May 1, 2011
TO VACCINATE OR NOT TO VACCINATE, THAT'S THE QUESTION!!
Dr Jean Dodds: "Many veterinarians trace the present problems with
allergic and immunologic diseases to the introduction of MLV vaccines…"
(9)
Christina Chambreau, DVM: "Routine vaccinations are probably the worst
thing that we do for our animals. They cause all types of illnesses, but
not directly to where we would relate them definitely to be caused by
the vaccine." (10)
Martin Goldstein, DVM: "I think that vaccines…are leading killers of dogs and cats in America today."
Dr Charles E. Loops, DVM: "Homoeopathic veterinarians and other holistic
practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more
harm than they provide benefits." (12)
Mike Kohn, DVM: "In response to this [vaccine] violation, there have
been increased autoimmune diseases (allergies being one component),
epilepsy, neoplasia [tumors], as well as behavioral problems in small
animals." (13)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Purdue Vaccination Studies and Auto-antibodies by Catherine O'Driscoll on April 26, 2011
A team at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine conducted
several studies (1,2) to determine if vaccines can cause changes in the
immune system of dogs that might lead to life-threatening
immune-mediated diseases. They obviously conducted this research because
concern already existed. It was sponsored by the Haywood Foundation
which itself was looking for evidence that such changes in the human
immune system might also be vaccine induced. It found the evidence.
The vaccinated, but not the non-vaccinated, dogs in the Purdue studies
developed autoantibodies to many of their own biochemicals, including
fibronectin, laminin, DNA, albumin, cytochrome C, cardiolipin and
collagen.
This means that the vaccinated dogs — "but not the non-vaccinated dogs"–
were attacking their own fibronectin, which is involved in tissue
repair, cell multiplication and growth, and differentiation between
tissues and organs in a living organism.
The vaccinated Purdue dogs also developed autoantibodies to laminin,
which is involved in many cellular activities including the adhesion,
spreading, differentiation, proliferation and movement of cells.
Vaccines thus appear to be capable of removing the natural intelligence
of cells.
Autoantibodies to cardiolipin are frequently found in patients with the
serious disease systemic lupus erythematosus and also in individuals
with other autoimmune diseases. The presence of elevated
anti-cardiolipin antibodies is significantly associated with clots
within the heart or blood vessels, in poor blood clotting, haemorrhage,
bleeding into the skin, foetal loss and neurological conditions.
The Purdue studies also found that vaccinated dogs were developing
autoantibodies to their own collagen. About one quarter of all the
protein in the body is collagen. Collagen provides structure to our
bodies, protecting and supporting the softer tissues and connecting them
with the skeleton. It is no wonder that Canine Health Concern's 1997
study of 4,000 dogs showed a high number of dogs developing mobility
problems shortly after they were vaccinated (noted in my 1997 book, What
Vets Don't Tell You About Vaccines).
Perhaps most worryingly, the Purdue studies found that the vaccinated
dogs had developed auto-antibodies to their own DNA. Did the alarm bells
sound? Did the scientific community call a halt to the vaccination
program? No. Instead, they stuck their fingers in the air, saying more
research is needed to ascertain whether vaccines can cause genetic
damage. Meanwhile, the study dogs were found good homes, but no
long-term follow-up has been conducted. At around the same time, the
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Vaccine-Associated Feline
Sarcoma Task Force initiated several studies to find out why 160,000
cats each year in the USA develop terminal cancer at their vaccine
injection sites.(3) The fact that cats can get vaccine-induced cancer
has been acknowledged by veterinary bodies around the world, and even
the British Government acknowledged it through its Working Group charged
with the task of looking into canine and feline vaccines(4) following
pressure from Canine Health Concern. What do you imagine was the advice
of the AVMA Task Force, veterinary bodies and governments? "Carry on
vaccinating until we find out why vaccines are killing cats, and which
cats are most likely to die."
