Conspiracy theories are the stuff of dreams-and of best sellers and blockbuster movies-whether or not they have any validity or make any sense. When an alleged conspiracy touches on Big Money interests, such as pharmaceutical giants, it can be certain it will be roundly ridiculed, viciously attacked, and never make it to the silver screen.
Now, there are conspiracies and there are conspiracies. That JFK was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 23rd, 1963, that America landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, that terrorists attacked the WTC on September 11th, 2001, are all factual and verified events, notwithstanding the kooks out there who suggest otherwise and who still may get a contract to film their kookery.
Conspiracies suggesting that Marilyn Monroe was murdered by the Kennedys, that Jimmy Hoffa was buried in Giant Stadium, or that Britney Spears slept with all three of the Jonas Brothers may or may not be true but will never be proven one way or the other. At this point, who really cares?
One current, largely hushed "conspiracy," if in fact there are conspiratorial forces behind it, relates to a matter which should concern every parent, particularly new parents. Older moms and dads need not sweat it since their kids were the lucky ones, goes this vaccination theory/conspiracy.
Not being a pharmochological expert, and as someone whose kids survived the various vaccines they were administered by pediatricians and by law, I can't say that I have strong opinions or much knowledge on the matter. However, after reading a brief but pretty scary account of the vaccination theory/conspiracy, I must admit to serious concerns for my grandchildren.
While snooping around in my chiropractor son-in-law's Boston office, I happened to come across a thin volume set out for patient perusal, Childhood Vaccination: Questions All Parents Should Ask, by Tedd Koren, D.C.
The effectiveness of chiropractic treatment is still dismissed by some despite being in existence for well over a hundred years. Its chief detractors are the AMA and anyone who has not had the experience of a chiropractic adjustment at the hands of a skilled practitioner.
Trust me, it's effectiveness in relieving pain caused by musculoskeletal disorders by far supasses pill-pushing AMA medicine men and women, unless the patient prefers drugs with a mind-numbing load of side effects to cloak rather than alleviate that pain.
If you haven't had a chiropractic adjustment, just go sit in a corner, pop an oxycontin, and be patient til the next spasm occurs.
Dr. Koren maintains a website (* see below) but it's not my intent to do his advertising. If he's simply touting the benefits of chiropractic treatment over more traditional medicine, then I concede he does some great touting.
My intent is to outline some of his ideas as expressed in Childhood Vaccinations. Many of those well-researched ideas will be chilling to new parents.
And, lest the reader believes Koren is a lone Don Quixote bent on a one-man crusade to expose the dangers of vaccines, do see http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56090. It was there I discovered the existence of a little-known federal program "set up years ago to pay for the care of just vaccine-injured Americans."
Examples under Koren's "Answers to Questions" chapter often are, "We don't know." We don't know whether vaccinated kids are healthier, whether vaccines can cause cancer or fertility problems, whether vaccines can damage or kill kids. The research and perhaps the conspiracy is still in progress.
Other research Koren provides is fairly conclusive. For example:
. "Do vaccines cause SIDS?" One expert estimates that at least 2/3rds of crib deaths are vaccine related; one 1985 Australian study found that "most commonly the child had died after DPT injection." (p.21)
. "What about polio?" Polio diagnoses have greatly diminished, due to "statistical manipulation;" in one community, polio diagnoses plunged from 273 to 3 over eleven years, 1955-1966, while viral or asceptic memingitis soared from 50 to 312 in the same time period. The suggestion is that polio was being called meningitis. (p. 26)
. "Are the ingredients in vaccines safe?" Those ingredients include the most toxic element in nature as well as aluminum, antifreeze, formaldehyde, disinfectants, and preservatives. (p. 31)
. "Is there a conflict of interest in vaccine policy decisions?" A number of members "of the FDA and the CDC advisory committees . . . own stock in drug companies that make vaccines," three of five advisors to the FDA "had conflicts of interest that were waived," and the CDC grants such waivers annually." (p. 35)
What especially struck me was Koren's reference to autism and attention deficit/ hyperactivity behavioral disorders which seem to have become virtual pandemics in recent decades. Whether due to hyperactive misdiagnoses or to vaccinations is a question meriting significant and objective investigation.
The above is merely a very cursory review of Koren's booklet and is not intended to be exhaustive. Other sections explore "Post-Encephalitic Syndrome" ("Nearly every childhood vaccine is known to cause [at least a mild form] of encephalitis;"), "Legal Issues" (philosophical and religious exemptions from forced vaccination), and various appendices, (including information on childhood cancers and the carcinogenic potential of vaccines.)
So, if all or if any of this is true about vaccinations, why do we get our kids vaccinated some 46 times before they reach the age of four? Just for the jollies? Just to hear a baby or toddler scream? Just to feel good about ourselves? Just to feel we've done the "right thing?"
I'm guessing that the self-satisfaction that comes with doing what virtually everyone else is doing and complying with the law is a major factor.
I'm not about to pass judgement on the long-term efficacy of vaccinations. Judging medical care from the vantage point of ignorance isn't usually the best policy, even if it is common among medical professionals.
What I can judge is that Childhood Vaccination: Questions All Parents Should Ask is well-worth a read. Don't even buy it. Borrow it from your local chiropractor, as I did.
Unless and until the horrors of vaccinations are proven, I'd still endorse them. When my chiropractor son-in-law and my daughter have babies, I just may be on their doorstep advocating vaccinations. I don't want my grandkids to suffer though the pains and risks of diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, polio, or tetanus no matter what Dr. Koren says.
Then again, I could be terribly, and dangerously, wrong. Until and unless parents start demanding some answers to the questions and issues Koren poses, it's a crapshoot with the health and well-being of America's children at stake.
Dr. Koren's website: http://www.teddkorenseminars.com/
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