Two years ago, I watched in terror as my 41-year-old sister suffered the paralytic effects of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare condition that in the past has been associated with vaccines, after receiving an inoculation. So I'm not quick to suggest that a shot in the arm is an easy fix for anything.
But as the editor-in-chief of Women's Health magazine, I was flabbergasted by the comments made about the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine by presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann during the first Republican debate. She called it "potentially dangerous," then relayed an anecdote on several news programs about a young woman she claims suffered "mental retardation" after receiving the shot. The health community fired back, deriding Bachmann for her lack of medical credibility. And for potentially setting back an important national health initiative -- the push to wipe out cervical cancer.
Reckless sedition aside, at least the Bachmann flap helped the HPV vaccine get some ink. Though we've thoroughly reported on the HPV epidemic in Women's Health, I'm troubled by the dearth of coverage out there -- especially given the fact that if left unmitigated, rampant HPV infections may harm our health in more ways than were previously known. That's not an incendiary, Bachmann-style statement; it's the medically backed truth.
Approximately 20 million Americans currently have HPV, which can have zero symptoms or bloom into visible warts. Each year, over 6 million more will contract the virus. And staggeringly, at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women will get HPV at some point in their lives.
The prevalence of HPV might have something to do with the public's apathy toward it. And it's true that many people's immune systems can effectively clear the virus on their own. Still, HPV is the leading cause of cervical cancer. (Two types, 16 and 18, are responsible for about 70 percent of all such cancers.) And lest anyone think guys are out of harm's way, consider this: HPV can cause anal and penile cancers, too.
More surprising is that HPV can also wreak havoc above the belt. According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, there has been a major upswing in the HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, a potentially deadly disease often found in the base of the tongue and the tonsils. And the American Cancer Society reports that roughly one-fourth of all oral cancers -- suffered by both men and women -- may now be HPV-related, evidence that the disease can be contracted orally as well.
That fact complicates matters even more since it all but nullifies the argument that the vaccine isn't appropriate for preteen girls. (To optimize its effectiveness, the HPV vaccine should be administered before exposure. And it's undeniable that many young women engage in oral sex years before having intercourse.)
Which is not to say we should mandate that all 12-year-old girls receive the HPV vaccine, as Bachmann rival Republican governor Rick Perry tried to do in his home state of Texas. (To date, voluntary use of the vaccine has been low.) Obviously, nor should we mandate it for boys. (The FDA approved the use of the HPV vaccine in males in 2009.) Rather, we should consider the lifesaving potential of inoculation at the same time we consider the risks. Because while some recipients experience only mild vaccine reactions, such as soreness and redness at the site of the injection, thousands have reported more worrisome issues, including fatigue, blindness and autoimmune complications.
The vaccination my sister received was not for HPV, and the exact etiology of her illness can't be pinpointed. But her ordeal has taught me to be more vigilant when it comes to weighing the risks versus the rewards of medical intervention; likewise, each month I try to empower our readers to take personal responsibility for their wellness. That's why I believe we need to tune out fearmongering politicians and let true authorities communicate the studied facts. Then, we should step aside and allow young men and women -- and their parents -- the freedom to decide if getting the HPV vaccine is a wise investment in their future health.
Michele Bachmann's HPV Vaccine Safety and 'Retardation ...
Pediatricians Fact-Check Bachmann's Bashing Of HPV Vaccine ...
Debunking Michele Bachmann's HPV Vaccine Anecdote -- Daily Intel
Michele Bachmann's HPV vaccine remarks continue to draw ...
Bachmann claims HPV vaccine might cause 'mental retardation ...
Bachmann: 'I have no idea' if HPV vaccine causes mental ...
Michele Bachmann, the HPV vaccine and the Republican landscape ...
Bachmann Hpv | Bachmann hammers Perry over 'crony capitalism ...
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/25/prominent-scientist-warns-of-hpv-vaccine-dangers.aspx
"Opposition to Efforts of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Regulate Nutritional Supplements
Testimony to FDA by Alyce Ortuzar, President
The Well Mind Association of Greater Washington
In 1949, Dr. Frederick Klenner documented his success at reversing polio, without any lingering paralysis or impairment, using high-dose intravenous Vitamin C. He continued to publish throughout the 1970s, treating measles, chickenpox, third-degree burns and advanced cases of pneumonia, using over 200 grams in a 24-hour period when needed. (A six-hour, 70 gram drip reversed my Lymes Disease.)
Klenner considered Vitamin C to be the safest, most effective antibiotic because of its anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-viral properties, and recommended it as treatment of choice in the emergency room if the doctor was not sure what was wrong with the patient. He was highly critical of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the FDA for ignoring his results, and for either recommending a dose too low to be effective, or for discrediting the treatment outright.
