The Great Vaccine Debate

Let’s stop all the fighting.

I believe that BOTH SIDES ARE RIGHT!

Think about it.

You’ve read the stories or met the families where autism and autism-like disorders exist in the family tree. It makes sense that these families would have autism in any given moment in history, regardless of environmental factors.

That said, you’ve read the stories of children who regressed after given a series of vaccines. Doctors and scientists have been researching and connecting the dots regarding environmental factors contributing to the epidemic we see in autism diagnoses – 1 in 150 nationwide, 1 in 133 in Utah, and 1 in 79 boys in Utah County.

So let’s all stop fighting. Since there is not much we can do about genetic predisposition, but we can certainly do something about environmental factors, let’s start to work together and figure out how to stop this epidemic so that our future children and grandchildren can be saved from this epidemic.

Hamhock fits somewhere between the two. I noticed first signs of autism as early as 2-3 months. He was fully vaccinated, and although I never saw a regression, due to the bloodwork labs we’ve done, I know that his body is very sensitive, so I worry about the thimerosal, aluminum and formaldehyde in those vaccines.

Now, parents who believe vaccines contributed to their children’s autism do not want polio to come back.

They simply want a safer vaccine schedule for children who may be at risk for certain childhood learning disorders (ASD, ADD/ADHD) or physical problems (peanut & food allergies/asthma).

That’s it.

A safer vaccine schedule . . . more checks and balances to make sure that any child who receives a vaccine can handle the toxins and chemicals that are necessary to preserve those vaccines.

Before Hamhock’s diagnosis, I used to think the same way many do: “parents who don’t vaccinate are crazed hippies, and put all of us at risk! How dare they!” Truthfully, though, I didn’t know anything more about vaccines than what I read in the media. I had never read any peer-reviewed research on vaccines, and had never gotten into a scientific/medical discussion about it with anyone who had.

After Hamhock’s diagnosis, I started to read.

I have now come to understand that the chemicals used to preserve vaccines can add a toxic burden to genetically and biomedically sensitive children. Many susceptible and sensitive children’s bodies often cannot excrete those chemicals, and those chemicals get stuck, which can directly affect their developing brains and bodies.

These are the facts I’ve discovered in my research:

1. As of April 2008, ethylmercury has not been removed from all vaccines! It still exists (albeit trace amounts) in a preservative called Thimerosal in the following vaccines: Hepatitis B (recommended at birth, and then 3 more doses before 18 months), DTaP (recommended at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and fourth dose before 18 months), and Flu (yearly over the age of 6 months).CDC Vaccine Ingredients
2. As of 2007, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry listed Mercury as the third most toxic substance on earth (Arsenic is #1, Lead is #2). Of course ethylmercury is not Mercury in its pure form, but is a derivative therefrom. Mercury in any form is especially damaging to the human nervous system, because it tends to selectively lodge in the brain tissue. One reason more boys are diagnosed with autism is due to testosterone exacerbating the neurological effects and detoxification of Mercury. Toxic Substance List
3. In 1991, the CDC doubled the number of vaccines recommended across the board for all children, regardless of genetic disposition. By 18 months, an average child in the United States can and usually does receive as many as 22 vaccines. CDC Vaccine Schedule
4. The MMR shot started receiving attention once those 3 vaccines got combined into one shot, in addition to the increased vaccine schedule. Another reason for the complexity of this issue is that the live (but weakened) measles virus has an affinity for the GI tract. It can multiply and cause subacute meales infection. This infection can trigger inflammation in the walls of the GI tract, making the walls porous, and allowing any harmful toxins from the gut to enter the system. [Source: Bock, Kenneth, MD, Healing the New Childhood Epidemics. New York: Random House, 2007, pages 20 & 55. Dr. Bock Website]
5. Vaccines contain other chemicals that can also pose problems to sensitive and susceptible children who cannot detoxify their bodies well enough: among which are aluminum and formaldehyde. Toxic Substance List
6. Thimerosal timeline [Source: Bock, Kenneth, MD, Healing the New Childhood Epidemics. New York: Random House, 2007, page 52.], also Adventures in Autism has a good history of thimerosal:

• First used as a preservative by Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company in the 1930s. This was before the FDA had any authority. Once the FDA became an authoritative agency, the studies and vaccines performed by Eli Lilly were already “grandfathered” in. No further studies were required or done.
• Leo Kanner published his first paper identifying autistic children in 1943, asserting he had noticed such children since 1938. Leo Kanner FAQs
• In 1935 half of a group of dogs died when injected with Thimerosal.
• During WWII, the US government required Eli Lilly to label stocks of vaccines with Thimerosal as “Poison.”
• In 1967 a study showed that Thimerosal caused mice to die when added to their vaccines.
• In 1977, ten babies died in a Toronto hospital when it was used as an antiseptic on their umbilical chords.
• In 1991, the FDA considered banning Thimerosal from animal vaccines, but American health authorities were still so traumatized from the polio epidemic of the mid-1900s, that they were willing to accept the negative aspects of Thimerosal as a reasonable element of the risk/benefit ratio.

In my opinion, severe cases of autism may probably always present themselves regardless of environmental factors, in any given period of history. The explosion of Autism Spectrum Disorders (a whole range of severe to subtle symptoms) today may be and are likely influenced by:

1. Genetic susceptibility and sensitivity (possibly due to existing mitochondrial disorders like Hannah Poling: Huffington Post Article
2. Overloaded vaccine schedule – too many, too soon
3. Thimerosal still existing in 3 recommended childhood vaccines; and aluminum and formaldehyde in many others
4. Our increasing toxic environment: pesticides, herbicides, lead in toys from China, water quality, mercury emissions in our air and water, fluoride in water – which is good only ON the teeth, but not IN the body, personal care products with too many chemicals, leeching of chemicals from plastics into water and food, and on and on
5. Nutritionally insufficient food supply (agribusiness)
6. Problems with our detoxification processes known as methylation and sulfation

Obviously, even though the numbers of ASDs are alarmingly increasing (1 in 150 children nationwide; 1 in 79 boys in Utah), we are still talking about a minority of children. Why is it acceptable, however, for ANY minority in our country to still be treated as if they don’t matter? How can we consciously sacrifice a few in the minority for the good of the majority?

The CDC, FDA, AAP, AMA and IOM are all run by human beings. Humans make mistakes. I believe the current vaccine schedule is a mistake by not taking into account a total overall toxic burden our children are exposed to. It is a mistake not to support parents who have concerns about that schedule for their child.

Have you also wondered why ADD/ADHD exploded in the 90′s? Or why peanut allergies were practically unheard of when I was a kid in the 70′s and 80′s, but now many kids have peanut allergies? These childhood problems, I believe, can also be attributed to the same toxic overload to genetically susceptible and sensitive children.

There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic.

At some point 1 in 150 children being sacrificed to autism will be one too many.