In America, in an attempt to mitigate the problem, they're vaccinating
cats in the tail or leg so they can amputate when cancer appears. Great
advice if it's not your cat amongst the hundreds of thousands on the
"oops" list.
But other species are okay – right? Wrong. In August 2003, the Journal
of Veterinary Medicine carried an Italian study which showed that dogs
also develop vaccine-induced cancers at their injection sites.(5) We
already know that vaccine-site cancer is a possible sequel to human
vaccines, too, since the Salk polio vaccine was said to carry a monkey
retrovirus (from cultivating the vaccine on monkey organs) that produces
inheritable cancer. The monkey retrovirus SV40 keeps turning up in
human cancer sites.
It is also widely acknowledged that vaccines can cause a fast-acting,
usually fatal, disease called autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA).
Without treatment, and frequently with treatment, individuals can die in
agony within a matter of days. Merck, itself a multinational vaccine
manufacturer, states in The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy that
autoimmune haemolytic anaemia may be caused by modified live-virus
vaccines, as do Tizard's Veterinary Immunology (4th edition) and the
Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.(6) The British Government's
Working Group, despite being staffed by vaccine-industry consultants who
say they are independent, also acknowledged this fact. However, no one
warns the pet owners before their animals are subjected to an
unnecessary booster, and very few owners are told why after their pets
die of AIHA.
A Wide Range of Vaccine-induced Diseases
We also found some worrying correlations between vaccine events and the
onset of arthritis in our 1997 survey. Our concerns were compounded by
research in the human field.
The New England Journal of Medicine, for example, reported that it is
possible to isolate the rubella virus from affected joints in children
vaccinated against rubella. It also told of the isolation of viruses
from the peripheral blood of women with prolonged arthritis following
vaccination.(7)
Then, in 2000, CHC's findings were confirmed by research which showed
that poly arthritis and other diseases like amyloidosis, which affects
organs in dogs, were linked to the combined vaccine given to dogs.(8)
There is a huge body of research, despite the paucity of funding from
the vaccine industry, to confirm that vaccines can cause a wide range of
brain and central nervous system damage. Merck itself states in its
Manual that vaccines (i.e., its own products) can cause encephalitis:
brain inflammation/damage. In some cases, encephalitis involves lesions
in the brain and throughout the central nervous system. Merck states
that "examples are the encephalitides following measles, chickenpox,
rubella, smallpox vaccination, vaccinia, and many other less well
defined viral infections".
When the dog owners who took part in the CHC survey reported that their
dogs developed short attention spans, 73.1% of the dogs did so within
three months of a vaccine event. The same percentage of dogs was
diagnosed with epilepsy within three months of a shot (but usually
within days). We also found that 72.5% of dogs that were considered by
their owners to be nervous and of a worrying disposition, first
exhibited these traits within the three-month post-vaccination period.
I would like to add for the sake of Oliver, my friend who suffered from paralyzed rear legs and death shortly after a vaccine shot, that
"paresis" is listed in Merck's Manual as a symptom of encephalitis. This
is defined as muscular weakness of a neural (brain) origin which
involves partial or incomplete paralysis, resulting from lesions at any
level of the descending pathway from the brain. Hind limb paralysis is
one of the potential consequences. Encephalitis, incidentally, is a
disease that can manifest across the scale from mild to severe and can
also cause sudden death.
Organ failure must also be suspected when it occurs shortly after a
vaccine event. Dr Larry Glickman, who spearheaded the Purdue research
into post-vaccination biochemical changes in dogs, wrote in a letter to
Cavalier Spaniel breeder Bet Hargreaves:
"Our ongoing studies of dogs show that following routine vaccination,
there is a significant rise in the level of antibodies dogs produce
against their own tissues. Some of these antibodies have been shown to
target the thyroid gland, connective tissue such as that found in the
valves of the heart, red blood cells, DNA, etc. I do believe that the
heart conditions in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels could be the end
result of repeated immunizations by vaccines containing tissue culture
contaminants that cause a progressive immune response directed at
connective tissue in the heart valves. The clinical manifestations would
be more pronounced in dogs that have a genetic predisposition
[although] the findings should be generally applicable to all dogs
regardless of their breed."
