By Michael Framson
MY VIEW • Parents, others worry that the next bad drug is being used now.
Peter Latham once said, “Truth in all its kinds is most difficult to win and truth in medicine is the most difficult of all.”
For just a moment, can all those in and out of medicine who consider themselves knowledgeable and informed say to themselves, “so true.”
Problems that plague medicine, medical science and research have created an enter-at-your-own-risk system to health and well being. Dysfunctional peer-review, dangerous and unnecessary interventions, ghost writing, conflicts of interest, the revolving door between industry and regulation, clinical trials designed by marketing departments, medical journals that serve their pharmaceutical industry advertisers and statistical manipulations all contribute to dangerous problems for the consumer.
Yet parents are asked, in spite of all the above, to believe that the mass vaccination program is immune from medicine’s plague. The grab ‘em and stab ‘em, as one physician puts it, the one-size-fits-all approach to vaccinating every child in this country with 49 doses of 14 vaccines before the age of 6 is not pristine or pure as fallen snow.
When a parent questions the methodology of a vaccination study published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, touted in the media as safe and effective, the pejoratives of “anti-vaccine” or “anti-science” darts fly.
Why should anyone accept these studies after they compare adverse reactions for a new vaccine vs. placebo and buried in the study is the fact that the “placebo,” usually a biologically inert substance, is another experimental vaccine?
Were similar characterizations applied to those who questioned the safety of Vioxx, Avandia, PhenPhen or HRT? Are those questioning repeated concussions in football, anti-football? Are those who recognize there are problems for some with yoga, anti-yoga? In spite of the Hippocratic oath, to do no harm, the next Vioxx is likely, already being prescribed by physicians.
Leave a Reply