At first I wasn't going to write this post since I believe that a film that appears to be (at least in part) based on thoroughly discredited, fear-mongering nonsense should get as little attention as possible.
Then after browsing several anti-vaccine and conspiracist websites I found as I suspected, that this has already exploded and whatever I write here won't make matters any worse.
The film 'Vaxxed' is directed by Mr Andrew Wakefield, a former physician who lost his medical license after research that he had authored, was found fraudulent (containing as I understand it, both methodological and ethical flaws).
Just watching the trailer for this film elevated my BP into dangerous territory. How is it that this man keeps promoting the same debunked data to this day? Hasn't it caused enough harm already?
It seems that anti-vaccine proponents span the entire spectrum from sadly misinformed to clearly unhinged. However, no matter what their individual motivation happens to be, they are in my opinion dangerous. We have fought a hard battle against diseases that today are vaccine-preventable. Millions of children have died in the past and some still do, to this day. We don't see much of it in first-world countries due to the success of vaccines. Anti-vaccine proponents seem to believe that the "olden days" were better. I think it's deeply worrisome.
In my escapades around the internet, I've found all sorts of scary blogs, clips and opinions relating to childhood vaccines.
This YouTube clip rather amusingly (in a sad way) has 90 likes and zero (!) dislikes (probably because no rational person would even click on it in the first place). (I'm not sure what this says about me)
Anyway this women thinks that nagalese (an enzyme) is added on purpose to vaccines in order to induce autism, cancer and type 2 diabetes in vaccine recipients. And the doctors who discovered this were subsequently murdered to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
(It seems that alpha-N-acetylgalactoseaminidase (referred to as nagalese in the YouTube clip) can deglycosylate vitamin D binding protein (DBP) and DBP plays a role in the immune cascade response. So it seems that alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase can interfere with the immune response. While some cancer cells can release alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase, I've found no proof that injecting them into humans induces cancers, never mind autism and DMII. I will however admit that I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time researching her theory).
I admit that this last video is a bit extreme. But this woman and other "anti-vaxxers" have one thing on common. They are willing to accept something as true, even when there is no supporting evidence available.
Serious questions:
* Why are some people so vulnerable/susceptible to flawed logic and poor research?
* What can we as nurses/healthcare professionals do to ensure that our patients base their decisions on sound evidence-based facts or at least have the opportunity to do so? Or should we just reconcile ourselves with the fact that a portion of the population will base their decisions on questionable or outright false information, misconceptions and fear?
Medical science is ever evolving, so of course, new studies contradict old ones, because the idea is to always improve medical care of everyone in the world. HIV was once thought to be a primarily male homosexual disease until cases started showing up in females, intravenous drug users, and hemophiliacs. They eventually found that it is transmitted through bodily fluids and can be transmitted to anyone who comes into fluid to fluid contact with an infected person. While there is no cure yet, but thanks to medical science (you know the same people who developed vaccines) people with HIV can live longer lives thanks to drug therapies. There is hope that one day that vaccine will be developed to help halt the pandemic and I hope they do, because I once knew someone effected by HIV and died from HIV related complication and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. But keep saying vaccines are evil.
I actually made that exact same point as you can see in the quote above... however, I would also like to add that when studies debunk the same theory over and over and over and over... at some point you have to accept that the theory is untrue. I have two individuals in my family with ASD... one received the MMR vaccine with thimerosal and one recieved the MMR vaccine without. Both still developed ASD. In fact, the one who received the MMR vaccine without thimerosal has a more advanced form of ASD then the one who received the one with. Thimerosal is the ingredient that Andrew Wakefield claimed caused autism. Why pray tell did my nephew develop autism if there was no thimerosal in any of the vaccines he received? Why is his ASD worse then his uncle's who has an extremely MILD form of Asperger's? Every anti vaxxer says it causes ASD.
Opinion on a movie or literature (subjective) is not the same as researching scientific studies (as objective as one can get, with the knowledge we have- which also brings into account your HIV argument. We now know what we didn't know.)