I must mention here that Dr Glickman believes that vaccines are a necessary evil, but that safer vaccines need to be developed.
Vaccines Stimulate an Inflammatory Response
The word "allergy" is synonymous with "sensitivity" and "inflammation".
It should, by rights, also be synonymous with the word "vaccination".
This is what vaccines do: they sensitize (render allergic)an individual
in the process of forcing them to develop antibodies to fight a disease
threat. In other words, as is acknowledged and accepted, as part of the
vaccine process the body will respond with inflammation. This may be
apparently temporary or it may be longstanding.
Holistic doctors and veterinarians have known this for at least 100
years. They talk about a wide range of inflammatory or "-itis" diseases
which arise shortly after a vaccine event. Vaccines, in fact, plunge
many individuals into an allergic state. Again, this is a disorder that
ranges from mild all the way through to the suddenly fatal. Anaphylactic
shock is the culmination: it's where an individual has a massive
allergic reaction to a vaccine and will die within minutes if adrenaline
or its equivalent is not administered.
There are some individuals who are genetically not well placed to
withstand the vaccine challenge. These are the people (and animals are
"people", too) who have inherited faulty B and T cell function. B and T
cells are components within the immune system which identify foreign
invaders and destroy them, and hold the invader in memory so that they
cannot cause future harm. However, where inflammatory responses are
concerned, the immune system overreacts and causes unwanted effects such
as allergies and other inflammatory conditions.
Merck warns in its Manual that patients with, or from families with, B
and/or T cell immunodeficiencies should not receive live-virus vaccines
due to the risk of severe or fatal infection. Elsewhere, it lists
features of B and T cell immunodeficiencies as food allergies, inhalant
allergies, eczema, dermatitis, neurological deterioration and heart
disease. To translate, people with these conditions can die if they
receive live-virus vaccines. Their immune systems are simply not
competent enough to guarantee a healthy reaction to the viral assault
from modified live-virus vaccines.
Modified live-virus (MLV) vaccines replicate in the patient until an
immune response is provoked. If a defense isn't stimulated, then the
vaccine continues to replicate until it gives the patient the very
disease it was intending to prevent.
Alternatively, a deranged immune response will lead to inflammatory
conditions such as arthritis, pancreatitis, colitis, encephalitis and
any number of autoimmune diseases such as cancer and leukaemia, where
the body attacks its own cells.
A new theory, stumbled upon by Open University student Gary Smith,
explains what holistic practitioners have been saying for a very long
time. Here is what a few of the holistic vets have said in relation to
their patients:
Dr Jean Dodds: "Many veterinarians trace the present problems with
allergic and immunologic diseases to the introduction of MLV vaccines…"
(9)
Christina Chambreau, DVM: "Routine vaccinations are probably the worst
thing that we do for our animals. They cause all types of illnesses, but
not directly to where we would relate them definitely to be caused by
the vaccine." (10)
Martin Goldstein, DVM: "I think that vaccines…are leading killers of dogs and cats in America today."
Dr Charles E. Loops, DVM: "Homoeopathic veterinarians and other holistic
practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more
harm than they provide benefits." (12)
Mike Kohn, DVM: "In response to this [vaccine] violation, there have
been increased autoimmune diseases (allergies being one component),
epilepsy, neoplasia [tumors], as well as behavioral problems in small
animals." (13)
A Theory on Inflammation
Gary Smith explains what observant healthcare practitioners have been
saying for a very long time, but perhaps they've not understood why
their observations led them to say it. His theory, incidentally, is
causing a huge stir within the inner scientific sanctum. Some believe
that his theory could lead to a cure for many diseases including cancer.
For me, it explains why the vaccine process is inherently questionable.
