Yet to me, taking the vaccine is the “easy way out,” avoiding the risk of contracting a (hardly ever deadly with proper care) flu virus that will in the end help to strengthen the immune system. I ignore the autism link as mostly nonsense, but other studies have shown that children and adults who forgo the yearly flu vaccine end up being able to withstand much more problematic health issues later in life, precisely because their bodies have had to learn how to combat these problems using its own resources. For the same reason, I shy away from soaps and the overuse of antibacterial products that claim to kill “99.9% of germs” – the bacteria that are left to multiply end up being much stronger, and the immune system isolated from regular contact with milder forms of illness and germs is weaker and less able to cope. This is, really, the whole idea behind vaccines, but when vaccines themselves become a crutch for the immune system (taken on a yearly basis or even more frequently) instead of a prod to get it moving, we’ve taken a wise solution and pushed it to an unhealthy extreme. The data you cite could just as easily be an indication that populations relying too heavily on vaccines are more likely to suffer a backlash in increased illness when their use goes back down, in the same way a drug addict can experience withdrawal. (I’m not saying this is true, just that it’s an alternative interpretation that fits with the other evidence about the effect of vaccine over-use we have from other studies.)

Gus, nice column.
While I share many of your concerns, there’s one thing you may be missing. It could be that the notion that there is an “epidemic of autism” itself is offbase (as the notion that such an epidemic is caused by vaccines is not only offbase, but dangerous to public health, as the current California whooping-cough epidemic demonstrates). I say this having written one of the first articles that called attention to the apparent rise in autism numbers 10 years ago, “The Geek Syndrome” (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html).
My current thinking is that changing diagnostic criteria, and an enormous upsurge in public awareness about autism – with more specialists entering the field – may be responsible for much of the apparent rise.
That may be not as emotionally cathartic as declaring that something is “fundamentally amiss” with our society, but it may be more true to our complex genetic destiny. Just food for thought.

Ali? Whooping cough and flu vaccine are two totally different situations.
Babies die of whooping cough. And if they didn’t/don’t, it’s torture. It was something every parent feared. Herd immunity had virtually eliminated this as a problem. Even w/ vaccination, newborns aren’t protected immediately. They need us to all be not carrying the virus.
CA is currently dealing w/a serious problem of many parents not vaccinating their children. The # have gotten high enough that the CA Health Dept has declared an issue. There are school districts where I live where over 40% of the children are not vaccinated.
Babies are dying once again of whooping cough here in CA. Not a huge #….but way more than happened before.
This isn’t the same as soap and the flu vaccine.

Evolution is dynamic. Organisms are ruthlessly opportunistic. It may be that conditions besides simple failure to vaccinate sufficient populations of young children contribute to the renewed outbreaks of pertussis in California and elsewhere. Evolving resistance to vaccines on the part of the disease-causing bacteria, for example. An ongoing reservoir of potential infection in the adult population. And such.
Make no mistake. I am firmly convinced that vaccination is pretty much essential. Like you, Gus, I remember my early childhood in the grip of epidemic polio, and the release of that grip following several mass vaccination campaigns. It’s manifestly better not to have that disease at large.
Public health is one of those endeavors that operates on populations and gains in effectiveness only when large percentages of populations
are immunized or safeguarded from potential diseases. Individual choice based on political or religious or other ideologies may undermine the population-based goals of public health.
Nonetheless, I don’t care for compulsory participation for the public health good.
And then there’s always the uncertainty around corporations that actually produce vaccines. One hates to suspect that they might at times favor money over good production practices and the like. But it has happened.
So far as I know, there in no Pagan position on vaccination.

Hi Gus:
I want to comment on your point about societies being unable to learn from their past, even their very recent past. A current example is the mainstream media being incapable of learning from their egregious “reporting” in the lead-up to the U.S. unwarranted attack on Iraq.
I think a large part of this resembles a natural tendency to resist looking at one’s behavior when that behavior is questionable. This is one of the reasons why there is a specialization designed to assist individuals in examining that kind of behavior; psychology. It is difficult for people to own up to past mistakes, to when they have behaved in a small-minded or even repellent ways. Our tendency is to justify the behavior through more or less elaborate story-telling that puts us in a better light than would otherwise be the case.
I think that collectives behave similarly, collectives such as nations or professions. But there is no profession that specializes in getting collectives to look at their past mistakes and no mechanism whereby collectives take the time to do so. Instead, just like individuals, collectives tend to reconfigure what happened by elaborating a story that makes the collective, such as a nation, look better than objective history would conclude. Every nation does this unless forced by circumstances to take the time to introspect on a collective level (the only example I can think of is Germany afte W.W. II). I consider this to be a serious problem for this evasiveness condemns each generation to a falsified history from which it is impossible to learn.
Best wishes,
Jim

Neo-Pagans are in a tough spot regarding immunizations. Of course they want their children to be safe and they want to be safe themselves, but the vaccines just weren’t available in the Pagan halcyon days. Plus, the vaccines, created by big pharma in huge sterile labs just aren’t “natural”. I cringe when I see neo-Pagans driving SUVs, drinking out of plastic water bottles and buying large sub-division homes in the country because, as they say: “I just couldn’t possibly live in the city.”

