Vaccines: Are They Safe and Effective?

An Interview with Curtis Cost By Susan Davis

http://www.satyamag.com/oct95/davis.html

Curtis Cost has written a well-researched, easy-to-read, no-holds-barred book entitled, Vaccines Are Dangerous: A Warning to the Black Community. Mr. Cost served as a research assistant through undergraduate and graduate school. He has a BA from Vassar College, and an MBA from Northwestern University. He has a diversified background that includes teaching, corporate sales, marketing research, and management. He was nominated best author of the year by the National Black Achievement Awards for his riveting work: What Is Safe Sex in the Age of AIDS: If You Only Knew What They Aren’t Telling You. Mr. Cost has appeared on numerous radio and television networks.

Q: What prompted you to write a book on the dangers of vaccines?

A: This book is my attempt to save lives, and save people from needless suffering. I recognized from all the reading I’d done that a massive hoax was being perpetrated on the general public. People were being lied to. They were being told that these chemicals [in vaccines] would protect them from specific diseases, when in fact study after study in their own literature has shown just the opposite: that people have a greater chance of getting diseases from the vaccines. I’ve found that vaccines cause all types of terrible side-effects, terrible adverse reactions (some of which are short term, others long term) where ten to thirty years down the road people get cancers and other things happen to them, and they have no idea what the source of it is unless they do some research. So, I decided to write this book because I was thinking about children and little infants who would be exposed to these toxins and have no defense. And also the parents who have no defense because they just do not know the information.

Q: Through your research, you’ve found a lot of evidence that vaccines cause the very diseases they were meant to prevent. Could you elaborate on this?

A: The fact is, you have a much greater chance of contracting various diseases from the vaccines than you do if you aren’t vaccinated. Studies show that the majority of people who receive vaccines came down with diseases in greater numbers than people who aren’t vaccinated. In the case of polio, some show as much as 76% of the people who came down with polio had the polio vaccine. One study pointed out that between 1973 and 1983, 76% of everyone who contracted polio in the U.S. got it from the polio vaccine. People who’ve come down with measles — numbers like 50-70% of the cases are among those who were vaccinated. This is a consistent pattern when you look at the various diseases — smallpox and others. This information is published right in medical journals and magazines such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, and others. But the average person doesn’t take the time to research medical literature. The fact is, vaccines don’t work and the public is just not aware of that.

Q: Could you describe some of the contents in routinely-administered vaccines?

A: All types of toxic chemicals and substances have been placed in vaccines. Kidneys from monkeys in the production of the polio vaccine, embryos/eggs in the measles vaccines, horse and pig blood, aborted fetus tissue, mercury which is a toxic metal, formaldehyde (proven to cause cancer), and many other substances, that any rational person would realize are revolting, disgusting and have very serious implications for the human body. People don’t know about these chemicals placed in vaccines. They need to know this. They have also developed genetically engineered vaccines, where they genetically alter viruses and create vaccines out of them. It’s bad enough to take a naturally occurring organism and place it into a person’s blood system. It’s absolute madness to alter naturally occurring viruses and place them in a person’s body, because they have no idea what the long term implications are. There is no way for them to know, unless they put these chemicals out, give them to millions of people, and watch the results. So, basically, the American public is being used as guinea pigs on a massive scale.

Q: You uncovered a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that stated that 60% of all measles cases among schoolchildren occurred among those vaccinated. With statistics like that, why would anyone have their child vaccinated?

A: They don’t know. In fact, many doctors don’t know either. Most doctors are not researchers; it’s very difficult for them to keep up with all their literature, because of time spent with patients being consuming and stressful. The greatest challenge those of us who are opposed to vaccines face is getting the information to the public. The pharmaceutical industry has tremendous influence over the media. They advertise all sorts of drugs, aspirin etc. When you’re feeding money into an industry, that gives you influence. Couple that with the medical establishment’s blessing on these substances and that becomes a lot of power. There are some courageous radio and TV hosts who allow people to air their views, but it must be done on a regular basis and on a massive enough scale. This is why the majority of Americans are still unaware that there is a longstanding debate over the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. We need to get both sides of the vaccine story presented to Americans.

Q: You’ve discovered that vaccines come with no warranties. What does that say?

A: Not only do doctors and pharmaceutical companies refuse to guarantee that the vaccines are safe, they now require people to sign statements saying that they agree not to sue the doctor if anything should happen to them — now or at any time in the future. Basically, they’re not taking responsibility for anything, but they want you to sign on the dotted line.

Q: Do you believe that African Americans are being singled out as experimental subjects for vaccine research?

A: I’ve talked to individuals who work in the pharmaceutical industry and they’ve told me that the most experimental and dangerous vaccines are always administered to the African American communities. There’s a story I’ve heard numerous times, of this Black doctor who was working in a department that handled vaccines, and he noticed that vaccines that were to be sent to the Black community had code numbers on them which were different from the numbers that were on the package being sent to the White community. He couldn’t understand why there was this difference. On one occasion, he accidentally mixed the two packages up. They found out what happened and immediately recalled the batches of vaccines. Now, why? What was in those vaccines that were supposed to go to the Black community that was different from the one going to the White community? I’ve heard that story many times, from several credible sources. So, is the Black community being targeted? Without a doubt. Anyone who looks at history knows we’ve been subjected to every form of brutality and experiment conceivable.