Gary was learning about inflammation as part of his studies when he
struck upon a theory so extraordinary that it could have implications
for the treatment of almost every inflammatory disease — including
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis and even HIV and AIDS.
Gary's theory questions the received wisdom that when a person gets ill,
the inflammation that occurs around the infected area helps it to heal.
He claims that, in reality, inflammation prevents the body from recognizing a foreign substance and therefore serves as a hiding place
for invaders. The inflammation occurs when at-risk cells produce
receptors called All (known as angiotensin II type I receptors). He says
that while At1 has a balancing receptor, At2, which is supposed to
switch off the inflammation, in most diseases this does not happen.
"Cancer has been described as the wound that never heals," he says. "All
successful cancers are surrounded by inflammation. Commonly this is
thought to be the body's reaction to try to fight the cancer, but this
is not the case.
"The inflammation is not the body trying to fight the infection. It is
actually the virus or bacteria deliberately causing inflammation in
order to hide from the immune system [author's emphasis]." (14)
If Gary is right, then the inflammatory process so commonly stimulated
by vaccines is not, as hitherto assumed, a necessarily acceptable sign.
Instead, it could be a sign that the viral or bacterial component, or
the adjuvant (which, containing foreign protein, is seen as an invader
by the immune system), in the vaccine is winning by stealth.
If Gary is correct in believing that the inflammatory response is not
protective but a sign that invasion is taking place under cover of
darkness, vaccines are certainly not the friends we thought they were.
They are undercover assassins working on behalf of the enemy, and vets
and medical doctors are unwittingly acting as collaborators. Worse, we
animal guardians and parents are actually paying doctors and vets to
unwittingly betray our loved ones.
Potentially, vaccines are the stealth bomb of the medical world. They
are used to catapult invaders inside the castle walls where they can
wreak havoc, with none of us any the wiser. So rather than experiencing
frank viral diseases such as the `flu, measles, mumps and rubella (and,
in the case of dogs, parvovirus and distemper), we are allowing the
viruses to win anyway – but with cancer, leukemia and other
inflammatory or autoimmune (self-attacking) diseases taking their place.
The Final Insult
All 27 veterinary schools in North America have changed their protocols
for vaccinating dogs and cats along the following lines; (15) however,
vets in practice are reluctant to listen to these changed protocols and
official veterinary bodies in the UK and other countries are ignoring
the following facts.
Dogs' and cats' immune systems mature fully at six months. If modified
live-virus vaccine is giver after six months of age, it produces
immunity, which is good for the life of the pet. If another MLV vaccine
is given a year later, the antibodies from the first vaccine neutralize
the antigens of the second vaccine and there is little or no effect. The liter is no "boosted", nor are more memory cells induced.
Not only are annual boosters unnecessary, but they subject the pet to
potential risks such as allergic reactions and immune-mediated
haemolytic anaemia.
In plain language, veterinary schools in America, plus the American
Veterinary Medical Association, have looked at studies to show how long
vaccines last and they have concluded and announced that annual
vaccination is unnecessary.(16-19)
Further, they have acknowledged that vaccines are not without harm. Dr
Ron Schultz, head of pathobiology at Wisconsin University and a leading
light in this field, has been saying this politely to his veterinary
colleagues since the 1980s. I've been saying it for the past 12 years.
But change is so long in coming and, in the meantime, hundreds of
thousands of animals are dying every year – unnecessarily.
The good news is that thousands of animal lovers (but not enough) have
heard what we've been saying. Canine Health Concern members around the
world use real food as Nature's supreme disease preventative, eschewing
processed pet food, and minimize the vaccine risk. Some of us, myself
included, have chosen not to vaccinate our pets at all. Our reward is
healthy and long-lived dogs.
It has taken but one paragraph to tell you the good and simple news. The
gratitude I feel each day, when I embrace my healthy dogs, cats and horses, stretches
from the center of the Earth to the Universe.