“Big pharma” also creates many of the vitamins we take to stay healthy. And every drug – even those as simple as aspirin.
I realize that man-made vaccines are not “natural”. However, natural does not always indicate safe. Smallpox is quite natural, along with a host of other diseases. So are rattlesnakes, many plants, arsenic and even lead and uranium. I worship Nature but respect that there are TWO sides to Her. Nature is not all positive and friendly and sometimes we need to use our intelligence and the advances that science has made to protect ourselves. Or else be content to die a very natural, but perhaps untimely, death.
Vaccines can prevent deadly diseases in ourselves and in our beloved companion animals. In the early 1960′s I was vaccinated for polio, smallpox and a host of other childhood diseases. Every 10 years I get a booster tetanus shot. If a disease poses a possible threat to me and there’s a vaccine available, I get it. That includes the H1N1 vaccine.
I’m not trying to make a decision for anyone; it’s one that each person needs to make for themselves. But I would encourage everyone to discuss any questions you have about vaccines with a trusted physician before making that decision.

Steve- Thanks for the inisght. I hope you are right. One of my good friends had an autistic child, and while she has successfully raised him, and in the process assisted thousands of other parents with autistic children in California, hers has been an exhausting life far different than the one she imagined.
I hope there is no genuine increase in the disorder.

Jim-
You raise an issue of great interest to me: that societies can become as sick as people. I first came across the idea when I read Stepehen Toulmin’s Cosmopolis, which argued in part that Western modernity was grievously distorted by the carnage of the Thirty Years War and similar religious conflicts, and has never recovered.
Then as I studied the American South, where I was born and have family, I saw a similar kind of distortion extending to the Civi War. The South never confronted that it fought explicitly FOR slavery, and made up all kinds of false reasons (tariff, states’ rights, etc) It romanticized a civilization based on enormous suffering and degradation that was gradually increasing its oppression of even free whites. Because of this dishonesty we have a romanticized Dixie and the political poison it spreads throughout this country.
Japan, unlike Germany, has never confronted its crimes during WWII. The “Rape of Nanking” was the most spectacular, but there were many. And this collective dishonesty continues to poison Japanese society.
Germany is a spectacular example of what can happen when a society confronts its demons. Our own country to a (little) degree is beginning to do this with respect to Indians. But only a little. And the cowardice of the Obama administration suggests that we are as bad as the South or Japan regarding the brutal crimes committed in our name by criminals in the previous administration, from the top down.
I believe it will bear very poisonous fruit in the future.

Steve is mostly correct. Much of the rise in Autism is related to increases in public awareness and a widening of diagnostic criteria. However, there is also reason to believe that it may be on the rise as well. Studies have suggested that paternal age is the most highly correlated with incidence of autism. It is nearly five times more prevalent in children whose father was over 40 when they were conceived compared to the children of fathers in their teens or twenties. Therefore, the fact that people are choosing to wait to have children may be contributing to the possible rise in the condition. As someone who has waited until well into her thirties to have children, I am highly sympathetic to others wanting to wait for kids. Makes me wonder though….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400513.html

Homeopathic Remedies have the ability to more permanently address these problems for children because the properly chosen remedy can affect the overall immunity of the child. Homeopathy is a far better choice for children’s health!

Hi All,
I do have an autistic son, and do believe that the vaccines may have caused his autism, however I am greatful for the information. I have been told that in my son’s case, it may have been caused by genetics, as there are many neurological disorders in my family such as epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, parkinson’s disease, and many more. With Jacob, we have found that speach therapy helped a little, social therapy is helping some, but not too much, we do not medicate him. We have chosen to vacinate our children since Jacob’s diagnosis of autism, we have had to deal with scarlet fever with the baby, and whooping cough with Jacob before we quit vaccinating the kids. I have asthma and COPD, and have been told I need to be vaccinated every year for the flu, but I refuse to, I do use natural remedies for colds, flu, and other common conditions, these do seem to work.
I also believe our society has alot to do with the rise of autism and many other previously unheard of diseases. I believe if we educate ourselves, we could start to get to the bottom of them, and possibly find cures.
Jesse Ventura was on the Helen Hunt show this morning talking about his conspiricy theories book, He made many great points. I need to say I rarely ever watch her show, but I have met Jesse Ventura before he was Governer of MN, and he is a very honset man. I believe him when he says our govenment needs to be questioned.
Blessings All

mouseytalons, I don’t trust Jesse Ventura, mostly because he supported Ron Paul. I look at not just what a person says, or does – but who they hang out with. Maybe I’m misjudging him, but something about him just warns me away.
Anyway, I also wanted to say that I’m sorry that you’re facing all of those health battles for yourself and your child. More power to you.