Q: If vaccines worked, wouldn’t TB be wiped out by now?

A: Yes, that’s the amazing thing about the whole logic behind vaccines. They tell us that when we receive a vaccine, we develop antibodies, and these antibodies would then protect us from diseases. The first question I have is: if the body naturally produced antibodies in response to the presence of diseases, why does man have to interfere with that process. It’s almost as if the human body and the immune system needs a little “booster” to get the job done. Why don’t we use natural approaches as opposed to artificial approaches? Natural approaches such as getting this society more disposed to eat properly. I mean a really massive drive to get people to eat more organic fruits and vegetables. My point is: boost the system naturally with more emphasis on organic produce, exercise, reducing the intake of sugar and fat. This society has to decide if it wants to maintain the health of its citizens or the profits for certain segments of the corporate structure. The bottom line is that there are natural approaches to enhancing a person’s immune system. The artificial approach, which is vaccination, is an attempt to say: “You can eat all the junk you want, don’t worry, about exercising, this vaccine will protect you.” To anybody with any conception of the human body, that type of logic is ludicrous! You can’t put trash in your body and not suffer repercussions.

Q: Would you say that the evidence of the dangers of vaccines outweighs any evidence of vaccination success?

A: Some studies have linked vaccines to cancers and brain damage, to say nothing of the more subtle side effects such as arthritis, ear and eye problems. For a list of side effects, anyone can refer to the Physician’s Desk Reference and look up the various vaccines. It gives you a detailed list of side effects associated with vaccines: side effects such as autism, seizures, mental retardation, hyperactivity, dyslexia, convulsions, paralysis, sudden infant death syndrome, blindness, death, premature aging, multiple sclerosis, blood and skin disorders, allergies. These are documented.

The medical establishment gets away with constantly saying that these side effects are small and that the chances of them happening are limited. In fact, doctors have gone so far as to not even tell parents which pharmaceutical company produced which particular vaccine, or the batch number of that vaccine, which by law they have to do. You have to realize that no doctor wants to be sued or put in the position where they are challenging the AMA.

Q: To the best of your knowledge, is there any data to support the continued use of vaccines?

A: I can tell you from the research I’ve done that not only do I say there’s no proof, but I’d say there are blatant lies perpetuated. For example, the concept of vaccines causing a decline in the incidence of disease. On one level you’d think that sounds nice, and some statistics suggest that. But on another level, if you look a little deeper, you’ll find that measles, mumps, smallpox etc. were steadily declining before the vaccines came on the market, declining as much as 90% before they came to market. These declines were due to overall improvements in sanitation and nutrition. People had greater access to fresh fruit and vegetables as roadways to cities opened up.

So, if there any proof for the continuation of vaccination? from the research I’ve done: No! If I had to face the decision of subjecting my child to a vaccine, would I give it any consideration? The answer is: No. Under no conditions whatsoever would I allow my child, myself, or any member of my family to be vaccinated. That’s how strongly I feel about this. Most importantly people need to draw their own conclusions. Don’t just relax and take my word for it: get some books, read some articles, look up specifically adverse reactions; make an informed decision.

Q: How can African Americans and others protect themselves from future inoculations?

A: Everybody has the right not to be vaccinated. If you are a member of a church or become a member of a church that has a position against vaccines, you can have your priest or minister draw up a document stating that it’s the church belief that it’s wrong to be vaccinated, and that is accepted by most states as a legal exemption category. You can also draw up a document stating that it’s against your personal belief system not to be vaccinated. And that’s also recognized. There are groups such as Vaccination Alternatives, Natural Hygiene, National Vaccination Information Center, and others which can provide you with an exemption letter.. Another one, which I like a lot, allows you to have a lawyer draw up a document stating that you agree to allow your child or yourself to be vaccinated under the condition the school and health officials giving the vaccine all agree to take full responsibility for anything that happens to you or your child now or at any time in the future. Since they know how dangerous vaccines are, they never sign that type of statement, and always grant a waiver.

Q:Do you consider yourself a pioneer?

A: Yes I do: in that my book was tailored primarily toward the African American community. That’s why I gave it the title I did. There’s a tremendous gap in that the majority of all the books I’ve read on the subject of vaccines were written by White authors, and distributed primarily to White book stores. I thought the Black community had no sensitivity whatsoever to the magnitude of the threat these vaccines represented to the Black community. So I consider myself a pioneer in the sense that I’m the first Black author, to my knowledge, who has written a book on the subject of vaccines. I also did strive to make the book very readable. People can digest the information very quickly, but at the same time understand a lot of what they’re reading and get plenty of documentation to follow up and do additional research.

Vaccines Are Dangerous: A Warning to the Black Community can be ordered from A & B Publishing, 149 Lawrence Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Tel.: 718-596-3389 or 718-231-9683. For further reading and information consult: Vaccine Alternatives, P.O. Box 346, New York, NY 10023. Tel.: 212-873-5051. Attn: Sharon Kimmelman.

Susan Davis has been active in the animal rights movement for seven years. She recently founded TAAR-Get health, an anti-vivisection organization dedicated to the promotion of human health by means of abolishing animal research.