From: snelgrove@bopis.co.nz

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am just one parent among many who has a vaccine-damaged child. 
It was only after my son lost his ability to speak and communicate
after his final vaccination at 24 months and autistic behaviours
emerged that I began to do my own research and discovered that what
we have been led to believe is a Myth - namely, that vaccines are safe
and effective.

Whenever vaccines are mentioned, people who have apparently done
little if any independent research or those who have a vested interest
in promoting vaccines, trot out the party lines. They say that vaccines are modern
medical miracles which have saved us from disease, subsequent disability and death.
They may be described as  "precious, lifesaving and life-extending vaccines" or
"the most lifesaving protective event and discovery of the 21st and 20th
century" which "have prevented many of the  infectious diseases that formally
made children  ill, killed some children, and left some children disabled for life", 
and, on the surface, it seems that their effectiveness is beyond question,
but is it true?

We are constantly reassured that vaccines are safe.
"There is no evidence that vaccines are causing ANY harm" ; "the benefits of
vaccines so clearly outweigh potential risks"; "there is is no evidence that autism
rates are increasing because of MMR." 

We are warned about the risks of not immunising our children.
"There were hospitals full of children and adults on iron lungs, which was the
only way these children and adults could breathe because of polio" and
"We have done such a good job with vaccines and eliminating
diseases that people forget what happens when you stop vaccinating."

On the one hand, we are told we have a choice.
"Physicians, pediatricians, in particular, and parents discuss vaccine programs
and arrive at informed decisions" and on the other "It's appealing on the surface
to say an individual has the right  to do what they want but.." "there should
be no debate." It's not just an individual but a community protection and responsibility"
which tells us that if we choose not to vaccinate our children we will be putting everyone
else at risk. The "protected immunised" at risk from the unprotected unimmunised!??
If they are immunised and therefore "protected", WHAT are they going to catch?!

The vaccine industry thrives on Fear-mongering, lies and more lies.

The truth is:

1.  Mortality rates from infectious diseases declined by 90% BEFORE the introduction of vaccines.
 
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02healthlibrary/0201hygienlib&127;cat/020115immun/
............scroll down to Tables

2.   Congress set up the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in 1986
      in response to the huge increase in the number of claims being filed against
      pharmaceutical companies that produce vaccines.. too many children were
      being injured and killed, litigation was costly, and companies were threatening to cease
      vaccine production.


3.     The NVICP committee acknowledges that "SACRIFICES" however "REGRETTABLE"
        are INEVITABLE - our children are described as little soldiers going to war against germs, and
        there is no question that there WILL BE casualties.
       
         NVCIP chairman John L. Mica. says..
        "Despite the life-saving benefits of our national vaccine practices, we must not forget the cost
         of these benefits to those individuals and families who, regretfully, experience tragic adverse     
         reactions...  In simple terms, our vaccines now protect millions, however in some rare instances, 
         they cause serious harm, even death, to others."
         http://www.house.gov/reform/cj/hearings/9.28.99/index.htm

4.      Autism has NEVER been regarded as "a very common childhood event".
        In 1942, Kanner described ELEVEN cases of an entirely New Disorder " which differs markedly
        and uniquely from anything reported so far".  In the 1960s autism affected 1-2 children per 10 000
        and in the last thirty years there has been a ONE THOUSAND PERCENT INCREASE in this
        disorder, and a significant explosion in the number of cases since the introduction of the MMR
        and Hep B vaccines.  TODAY, ONE in FIVE HUNDRED CHILDREN are AFFECTED. 
       
        http://www.garynull.com/Documents/autism_99.htm
        http://autism.com/ari/editorials/explosion.html


5.    THERE IS NO EVIDENCE ANYWHERE THAT MMR VACCINE OR ANY OTHER VACCINE DOES NOT CAUSE    
       AUTISM.
   
       http://www.thelancet.com/newlancet/reg/issues/vol354no9182/menu_NOD12.html

       http://www.kessick.demon.co.uk/2commonspr.html


6.     There was a strong association between the use of DDT and other pesticides
        in the polio years,  and as use declined so did the number of cases. 

        http://www3.bcity.com/harpub/

7.     Dr Sabin the developer of the polio vaccine said, "Official data have shown that the large-scale      
        vaccinations undertaken in the US have failed to obtain any significant improvement of the diseases
        against which they were supposed to provide protection"


8.    During 1962 U.S. Congressional hearings, Dr. Bernard Greenberg, head of the Dept. of Biostatistics
      for the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, testified that not only did the cases of
      polio increase substantially after mandatory vaccinations (50% increase from 1957 to 1958, 80% increase
      from 1958 to 1959), but that the statistics were manipulated by the Public Health Service to give the opposite impression.

       http://www.livrite.com/nc/page2.htm

9.    Outbreaks of "immunable" diseases occur in FULLY VACCINATED POPULATIONS..


10.   The manufacture of vaccines is a booming, lucrative industry with over 200 vaccines currently
       under production.

       http://www.merck.com/finance/finnews.htm


If thalidomide had caused autism it would be on the shelves to this day.
The ONLY reason it was removed was that the results were BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS to EVERYONE.

After almost 60 years autism continues to baffle medical authorities and remains "a mystery"
with no known cause or cure.  Is it merely a coincidence that cases of autism emerged at
time when vaccination against pertussis was becoming more popular and widespread?
A coincidence that the first cases of autism appeared in France, Chile, Austria, Holland
and Scandinavia in the 1950s when pertussis vaccine was introduced in the same period*?  
With the introduction of more and more vaccines, is it any wonder that in the 1990s we
have an explosion of children with autism and related disorders?

We have falsely been led to believe that vaccines are safe and effective
when they are neither. Our trust in medical authorities has been violated.

I would like to know why Dr. Orient's questions regarding Hep B vaccine remain
unanswered.  Could it be that no proper studies were done?  SURELY NOT!!!!!

Just six years ago we were an ordinary family and 'autism' was merely a term
stumbled upon in a medical textbook, but like the tragic reality of vaccine-damage,
it has become all too real for us and today we live and breathe AUTISM. 
It was not always so...

Alex Snelgrove

*Ref: Vaccination Social Criminality and Violence by Harris Coulter