In the 1950s, psychiatrists Osmond and Hoffer published their double-blind studies, showing reversal of acute schizophrenia using high doses of Vitamins C, B3, and B6. Also in the 1950s, the Shute brothers documented use of Vitamin E to prevent and treat heart disease. Data indicated that intravenous magnesium could reduce deaths from heart attacks.etc"
http://www.medhelp.org/amshc/amshc800.htm
JAMA sept 3 1949 published a study by Dr Klenner he cured 68 i believe polio patients with high dose intravenous vitamin C;
a witness before FDA said he also cured hepatitus meningitus small pox pneumonia .....even cured Lyme disease with high dose [[[ i dont know the dose probably 30 grams ( emergency use ) the witness said she was cured of Lyme disease with a 70 gram drip over 6 hours]]]
so i am assuming that enough natural source vitamin C [ and antioxidents ] in the body prevents infection and therby prevents any cancer caused by a pathogen
pardon this overly Darwinian point.
learn Maharishi ayurveda e.g " seed and soil principle ", Panchakarma [[[ one doesnt expect a car engine to keep on humming along if no oil change or tuneup is done or wrong fuel used]]] .... clinical-ayurveda.org ..... absolutely the best prevention of infections
"Live virus vaccines against influenza and paralytic polio, for example, may in each instance cause the disease it is intended to prevent"
Dr Jonas Salk, developer of first polio vaccine (Science 4/4/77 Abstracts)
"Official data have shown that the large-scale vaccinations undertaken in the US have failed to obtain any significant improvement of the diseases against which they were supposed to provide protection."
Dr A. Sabin, developer of the Oral Polio vaccine (lecture to Italian doctors in Piacenza, Italy, Decemebr 7th 1985)
into or toward the zone characteristics of cancer and leukemia...Vaccines DO predispose to cancer and leukaemia."
Professor L.C. Vincent, Founder of Bioelectronics
"Laying aside the very real possibility that the various vaccines are
contaminated with animal viruses and may cause serious illness later in life (multiple sclerosis, cancer, leukaemia, etc) we must consider whether the vaccines really work for their intended purpose."
Dr W.C. Douglas (Cutting Edge, May 1990)
"Many here voice a silent view that the Salk and Sabin polio vaccine, being made of monkey kidney tissue has been directly responsible for the major increase in leukaemia in this country."
Dr F. Klenner, Polio Researcher, USA
Many other wise voices who have been trying to tell us but were stifled & ignored until now>>>
"DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS CONDEMN VACCINATION"
http://www.vaclib.org/sites/debate/web3.html
We haven't used OPV in this country for well over a decade. No one has gotten polio from IPV. They still use OPV in Africa, and occasionally people do acquire polio from the inoculation. But there are still fewer cases than amongst non-vaccinated people.
From the late 1940s to the time Salk developed an inactivated polio vaccine there was an average of over 35,000 cases of polio in the US. By 1965 there were only 61 cases.
and in early 50's , due to modern doctors fascination with Dr Salk and th epower of science , the need for vitamin C was ignored [ also colloidal silver which hadbeen used until penecillin was invented was being neglected etc ]
there's also the possibility that soldiers returning from badly undernourished postwar europe had brought the pathogen over causing maybe th e1948 epidemic during which Dr Klenner cured polio with high dose vitamin c intravenous
in Africa there is most likely a causal component from the aftermaths of coldwar/civil war and conflicts causing lack of nutrition and loss of local traditional knowledge for preventing infections
This whole C-SPAN video is quite shocking & revealing. It's amazing it didn't work miracles it should have, back then.
It will be very hard to watch the clip of the little autistic boy the congressman showed everyone. He said his own Grandson has the same affliction due to vaccine injury.
He tells all, including, the fact parents have no recourse because of the 3 year limit in claims, should your child become one of the unlucky many if you don't file in time.
The number of child victims he quotes of those harmed have risen quite alarmingly since then & are right in step with the increase in vaccines through the years.
Don't miss Dr. Karen Midthun from the FDA being drilled by Dan Burton. It will do your heart good for her discomfort & anger you at the same time.
When he asked her if she had paid attention to the doctors & scientists present & the study from Canada where it was revealed damage mercury causes to brain, her reaction was priceless. Not that it's just mercury we have to worry about, either.
She hung herself & the FDA when she dodged the question, "Do vaccine cause autism?", & went on to, well, you have to hear her answers for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id-gGYQihaM
Are there side effects? Of course. Are there serious side effects? Yes - but they are rare. The complications from the diseases they prevent are more prevalent and dangerous.
As far as never having read a vaccine insert - I've read them all and I still have no issue vaccinating. I understand the dose/response relationship and the toxicology of the compound(s) used. They are not toxic in the amounts used in the vaccines, by some orders of magnitude.
The evidence points to vaccines being the safer choice as opposed to contracting diseases which can spread throughout the population.
Doctors have been trained to blame media, saying there has been no increase. They say cancer & autism have always been prominent but we never noticed until media began reporting it. They also blame the rise in autism on better diagnosis but if that was so, we would have noticed these victims all around us, if they had actually been there all along.
We know this is a lie because we can see with our own eyes how widespread both cancer & autism have become.
We never saw such epidemics years back & the rise has been right in step with the increase in vaccinations through the years
We Are A Nation of Epidemics on a scale of such magnitude that it is unbelievable yet undeniable if properly investigated.
