Thursday, May 19, 2011

Dad's corner: That Primate study-Why are we still giving babies the Hepatitis B vaccine?

The following is an excerpt of a paper published in the Journal NeuroToxicity titled “Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight”

Complete reference: Hewitson L, et al. Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight, Neurotoxicology (2009), doi:10.1016/ j.neuro.2009.09.008.

This study demonstrated evidence of abnormal early neurodevelopmental responses in Survival reflexes (root, suck, snout, auditory startle); Motor reflexes (including grasping hand, grasping foot, clasping hand clasping foot) and sensory motor reflex (auditory orientation) in male infant rhesus macaques receiving a single dose of Th-containing HB vaccine at birth.

The study design could not conclude whether it was the vaccine, the thimerosal, or a combination of both, that caused these effects.

According to the clinicians "the outcomes reported here are not included in the current CDC recommendations for Hepatitis B vaccine safety testing (Anon., 1982)". 

The Discusion was the most interesting part of the paper "The developing brain is considered the most vulnerable organ to mercury exposure (Grandjean and Perez, 2008)" The gestational age of the child when the shot is given was directly related to the level of bio-available mercury detected in the bloodstream  and the subsequent damage caused by the single vaccine dose.

The paper goes on to state "The Pathological injury was observed to have started in the brainstem, extending to other areas of the brain at higher exposure levels. In a mouse model, exposure to mercury vapor resulted in a preferential accumulation of mercury in the brainstem, regardless of concentration used (Warfvinge, 1995). Similarly, after intramuscular injection, inorganic mercury accumulated in brainstem motor nuclei of mice (Arvidson, 1992). In clinical studies of mercury poisoning, exposure to organic mercury either pre- or post-natally resulted in brainstem defects in children (Amin-Zaki et al., 1978; Magos et al., 1985; Counter, 2003; Murata et al., 2004; Bernard et al., 2005)".

Here is the scary part "Since the acquisition of motor reflexes is controlled by the brainstem, it is possible that very early exposure to ethyl mercury may adversely affect emerging brainstem function (Wakefield et al., 2008). Brainstem injury may then disturb the development or functioning of higher structures (Geva and Feldman, 2008; Tanguay and Edwards, 1982; reviewed by McGinnis et al., in press)".

Lastly "Stajich et al. (2000) examined blood mercury levels in US infants after receiving a single dose of HB vaccine and found the highest levels of mercury in pre-term infants suggesting that newborns, especially pre-term infants, may have decreased ability to eliminate mercury.

So then I ask you... If the mother is negative for Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis B is passed by sharing needles or by unprotected sex (blood to blood contact with an infected individual), WHY are we giving this garbage to newborns?

A good friend asked me once "yea but your kid can get Hep B at the playground, playing around a kid that is Hep B positive".  I told him that that Hep B+ kid would have to bleed into my kids open cut and even then transfer of the virus is not likely as blood usually flows in one direction (out).

Monday, May 16, 2011

Dad's Corner

We have a 20 month old boy. My wife was a pediatric occupational therapist, and I work as the R&D manager of New Drug Development for a pharmaceutical company that makes injectable drugs. My degrees are in chemistry and biology, and I do human and animal drug development studies for a living.

I have reviewed both the vaccine industry safety data and independent, peer reviewed, published (often times contradictory) safety data.  My decision to not vaccinate our son is based on a carefully balanced risk benefit analysis.  Regardless of the unethical bullsh*t that vaccine manufacturers have been known to get away with (publishing some studies and burying others), the risks of contracting a vaccine preventable disease is estimated at between 1 in ~600 to 1 in several 100K depending on the disease.  If you compare this number with deaths and disabilities attributed to these same diseases your childs risk of being permenantly disabled or killed by a "vaccine preventable" disease is about 1 in 100,000.  This is awful to be sure.  So lets compare this with the current accepted rates of Vaccine induced brain injury (encephalopathy).

1 in 83 boys are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In fact, several sources put it closer to 1 in ~35. A recent Korean study similar numbers ~1 in 38.  This number goes up  if you include seizure disorders, Vaccine induced brain injury (encephalopathy) childhood cancers and auto-immune diseases all of which have been linked to either vaccines themselves or the toxic ingredients they contain.

I orchestrate shipments both into and out of our facility of chemical compounds all the time.  My facilities and records of these shipments are audited by the DOT for compliance to IATA regulations regularly.  We classify shipments for DOT compliance based on a lot of information.  Compounds are assumed to be dangerous (toxic, flammable, corrosive..) until proven otherwise.  Information such as LD-50 (oral rat) is one of the ways to establish a materials toxicity classification.  LD-50 is the amount of a compound it takes to kill half of a population of rats if force fed to them orally (an awful concept but necessary to establish the dangers of a particular substance or compound).  Toxic compounds are separated by packing group (I, II or III).  Mercury salts, aluminum salts, among other vaccine ingredients are acutely toxic or packaging group I,  meaning that microgram quantities kill rats.  It also means I need special dangerous goods declaration forms, special packaging, drop testing etc. to establish that anyone coming into contact with a leaky container knows to stay back and call in the HAZMAT team.  So I ask you... why on earth would I inject this toxic crap into my newborn son??  Why is it an acceptable risk, and why is it "required" for the vaccine to work or remain stable?  These ingredients have been proven time and time again to be dangerous, even in extremely low doses.

As a toxicologist, I must emphasize that toxicity (separate from hypersensitivity reactions) is almost always based on accumulated dose. 

The neonate vaccine schedule should be weighed against the fact that biliruben (required to clear toxins from the body) is not produced by the liver until 7 months of age.  Toxic compounds in vaccines are assumed to be less of a risk than the risk that your newborn will contract one of these diseases.  I wholeheartedly disagree with this logic.  These are developing immune systems and continuously bombarding them with upwards of seven viruses at once, and known heavy metal neurotoxins surely has greater consequenses than the risk that a 2 month old will be exposed to a vaccine preventable disease.  Especially if the mother is breastfeeding.  The blood brain barrier has not even started to develop until several round of shots are given and not fully developed until your child is about eight years old. This toxic crap has been very effectively engineered to attack the brains of those glorious beings it was designed to protect.

Whole cell pertussis vaccines were administered for 40 years, when study after study demonstrated almost 100% of the patients receiving this vaccine had some degree of encephalopathy (brain swelling). Another well controlled study that blew my mind demonstrated developmental delays in newborn Reece's (sp.) monkey's given the HEP-B vaccine, according to the current vaccine schedule.  These animal had clinically significant delays in primitive reflex responses, including the rooting reflex.  We will discuss these and excerpt sections of these studies in more detail as this blog develops.

In the coming weeks I will try to summarise studies conducted in Denmark indicating there are many strains of "pertussis" virus resistant to the current vaccine and instead of developing a new vaccine we refute this data and give more frequent shots of the strain that isn't making us sick.  This logic doesn't work for me.

There was a huge HMO coding study in California (followed by a huge CDC, Clinician, NIH, drug industry meeting in June 2000 ref: simpsonwood) linking the total doses of vaccines containing mercury directly to the increased number of followup health related interventions (allergies, autism, ADD, ADHD, autoimmune, Diabetes, Cancers...). They also discussed that a single flu shot has enough mercury 12.5ug to cause ADD in all boys studied (this paper reads as a 500+ page transcript of the meeting without the printed visual/slides references.   Those were not allowed to leave the conference).  The NIH, along with experts from pharma and the CDC came up with a strategy to spin the results so they would never get out for fear of decreased vaccination rates.

Vaccine manufacturers, to hold on to patent exclusivity, bundle several vaccines together in a single shot.  Regardless of the fact that some vaccines may only require 2 shots to build acceptable titers, they are bundled into a combination product that may be administered 6 or 7 times.

When was the last time your pediatrician offered to check your child's titers?

