the why’s and how’s, and then still be willing to say we just don’t absolutely know. Taking our ques from the latest media or doggedly following a doctor’s opinion is setting oneself up for some big mistakes.
I hate giving specific examples because so often people get lost on a tangent as they frantically point out all the exceptions and what happened to their sister’s husband’s boss’s friend, but here goes…
A lot of people thought I was crazy seven years ago when I threw out all our plastic toys and sippy cups. I just bit my tongue when about five or six years later the larger media caught wind of the story and then finally the majority of parents knew enough to be enraged about toxins like lead and BPA in our children’s items.
I’ve been asked why on earth I would use cloth diapers in this day and age. What most parents don’t know is that many disposable diapers contain a long list of chemicals. Sure, as a parent you can just trust that the “experts” are doing their job of keeping products safe. But I’m just not the sort of person who waits for the diaper companies to write on their packages, “Caution, this product contains an ingredient similar to the substance that was banned from tampons long ago due to it’s link to toxic shock syndrome. Use at your own risk.” Suddenly, the telltale droopy dangle from a soaked gel-filled diaper isn’t quite so darling.
And I mentioned my first pregnancy. Yeah, it was medicine and technology that ended up saving me, but it was my unresponsible, unquestioning trust in them that got me there in the first place.
You see, I was diagnosed with really high blood pressure later in my pregnancy that progressed to eclampsia and toxemia. Their standard protocol was to eat more saltines, drink more water, and rest with my feet up. I have no idea who comes up with this stuff. That kind of salt is perhaps the worst thing I could have been eating. Since I was gaining weight so rapidly due to my blood pressure problems, I was avoiding protein and good fats. Again, the worst thing I could have done. But they told me I was doing it exactly right.
I was also eating fast food every day for 2 of my meals. I started out packing a lunch, but severe pregnancy exhaustion, plus the fact that I had to be at work at 6:30 am, meant that habit quickly died. I would usually grab a cheeseburger and a water. Once in a while I’d get the fries too, since a meal was so cheap and I’d get hungry again so quickly after eating. I thought that beef, dairy, fresh tomato and lettuce, and a bun couldn’t be all that bad.
What most of us don’t know is the extremely high sodium content in those foods, the dyes and preservatives in every single item, and the formaldehyde all fast food beef is washed in. Yum.
Okay, so this is just one illustration. My point is, I know so so so so many people who, like I once did, only get their info from one kind of source, end up in trouble, and then need that same source to help save them.
Now, the vaccine issue.
I am not against parents choosing to vaccinate their children. All parents certainly should do what they believe is best for their children, their circumstance, and their lifestyle.
I also think parents should be getting ALL the information before they make the choice to vaccinate or not vaccinate.
There are risks with not vaccinating, and there are risks with vaccinating. The sad thing is, most parents do not receive enough information to make an educated decision. Most of them ask their pediatrician, and 99% of them will scare parents into vaccinating.
It’s not the doctors’ fault. We want to believe that they know all the information there is, pro and con, and will pass that on to us. The largest problem with this is, they get one-sided information handed to them, too. Doctors are bombarded with tons of papers and journals that are almost impossible to sort through fully. They fall back on the trusted assumptions that have morphed over the years into spoon-fed dogma. They’ll say things like “vaccines are estimated to save millions of lives each year”. They’ll bring up polio and state how the vaccine has virtually eradicated it. If all else fails, they may, at best, paint the “anti-vaccine” people as ignorant fools who are unaware of the history of vaccinations that have made our “virtually disease-free” society possible, or at worst, as quacks who fall prey to conspiracy theories and put all of us at risk.
What the majority of parents fail to learn is that vaccine damage is not opinion, but based on documented facts with detailed references, most of it from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) itself. They don’t hear things like the fact that there are more than one hundred vaccine antigens that are injected into children before kindergarten, that the U.S. has paid more than $1 billion to vaccine injured people, that most outbreaks occur in fully vaccinated or over 95% vaccinated populations, that the government’s own records clearly show that childhood diseases (including polio) were in sharp decline before the introduction of vaccines, that vaccines contain at least 39 different toxic additives, preservatives and cell types introduced during the manufacturing process, that the combination effect of all these toxins in children has never been studied (nor has the effect several toxins and antigens being administered at the same time been studied), that cow, chicken, pig, monkey, and human fetus tissue are commonly used in the manufacturing of vaccines, that therefore vaccines can contain contaminants from these animals that are passed on to the vaccinated child…
When it comes to the supposed safety of vaccines, most parents never learn that vaccine studies are relatively small, short and include only healthy children. When a vaccine trial has been completed, however, vaccines are given to all children, regardless of the condition of their health, family history, or genetics. Most clinical trials monitor side effects for only 21 days, and sometimes even for only 5 days.
In addition, most parents are shocked to learn that vaccine safety studies do not use a true placebo. One of the standards in medical research is the “placebo-controlled” trial. An inactive substance such as a sugar pill is given as a placebo to one group of participants, while the treatment group is given the new drug. The data is analyzed to compare the number of side effects that occurred in those given the drug compared to the numbers of side effects that occurred in those given the placebo. However, the “placebo” used in vaccine research is not an inert substance such as sterile water; it is another vaccine. Inert, sterile water doesn’t cause a reaction; as substitute vaccine can. If both groups of babies in a trial have the same number of reactions, the study reports that the vaccine “is as safe as a placebo.” This is deceptive science.
It all ties together with the never-discussed fact that vaccine-induced antibodies do not correlate with protection. In fact, the journal Vaccine stated this clearly: “It is known that, in many instances, antigen-specific antibody titers do not correlate with protection.” (The full reference can be found at PMID: 11587808)
I fully vaccinated my first two children fully, including boosters, with no noticeable negative effects. I never even questioned the idea of vaccinations.
That changed with my third child. No one at all ever mentioned that she could be at higher risk since she had struggled with things like thrush and severe constipation all through infancy. I don’t think my doctor even knew of the correlation between vaccine damage and gut health. And I didn’t know enough then to realize that the health of my child was my responsibility, not my doctor’s. Lesson learned.
So I will continue to communicate the side of vaccines that isn’t so prevalent. Parents have a right to be educated about vaccines. When I hear parents spout the same old tired fear-based mantras surrounding vaccines, I know they aren’t educated on both sides of the issue. When they are offended by factual information regarding the dangers of vaccines, treat my children as if they carry the plague, or ridicule my choice, it’s a clear sign they aren’t informed. They are indoctrinated.
I don’t even think all parents should not vaccinate! If a parent is not willing to hold themselves fully responsible for their child’s health, carry out the difficult task of nourishing their bodies consistently so they can lead healthy lives, and learn effective alternatives to treat problems, then they should vaccinate. I even tell parents that I will not try to convince them one way or the another. I will give information, but a parent needs to be fully persuaded in their own mind of their decision.
This could also go for such things as giving birth at home, drinking raw milk, and writing opinionated blogs.
Bottom line… I fully appreciate and would in a heartbeat make full use of the wonderful and life-saving medicine and technology available.
I also believe, just as strongly, in making fully informed decisions as to why, when, and how I make use of it.
Tags: cloth diapering, homebirth, idiocy, medicine, presuppositions, vaccines