I, too, have two children on the Autism Spectrum. One higher functioning than the other. I believe vaccines are a factor in Autism, as well as the toxicity of the environment. Think of all the coal-powered plants, steel and metal factories, polluting our drinking water. If they are finding traces of antibiotics and drugs in the drinking water, then they aren’t able to filter out all the heavy metals either. Add that along with the heavy metals that are still in trace amounts in the vaccines with all the other ingredients that are in vaccines. Some children are highly sensitive to the protein in the cows’ milk, they aren’t able to digest it, which proves that their system is compromised and that we aren’t breast feeding our children? We mix up the ‘formula’, where does that come from? China? Are we able to investigate every product with minute’ detail that comes imported? I, was told a day after my daughter was born that I needed the German Measles vaccine, and got it. A week later I had German measles. I was told to NOT breastfeed my child before getting the vaccine, so what makes Drs. feel comfortable giving newborns the HEP B vaccine on their very first day of life. Have they been able to test if they have Mitochondrial disease before injecting? This has an affect on whether or not they are “ready” to receive it. This based on the case of Hannah Polling (sp). Are they really delving into the Allergies that the family may have? Or that other members in the family have Autoimmune disorders? All these should be TRUE Warning signs that the infants’ system isn’t ready to receive the vaccine. Let’s look at the timing of the vaccine schedule~and how many? Also monitor diet~preservatives, dyes, the process and machinery in which the prepared foods are made. With both parents working, it’s too convenient not to be tempted to grab and go. Even as an adult, if our immune system is run down, we still may not be able to tolerate vaccines. I received a flu vaccine through my work and I got the flu. 2 Years later, I got Cancer. I, now am off work, able to take time to prepare meals from scratch, eliminating alot of the “hot” ingredients that make my kids sensitive or prone to upsetting their systems. Alot of those foods cause inflammation which activitates the immune response and the body starts attacking itself. It’s a vicious cycle that we put our kids through because we haven’t had the time to dedicate to keeping our environment in balance, meaning our own bodies, the environment which holds the microflora that helps to fight off all the diseases that we could experience on this planet. We have really thrown ourselves off! We are chasing the wrong successes!

Hey Cheryl! I actually voted for Ron Paul in 2008 (due to my Libertarian leanings for a while) and he delivered my sister in 1973. My family knew him in the 70s and I think he’s at least a moral & upright guy. He’s from the place in Texas I grew up in, and I certainly trust Ron Paul as a human being. I no longer trust Obama, though I liked him as a person initially. I don’t know why Oprah won’t retract her support for him now that it’s obvious he lied to us all. Anyway, the problem with Ron Paul, like my dad says, is he promotes 19th century Austrian economic dogma, and when his son, Rand, came on the scene recently they really came off as uncaring & quite dismissive of other people & of the reality of economics in general today. So I wouldn’t vote for Ron Paul again (lesson learned!) I really think this posting by Gus is sobering & really good & to the point. I visited Oak Alley, an old plantation in Louisiana just outside of New Orleans & hearing the stories of the former owners, it brought home the point all too well: tons of children died in the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s from easily preventable things. Just looking at the geneaology logs is an exercise in depression over all the lives lost. Thanks Gus for the reminder!

I have an Autistic son, now 40. He lives independently in his own apartment in a nearby city. He’s on a permanent disability pension for which he does a certain amount of public service. (Part of that social network about which you Americans are so confused)
I noticed signs of ‘different ‘almost from birth. He didn’t like to be held, didn’t like his bath, and other little things. This was well before he started getting vaccinations. He didn’t talk with any real coherence until he learned to read at approximately 8 years old. He also learned to read music at the same time; it was simply a matter of connecting the sounds to the shapes. He is hyper sensitive to sounds. He is very bright. At 40, he has the social sophistication of a 15 year old.
I’ve wandered through more hospital and clinic corridors than I care to remember. This was before all the present hype. I noticed cheap red jams and jelly rolls seemed to send him bouncing off the walls a bit and discontinued those foods; long before Red dye 2 became acknowledged as a major culprit.
For the record, I do not believe vaccinations are the culprit. Scapegoat, yes, culprit no. We forget the purpose of vaccinations. They are not a universal, guaranteed preventative and were never intended to be such. They were/are intended to mitigate the more serious effects of the particular disease for which it was developed. They were intended to assist our bodies to fight whatever disease provided the basis of the serum and thereby either at best, come through unscathed or at worst, have us fighting off a much reduced case . We have come to expect it to be a cure all. It’s not.
We love to play the blame game. We feel better when we can point a finger. IMO, vaccinations are getting a bum rap.