I really believe vaccines are toxic and damage developing immune systems.  The efficacy data is not there to support that vaccines, themselves, are actually working at lowering background rates of these diseases. They were falling before the vaccines were introduced.

We survived chicken pox and the flu.  In this blog, we will embed links in the coming months, and make an effort to decipher the science, to lots of articles/studies from peer reviewed trade journals; this is just my introduction.

Do your own research too.  Eat organic real food, eliminate GMO'S. and breast feed at least a year and longer if possible...

Ps - "Dad" really wanted to get his first post out... wrote it in haste, and decided to edit it.   This is the edited version.   :)

Confessions of a Pediatric Occupational Therapist, part 1

Before becoming a stay at home mom, I was a pediatric occupational therapist in schools and a sensory integration clinic.  My interest in occupational therapy began when I was a teacher's assistant, and a 1:1 for a second grade boy with autism.  I loved that kid, and I read as much as I could to begin to understand autism and the world he lived in.  Eventually I returned to school to recieve a second bachelors degree and a masters degree in order to practice occupational therapy.  The child that started me on this journey was autistic, and my goal was to work with the autistic population.

After several years as a therapist, I obtained a school based position with intensive needs children and a part time gig at a sensory integration clinic.  The majority of my caseload were children with autism, ranging in age from three to thirteen. 

Nights when I can't sleep I think about the children that I used to treat, and their parents.  Somedays when my husband and I are talking about vaccinations... I feel like I am connecting the dots.  Both experiences make me want to cry.

Some of the children I treated had sensory issues; things that I could define and describe but that I couldn't quite put my finger on.  I couldn't understand what was going on neurologically to create these symptoms.  One continuing education course that I attended described these children as having 'software issues' (vs. 'hardware).  Meaning that with 'hardware' kids, a doctor could pinpoint the physiological mechanism that was creating the difficulties.  In comparison, the 'software' kids could have every scan, test, doctor in the world and they couldn't find out physically what caused the problems.

I saw many 'software' kids challenged by proprioception, muscle tone, grading of movement, directionality, spatial awareness, organizational skills, visual motor, visual perceptual skills.... and on and on.  When I remember these children now, I connect the dot to a subtle vaccine injury.  They get overlooked, they are not as obvious as other vaccine injured children, but they are still there... struggling.

On the other end of my continuum, I hear the voices of the moms (one in particular, clearer than the others), in CSE meetings, pain in her voice begging us to help her non-verbal, autistic, six year old, daughter speak again... because her daughter used to talk.  She used to talk.

I hadn't given much thought to vaccines, yet, but I would ask the other professionals, who had been involved with this population of children longer, "what do you think?  Could it be vaccines?'.  Always they said with certainty, "No".  I wanted to believe them.  The idea that vaccinations, the only prevention and wellness that our doctors even address, were dangerous was unthinkable.  I heard on more than one occassion that 'there is always one parent that is a little "off" and you can see where the disability comes from'.  Oh really?  Well, hmmm, that is so easy for you to say isn't it.  It isn't your heart that is breaking everyday for your child., and if it was perhaps you would be a 'little off' somedays too.

One of my favorite kids, started having gut pain... for months he laid on a mat in the classroom, holding his stomach, in pain.  I had never heard that the measles virus could reside in the intestines and flare up, and no one ever suggested it.  We all worked with a population of primarily autistic children.  All of the workshops and information we shared never talked about the physiological ailments of these kids...none, ever.

A close friend of mine has returned to work after having a child at the same time I did; we don't discuss vaccines very much, she vaccinates her son and we do not.  Her father is a pediatrician and assures her that they are safe.  I have asked her what she thinks is the cause of autism.  She doesn't think vaccines have anything to do with autism, because several parents have said they 'knew something was wrong from very early' in their child's life.  Well, given that our babies are injected with Hep B within hours, may explain away that argument.

Like I said, I lay in bed at night hearing the parents, seeing the kids... and connecting the dots between them and vaccines.

My husband and I pray that by helping people to question vaccines, we may be able to save some souls.