Monday, July 27, 2009

Crazies, Quackery, and the Mis-Informed

First these are my personal beliefs and while my opinions are strong I do not mean them as a personal attack; simply an attack on an idea that I feel strongly about.

The topic of the medical profession has been discussed much in my family as of late. Things have been said that I strongly disagree with. For all that know me I am a shy fairly reserved person that does not like confrontation thus I choose to use this forum to state my opinion.

First, I believe in God. Second, I believe God gave us many things on this planet to help us in a variety of aspects in our lives. Third, among these things I believe that God place inspired men on this planet to use those other resources He gave us to better our lives. Finally, I believe that some of these men are doctors, professors, and scientist that have used their knowledge to create medicines and vaccines for the benefit of all mankind.

My children will be vaccinated. They will be taught that medicine and vaccinations are good for them when used properly. I will not allow anything or any person influence them any differently as long as I have the power to do so. I will NOT knowingly place my children in danger of catching a deadly disease based on unfounded one-sided propaganda. Furthermore, It is futile to try and convince me that hundreds of years of medical advances are false or government conspiracies so please don't waste your time with me. For the road here are some statistics and whatnot that I have found (I'm sure I can find much more):

JAMA and Archives Journals (2007, November 16) stated,

For eight diseases for which a vaccine was licensed or recommended prior to 1980, the comparison of the period before national vaccination recommendations vs. the 2006 number of reported cases shows greater than 99 percent declines in the number of cases for diphtheria (100 percent), measles (99.9 percent), paralytic poliomyelitis (100 percent), rubella (99.9 percent), congenital rubella syndrome (99.3 percent), and smallpox (100 percent). Smallpox has been eradicated worldwide, and endemic transmission of poliovirus, measles virus, and rubella virus has been eliminated in the United States. There were no reported deaths due to diphtheria, measles, mumps, paralytic poliomyelitis, or rubella; deaths due to congenital rubella syndrome are not reported. The decline in cases of mumps was 95.9 percent, of tetanus 92.9 percent, and of pertussis 92.2 percent. The decline in tetanus deaths was 99.2 percent and in pertussis deaths 99.3 percent.

Infectious Diseases Society of America (2009, February 1) stated,

An extensive new review summarizes the many studies refuting the claim of a link between vaccines and autism. The review, in the February 15, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online, looks at the three main hypotheses and shows how epidemiological and biological studies refute these claims.

Infectious Diseases Society of America (2009, February 1). Vaccines And Autism: Many Hypotheses, But No Correlation Found. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 27, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/01/090130093407.htm

JAMA and Archives Journals (2007, November 16). Number Of Cases Of Most Vaccine-preventable Diseases In US At All-time Low. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 27, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2007/11/071113165636.htm