There has been NOTHING pointing to a link between autism and vaccines, and it has been debunked time and time again. We know what we do not know about autism, which is what causes it, but vaccines do not.
And Batman vs. Superman sucked. Unfortunately, not hearsay.
Am I the only one that see's this as a cash grab for Wakefield? I'm sure its hard to find a decent job for physicians stripped of a medical license due to fraud, let alone keep up that quality of living.
Am I the only one that see's this as a cash grab for Wakefield? I'm sure its hard to find a decent job for physicians stripped of a medical license due to fraud, let alone keep up that quality of living.
Here is another fact that is related to the issue of vaccines, and that is phthalates.
Phthalates (phthalate esters) are esters of phthalic acid and are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity). Phthalates are manufactured by reacting phthalic anhydride with alcohol(s) that range from methanol and ethanol (C1/C2) up to tridecyl alcohol (C13), either as a straight chain or with some branching.
Phthalates are used to make plastic IV tubes, catheters, and in other medical devices. (Source: The Washington Post) The Food and Drug Administration recommended reducing exposure to phthalates in medical devices as long ago as 2002.
"We found a clear match between previously hospitalized children's long-term neurocognitive test results and their individual exposure to the phthalate DEHP during intensive care," lead researcher Soren Verstraete, from Leuven, Belgium, told the Endocrine Society.
Four years later, the once-critically ill children underwent neurocognitive tests. Adjusting for other risk factors, the scientists found a strong association between high exposure to phthalates and development of attention deficit disorder. The research was repeated with an additional group of more than 200 pediatric ICU patients, and the findings were similar.
The chemicals are known to disrupt hormones and have been implicated in everything from asthma to autism.†(Source: The Washington Post)
Maybe it is NOT the vaccine, but the method of delivery?
This should also shine a new light on the anti-vax crowd: They see a link between autism and healthcare, they just may have been looking in the wrong place.
Hopefully I do not have to explain the connection between phthalates and the anti vax movement, but I will touch upon it. First off, these people have made a connection between healthcare and autism, one that most healthcare providers DENIED existed. Because of that denial, there was no search for the causes of autism related to healthcare (until now).
The other issue is that of trust. Common sense tells one if a substance is so toxic that it is banned in children's toys, is should NOT be used in IV tubes, catheters, and in other medical devices.
…but yet here we are.
So why would anyone expect the public to trust a profession that says, trust me, vaccines are safe (disclaimers and pamphlets to follow), when they are administered via toxic means?
It is integrity… If you expect credibility you need integrity. To have integrity, that means that you need consistency across your entire profession. This should be self evident.
Opinion on a movie or literature (subjective) is not the same as researching scientific studies (as objective as one can get, with the knowledge we have- which also brings into account your HIV argument. We now know what we didn't know.)
There has been NOTHING pointing to a link between autism and vaccines, and it has been debunked time and time again. We know what we do not know about autism, which is what causes it, but vaccines do not.
And Batman vs. Superman sucked. Unfortunately, not hearsay.
My whole point was on hearsay. Anything one says about the movie having NOT viewed it IS hearsay.
I actually made that exact same point as you can see in the quote above... however, I would also like to add that when studies debunk the same theory over and over and over and over... at some point you have to accept that the theory is untrue. I have two individuals in my family with ASD... one received the MMR vaccine with thimerosal and one recieved the MMR vaccine without. Both still developed ASD. In fact, the one who received the MMR vaccine without thimerosal has a more advanced form of ASD then the one who received the one with. Thimerosal is the ingredient that Andrew Wakefield claimed caused autism. Why pray tell did my nephew develop autism if there was no thimerosal in any of the vaccines he received? Why is his ASD worse then his uncle's who has an extremely MILD form of Asperger's? Every anti vaxxer says it causes ASD.
I did see that and I guess that is why that analogy was fresh in my mind. Thank you.
As for family members with ASD, see my post on phthalates above. Maybe there is something here for them depending on the onset and their Hx (with plastics).
Here is another fact that is related to the issue of vaccines, and that is phthalates.
Phthalates (phthalate esters) are esters of phthalic acid and are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity). Phthalates are manufactured by reacting phthalic anhydride with alcohol(s) that range from methanol and ethanol (C1/C2) up to tridecyl alcohol (C13), either as a straight chain or with some branching.
Phthalates are used to make plastic IV tubes, catheters, and in other medical devices. (Source: The Washington Post) The Food and Drug Administration recommended reducing exposure to phthalates in medical devices as long ago as 2002.
Maybe it is NOT the vaccine, but the method of delivery?
This should also shine a new light on the anti-vax crowd: They see a link between autism and healthcare, they just may have been looking in the wrong place.
Hopefully I do not have to explain the connection between phthalates and the anti vax movement, but I will touch upon it. First off, these people have made a connection between healthcare and autism, one that most healthcare providers DENIED existed. Because of that denial, there was no search for the causes of autism related to healthcare (until now).
The other issue is that of trust. Common sense tells one if a substance is so toxic that it is banned in children's toys, is should NOT be used in IV tubes, catheters, and in other medical devices.
…but yet here we are.
So why would anyone expect the public to trust a profession that says, trust me, vaccines are safe (disclaimers and pamphlets to follow), when they are administered via toxic means?
It is integrity… If you expect credibility you need integrity. To have integrity, that means that you need consistency across your entire profession. This should be self evident.
If you want to suppose that maybe it's not the vaccines themselves causing autism, it's the phthalates, then how come all the studies that have been done looking for links between vaccines (administered via syringes containing phthalates) and autism haven't found any connection? If your theory is correct, that it's not the vaccine itself, but the syringe containing the vaccine, that is the problem, wouldn't the research results show a connection?
Maybe it is NOT the vaccine, but the method of delivery?
This would be a potential question if there was any type of legitimate study that has demonstrated any causal link between vaccines and autism. There are no such studies.
Phthalates are a common occurring substance found it large quantities in the air and in food. There are preliminary studies examining their role in the environmental triggers of ASD. There is no causal link established, and certainly no studies that have evaluated the trace exposure from vaccines compared to other major sources.
There was a paper in Nature about this a few years back I will have to find the actual study.
First off, these people have made a connection between healthcare and autism, one that most healthcare providers DENIED existed. Because of that denial, there was no search for the causes of autism related to healthcare (until now).
Of course there is a connection between healthcare and autism, how else would the diagnosis be made?
Can you please further explain the connection between health care and autism? I'm not clear on that, unless it's just another way of saying that vaccines cause autism.
As far as choice as concerned, I believe people should have choices about most things. We don't get to choose about taking a test to get our drivers license. Why? Because it's a public safety issue. I feel the same way about vaccines-they help protect public safety. If you don't want to have vaccines, then you lose some privileges-public schooling, for one. No one is forcing anyone to be vaccinated, but be prepared to deal with the ramifications if you choose not to. Don't whine that you're being excluded from something. You can't have it both ways.
I If your theory is correct, that it's not the vaccine itself, but the syringe containing the vaccine, that is the problem, wouldn't the research results show a connection?
Yes, they would. If "vaccines" are causing autism, whether it's the antigen itself, the other ingredients, or the delivery system, this would have been evident in the studies which try to find any kind of link between vaccines and autism. The studies have found no such link.
)
to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
cherryelle07
105 Posts
I actually made that exact same point as you can see in the quote above... however, I would also like to add that when studies debunk the same theory over and over and over and over... at some point you have to accept that the theory is untrue. I have two individuals in my family with ASD... one received the MMR vaccine with thimerosal and one recieved the MMR vaccine without. Both still developed ASD. In fact, the one who received the MMR vaccine without thimerosal has a more advanced form of ASD then the one who received the one with. Thimerosal is the ingredient that Andrew Wakefield claimed caused autism. Why pray tell did my nephew develop autism if there was no thimerosal in any of the vaccines he received? Why is his ASD worse then his uncle's who has an extremely MILD form of Asperger's? Every anti vaxxer says it causes ASD.