There's a wealth linking chronic methyl mercury, As, Cadmium, etc and other environmental exposures (DDT/DDE, PCB's BisphenolA, Phthalates) to cancer.
The amount of thimerosal present in vaccines is nowhere near a chronic exposure level.
Unfortunately, the studies that claim this "proof" are all designed by, funded by, interpreted by, and marketed by those who profit from the sale of these vaccines--the pharmaceutical industry. Those studies have been tweaked to come up with the outcomes desired by that industry.
Other studies, showing very different outcomes, do exist, but are effectively buried by the industry. According to the scientists I know, this is standard, not just in the pharmaceutical industry, but in all industries affecting health and/or environment: bury the studies whose outcomes don't benefit the company, and it's legal to do so because the company that funded the study OWNS the results. No scientist who runs an industry-funded study is allowed to publish the results independently.
We don't hear about the study (Annals of Epidemiology, August, 2009) of infant boys given Hepatitis B in the first month of life, who then have a threefold likelihood of an autism diagnosis later. Nor do we hear about the adult vaccine for Hep B Engerix B's association with the later development of MS (http://www.neurology.org/content/72/10/873.abstract).
See www.fourteenstudies.org for a case-by-case discussion of the flaws and financial conflictsof interest in the studies that purport to show vaccine safety.
It goes both ways.
How's that Wakefield monkey study going nowadays? That's right, it's been pulled from one journal due to shoddy design, methodology and general worthlessness. I hear it's been 'redesigned' *aka tweaked* and that Wakefield is now listed only as a helper - it's a shame that removing his name doesn't make the study any more worthy.
by Judicial Watch, Inc. on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 11:01am
Other Adverse Reactions Include: Seizures, Paralysis, Blindness, Pancreatitis, Speech Problems and Short Term Memory Loss
Contact Information:
Press Office 202-646-5172, ext 305
Washington, DC -- October 19, 2011
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has received new documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), detailing reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. The adverse reaction reports detail 26 new deaths reported between September 1, 2010 and September 15, 2011 as well as incidents of seizures, paralysis, blindness, pancreatitis, speech problems, short term memory loss and Guillain-Barré Syndrome. The documents come from the FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) which is used by the FDA to monitor the safety of vaccines. The documents were obtained pursuant to a September 15, 2011 FOIA request for reports made from September 1, 2010 through September 15, 2011.
I appreciate medicine and strong scientific support behind it. I also favor a healthy lifestyle, a good diet, moderate (or better) exercise. I consider the homeopathy pushers, the mercolas, the disease deniers and the "I can ward off viral and bacterial disease through transcendental meditation" believers dangerous. People avoid proven medical treatment out of fear and die from alternative therapy which may as well be no treatment at all, and it bothers me. Even Steve Jobs fell for that naturopathic garbage and now he's gone as a result.
In the same way the HPV vaccines, safe or otherwise, have not been proven to prevent cervical cancer. This will take years to evaluate. Some scientist fear that the vaccine may even CAUSE cancer. I'm afraid scientists and doctors cannot see into the future either. At present, a crystal ball is as good a method as any of predicting the efficacy of HPV vaccines in future cancer prevention.
And your Steve Jobs argument is ludicrous beyond belief... So vaccines and chemotherapy give us eternal life now? And when one dies following chemo? Who's fault is it then?
However, other factors can increase the likelihood that an HPV infection develops into cervical cancer:
Exposure while in the womb to a medication called diethylstilbestrol (DES), which was prescribed to many women to prevent miscarriage between 1938 and 1971.
Infection with chlamydia or herpes simplex virus type 2 (both different types of sexually transmitted diseases).
A first-degree relative (mother or sister) with a history of cervical cancer, which the International Journal of Cancer reports increases personal risk three-fold.
Conditions that weaken the body’s immune system, such as HIV/AIDS.
Smoking, which interferes with the body’s ability to fight off infection. [In fact, one study showed that smokers are 60 percent more likely to develop cervical cancer, and former smokers are 12 percent more likely.]
Low levels of folic acid (a type of Vitamin B).
There also are some data that suggest that long-term use of oral contraceptives (10 or more years) may increase the risk of some types of cervical cancer.
http://holistichealthinsider.com/gardasil-and-cervarix-one-more-girl
The pharmaceutical companies intentionally lie, both about their products, and about the people who have been harmed by them. (This is especially true of vaccines. ) They hire shills to post on forums, blogs, and news sites, pretending to be doctors, parents, people injured by "vaccine-preventable diseases," etc.
You didn't know this? Check out http://www.amazon.com/Whistleblower-Confessions-Healthcare-Hitman/dp/193336839X and http://www.gwenolsen.com/
Then there are those who believe every word the pharmaceutical companies say, and pass it on, believing, mistakenly, that they are helping.
It's rather like what we saw in the 1940s, with most West Coast Caucasians believing, as they were told, that every person of Japanese ancestry was out to get them, thanks to the government propaganda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment