Vaccines & Disease in 3rd world - UNIVERSAL IMMUNIZATION: Medical Miracle or Masterful Mirage

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http://www.whale.to/v/obomsawin.html

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Full document - huge

This will help you to understand the reality of vaccination in the third world.

No monitoring, no individualizing, no follow up (don't even have that

here!) and then they think they can pass off articles about measles

declining, or the vaccine working.

Many things children die of are vaccine reactions but labeled

something else as we know.

EXCELLENT LONG ARTICLE

UNIVERSAL IMMUNIZATION

Medical Miracle or Masterful Mirage

By Dr. Obomsawin

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm Vaccine Dangers &

Childhood Disease & Homeopathy Email classes start April 18

This will help you to understand the reality of vaccination in the third world.

No monitoring, no individualizing, no follow up and then they think they can

pass off articles about measles declining, or the vaccine working.

Many things children die of are vaccine reactions but labeled something else as

we know.

EXCELLENT LONG ARTICLE

http://www.whale.to/a/obomsawin.html

UNIVERSAL IMMUNIZATION

Medical Miracle or Masterful Mirage

By Dr. Obomsawin

(This book first appeared at the Soil and Health Library, an important source of

books

on holistic agriculture, holistic health, self-sufficient living, and personal

development)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF: RAYMOND OBOMSAWIN

PREFACE

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The Unresolved Issue of UCI/EPI Effectiveness and Impact

The Unresolved Question of Potential Adverse Effects

The Unresolved Issue of Long-Term Adverse Effects

The Unresolved Issue of Safer and More Effective Alternatives

The Unresolved Question of Ethics

Conclusion

SECTION I: MIRACLE IN THE MAKING: REALITY OR DELUSION?

Introduction

EPI--Field Evaluation Experience

UNICEF's General EPI Strategy and Stated Achievements

Field Observations

Contra-Indications Screening

A Case History

Vaccine Scheduling

Immunization's Impact in the Declension of Infectious Diseases

Incomplete Statistical Reporting

The Developmental Implications of UCL/EPI

Is Immunization Effectiveness a Certainty?

Early Theoretical Foundations Re-Examined

Artificially Induced Immunity--Reality or Delusion?

An Historic Overview of the Bacterial/Viral Theory of Disease Causation

The Bacterial/Viral Versus the Cellular/Ecological Theory of Infectious Disease

Infectious Disease Tables I--XVIII

Immunization Effectiveness Data

Data on Diphtheria

Data on Measles

Data on Polio

Data on Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Data on Tetanus Toxoid and Immune Globulin

WHO Smallpox Eradication Success Reconsidered

Vaccine Associated Dangers--General Observations

Of What Do Vaccine Products Consist?

Some Observed and Potential Adverse Effects of Spacific Vaccines and

Toxoids--Diagnosable in the Short Term

Extent and Nature of Observable Vaccine Damage

Long Term (Delayed) Potential Adverse Effects of Immunization

Evidences for Immunization Induced Immune Malfimction

The Ethics of Universal Childhood Immunization

Bane or Boon? Selective Medicine in Primary Health Care

SECTION II: TOWARDS MORE APPROPRIATE PRIORITIES IN

DEVELOPING WORLD PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Eclipsing the Spirit of Alma Ata

Emerging--A More Practicable Primary Health Care Model

SECTION III: A CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVES TO ENSURING NATURAL IMMUNITY

The Soil as Chief Determinant of Health and The Foundation of Public Health

Policy

Insightful Experiments

Soil Re-Mineralization--A Return To Primeval Conditions

Soil Dietetics and Disease

Key Nutritional Measures in Preventing Infectious Disease

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

I. Viral Infections

II. Bacterial Infections

III. Phagocytotic Activity

IV. Conclusion

A New and Better Strategy

General Conclusion on Appropriate Alternatives

Conclusion

References to sections 1,2 & 3

ANNEX 1: PROBLEMS WITH DEVELOPING WORLD MEDICALIZATION AND THE TRADITIONAL

MEDICINE ALTERNATIVE

The Disturbing Dilemma of Developing World Medicalization

India--An Alarming Case In Point

A Compelling Voice of Protest

The Traditional Medicine Alternative

Critical Conclusions and Directions

References

ANNEX II: AGROCHEMICAL AGRICULTURE--THE NEED FOR A SANER ALTERNATIVE

The Dilemma of Chemical Fertilization

Pesticide Poisons

Biologically Sound Alternatives To Pesticides

The Promise of Clean Organiculture Methods

A Recent International Initiative in Clean Organiculture

References

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF: RAYMOND OBOMSAWIN

Obomsawin was born in the United States on August 16, 1950 and holds

dual US and Canadian citizenship. He married Marie-Louise in August of 1976, and

they have three, vibrant children: Sunrise, Sunbeam and Sundown. These

children--two are still in their teens, and one is twenty-one--have never

received the prescribed regimen of childhood vaccines, and due to a healthful

lifestyle have exhibited total immunity to the diseases that are common to the

childhood years. (Time and again they've been physically exposed to those ill

from some of these very diseases.)

Dr. Obomsawin holds over two decades of cross-cultural experience--both in North

America and internationally--in the primary disciplines which impact on human

bio-social development. He holds a Baccalaureate Degree in Health Education and

Communications, Masters Degree in Development Education, and PhD with

concentrations in Health Science and Human Ecology.

He is currently serving as President of the Circle of Nations Institute of Life

Sciences & Sustainable Development an international R & D institution legally

established in Hawaii, and has previously served as: Manager of Overseas

Operations for CUSO (Canada's largest International Development NGO); Evaluation

Analyst in the Canadian International Development Agency; Evaluation Manager

with the Department of Indian Affairs & Northern Development; Executive Director

in the California Rural Indian Health Board system; Director of the Office for

National Health Development NIB (Now Assembly of First Nations); Founding

Chairman of the National Commission Inquiry on Indian Health; and Supervisor of

Native Curriculum for the Government of the Yukon Territory.

Some key highlights of Dr. Obomsawin's professional experiences and achievements

follow:

Chaired and served on regional, national, and international committees holding

development related policy, management, and research mandates.

Advised senior decision-makers--in both public and NGO sectors--providing

critical analyses and recommendations on international development policies,

project, and programming initiatives in health, education, agriculture,

nutrition, agro-forestry, environmental sustainability, and multi-year country

planning.

Spearheaded the first world-wide inter-sectoral review funded by a Western

government on Indigenous Culture Based Knowledge Systems in Development. The

study elicited the involvement of public and NGO sector bio-social development,

technical and research institutions in all world regions; and entailed

exploratory field missions to the Andean and Upper Amazon regions of South

America, as well as East Africa, South and Southeast Asia.

Organized, administered, and executed socio-politically sensitive evaluation

studies on complex bio-social service interventions, as well as educational and

development initiatives internationally, eg, as a team member evaluated:

UNICEF's Integrated Services Project which served over 900 villages in Northeast

Thailand; and other development projects at the Asian Pacific Development

Centre, Malaysia; Asian Institute of Management, and The Woman for Woman

Foundation, Philippines; and Institute of Social and Administrative Studies,

University of the South Pacific, Fiji.

Coordinated (in Canada and Norway) the initial development of Terms of Reference

for a comprehensive evaluation of the United Nations World Food Program--operant

in 90 countries under the trilateral sponsorship of Canada, Norway, and the

Netherlands.

Spearheaded the establishment and chaired Canada's National Commission Inquiry

on Indian Health which served as a national--grass-roots mandated--indigenous

health policy development body.

Presented--in plenary session--the paper " From Selective to Indigenous Medicine:

Repossessing the Ancient Wisdom,' at the International Development Research

Centre and National Institutes of Health sponsored International Workship on

Traditional Health Systems and Public Policy.

Presented the keynote address " Re-Discovering Our Roots: The Ancient Wisdom of

Sustainable Societies " at the Community Sustainability Resource Institute's 3rd

Annual Conference, USA.

Experienced multi-cultural exposure including private, voluntary, and or public

sector interchange in over 25 countries on five continents, as well as

Australasia and select Pacific island nations, and

Produced academically and professionally over 75 articles, reports, proposals

and publication documents.

PREFACE

TO THE THIRD EDITION

(MAY 1998)

Dr. Obomsawin, PhD

This extensive report focuses on the current massive international effort to

administer artificial immunization to the children of the world. The actual

launching of the World Health Organizations's Universal or " Expanded Program on

Immunization " (EPI) occurred in the year 1983. Its overriding purpose was to

achieve maximum immunization coverage of the world's children. Under the

influence of the WHO--which is a United Nations created and sustained

multilateral agency--all national political leaders (then representing 158

nation states) made a commitment to achieve 80% immunization coverage in their

respective countries by the year 1990. In that year the WHO set a new standard

for the governments of the world, ie, a more intensified goal of achieving 90%

immunization coverage by the year 2000. As a review document, this report poses

an open challenge to the scientific, developmental, and humanitarian basis of

this global public policy, in turn urging national governments to establish a

far more rational, effective and harmless inter-sectoral approach in seeking to

ensure that the children and families of our world community enjoy lifelong

natural immunity to infectious diseases.

The research covered in this document tackles the issue of universal

immunization from a very broad perspective, thereby going well beyond the more

obvious realities of its being a " medical racket " hatched by a pharmaceutical

industry beholden to its investors, and religiously dispensed and defended by

allopathic medicine men. Through employing trans-disciplinary and integrative

analyses it draws upon wide-ranging disciplines and fields of thought as it

considers the purposes, policies and practices surrounding mass immunization.

The effort to research and pull together this report occurred while I was

serving as an Evaluation Analyst in the Evaluation Division at the Canadian

International Development Agency. My initial research began early in 1991,

contextual to conducting a field evaluation of the EPI component of a major

UNICEF project then affecting several hundred communities in Northeast Thailand.

The report is being distributed and or sold in its present form under the

auspices of a non-profit public health advocacy organization, the Health Action

Network Society, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. (As author, I will receive

no royalties from either its sale or distribution.)

Since the first edition came out in the early 1990s, the many serious issues and

concerns which are raised in this study have not by any means been properly

addressed or resolved. The medico-industrial complex has neither wavered nor

modified its posture of providing a white washed endorsement and promotion of

what is largely an unproven technological fix of dubious origin, which carries

its own seeds of disease and death. For the most part, the same can be said for

the public sector policies whereby government such as that of the United States

place themselves in an untenable conflict of interest position by playing a

direct role in the development of new vaccines, the active promotion and

enforcement of mandatory artificial immunization, and the monitoring of vaccines

for adverse side effects thereby setting its own criteria and degree of

liability in the compensation of victims. (Only one in four vaccine injury

victims, who apply for compensation under US law, are compensated for their

often catastrophic vaccine injuries. Government qualifying rules require that

the onset of adverse symptoms must have occurred within four hours of the

administration of the vaccine. Despite these severe limitations in legal

liability, since passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986,

up to February 28, 1998, compensatory payments have totalled $871 million 800

thousand.)

Sad to say, the public sector's world-wide reliable monitoring for adverse side

effects (not excluding that of the US Government) does not appear to have

noticeably improved from its abysmal state since the initial issuance of this

report. As well, multilateral development agencies such as UNICEF continue to

push this unproven and essentially spurious technology on a largely uninformed

and intimidated public throughout the Developing World nations. On a positive

note, within First World nations public awareness of the problems and dangers

associated with mass immunization programs appear to have broadened and

intensified. Vehicles of the information revolution, such as the Internet have

helped considerably. Even physicians themselves are at long last waking up to

and advocating the truth, e.g., in France, 200 doctors have called on their

govemement to immediately halt the hepatitis B vaccine program because of the

many cases of neurological disorders and multiple sclerosis being caused by this

vaccine, and in Switzerland, 500 doctors continue to oppose their govemement's

MMR vaccine campaign.

Lawsuits for vaccine damages have as well become increasingly common. In the

summer of 1997, various news reports in the Commonwealth countries reported that

Dawbams law firm in Norfolk, England is carrying forward a major class action

lawsuit for widespread damages arising from Britain's 1994 MMR campaign. In a

public statement issued by this law firm it is affirmed that:

We know of hundreds of children who were fat and well before being vaccinated,

but who are now chronically ill or seriously mentally or physically disabled. Of

some 600 cases: the most common are autism (202); serious digestive problems

(110); epilepsy (97); hearing and vision problems (40); arthritis (42);

behaviour and learning problems (41); ME (24); diabetes (9); paralysis (9);

blood disorders (5); brain damage (3); and death (14).

Bolstering the firm's case is the fact that the affected children's

pediatricians and neurologists continue to state in British radio and TV

documentaries that the children's varied injuries were in fact caused by

administration of the MMR vaccine.

Additionally, growing numbers of affected parents and professionals have been

instrumental in the emergence of multiple research and activist organizations

such as the Immunization Awareness moni Society (IAS), New Zealand; Vaccine

Awareness Network (VAN), Australia; Association for Vaccine Damaged Children

(AVDC), Canada; Global Vaccine Awareness League (GVAL), California; and the

National Vaccine Information Center (AWIC) in the Greater Washington DC area.

This phenomena tells us that there are still some heroic and honest hearted

people left in our world who are willing to stand together for the right, and

make personal sacrifices of their time, resources, and reputations in the face

of the combined efforts of government and industry to both slander and silence

them. In fact, in recent weeks a prominent member of the IAS has been in touch

with me, and shared information which included the fact that a 1992 survey by

their organization found an almost 500% greater incidence of asthma among New

Zealand children who've received routine childhood vaccines, than among those

who haven't.

It is also of interest that on September 13-15, 1997, more than 500 parents,

physicians, university scientists, health officials, legal experts, ethicists,

journalists and activists from 34 states and five countries convened for the

First International Public Conference on Vaccination. This historic session was

organized under the auspices of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).

According to information provided by the NVIC, the Conference inter alia

examined issues such as vaccines and infant dealth; biological mechanisms of

vaccine injury; vaccines and learning disorders; hepatitis B vaccine injuries;

viral vaccinces and chromosome damage; polio vaccine contamination; and vaccine

regulation. A number of the more important observations made by the presenters

at the conference further corroborate and complement the alarming findings that

are raised in my report. Some key observations follow:

The " P " in the old DPT vaccine is so highly toxic to the human brain that the

whole cell pertussis vaccine should be immediately withdrawn from the market.

Vaccines which cause brain inflammation and severe brain damage, such as DPT,

are also biologically capable of causing milder forms of brain damage, such as

learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder.

Live viral vaccines are implicated in brain injuries, such as the MMR vaccine

which is now linked to autism, while the same vaccine has never been fully

investigated for its long term effects on human immune and neurological systems.

Live viral vaccines may also be implicated as a cause of genetic damage in

humans.

There are many reports of adults in Canada, who have suffered central nervous

system and immune dysfunction or death following hepatitis B vaccination.

Polio vaccines contaminated with monkey viruses may have caused the development

of HIV- I and rare forms of bone, brain and lung cancers in humans.

Children injured by vaccines and other toxic insults, have disturbances in

biochemistry such as imbalances in fatty acid metabolism and neurologic

dysfunction such as autistic spectrum disorders and seizure disorders.

Data from New Zealand and several European countries suggests that early

childhood vaccination has caused an increase in juvenile diabetes.

A combination of multiple vaccinations and multiple exposures to environmental

and chemical toxins may cause immune and neurological dysfunction in the general

population like that being suffered by Gulf War veterans.

Government health officials in federal health agencies have withheld information

about vaccine risks from the public.

The general consensus among research scientists in attendance was that current

immunization programs are causing injuries and deaths because of inadequate

vaccine safety research, testing, manufacturing and monitoring for long term

effects. What's new? (Conference proceedings are available to the public from

the National Vaccine Information Center: #206-512 W. Maple Avenue, Vienna, VA,

USA, 22180, Telephone: 1-800-909-SHOT.)

It also bears mentioning that I recently came across a June, 1995 interview with

an old acquaintance, the veteran physician to the Aboriginal People of

Australia, Dr. Archie Kalokerinos. The interview was published in the

International Vaccination Newsletter (Krekenstraat 4, 3600 Genk, Belgium).

Archie is in many ways a man deserving of great recognition for his brave

struggle with the establishment forces in his country, who attempted to block

his efforts to expose and reverse the massive death rates (as high as 50%) being

caused by mass immunization in a population at great risk to its dangers. In

this interview he states that it was this " extreme hostility " that:

.. . . forced me to look into the question of vaccination further, and the

further I looked the more shocked I became. I found that the whole vaccine

business was indeed a gigantic hoax. Most doctors are convinced that they are

useful, but if you look at the proper statistics and study the instances of

these diseases you will realize that this is not so . . .

My final conclusion after forty years or more in this business [medicine] is

that the unofficial policy of the World Health Organization and the unoffical

policy of the 'Save the Children's Fund' and ... [other vaccine promoting]

organizations is one of murder and genocide. . . . I cannot see any other

possible explanation. . . . You cannot immunize sick children, malnourished

children, and expect to get away with it. You'll kill far more children than

would have died from natural infection.

Although the public sector in Canada hired a biomedical protagonist of

artificial immunization to attack and undermine the original findings and

observations contained in this document, nothing was effectively challenged or

disproven in this determined effort, nor has there been any challenge from any

other quarter since. Furthermore, I've received some very good news from a

reliable source in Montreal, Canada, that a number of practicing physicians in

that city have ceased using vaccines in their practice after having read this

report. I fully trust that it will prove of lasting value in informing and

influencing other professionals, parents and interested lay persons who may be

honestly seeking to explore both sides of the controversy for the first time.

Finally, it is my sincere hope that the re-issuance of this document will

provide a considerable source of valuable documentation and commentary for those

who are at the forefront in the battle for biomedical truth and right in a world

largely beholden to the bottom line of capitalists who value their profits above

seemingly everything else. In the end, the truth with prevail.

" Discovery Consists In Seeing

What Every body Else Has Seen

And Thinking What Nobody

Else Has Thought . . . "

Albert Szent-Gyorgi

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Despite the widely accepted view that millions of children now enjoy freedom

from various life threatening infectious diseases, and thus improved health,

because of highly effective and safe vaccine programs, at the outset of the 90's

an Evaluation of Canada's International Immunization Program Phase I (CIIP--I),

concluded that in fact there are " many pressing questions which remain to be

investigated within EPI (Expanded Programs of Immunization) and Primary Health

Care. " A range of critical issues relative to Universal Childhood Immunization

(UCI) and EPI programs have been examined and responded to in the main report.

These follow:

The Unresolved Issue of UCI/EPI Effectiveness and Impact

The verifiable measurement of UCI/EPI effectiveness and impacts, has been

pervasively deficient in the major immunization programming investments made by

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)--approaching $150

million--in the 1986-1991 time period. The aforenoted CIIP--I evaluation study

further noted that the actual impact of UCI/EPI on mortality levels remain

essentially undetermined and unsubstantiated. To quote: " at present it appears

that there is no conclusive evidence on the impact of immunization on child

mortality from all causes. . . . It may be that EPI's effect is merely to bring

about replacement mortality, whereby children . . . succumb to other diseases

instead. The uncertainty over the impacts of EPI remain a major question in PHC

[primary health care] programming. " In light of the compelling need for the

proper and periodic evaluation of the impacts of publicly financed programs,

this deficiency remains a very serious one.

Unexpected and unexplainable outbreaks among " immunized " persons, have led

immunologists to now seriously question whether their current understanding of

what constitutes reliable immunity is in fact trustworthy. For example, the

admission is being made that immunity (or its absence) cannot be determined

reliable on the basis of history of the disease, history of immunization, or

even history of prior serologic determination. There is as well an emerging body

of mathematically based epidemiological research which suggests significant

problems with UCI/EPI targeted efforts for the control and eradication of

measles in the Developing World, where in spite of high measles immunization

coverages, measles epidemics are being reported with surprising frequency.

Vaccine failures in the Oman polio epidemic could not be explained by failures

in the cold chain, nor on suboptimum vaccine potency. It was further observed

that the efficacy of OPV in inducing humoral immunity has been lower than

expected, and that primary reliance on routine immunization may be inadequate to

achieve the goal of eradicating polio by the year 2000. (Similar polio outbreaks

have been occurring in other highly vaccinated populations, e.g., the Gambia,

Brazil, and Taiwan.)

The Unresolved Question of Potential Adverse Effects

Another basic issue that has never been addressed in UCI/EPI programming is the

need for the effective monitoring and evaluation of potential vaccinal adverse

effects. Past estimates on the degree of adverse reactions are both unreliable

and optimistic since actual monitoring efforts have generally been negligible.

Furthermore, many physicians and nurses are not cognizant of the importance of

reporting untoward reactions, and or remain unaware of their clinical features.

Overall, the evidence strongly suggests that the chronic underreporting of

vaccine-induced morbidity, disability, and mortality is in fact the norm,

whether in the Developing or Developed Worlds. The first definitive policy

statement on this issue by the World Health Organization (issued on April 1991)

indicates the WHO's recognition of the significance of this problem. It should

be considered as a priority issue in future UCI/EPI research, monitoring and

evaluation.

The Unresolved Issue of Long-Term Adverse Effects

A minority of qualified scientists are now postulating that the full vaccine

schedule as routinely employed in early childhood vaccination inevitably weakens

the immunologic system of the child, leaving this system crippled in its ability

to protect the child throughout life, and in turn opening the way for other

infectious diseases due to such immunologic dysfunction. It is also being

postulated by such scientists that mass immunization is directly contributing to

the now widespread escalation of various auto-immune, degenerative disease and

allergic conditions.

The Unresolved Issue of Safer and More Effective Alternatives

Sufficient evidence now suggests that an increasing awareness of the potential

dangers that are being increasingly associated with mass vaccination programs,

will serve to precipitate public demand for greater research investments in the

further exploration and testing of promising and danger-free alternative

prophylactic methods. A considerable body of literature on lifestyle (especially

nutrition) based prophylaxis and treatment for both bacterial and viral

infectious diseases suggest that this is the optimum alternative to the

artificial immunization dilemma.

The Unresolved Question of Ethics

UCI/EPI--as presently conceived and executed--represents two major departures

from the time honoured ethics and traditions of medicine:

that all forms of treatment should be individualized, particularly when

prescribing or injecting substances which carry the potential for disease,

disablement, and death; and

the objectively informed patient (or parent) should always have absolute freedom

to accept or reject any given measure or therapy, and have reasonable

opportunity to consider alternatives.

Conclusion

The foregoing observations indicate that there is a genuine need for world

governments to reconsider their policies with respect to universal childhood

immunization, ensuring particular focus on clarifying the vital issues of the

short and longer term impacts of UCI/EPI, and the pressing need to establish far

safer and more effective alternatives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SECTION l

MIRACLE IN THE MAKING:

REALITY OR DELUSION?

INTRODUCTION

Universal Childhood Immunization (UCI)--in its more localized context referred

to as Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI)--stands worldwide as a top health

programming priority among various multilateral, bilateral, and nongovernmental

(NGO) international development agencies. This appears to be the case because

immunization programs are widely accepted and actively promoted as offering

recipient beneficiaries more substantive disease prevention benefits than any

other modality in the arsenal of modern medicine, coupled to its unique capacity

to offer the surest and " quickest " results. When compared to the more basic

intersectoral and developmental requisites for public health sustenance and

disease prevention, UCI/EPI is generally considered to be the easiest to

implement programmatically, promote publicly, and defend politically. The World

Health Organization (WHO) has gone on record to affirm that, " Immunization is

one of the most powerful and cost-effective weapons of modern medicine.

Immunization services, however, remain tragically under-utilized in the world

today. " 1

Despite the Canadian govemment's confirmed support of the comprehensive primary

health care approach--as defined in the Alma Ata Declaration--the majority of

increases in the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Health Sector

disbursements, in the last half of the 1980s, have been for the selective and

vertical modality of UCI/EPI. In fact, according to observations made in the

1989, Evaluation Assessment of CIDA Investments in the Health Sector,

immunization has become the dominant health activity supported by CIDA. " Annual

disbursements over the past three years have risen from $3 to $22, to $49

million. " 2 The lion's share of this increase stemmed from the launching of

Canada's International Immunization Programme (CIIP), covering the period of

1986-1991. (An October 10, 1991 Fact Sheet on Canada's Role in Immunization,

states that of the $43 million expended by CIIP in the period 1985-1990,

involved the execution--by more than 30 nongovernmental organizations--of over

100 projects in more than 50 countries. When we include the

government-to-government [bilateral] program, total CIDA funds committed to

UCI/EPI in the 1986/1987-1990/1991 fiscal year periods equal some $143 million.

At the end of 1991/1992 it was the intention of the government to expend roughly

another $50 million on UCI/EPI over the next five years, with about $30 million

for CIIP II.) According to a Mid-Term CIIP Operational Review completed November

20, 1989, UNICEF took almost $27 million from the Program for 37 EPI projects,

amounting to 67% of CIIP funds. Additional CIIP funding passed indirectly to

UMCEF, via Rotary for vaccine purchases, and via Canadian partners who purchased

project equipment from UNICEF stockpiles.3

Speaking of this major shift in priorities, wherein by the end of the 1980s

immunization support accounted for one half of all health sector disbursements,

the CIDA Health Sector Evaluation Assessment recommended that " this situation

merits examination on the grounds of both the heavy focus by CIDA on this one

type of health program and the nature of immunization efforts . . . Primary

Health Care is more complex and multifaceted then the provision of this one . .

.. technology. " 4 This need to re-examine immunization support was further

affirmed when the Assessment identified certain " important am that merit further

review, " including: case studies of the health impact of projects involving or

crossing varied sectors; the level of sustainability achieved in completed CIDA

health projects; and areas of large spending or of controversy, i.e.,

immunization. " 5

Although the Assessment did not go on to define the nature of the controversies

surrounding immunization, mass immunization programs have been seriously

questioned on both developmental and scientific grounds. It will be the purpose

of this report to proceed with a detailed examination of the issues of

controversy, draw some conclusions, and make appropriate recommendations. The

critique of these issues stems from a careful review and evaluation of wide

ranging biomedical literature sources of relevance to the subject. This work has

been carried out in the spirit of honest inquiry, thus affording a fresh and

critical analyses of the fundamental issues.

Although the conclusions as reached visibly sustain " one side " of what is

largely a hidden and professionalist dominated debate on immunization, the

reader should note that this is done in order to provide a long neglected and

constructive counterbalance to the predominating supportive declarations of the

establishment, and in turn the parroted promotion of the same view by the

popular media.

It must further be appreciated that past and ongoing investments in the drive

for universal immunization extend well beyond the mere allocation of substantial

government and publicly donated funds (which translates into biennial

expenditures of a billion US dollars, 63 percent of which comes from Developing

World countries themselves)6 to include:

extensive public and private sector commitment to meeting the infrastructural,

service, product and marketing requirements of the world-wide medico-industrial

complex which employs tens of thousands of people in drug companies, private

laboratories, universities, governmental health departments, hospitals etc.

(furthermore it is estimated that there are 25,000 professional national and

international staff who directly oversee hundreds of thousands of field workers

involved in the annual vaccination of 60 million children);7

related domestic and international legislation and politics; and

massive public educational indoctrination initiatives that are largely

predicated on promoting the unquestioned effectiveness and relative safety of

immunization, and which by design engender an impelling fear in those

" unprotected. "

UNICEF's Executive Director has gone on record in many fora to herald the

substantive value and potency of immunization. In advance of the inception of

Canada's current and greatly expanded International Immunization program he gave

a full and unqualified assurance that " Expanded immunization--using newly

improved vaccines " will " prevent the six main immunizable diseases from killing

an estimated 5 million children a year and disabling 5 million more. " 8

The front page of the January/February, 1988, issue of Development Forum,

published by the U.N. Department of Public Information, unequivocally affirms

that " immunization is the success story of the decade. In the Developing World

immunization has reached 50 percent for DPT vaccine and 40 percent for measles,

and is now saving over 1.3 million lives annually. " Everyone is

encouraged--bordering on religious fervor--to get on the bandwagon.

UNICEF.. calls for a 'Grand Alliance' of all possible resources teachers, and

religious leaders, mass media and government agencies, voluntary organizations

and people's movements, business leaders and labour unions, women's groups and

health services to create an informed public demand for. . . the methods which

could now bring about 'a revolution' in child survival and development. In

Turkey, for example, 200,000 school teachers and 54,000 imams have helped to

treble the nation's immunization coverage. In Syria and Egypt, television has

succeeded in getting the immunization message into every home . . . UNICEF

argues that 'there is no greater cause in which to march.' 9

Indeed, immunization has of late gained the distinction of being considered the

" leading edge " in primary health care, and is extolled by its advocates as " the

single most successful component of the child survival program. " Its high

acceptance and apparent success relate to a number of factors:

A technological package that is easily understood and readily available . . .

the fact that vaccination does not require substantial behaviourial change; the

relative ease of measuring coverage and its offer of an opportunity for

political leadership at all levels to be visibly involved. Finally, it is the

single component of PHC that provides the greatest opportunity for the private

sector to participate through the supply or production of vaccine and cold chain

equipment.10

It is accepted wisdom among medical professionals and in turn the public, that

millions of children now enjoy improved health and freedom from various

life-threatening diseases because of safe and effective vaccines. In the words

of Fulginiti, " morbidity and deaths secondary to the contagious diseases have

either been eradicated, measles greatly reduced in occurrence, and rubella,

mumps, pertussis, and other diseases significantly lessened in terms of their

impact. " 11

EPI--FIELD EVALUATION EXPERIENCE

This general examination of Immunization as a central modality in the prevention

of common infectious diseases in the Developing World will begin with some

salient extracts taken from the writer's findings in a field evaluation he

carried out on a UNICEF--Expanded Program of Immunization and Primary Health

Care initiative in Northeast Thailand, in March of 1990. The data derived from

evaluating the EPI component is being provided as basic background information

because it provides some useful insights on comparable UNICEF-EPI initiatives

that are now occurring throughout the Developing World, and points to some

critical issues meriting further investigation. (EPI was one of eight components

in the Integrated Services Project for Children, extending over a five year

period, at a cost exceeding $8,500,000.(Cdn). This funding was primarily

provided by the Canadian Government, and supplemented with public contributions.

The Project was executed by UNICEF Thailand, in cooperation with the Royal Thai

Government.)

The EPI in Northeast Thailand proved to be a considerable undertaking. It

included: the execution of a cluster survey on immunization coverage in all 59

districts (in which there are over 900 villages); provision of EPI training for

600 Village Health Volunteers, Village Health Communicators, and religious

leaders; similar training for 200 health care providers, and 40 multiple WHO

staff, EPI information strengthening and finally social mobilization to

vaccinate, viz. provide BCG/OPV/DPT and measles coverage for all 59 districts.

It further involved the equipping of 373 tambon (subdistrict) health centres

with sufficient numbers of. refrigerators; vaccine carriers with four icepacks;

BCG vaccine kits; thermometers; cold chain monitoring cards; and steam

sterilizers.

The EPI initiative placed its strategic concentration on the following areas:

EPI training of village and religious leaders

emphasis on reaching progressively higher annual vaccination targets

provision of cold chain equipment and support to targeted Tambons

information campaigns in primary and elementary schools

public education campaigns in targeted villages

increased vaccine production; and

strengthening the EPI information system at the district and provincial level.

In reviewing figures for the project covering the first three years (1985-1987),

the priority emphasis on immunization is evident. Project expenditures for this

component reached 126 percent of the original target for immunization, compared

to only 28 percent for primary health care. Food and nutrition fared somewhat

better at 60 percent of the target, a little under the project average of 61

percent. A budget analysis conducted on the project for this period states that

" Implementation of the community action component is . . . low. However, the

savings obtained here will be passed on to the EPI and pre-school components . .

.. " The reason given for exceeding the original budget projections for EPI, was

" because of the demands and opportunities for support presented. " 12

Recognizing the central importance of " health care outcomes, " both the

evaluation exercise and this broader examination of the issues have purposely

focused on concerns surrounding the qualitative issue of EPI health care

outcomes and effectiveness. However, it became readily apparent in the

evaluation of the Program that--due to the absence of base line data on any

sample of the recipients, let alone the additional need for a comparable control

group, and the control or monitoring of intervening variables it was not really

possible to proceed with any accurate or verifiable determination of health care

outcomes (i.e., to establish a cause and effect relationship) for EPI.

This need to provide verifiable measurement of a program's health care outcomes

appears to be pervasively deficient throughout most health programming directed

to the Developing World. The implications of this general deficiency to the

specific measurement or determination of EPI effectiveness, remains a serious

one, and will be addressed more thoroughly at later points in this report.

UNICEF'S GENERAL EPI STRATEGY AND STATED ACHIEVEMENTS

In a UNICEF sponsored research study on immunization coverage conducted in

Thailand in the mid 80's, the following general observation is made:

[The] immunization programme has been proven to be an efficient, and relatively

inexpensive method of disease prevention in both developing and developed

countries. In the last decade, we have seen an increase in immunization usage,

public acceptance, improved delivery techniques and more stable vaccines. The

more extensive use of vaccines has resulted in a dramatic decrease of many

leading communicable diseases in all parts of the world. However, this condition

is by no means true in developing countries where most of the vaccine

preventable diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, neonatal tetanus, poliomyelitis

and measles remain to be a serious health menace among infants and children in

these countries. " 13

The view as expressed here--during the early stages of this project--provides a

fair representation of the rationale behind UNICEF'S resolve to proceed with its

universal disease eradication drive, via vaccine induced immunization. (It is of

no passing interest that WHO and UNICEF sponsored literature, such as above, now

embody a new nomenclature, in which one does not refer to preventable diseases,

but more precisely " vaccine preventable diseases " thus tending to convey the

unsubstantiated conclusion that such diseases are only preventable through the

use of vaccines.)

In UNICEF's Fourth Progress Report on this project issued in 1989, it was

affirmed that, " Impressive progress has been made towards the achievement of

Universal Child Immunization (UCI). Immunization coverage has been increased and

the incidence of immunization diseases reported has reduced. " This achievement

was reported as taking place despite such persistent obstacles as: insufficient

" awareness and knowledge among health officials and community leaders; "

inadequate " availability of vaccines and cold chain in remote areas; " and the

problem of " drop-out due to ignorance, distance, and fear of side effects. "

FIELD OBSERVATIONS

On the basis of structured and semi-structured interviews in five provinces,

five districts, and nine villages visited, the following facts came to light:

The EPI component objectives were comprehensively and successfully implemented,

exceeding the original numerical targets

EPI was reported as the " only activity that is implemented and recorded entirely

by government (health) officials "

All parents had been informed that: immunization was an effective, and essential

life-guarding measure, and although it could result in fever or a minor rash for

their infants, this should be expected as normal (a small price to pay for the

benefits received); and that otherwise the procedure was very safe and should

pose no cause for fear or alarm

The most commonly reported side effect of infant vaccinations was fever, with

village reports ranging from a low of 6% of infants immunized to " 99%. " (Rashes

were the second most commonly reported side effect)

Fever reducing drugs are either routinely administered to vaccinated infants, or

administered on request of parents (however, one village did report the

effective use of water instead of drugs to reduce fever), and

Sisaket province reported that " rare " cases of post-vaccination shock have

occurred, attributing this to vaccinal " overdose. " Surin province reported that

there were cases of post-vaccination shock in various other provinces, but not

in Surin. Such cases were attributed to the vaccine vial not being " sufficiently

shaken. "

CONTRA-INDICATIONS SCREENING

Evidence indicated that the EPI program did not incorporate adequate measures

for contraindications pre-screening and post-monitoring.

All infants received the vaccines regardless of their weight or nutritional

status (only one village indicated that vaccines were not given to infants

severely underweight, and only one province reported post-vaccination monitoring

of infants under 3 kg).

Actual nutritional status assessment does not appear to be conducted on infants

(excepting the body weight factor) before administering vaccination.

There did not appear to be any procedural requirements for checking family

histories to determine whether there existed any history of neurological

disorders before administering vaccination.

The official view historically held and still articulated by the World Health

Organization (WHO) is that both the provision of screening for

contraindications, and post operation monitoring for adverse reactions are

uncalled for in the context of Developing World EPI campaigns. The underlying

rationale has been that the life saving benefits of EPI so far outweigh any

risks, that attention to potential risk factors and the potential for vaccine

induced damage in vaccinates remains impracticable, and thus a non-issue.14

Despite this unqualified optimism, according to information provided by CIDA's

Health and Population Directorate sector, the WHO effective October, 1990,

instituted a policy for " adverse event monitoring " in Developing World

Immunization activities. A definitive policy statement on this issue titled

Monitoring of Adverse Events Following Immunization, has been available since

April 1991. (The implications of WHO's recognition of the significance of this

issue in setting UCI/EPI research, monitoring and evaluation priorities should

be apparent.)

It is thus important to point out that there is by no means a consensus on this

issue within the Bio-science community (including the inconsistencies exhibited

in the public pronouncements, and policies of the WHO). In one of the most

recent scholastic manuals available on immunization practice, noted authority,

Dick--Professor Emeritus of Pathology, London University--provides the

following cautions relative to the traditional assumptions of the WHO:

Before considering immunization it must be determined that the disease in

question is of sufficient severity, frequency or other importance to justify

immunization against it. Furthermore, " if the infection is readily treatable,

there is seldom justification for immunization. "

" immunization is indicated only when the classic methods of control are

[demonstrably] impracticable or unsuccessful. "

Before any vaccine is introduced " there must be good evidence that the vaccine

is effective and relatively safe . . . Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to

predict with any certainty the durability of immunity with the live virus

vaccines, which are now in common use, such as poliomyelitis, measles . . .

[etc.] "

" The best type of active immunization follows a clinical or subclinical natural

infection. With many diseases this often gives lifelong protection at little or

no cost to the individual or to the community. "

The pre-immunization era declines in infectious diseases " should make one

careful in attributing changes in the epidemiology of some diseases to the

result of a specific treatment or immunization. " 15

He further confirms that in the following conditions, the EPI vaccine as noted

should not be administered. (Obviously pre-vaccine screening measures must be in

place in order to ensure that these guidelines are met.) Dick's recommendations

follow on Table A.

TABLE A -- GUIDLINES FOR CONTRAINDICATIONS SCREENING Diphtheria acute febrile

illness (fever)

Whooping Cough

(pertussis) acute febrile illness

a history of seizures, convulsions or cerebral irritation in the neonatal

period

any neurological defects

any severe local or general reaction to a previous dose of pertussis

" Children whose parents or siblings have a history of idiopathic epilepsy or

neurological defects require careful assessment as to the advisability of

imunization. "

Polio acute illness including diarrhoea, or other (OPV) acute intestinal

dysfunction

sever hypogammaglobulinaemia

anyone on corticosteroids or immunosuppressive therapy

Measles acute febrile illness

immune mechanism deficiencies

anyone on corticosteroids or immunosuppressive therapy

Hodgkin's disease and leukaemia, or other diseases of the lymphoid, or

mononuclear phagocytic (reticuloendothelial) system

Preliminary PHC and EPI research conducted for CIDA's Evaluation Division

indicates as well that vaccines should not be administered to children who are

suffering from malnutrition due to associated immunodeficiency problems (of

which--inter alia--chronic infections are symptomatic). However, the official

WHO position on this point is that " Fever, respiratory tract infections,

diarrhea, and malnutrition should not be considered as contraindications to

immunization. " This is based on the relationship between immunodeficiency status

and increased risk of natural infection.16, 17, 18 (For a cross-sampling of

other reference sources which support a counter-view to the WHO stance on

immunodeficiency and contraindications to vaccines, please see ref.18)

The Project's failure to address this issue--in a responsible manner--has

undoubtedly caused some very real harm, when only good was meant, as the

following shows.

A CASE HISTORY

Upon completing the briefing session with a large contingent of Surin provincial

and Northeast regional health officials--at which the chief provincial

spokesperson confirmed that although post-vaccination shock was a problem in

other provinces, there were no known cases being reported in his province

evaluation team members departed for their respective village destinations. Upon

entering the village of Kanjarong, in the Chom Phra district (only 35 miles

distant from the provincial capital) in company with the UNICEF Integrated

Services Project Monitor, we encountered and met with the village Head Man and

the Deputy Head Man.

In the course of the interview, the Deputy Head Man, with some intensity

explained that his own son had experienced what he considered as very serious

damage as a result of immunization. The Project Monitor and I returned the

following day, at which time we both interviewed the mother and observed the

affected child during the interview. As a result of this more careful and

thorough interview, the following facts of the case were ascertained:

Up to the age of 3 months the infant had been breastfed. Breastfeeding was

terminated by the mother due to a diagnosed thyroid deficiency, per the

" doctor's " request. She subsequently began feeding him powdered milk,

supplemented by egg, meat, and white rice. The use of fresh fruit and vegetables

in the infants diet remained very marginal.

At the age of 8 months the infant was taken in for his final DPT (triple

antigen) vaccine. He almost immediately went into what was diagnosed and

described as a state of " shock, " for which he was duly treated by a physician.

As well, a whole series of serious problems began:

chronic sleeplessness

high fever

unbroken colds and runny nose continuing over several months

unbroken crying (except when held) for a period exceeding 2 months

in the eleven months following the vaccine (the child at time of inter-view was

I year 7 months) there appeared to be severely impaired weight and growth

developments.

Although cognizant that this case history could be construed (and in turn

dismissed) as a rare anecdotal occurrence that was only coincidental to the

administration of the triple antigen vaccine, after careful thought I've decided

to included it in some detail for three basic reasons:

I. evidence suggest that for multiple reasons--as noted throughout this

document--such adverse reactions are likely to be taking place at a

significantly greater level than is popularly believed;

II. a calm, intelligent and caring mother's direct experiential observations and

hindsight about her child represent a fully valid and trustworthy source of

information; and

III. overall, the clarity and force of the evidence was such that the child's

reaction was clearly more than a mere coincidence, and thus not attributable to

other direct causes. (As well there is clear evidence suggesting that the

occurrence and severity of adverse reactions to vaccines--among

infants--correlate proportionally to both lack of breasffeeding, and Vitamin C

deficiency (e.g., see refs. 17 & 18).

The following comments should be made with respect to points (a)-(e) above:

The evidence of unabated infections suggests general impairment of the child's

immune system, i.e., vaccine induced immune malfunction.

The unbroken crying (its unfortunate that children under the age of one can't

verbally explain the nature and extent of their distress) suggest the

possibility of permanent nervous system damage. (In observing the child walk

about, it was visibly evident that his general motor functions and coordination

were impaired.)

The reported growth stunting effect was also visibly obvious, as the child

appeared to be at most the size of a one year old. (In that impaired growth is

generally not identified in the literature as a vaccine related or induced

hazard, this condition may well have been principally related to other factors

bearing on the child's nutritional intake and or assimilative capacities.) The

mother reported that his weight at birth was 4 kilos (a very heavy baby by Thai

standards) and at 5 months, 9 kilos. At the time we visited--though now I year

and 2 months older--his weight was unchanged, still at 9 kilos.

It is also worth noting that the mothers three month old grandson, who was

present during the interview, had been experiencing high fever, and continuous

colds since having received recent inoculations. Given that I visited only 9 out

of over 900 participating villages, and then only raised this issue with a

fraction of respondents, poses serious concern as to just how widespread and

serious the problem of adverse side effects is.

It is known for instance that when mass immunization programs were enforced in

Australia's Northern Territory among what was a generally malnourished

Aboriginal population (the most notable concern being Vitamin C deficiency)

death rates doubled, in some areas approaching 50 percent i.e., " Every Second

Child. " According to the author of a book by that title and veteran physician to

the Aboriginals A. Kalokerinos:

A health team would sweep into an area, line up all the Aboriginal babies and

infants and immunize them. There would be no examination no taking of case

histories, no checking on dietary deficiencies. Most infants would have colds.

No wonder they died Some would die within hours . . . Others would suffer

immunological insults and die later from pneumonia, 'gastroenteritis'or

'malnutrition'.19

In Northeastern Thailand, in the villages visited practically all mothers were

breastfeeding, and were to some extent including fresh garden vegetables and

fruit in their diets. This in turn provided a fair degree of protection from the

kind of severe reactions and mortality just noted among Australian Aboriginals.

Nonetheless, it is apparent that there still remains a sizable number of

malnourished. To quote C. Guthrie:

Malnutrition seems to be declining in the Northeast... Still, malnutrition is

widely prevalent. One does not need to go looking for it. In one school . . . in

Don Luang, 50 percent of the children were suffering from one level of

malnutrition or another. I found it somewhat disturbing to find that the

objective expressed by most officials was restricted to the eradication of 3rd

degree malnutrition, in spite of the wide prevalence of 1st and 2nd degree

malnutrition.20

It appears that the mass coverage obsession common to UCI and EPI, have run

roughshod over the repeated qualifications, and warnings that have been issued

against administering vaccines to inimunodeficient infants and children, of

which malnutrition is a prime indicator. The fact that a March 1988 Annual

Report on this Project (p. 5) indicated that a WHO/UNICEF review team found that

EPI " drop out rates were high, because of the fear of side effects as expressed

by mothers, " suggests that the prevalence of vaccine induced complications and

morbidity in Northeast Thailand, may well be more significant than heretofore

thought. (The broader question and implications of vaccine induced morbidity and

mortality will be examined in more detail, later in the report.)

VACCINE SCHEDULING

The rationale behind administering multiple vaccines and toxoids throughout the

first 14 week period of an infant's life (excepting measles) is that in the

first year of life--when the immune system is still relatively immature--a child

is considered more susceptible to most infectious diseases. However, this view

fails to admit the corollary that the immune and nervous systems of infants, are

immature thus making them potentially more vulnerable to the toxic effects of

vaccines and toxoids.

Nonetheless, the argument is commonly raised that vaccines must be administered

in accord with the recommended schedule, " (particularly in the Developing

World), as the risk of dangers is so marginal, and the dangers of widespread and

unchecked infectious diseases so great that the infant must have the

vaccines--or else. Of course this view is acceptable only insofar as the

multiple beliefs surrounding UCI/EPI are valid, i.e., that there are no better

disease preventative measures; that the presence of such infections cannot be

safely handled or treated; and that vaccines are both highly effective and very

safe.

The current WHO recommended schedule vaccination follows: At birth BCG

(Tuberculosis) and OPV-0 (Polio--Live Oral, Trivalent)

6 weeks DPT#L (Diphtheria Toxoid; Pertussis/Whooping Cough; and Tetanus Toxoid)

and OPV#L

10 weeks DPT#2 and OPV#2

14 weeks DPT#3 and OPV#3

9 months Measles

It is instructive to consider the experience of Japan in this regard. Delay of

DPT immunization until 2 years of age in Japan has resulted in a dramatic

decline in adverse side effects. In the period of 1970-1974, when DPT

vaccination was begun at 3 to 5 months of age, the Japanese national

compensation system paid out claims for 57 permanent severe damage vaccine

cases, and 37 deaths. During the ensuing six year period 1975-1980, when DPT

injections were delayed to 24 months of age, severe reactions from the vaccine

were reduced to a total of eight with three deaths. This represents an 85 to 90

percent reduction in severe cases of damage and death. 21

Although it is obvious that conditions in Japan remain distinctive from that of

most Developing World countries, it must be noted that insofar as susceptibility

to infectious disease remains greater in lesser developed countries, it clearly

follows that susceptibility to vaccine damage will also be proportionally

greater. Thus the lesson from Japan carries a valid message relative to the

prevention of vaccine damage in Developing World EPI campaigns.

IMMUNIZATION'S IMPACT IN THE DECLENSION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Statistics indicate that over the life of this project, Thailand (and presumably

the Northeast region, for which direct figures were not available) has exhibited

some degree of declension in childhood infectious diseases (excepting measles)

for which immunization has--in recent years--been made generally available.

However, it must be borne in mind that prima facie improvement in morbidity

levels--in end of itself--falls far short of proving any actual interventional

cause and effect relationship for EPI.

Direct discussions with the International Development Research Centre's Health

Sciences Division confirms that in selective primary health care activities,

such as EPI, there exists " no good base line data from which to measure health

care outcomes. SPHC (Selective Primary Health Care) programs in the

implementation of EPI appear to ignore this whole issue, " Due to the strong and

widely maintained assumption that interventions such as EPI serve inextricably

and directly as the basis for health improvement outcomes, there has been a

general failure since the inception of the first vaccine programs to establish

genuinely verifiable evidence for their long term effectiveness, and safety. 22

The general nature of this problem in Selective Primary Health Care activities

is well expressed by prominent Medical Sociologist J. on, when he says

there has been a failure to " assess explicitly the degree of validity and

sufficiency of the evidence linking care structures (facilities, personnel), and

processes (what providers do, e.g., EPI) to outcomes of care in general and to

health outcomes in particular. " 23

Epidemiological science is largely predicated on the reality that changes in

morbidity and mortality in populations are necessarily linked to a whole series

of contributive factors. " (Noted authority Dick states that: " Many

infectious diseases can be prevented without immunization, because once the

natural history of the disease is understood, the source may be eliminated or

transmission prevented [e.g.,] . . . . When it was discovered that cholera and

typhoid epidemics were regularly transmitted by faecal contamination of water,

the provision of clean water supplies nearly eradicated these diseases from many

countries without recourse to immunization. " )24 It is widely acknowledged that

factors such as: nutrition, sanitation, potable water; the natural and social

environments (e.g., agricultural practices, food supply, education and income),

all play vital roles in determining the onset, severity, and eradication of both

infectious and degenerative diseases. Diseases such as cholera and typhoid, have

been strongly linked to water and sanitation, whereas evidence continues to

accumulate that nutrition remains likely the most critical determinant factor in

the full range of infectious and degenerative human diseases.25

The very fact that in this UNICEF project--as in many others--EPI is implemented

over a period of years in the midst of a whole series of other natural and basal

socioeconomic improvement measures, each having their own critical impact on any

population's health status (including epidemicity levels) suggests that EPI

could actually be playing a negligible or even a negative role, and no one would

really know the difference.

According to the recently completed comprehensive Program Evaluation of the

Canadian International Immunization Program--Phase 1, this poses a situation in

which the relative impact of expanded immunization programs on mortality levels

in the Developing World remain largely unsubstantiated. To quote: " at present it

appears that there is no conclusive evidence on the impact of immunization on

child mortality from all causes . . . It may be that EPI's effect is merely to

bring about " replacement mortality, " whereby children . . . succumb to other

diseases instead. The uncertainty over the impacts of EPI remain a major

question in PHC programming. " 26

In a similar vein, Debabar Banerji, Chairman of the Centre of Social Medicine

and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University raises serious concerns with

the UNICEF sponsored Universal Childhood Immunization program in his own nation.

He suggests that:

If we turn to the epidemiological analysis of UCI-90 in India, we are astonished

to learn that such a gigantic program has been launched without having even the

most basic data on infectious diseases . . . Then how will it be possible to

determine the cost-effectiveness of the program? Actually, there ought to have

been much more detailed analysis. . . .

For example, with regard to disease levels and factors, he urges that very basic

questions should have been addressed before implementing UCI, such as: . . . how

different are the rates in different parts of the country and what are the

ecological, cultural, social and other factors which affect the rates--through

influencing the balance between the host, the parasite [i.e., virus or microbe]

and the environment. Information should have been provided on what are the

trends in the epidemiological behaviour of the different diseases over a time

period, what should be the epidemiological strategy for intervention in the

natural histories of the diseases, and so on. Paying scant attention to such

critical epidemiological considerations, the crusaders of UCI-90 have opted in

favor of saturation spraying with " silver bullets " [vaccines]. Over and above

this, there are also the important questions of efficacy of the vaccines. . .

Administratively, the exponents of UCI-90 seem to indulge in collective amnesia

to wish the bitter experiences of major vertical [top down] programs like the

mass BCG Campaign, the National Malaria Eradication Program, and the three

[national] efforts at eradication of smallpox . . . Also actively shunned are

the many lessons from the failures of vertical programs for trachoma, leprosy,

filariasis, cholera, and sexually transmitted diseases. " 27

INCOMPLETE STATISTICAL REPORTING

Selectively slanted and incomplete reporting of the true statistical picture is

not an infrequent problem in the promotive oriented reporting on EPI impact

data. For example, the following Tables B and C, were based on data presented in

Section 4.3 " Expanded Programme of Immunization, " in UNICEF's Fourth Progress

Report CUC/CIDA Development of Basic Services for Children in Thailand, covering

the period January--December, 1988.

Table B -- Immunization Coverage for Measles in Thailand Year of Coverage 1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

Percentage Immunized 06

26

44

60

63

Table C -- Incidence of measles in Thailand Year 1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

Number 27,691

34,713

47,205

32,156

19,659

42,051

32,498

Case Rate Per 100,000 (57.1)

(70.2)

(93.7)

(62.2)

(37.1)

(78.1)

59.1)

The following comment is made with respect to the expansion of the measles

vaccination program, " . . . the immunization coverage for measles has increased

from 6 percent in 1984 to 63 percent in 1988, leading to a reduction in measles

prevalence from 93.7/100,000 in 1984 to 37.1/100,000 in 1986. "

What the report fails to indicate though is that although the 1986 inununization

coverage of 44% had increased by 1987 to 60%, the measles infection rate in the

same period actually more than doubled, with an increase from 37.1 to 87.1 per

100,000. It is also noteworthy that the culminating maximum immunization

coverage of 63% achieved in 1988, correlates with a 1988 infection report rate

of 59.1 /100,000--which in fact poses higher level of measles infection than the

1982 reported infection rate of 57.1 /100,000, which was a time when measles

immunization was not being provided in Thailand. (The higher per capita

infection rate--after five years of expanding coverage--obviously reflects very

negatively on the assumed efficacy of the vaccine, and may have been

deliberately obfuscated in the reporting. No evidence was seen to suggest that

the post-immunization increases in disease rates were attributable to case

reporting improvements.)

THE DEVELOPMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF UCI/EPI

Clearly, Universal Childhood Immunization stands in contradiction to the

strategically development based primary health care principles as embodied in

the Alma Ata Declaration. (The issue of intersectoral primary health care versus

selective medicine remains an area of major controversy. It will be examined in

considerable detail later in this paper). In fact, Developing World analysts

such as D. Banerji, forcefully contend that short term, " top down " approaches to

health care--such as EPI threaten to reverse Alma Ata's historic gains for more

self-directed and sustainable health care. In his view the shifting emphasis

toward selective medicine including UCI/EPI:

Negates the principle of community participation and control as exemplified in

" bottom up " development

Accords resource allocations only to certain target groups, ignoring the needs

of the total family and community

Reinforces elitist authoritarian attitudes, thus increasing oppression.

Has a fragile basis in science

Displays questionable moral and ethical values, in which a questionable

commodity of foreign and elite interests, is promoted to and imposed on the

majority of the people.28

In his own words, the Universal Childhood Immunization initiative, constitutes

the efforts of ruling interests in Donor nations:

.. . . to hit out at the very core of the philosophy of primary health care by

imposing technocentric vertical programs against a few diseases in the name of

saving children . . .This movement not only tends to fragment a health care

system and take it away from a wider ecological, intersectoral, and integrated

approach, but it also actively hinders community self-reliance and seriously

erodes the democratic rights of the people to participate in decisions which so

vitally concern them. This is perhaps the most malignant facet of the present

efforts to impose specialized . . . programs from outside, using social

marketing techniques to sell them. " 29

Researchers like Rifkin and Walt maintain that interventions such as EPI, are

essentially based on the (now fading) view that human health is dependent upon

and arises from a force of elite professionals who hold privileged

knowledge--coupled with corresponding power and control--to effect their

disbursal of technocentrically contrived benefits, to relatively ignorant and

passive recipients.30 It goes without saying that any programmed encouragement

of this mind set--despite the very best of intentions--constitutes an inimical

force to those principles and processes whereby intelligent self-development,

and informed self-care can prevail.

In reference to the developmental implications of UCI/EPI, medical sociologist

L.J. Chetelat notes that:

Health professionals, by taking and promoting easily executed interventions,

such as immunization, create a demand for these programs and raise expectations

which are seldom realized.. SPHC by identifying specific techniques (such as

EPI) and strongly supporting them, diverts attention and resources from the

process of development, to highlighting specific programs with exaggerated and

often unpredictable outcomes. In reality, technocratic and " instant " successes,

put into danger the long slow process that leads to sustained improvements. They

are creating a climate of short-term expediency, rather than long term change.31

IS IMMUNIZATION EFFECTIVENESS A CERTAINTY?

It can well be said that real " ignorance is not knowing, but knowing what isn't

so. " The question of whether vaccines in fact protect recipients from the

diseases for which they are given, might seem absurd on the face of it. As

already noted, when we closer examine the question of statistical evidence for

immunization's effectiveness, there remain significant epidemiological

uncertainties. The literature further reveals some critical problems in data

gathering, interpretation and reporting practices. These basic concerns are

succinctly summarized by Professor Gordon , recent head of the Department

of Community Medicine at Glasgow University:

What kind of immunization is this for which success is being claimed?... What

kind of epidemiology is this which advocates immunization b excluding,

consideration of factors other than immunization? . . . " at kind of editorial

policy is this which publishes incomplete data and promotes far reaching claims

about the efficacy of immunization, but refuses to publish collateral data

questioning this efficacy? 32

We are thus confronted with an unenviable situation where in the general absence

of verifiable multifactored and controlled studies, EPI remains

today--scientifically speaking--as a basically unproven program intervention. In

fact, there is a substantive and growing body of data that call into serious

question the soundness and effectiveness of mass immunization programs. This

data not only calls into question EPI effectiveness, but further details adverse

side effects and potential long term dangers of this widely implemented medical

intervention.

EARLY THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS RE-EXAMINED

In order to better grasp the issue of vaccine effectiveness, it would prove

helpful for us to go back to the early theoretical foundation upon which current

vaccination and disease theories originated. In simplest terms, the theory of

artificial immunization postulates that by giving a person a mild form of a

disease, via the use of specific foreign proteins, attenuated viruses, etc., the

body will react by producing a lasting protective response e.g., antibodies, to

protect the body if or when the real disease comes along.

This primal theory of disease prevention originated by Ehrlich--from the

time of its inception--has been subject to increasing abandonment by scientists

of no small stature. For example not long after the Ehrlich theory came into

vogue, W.H. Manwaring, then Professor of Bacteriology and Experimental Pathology

at Leland Stanford University observed:

I believe that there is hardly an element of truth in a single one of the basic

hypothesis embodied in this theory. My conviction that there was something

radically wrong with it arose from a consideration of the almost universal

failure of therapeutic methods based on it . . . Twelve years of study with

immuno-physical tests have yielded a mass of experimental evidence contrary to,

and irreconcilable with the Ehrlich theory, and have convinced me that his

conception of the origin, nature, and physiological role of the specific

'antibodies' is erroneous.33

To afford us with a continuing historical perspective of events since

Manwaring's time, we can next turn to the classic work on auto-immunity and

disease by Sir MacFarlane Burnett, which indicates that since the middle of this

century the place of antibodies at the centre stage of immunity to disease has

undergone " a striking demotion. " For example, it had become well known that

children with agammaglobulinaemia--who consequently have no capacity to produce

antibody--after contracting measles, (or other zymotic diseases) nonetheless

recover with long-lasting immunity. In his view it was clear " that a variety of

other immunological mechanisms are functioning effectively without benefit of

actively produced antibody. " 34

The kind of research which led to this a broader perspective on the body's

immunological mechanisms included a mid-century British investigation on the

relationship of the incidence of diphtheria to the presence of antibodies. The

study concluded that there was no observable correlation between the antibody

count and the incidence of the disease. " " The researchers found people who were

highly resistant with extremely low antibody count, and people who developed the

disease who had high antibody counts.35 (According to Don de Savingy of IDRC,

the significance of the role of multiple immunological factors and mechanisms

has gained wide recognition in scientific thinking. [For example, it is now

generally held that vaccines operate by stimulating non-humeral mechanisms, with

antibody serving only as an indicator that a vaccine was given, or that a person

was exposed to a particular infectious agent.])

In the early 70's we find an article in the Australian Journal of Medical

Technology by medical virologist B. (of the Australian Laboratory of

Microbiology and Pathology, Brisbane) which reported that although a group of

recruits were immunized for Rubella, and uniformly demonstrated antibodies, 80

percent of the recruits contracted the disease when later exposed to it. Similar

results were demonstrated in a consecutive study conducted at an institution for

the mentally disabled. --in commenting on her research at a University of

Melbourne seminar--stated that " one must wonder whether the . . . decision to

rely on herd immunity might not have to be rethought.36

As we proceed to the early 80s, we find that upon investigating unexpected and

unexplainable outbreaks of acute infection among " immunized " persons, mainstream

scientists have begun to seriously question whether their understanding of what

constitutes reliable immunity is in fact valid. For example, a team of scientist

writing in the New England Journal of Medicine provide evidence for the position

that immunity to disease is a broader bio-ecological question then the factors

of artificial immunization or serology. They summarily concluded: " It is

important to stress that immunity (or its absence) cannot be determined reliable

on the basis of history of the disease, history of immunization, or even history

of prior serologic determination.37

Despite these significant shifts in scientific thinking, there has unfortunately

been little actual progress made in terms of undertaking systematically broad

research on the multiple factors which undergird human immunity to disease, and

in turn building a system of prevention that is squarely based upon such

findings. It seems ironic that as late as 1988 must still raise the

following basic questions. " Why doesn't medical research focus on what factors

in our environment and in our lives weaken the immune system? Is this too

simple? too ordinary? too undramatic? Or does it threaten too many vested

interests . . ? " 38

ARTIFICIALLY INDUCED IMMUNITY--REALITY OR DELUSION?

Physiologist, S.K. Claunch raises an reasonable postulate when he suggests that

the body's capacity to initiate a " vigorous reaction " (i.e., the acute processes

of elimination associated with viral and infectious diseases) hinges essentially

on its level of vitality, and thus such reactions are most commonly found in

children. In contrast, it is generally acknowledged that the very feeble and or

chronically diseased--who have significantly lower vital energy levels--tend to

remain relatively free from such acute reactions. This observation in turn lead

him to express the concept that:

If any child has its vitality lowered and its health impaired to the degree that

it is no longer strong enough to develop an acute disease, it is, for the time

being, at least " immune. " This is the exact clinical picture one observes when

serums, vaccines and " biologicals " are shot into a child . . . its vitality is

so lowered that it is no longer healthy enough to protest or react against them.

So long as its vitality stays down, it will be " immune. " 39

A number of detractors have legitimately raised the question of how the

injection of foreign disease matter into the human system can constitute a

legitimate approach to the sustenance of human health. After all, we don't seek

warmth of icebergs, is there thus any more logic in seeking health from

substances which are intimately associated with disease and death? The

articulate view of physiologist H.M. Shelton is that:

To interfere with the all-important composition of the blood in the haphazard

manner serologists do, results in incalculable disturbance of its physiological

equilibrium . . . health depends, not upon killing bacteria [ & viruses] but upon

building up the soundness . . . integrity [and] functional vigor . . . of our

own tissues and organs. . . . Normal resistance can be achieved only by use of

the same means by which it was originally built and maintained.

Nature makes no mistakes and violates no laws. She is uniformly governed by

fixed principles and all her actions harmonize with ... [nature's governing]

laws . . . The best, indeed the only method ofpromoting public health is to

teach people the laws of nature and.. how to preserve health. Immunization

programs are futile, and are based on the delusion that the law of cause and

effect can be annulled Vaccines and serums are employed as substitutesfor right

living; they are intended to supplant obedience to the laws of life. Such

programs are slaps in the face of law and order. " 40

AN HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF THE BACTERIAL/VIRALTHEORY OF DISEASE CAUSATION

In order to provide some further background to the reader, this section will

briefly recount some of the most significant observations of earlier scientists

on the broader question of what is the actual role bacteria and viruses play in

human infectious disease. The debate on this issue--although an old one remains

highly relevant and timely in that the whole edifice of Western selective

medicine, both preventive and therapeutic, hinges upon a correct perspective on

and resolution of the question.

Indeed, it remains remarkable that whether we go to recent or more distant

history, we find that fundamentally critical scientific discoveries and

observations which serve to clarify these issues, and point in a more

appropriate direction, continue--at least in practice--to be largely unknown and

or ignored. (Some researchers would suggest that this failure arises because

such discoveries--if genuinely applied--would significantly curb what amounts to

annual income totaling multiple billions of dollars in the exploitation of human

disease.) However, it is apparent that the factors underlying this failure are

in reality much broader and more complex.

Due to the need for brevity, only two cases of historic significance will be

considered. Earlier in this century, C.E. Rosenow of the Mayo Biological

Laboratories began a series of experiments in which he took distinctive

bacterial strains from a number of different disease sources and placed them in

one culture of uniform media. In time the distinctive strains all became one

class. By repeatedly changing cultures, he could individually modify bacterial

strains making them some harmless or " pathogenic " and in turn reverse the

process. He concluded that the critical factor allowing demonstration of the

polymorphic nature of bacteria was their environment and the food they lived

upon. These discoveries were first published in the year 1914 in the Journal of

Infectious Disease. " 41

Rosenow's work was corroborated and expanded upon about two decades later by

R.R. Rife, developer of the Universal Microscope which was developed concurrent

with RCA's initial marketing of the electron microscope. Rife's alternative was

a 5,682 component, 150,000 power (60,000 diameters of magnification) instrument

which made live bacteria visibly " clear as a cat on your lap. " This microscope

was a light transmitting instrument with a resolution of 31,000 diameters

(traditionally electron microscopes had resolutions of up to 25,000 diameters)

which overcame the chief weakness of the electron scope, i.e., the inability to

view living cells structures and bacterial and viral organisms in their

unaltered living state.(An alternative was required, as living matter when

viewed under the electron scope, becomes altered and distorted due to

bombardment by a virtual hailstorm of electrons, with such distortions

increasing proportionally with the intensity of magnification. Consequently, the

extremely high magnification levels found in the latest electron microscopes

actually serve to exacerbate this major flaw.)

Modern microscopy texts suggest that with light microscopes it is impossible to

obtain extremely high magnifications of objects and still retain visual clarity.

For example Novikoff and Holtzman affirm that in such instruments a point is

reached after which the image is " increasingly blurred and nothing is gained by

further magnification. Thus, light microscopes are rarely used at magnifications

greater than . . . 1500 X. " 42

However, Rife's invention with its 14 separate crystal quartz lenses and prisms,

was able to bend and to polarize light in such a way that a specimen could be

illuminated by extremely narrow portions of the spectra, and even by a single

light frequency. This combined with the shortening of projection distance

between prisms, and other innovative technical features permitted high

resolutions without distortion at extremely high magnifications, never before or

since attained in light microscopy.43

Rife showed that by altering the environment and food supply, friendly bacteria

such as colon bacillus could be converted into varied " pathogenic " bacteria. For

example, Rife also observed that bacillus coli could in time be modified into

the bacterial agent associated with typhus, and the process actually reversed.

In Rife's words:

In reality, it is not the bacteria themselves that produce the disease, but we

believe it is . . . the unbalanced cell metabolism of the human body that in

actuality produce the of disease. We also believe if the metabolism of the human

body is perfectly balanced . . . it is susceptible to no disease.44

This observation closely parallels is Carrel's earlier research at the

Rockefeller Institute where he was able to control the rates and levels of

infectious disease mortality among mice. Beginning with the standard diet he

observed a corresponding death rate of 52 percent. By making specific dietary

improvements he was able to reduce mortality rates downward to 32 percent, then

14 percent, and finally to a rate of 0.45

Not too long after Rife's and Carrel's reported observations, scientist Rene

Dubos (also at the Rockefeller Institute) reaffirmed their open and direct

challenge to the conventional thinking and practice of the scientific community

at large. He suggested that the presumed relationship between microbes and the

onset of human disease has been " so oversimplified that it rarely fits the facts

of disease. Indeed it corresponds almost to a cult . . . undisturbed by

inconsistencies and not too exacting about evidence. " He expanded upon this view

in suggesting that we need to objectively account for the fact that extremely

virulent:

.. . . pathogenic agents [i.e., bacterial and viral micro-organisms] sometimes

can persist in the tissues without causing disease, and at other times can cause

disease even in the presence of specific antibodies. We need also to explain why

microbes supposed to be non-pathogenic often start proliferating in an

unrestrained manner if the body's normal physiology is upset. . . .

During the first phase of the germ theory the property was regarded as lying

solely within the microbes themselves. Now virulence is coming to be thought of

as ecological . . . This ecological concept is not merely an intellectual game;

it is essential to a proper formulation of the problem of microbial diseases and

even to their control " 46

Indeed, Dubos--in time--came to voice the conclusion that " Viruses and bacteria

are not the cause of disease, there is something else. " In his classic work

Mirage of Health, he states " The world is obsessed by the fact that

poliomyelitis can kill and maim . . . unfortunate victims every year. But more

extraordinary is the fact that millions upon millions of young children become

infected by polio virus, yet suffer no harm from the infection. " 47 This view

closely corresponds to the oft quoted conclusion arrived at in later life by R.

Virchow (popularly reputed as father of the " germ theory " ) when he stated, " If I

could live my life over again, I would devote it to proving that germs seek

their natural habitat, diseased tissues, rather than being the cause of

disease. "

Since Dubos' time, researchers have estimated that the quantity of symptom free

exposure to viruses out number clinical illnesses by at least one

hundred-fold.48 This conclusion is based on the " high proportion of adults who

have virus-neutralizing substances in their serum and the number who, during an

epidemic, excrete virus without becoming ill.49

Further corroborative conclusions have been recently reached by some prominent

scientists in their critical examination of the popular view that Human

Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is the key, if not the singular cause of the

Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Evidence is in that the popularized

view that HIV causes AIDS is far more a political necessity, than a genuine

scientific conclusion. (Although the observed action and effects of viruses, and

retroviruses--such as HIV--do in fact significantly differ, what is being called

into question is the validity of labeling microbes--of whatever form--as the key

and or sole " cause " for disease, or as in this case of acquired

immunodeficiency.)

Duesberg (Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Calif.-

Berkeley; considered by many to be the world's leading expert on retroviruses;

and Nobel Prize candidate for his work in discovering oncogenes in viruses)

provides compelling evidence that lifestyle based factors serve as the primal

determinants in the evolution of the 20 plus neoplastic and degenerative

diseases that are now associated with AIDS. Employing his own

research--complemented by 196 cited references--an article entitled " HIV and

AlDs: Correlation but not causation, " was published in 1989 in the Proceedings

of the National Academy of Sciences USA. This article indicates that " Free " HIV

virus (Free meaning that the retrovirus is already part of the genome) is not

detectable in most cases of AIDS; " " Pure HIV does not cause AIDS upon

experimental infection of chimpanzees or accidental infection of healthy

humans; " and " Epidemiological surveys indicate that the annual incidence of AIDS

[to be understood as a condition symptomized by various secondary infections for

which natural immunity has been lost] depends critically on non-viral [related]

risk factors . . . defined by lifestyle, health, and country of residence. "

In an interview published nearly five years later Dr. Duesberg is more convinced

than ever that the HIV retrovirus is not the cause of AIDS, or of the mortality

associated with AIDS. Some of the key points he makes in this important

interview follow:

There are roughly seven and a half million people world wide who are known

carriers of HIV, and who continue to remain free of the immune deficiency

symptoms associated with AIDS, and there's not one authenticated case " where you

get infected today and get a disease. . . years later . . . infectious agents

work immediately or never. "

HIV has been found to be totally absent in the system of over 4,600 persons

diagnosed with AIDS, so to save political face the US Centers for Disease

Control have been forced of late to give such cases a new name i.e., " idiopathic

CD 4 Iymphocytopenia. "

There are a million Americans with HIV and their T cells are normal, indeed,

" HIV is one of the most harmless viruses you could possibly have. It never

claims more than one in 1,000 cells every other day " during which time your body

replaces " at least 30 out of 1,000 " cells.

AIDS is not an infectious disease, but rather arises from " party swinger

lifestyles " that includes: the widespread and abundant use of various immune-

depleting drugs both legal and illegal such as cocaine, alcohol, marijuana,

amphetamines, aphrodisiacs, amyl or butyl nitrites (poppers), combined with

correlated conditions of malnutrition, inadequate sleep, and poor hygiene.

Another key cause of AIDS and the mortality arising from it is medical treatment

in itself, viz. AZT has become " AIDS by prescription " and design. In other words

in the US alone 200,000 persons (most of whom have normal health) who've tested

positive for HIV antibodies, are given 250 mg of AZT every six hours. This

highly toxic drug destroys bone marrow, as well as red blood cells thus

precipitating cellular oxygen starvation destroys white blood cells; causes

anemia, weight loss, muscle loss, nausea, and worsening immune system deficiency

coupled with the ensuing infectious diseases commonly associated with AIDS, and

finally death. (The very same sequence of rapid physiological deterioration,

immune deficiency and infections has been documented in healthy persons who were

tested positive for HIV, and quickly submitted to medical treatment, but were

later confirmed as false positives.)50

Bio medical scientist and AIDS researcher ph Sonnabend speaks of " . . . the

failure of our scientific and medical institutions to have provided an even

rudimentary understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease in the eight years

since its first description, let alone to have developed interventions...that

might significantly alter its course. " His well researched conclusions include

the view that " The association of HIV seropositivity with AIDS could . . .

derive from the possibility that the expression of HIV (and consequent

seroconversion) is an effect, rather than a cause of AIDS. . . " 51

In summary, if we retum to Koch's 19th century postulates of the " Germ

Theory, " viz. in order to cause disease particular " bacterium: " a) must be found

in every case of the disease; must never be found apart from the disease; and

c) must consistently produce the same disease as that manifested by the body

from which the disease related germs were taken; we find that in reality each

postulate has been disproved time and again by varied experience and

experimental data.52

Nonetheless, it appears that to this day there remains only a marginal

acknowledgment or practical recognition that it is the condition of the

body-mind complex and its internal and external environments, which are the

principal determinants of the nature, prevalence and role of bacteria, viruses,

and even retroviruses.

THE BACTERIAL/VIRALVERSUS THE CELLULAR/ECOLOGICALTHEORY OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE

As a result of the re discovery of many of these earlier scientific

investigations, as well as more recent observations in molecular biology, there

has arisen among more independent scientists and primary health practitioners a

new concept that has been coined as the cellular theory of infectious disease.

This seemingly more logical and updated view, poses a serious challenge to the

present unquestioned emphasis on supporting mass selective medicine approaches

(including artificial immunization) in the Developing World.

The traditional Bacterial--Viral and the emerging Cellular--Ecological theories

of disease are contrasted in the table which follows. The practical acceptance

of the cellular theory as delineated would entail a substantive shift away from

both preventive and therapeutic interventions which are heavily predicated on

Western selective medicine, i.e., vaccines and drugs, and toward fundamental

health improvement measures such as sound nutrition, potable water, sanitation

and overall enhancement of the human physical and social environments.53

Considerable experimental, historical and epidemiological evidence supports the

cellular ecological theory, as outlined in Table D.

TABLE D

The evidence points to mass inoculation against polio as the cause of most

remaining cases of the disease . . . there is an ongoing debate among the

immunologists regarding the . . . killed virus vs. live virus vaccine.

Supporters of the killed virus vaccine maintain that it is the presence of live

virus organisms in the other product that is responsible for thepolio cases that

.. . . appear. Supporters of the live virus type argue that the killed virus

vaccine offers inadequate protection and actually increases the susceptibility

(to polio) of those vaccinated. . . . I believe that both factions are right,

and that use of either of the vaccines will increase not diminish the

possibility that your child will contract the disease.98

Thirteen scientists recently concluded that: vaccine failures in the major Oman

polio epidemic could not be explained by failures in the cold chain, nor on

suboptimum vaccine potency; the efficacy of OPV in inducing " humoral immunity "

was lower than expected; and primary reliance on routine polio immunization may

be " inadequate " to achieve the goal of eradicating polio by the year 2000. (They

also noted similar paralytic polio epidemics in other highly vaccinated

populations,99 e.g., the Gambia, Brazil, and Taiwan.)

Data on Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

V. Fulginiti, Chairman of the American Academy of Paediatrics Committee on

Infectious Diseases made this incisive observation:

Despite more than 30 years of experience with pertussis immunization, the

reasons for recovery from the acute infection and subsequent immunity, are still

uncertain. It is known that second attacks are rare following natural disease.

It is also known that 45-95% of recipients of pertussis vaccine are susceptible

to pertussis up to 12 years later . . . we do not understand the immunologic

mechanisms involved in resistance to infection after natural disease or

immunization.

Is pertussis vaccine effective? . . . prior to the widespread use ofpertussis

vaccine, both the incidence of pertussis and the case-fatality ratio declined. A

50-fold reduction in incidence and an 84% reduction in case-fatality were

recorded in Great Britain in the years between 1947 and 1972. . . . In England,

protection provided by vaccines prior to 1968 was meager; no greater than 20%

protection was noted. . . . Britain is in the position of advocating use of a

vaccine for which there are not hard data.100

G.T. 's observations as published in the British Medical Journal

indicated that " of 8,092 cases of whooping cough, 2,940 (36%) were fully

immunized, while only 2,424 (30%) were definitely not immunized. " 101

A Medical Tribune Report (January 10, 1979) details an outbreak of whooping

cough in which 46 out of 85 fully immunized children contracted the disease.102

(the reason that the other 39 did not contract the disease could have been

related to any number of predisposing factors).

Ekanem's earlier noted research (Table IX) , reveals an increase of 21 percent

in the number whooping cough cases by the end of the three year period following

implementation of an Expanded Program of Immunization in Nigeria.103

Data on Tetanus Toxoid and Immune Globulin

Neustaedter indicates that " Tetanus seems to be nearly eliminated from the

United States, primarily because of good hygiene and proper wound management. "

His research suggests that in the period of 1982-1984 in the US, there were a

total of nine tetanus cases among both children and adolescents, in which there

were no deaths.104 Whereas Coumoyer's research points to " contaminated umbilical

stump infections " as a principal cause of tetanus in the Developing World.105

Such infections can be effectively rectified through providing appropriate

information and training to traditional birth attendants.

Both Cournoyer and indicate that there have been some reports of lock

jaw death in properly inoculated individuals.106 & 107 Additionally Cournoyer

suggests that " Evidence in support of the (tetanus toxoid) vaccine comes from

epidemiologic studies which are by nature controversial, and which do not

satisfy the criteria for scientific proof.108

According to the data contained in Table XVII, in the Dominican Republic the

incidence of tetanus among children actually increased in the two year period

following administration of tetanus toxoid. Table XVIII indicates that in the

same country, the rate of neonatal tetanus--among mothers underwent an increase

in the year following administration of tetanus toxoid.109

WHO SMALLPOX ERADICATION SUCCESS RECONSIDERED

Although smallpox is apparently now accorded to the history books, it will be

necessary to re-examine the issue of this disease having been universally

eradicated, with particular reference to the WHO eradication campaign. An honest

look at this question is of considerable importance, as the current worldwide

UCI-EPI program gains much of its legitimacy and inspiration from this widely

acclaimed success story.

A strong challenge to this now popular view, is reflected in the post-campaign

findings of medical researchers like Buttram and Hoffman:

Most people probably credit the smallpox vaccine with playing the major role in

recent eradication of smallpox throughout the world, but let us examine the

facts. In the article 'Vaccines a Future in Question,' statistics showed that

less than 10 percent of children in developing countries have received vaccines.

They went on to comment that with this level of coverage, the WHO campaign was

not a real factor in the eradication. Data obtained in their broad based

research also led them to conclude that " mass smallpox vaccination was not

necessary for the eradication of smallpox.110

In further examining this question from a longer historical perspective, it

became readily apparent that the WHO claim did not at all square with the

earlier data, i.e., historical smallpox eradication efforts. If we go back as

far as the last century, we discover that Creighton's independent research

findings as published in the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica,

strongly contradict the effectiveness of mass smallpox immunization programs. A

few revealing excerpts follow:

.. . . in Bavaria in 1871 of 30,742 cases 29,429 were in vaccinated persons, or

95.7 percent.

Notwithstanding the fact that Prussia was the best re-vaccinated country in

Europe, its mortality from smallpox in the epidemic of 1871 was higher (69,839)

than any other Northern state.

According to a competent statistician (A. Vogt), the death-rate from smallpox in

the German army, in which all recruits are re-vaccinated, was 60 percent more

than among the civil population of the same age . . . although re-vaccination is

not obligatory among the latter.

It is often alleged that the unvaccinated are so much inflammable material in

the midst of the community, and that smallpox begins among them and gathers

force so that it sweeps even the vaccinated before it. Inquiry into the facts

has shown that at Cologne in 1870 the first unvaccinated person attacked by

smallpox was the 174th in order of time, at Bonn the same year the 42d, and at

Liegnitz in 1871 the 225th.111

As we move on into the earlier part of this century we find the same dismal

picture of increased susceptibility correlated with increased vaccination

coverage. Dettman and Kalokerinos describe a visit they paid to the Philippines

about 15 years ago:

.. . . We were fortunate enough to address their own medical (and) health

officials where we reminded them of the incidence of smallpox in formerly

" immunized " Filipinos. We invited them to consult their own medical records and

asked them to correct us if our own facts and figures disagreed. No such

correction has been forthcoming, and we can only conclude that between 1918-1919

there were 112,549 cases of smallpox notified, with 60,855 deaths. Systematic

(mass) vaccination started in 1905, and since its introduction case mortality

increased alarmingly. Their own records comment that " The mortality is hardly

explainable. " 112

Speaking at a 1973 environmental conference in Brussels, Professor Dick

admitted that in recent decades, 75 percent of those that have contracted

smallpox in Britain, have had prior a history of vaccination. In that " only 40% "

of children were vaccinated (and at most 10 percent of adults), such figures

clearly indicate that the vaccinated--as in the much earlier historical

record--continue to show a higher tendency to contract the disease. Dick also

admitted that smallpox had been eradicated in certain tropical countries without

mass vaccination.113 (Table VIII reveals that in the 16 year period preceding

the year the WHO eradication campaign was launched--38 additional countries had

ceased to report any smallpox cases.)114

A. Hutchison writing in the Journal of the Royal Society in 1974, referred to

the smallpox vaccines " lack of potency " and the inadequacies of other measures

for containment, in his words, " I have given details of the various outbreaks of

smallpox in Britain and where they were diagnosed. These clearly indicate that

the (preventive) measures are most ineffective.115

An article in the New Scientist indicates that " The smallpox family of viruses

is genetically unstable, " and that new viral strains which threaten the " WHO

smallpox eradication programme, could emerge anywhere.116 It is thus of interest

that in a 1980 article in the Australasian Nurses Journal, Dettman and

Kalokerinos pointed out that electron-microscopy cannot distinguish between the

various " poxviruses.117 (According to D, de Saving of IDRC, as of 1990 DNA

sequencing can make the distinquishingment. What is not known though, is whether

this has any beating on the reporting of the various " pox " diseases worldwide.)

This fact led them to raise a vitally significant question " as to whether

smallpox may be declared conquered, (it's estimated that only 10 percent of the

world population actually received the vaccine) with the possibility of it

masquerading under the guise of a similar pox. " Their line of evidence and

reasoning is summarily stated:

.. . . we claim that if the evidence is honestly evaluated that smallpox has

actually been prolonged and that the so called protective vaccinations actually

put the recipient at risk from . . . the disease itself. Authorities now realize

this and the 'top world' countries are making vociferous protests about third

world countries continuing use of smallpox vaccination because (a) suddenly it

has become recognized that it is an extremely dangerous procedure, (To give some

idea of the vaccine's dangers, it was reported--in the late sixties--that

annually, roughly 3,000 children were experiencing varying degrees of brain

damage due to the smallpox vaccine; and according to G. Kiftel in 1967, smallpox

vaccination damaged the hearing of 3,296 children in West Germany, of which 71

became totally deaf.117) and ( it has now been conquered. The ultimate in

ingenuity. . . .118

In turning to recognized textbooks on human virology and vertebrate viruses we

find that attention has been given since 1970 to a disease called " monkeypox, "

which is said to be " clinically indistinguishable from smallpox. " Cases of this

disease have been found in Zaire, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and

Sierra Leone (by May 1983, 101 cases have been reported). It is observed that "

.. . . the existence of a virus that can cause clinical smallpox is disturbing,

and the situation is being closely monitored. " 119 (For a highly detailed account

of the history of this disease and efforts to eradicate it, which further

corroborates these observations, see, Razzell P., The Conquest of Smallpox,

Caliban Books, United Kingdom, 1977.)

VACCINE ASSOCIATED DANGERS--GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

Another basic issue that has never been raised in the programming, or evaluation

contexts of Official Development Assistance supported mass immunization, is the

requirement for effective monitoring and research on potential vaccinal adverse

effects. The issue of vaccine dangers and damage is obviously a rather

unpleasant subject that no one really enjoys thinking or talking about. In fact

it appears to have been totally ignored in both the planning and execution

phases of Canada's International Immunization Programme(CIIP). Furthermore, the

recently completed Qperational Review of CIIP 1986--1991, which according to its

sub-title was supposed to address inter alia " . . . lessons learned in the first

three years, " failed to even raise the two very fundamental issues of vaccine

effectiveness, and vaccine damage.120

In special PHC-EPI research conducted for the CIDA Evaluation Division, the

conclusion was reached that the extensive literature written on the subject of

immunization, adverse reactions and contra indications, points clearly to the

reality that " massive immunization programs carry with them a number of very

real risks and hazards.121

According to information recently provided by CIDA's Health and Population

Directorate the World Health Organization as of October, 1990 has instituted a

policy for " adverse event monitoring " in Developing World Immunization

activities. A definitive policy statement on this issue titled Monitoring

of Adverse Events Following Immunization, is apparently available as of April

1991. The implications of VMO's recognition of the significance of this issue to

the setting of public policy priorities for EPI research, monitoring and

evaluation should be apparent. In order to provide some background on why the

WHO is now taking these measures, a few critical observations follow.

In recognition of potential vaccine dangers, Karzon of the Vanderbilt

University School of Medicine raises important policy considerations with

respect to mass immunization programs in the Editorials section of the New

England Journal of Medicine.

.. . . there are two compelling reasons for reinspection of the process

offormulating and implementing our immunization program: the emergence of new

societal considerations and responsibilities; and the need for a fuller public

disclosure of the costs of disease prevention . . . we as a society have not

recognized and accepted all the costs . . . costs measured not only in dollars

spent or saved, but also as adverse biologic reactions.

Literally no drug or procedure used in medicine is risk free. Immunizing

antigens, originating from complex biological materials or arising as

genetically attenuated live agents, have their own peculiar endogenous hazards,

Complications . . . are particularly apt to be visible in mass immunization

campaigns. . . . The quality of the data base for national decisions is critical

because any vaccine recommendation carries such a vast Potentialfor harm or

good.122

It is unfortunate that UNICEF EPI field reports tend to dismiss the concerns

raised by " targeted " locals to the issue of vaccine damage, as based on

misinformation provided by unreliable local health staff, or the ignorance of

fearful mothers, both of whom need re-education. For instance a recent UNICEF

annual project report in discussing EPI stated, " A WHO-UNICEF team found that

drop out rates were high because of the fear of side effects as expressed by

mothers, (and) misinformation about contraindications . . . as communicated by

health workers. . . . As a result, increased attention is being directed toward

health education. . . . " 123

To say the least, it seems incongruous that this issue is paternalistically

ignored as an insignificant concern raised by the misinformed and the ignorant,

when Canadian citizens are being alerted by the media that the Canadian

Government is expected to announce " disaster relief " to families " of vaccine

damaged children. " 124 This relatively recent report suggests that vaccine damage

is likely more pervasive a problem than is generally acknowledged or believed.

In fact, it appears that chronic under-reporting of vaccine-induced morbidity,

disability, and mortality appears to be the norm. Probably the most erudite

scholar who has thoroughly investigated the issue of vaccine hazards, is Sir

Graham . As Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Bacteriology at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the following observations are

excerpted from an earlier lecture series delivered at that school.

The risks attendant in use of vaccines and sera are not as well recognized as

they should be. Indeed our knowledge of them is still too small, and the

incomplete knowledge we have is not widely disseminated.. a very small

proportion [of the actual numbers of vaccine accidents] . . . have been

described in the medical literature of the world.

.. . . a large number of accidents--I suspect the majority--have never been

reported in print, either through fear of compensation claims, or of giving a

weapon to antivaccinationists . . . I have come to the conclusion that no

vaccine or antiserum can be regarded as completely safe . . . no vaccine or

antiserum that has yet been used has been free from complications or accidents .

.. . [with respect to assessing the " degree of possible danger " he indicates

that] Unless both the numerator and the denominator are known, quantitative

assessments may fall wide of the true mark. Moreover, the risk, even for a

single vaccine, is not uniform. It varies, among other things, with the

immunological status of the population concerned..

The inherent danger of all vaccination procedures should be a deterrent to their

unnecessary or unjustifiable use. Vaccination is far too often employed,

especially in the developing countries . . . and should not be used as an

[instead] excuse from applying the well tried standard methods for the

prevention of infectious disease. Most important is it to realize the potential

dangers of mass immunization. In such an operation time does not permit an

inquiry into the suitability of each individual subject for vaccination.125

A strong echo of 's conclusion that vaccine damage is chronically under

reported, is found in the official minutes of the 15th session of the US Panel

of Review of Bacterial Vaccines and Toxoids with Standards and Potency.

Many physicians are not cognizant of the importance of reporting untoward

reactions, or may be unaware of their clinical features. Further, both

physicians and manufacturers have been held liable for damage suits by patients

who may suffer adverse effects from established vaccines. All of these factors

undoubtedly discourage reporting; without some other form of surveillance,

definition of the rates and significance of untoward reactions to current and

future vaccines cannot be ascertained.126

H.S. Martland, former Chief Medical Examiner for Essex County New York,

describes how the above unawareness actually translates into practice:

Deaths from brain and spinal cord diseases (poliomyelitis, encephalitis, and

meningitis) resulting from . . . immunizations sometimes are attributed to other

causes, because doctors are not sufficiently alerted to the connection between

immunizations and the deaths. . . .127

Neustadter maintains that the research on vaccine side effects by the

pharmaceutical industry remains seriously marginalized due to a significant

number of vaccine reactions going unreported, and the fact that it is often

difficult to attribute delayed effects with a vaccine. He further suggests that

the reason that the medico-pharmaceutical industry has consistently failed to

address the unanswered question of the long term effects of vaccines, stems

largely from their overriding interest in the active promotion, and rapid

marketing of vaccines. Investigation of their adverse side effects generally

remains a non-priority issue, insofar as such efforts may undermine the public's

acceptance of their products.128 On the other hand, Snead suggests that when

laboratories go public to the media and confirm that " no known problems " exist,

this does not mean that scientists have researched to the limits of their

knowledge and found no side effects, but rather that no research has actually

been done.129

Although there is compelling evidence that vaccine induced damage remains

chronically under-reported, it is of interest that B. Bloom of the Albert

Einstein College of Medicine, openly admits that there is today an emerging

reluctance on the part of medico-pharrnaceutical industry to further develop

vaccines, for both the developed and Developing Worlds. According to Bloom, this

reluctance stems from the fact that financial losses due to the " liability " of

established vaccines, actually exceed the " profits " derived from them.130 In

this vein, Mendelsohn indicates that vaccine costs have " skyrocketed " as a

consequence of multiple jury awards to damaged children. In his words:

As more and more parents begin to recognize the link between vaccines and their

child's condition--epilepsy, convulsions, mental retardation, cerebral palsy,

Sudden Infant Death, etc.--lawsuits have become commonplace. As drug companies

exit the vaccine field, public health authorities worry about vaccine shortages.

131

OF WHAT DO VACCINE PRODUCTS CONSIST?

It would be instructive to consider the range of substances--additional to the

attenuated virus etc. normally found in vaccine products. Specific viruses and

bacteria are grown in the following substances, with their foreign proteins

(antigens) including those derived from: pig or horse blood; rabbit brain

tissue; dog and monkey kidney tissue; chicken and duck egg; and calf serum. (It

is generally acknowledged that any foreign substances including proteins--which

have not been filtered through the body's normal digestive assimilative, and

excretory processes, can be highly toxic when freely ranging in the lymphatic

and blood systems.) Other foreign additives normally found in various vaccines

include:

formaldehyde--(a known carcinogen)

thimerosal--(an organomercurial antiseptic--49% mercury--although the mercury is

" closely bound, " it nonetheless is a toxic metal difficult for the system to

eliminate)

aluminum potassium sulphate (toxic)

aluminum phosphate--(a toxic substance commonly used in deodorants)

lactalbumin hydrolysate

phenol (carbolic acid)--(extremely toxic, not permitted in anti-toxins)

acetone--(volatile, and can easily cross the placental barrier)

glycerin--(tri-atomic alcohol derived from decomposed fats which can damage

kidney, liver, lungs, local tissue; cause dieresis and possible death.)132

Commenting on the inclusion of such substances in vaccine products, R. Moskowitz

indicates that " the fact is that we do not know and have never attempted to

discover what actually becomes of these foreign substances, once they are inside

of the body. " 133 Although there are " rigid " precautions in licensing the use and

quantity of these common stabilizers and preservative, it certainly seems

self-evident that there should be further research to better determine what

relationship--if any--exists between such poisons, and various adverse

reactions.

SOME OBSERVED AND POTENTIAL ADVERSE EFFECTS OF SPACIFIC VACCINES AND

TOXOIDS--DIAGNOSABLE IN THE SHORT TERM

By principally focusing on stimulating the production of antibody--which

increasing evidence suggests is only one marginal indicative factor among many

in immunity to disease--while ignoring the basic multiple determinants of

natural immunity (health), viruses, foreign antigens and proteins are placed

directly into the body tissues and are in turn carried throughout the

circulatory system (without censoring by the liver) giving them direct

accessibility to all of the body's vital organs and systems. Furthermore, it is

an EPI strategy that this short-circuiting of the body's natural defense system

is imposed at an extremely vulnerable time of life.134 The stage has thus been

set for the advent of a wide range of adverse complications and sequelae.

What follows is a simple listing of observed side effects of specific vaccines,

or when noted toxoids. Practically all of the conditions listed are commonly

reported in the medical literature as linked to the prior administration of the

particular vaccine or toxoid noted. A few conditions listed--such as the sudden

infant death syndrome linked to the pertussis vaccine--are not admitted by

mainstream medicine as an adverse effect of that particular vaccine, however the

research as referenced is reputable and points otherwise. (The vaccines covered

in this section have been confined to those prescribed in the Universal

Childhood Immunization program.)

MEASLES

atypical measles (a more serious form of measles)

encephalopathy (irreversible brain damage)

subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (progressive brain damage which can lead to

death)

ataxia (incoordination in voluntary muscular movements)

mental retardation

aseptic meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of spinal cord or brain)

seizure disorders

encephalitis (inflammation of the brain)

hemiparesis (half-body paralysis)

retinopathy and blindness

secondary complications can include:

juvenile-onset diabetes

Reye's syndrome

multiplesclerosis (degeneration of the central nervous system)135

PERTUSSIS (WHOOPING COUGH)

hyperactivity

anaphylaxis (hyper-reaction which can include convulsions, unconsciousness and

or death)

epileptic type convulsions

learning disorders (including IQ reduction)

encephalopathy

febrile seizures

invasive bacterial infections

hay fever

asthma

encephalitis

sudden infant death (SIDS)136

DIPHTHERIA

(The following has occurred with combined diphtheria-tetanus vaccination, and

could be associated with either.)

altered electroencephalogram readings

seizures137

TETANUS TOXOID

brachial plexus neuropathy (disease affecting nerves which serve the arm,

forearm and hand)

anaphylaxis

encephalitis

recurrent abscesses (at injection site)

abdominal pain

debility 138

POLIO (OPV--ORAL LIVE-VIRUS)

paralytic polio

congenital brain tumors (transmitted by mothers who received vaccine during

pregnancy)139

GENERAL (I.E., IN COMBINATION)

meningitis 140

EXTENT AND NATURE OF OBSERVABLE VACCINE DAMAGE

There is a considerable range in estimates given as to the frequency of damage

being produced by particular vaccines. A case in point is the American

manufactured DPT vaccine, for which the claim is made that only 1 in 300,000

vaccinates exhibit permanent neurologic damage,141 whereas other researchers

suggest that permanent damage levels can reach as high as 1 in 300.142

Coumoyer's research findings fall between these two extremes for permanent

neurologic or brain damage. Her conclusions indicate that the following varied

rate reactions occur in vaccinates, per number of children vaccinated:

Persistent crying--1 in 20

High fever--1 in 66

High pitched screaming--1 in 180

Convulsions--1 in 350

Shock like condition or collapse--1 in 350

Acute brain disorder--1 in 22,000

Permanent brain damage--1 in 62,000

Death--1 in 71,600.143

Again to illustrate the great variation in estimates, a relatively recent study

at UCLA (see Cody et al, ref 136) found that as many as one in every 13 children

exhibited persistent high pitched crying after receiving the DPT vaccine. In

reference to this specific reaction, physician B. Young states that " This may be

indicative of brain damage in the recipient child. " 144

According to data researched by Coulter and Fisher, of the 3.3 million children

vaccinated yearly in the US: 16,038 have high pitched (encephalitic) screaming

(which is considered by many neurologists as indicative of central nervous

system irritation); 8,484 have convulsions; and 8,484 undergo collapse; " for an

annual total of 33,006 cases of acute neurological reactions within 48 hours of

a DPT shot. " The authors further suggest that there is a strong basis for

concern with respect to the long term reaction to the DPT vaccine.

Severe neurologic sequelae may . . . occur after vaccination in the absence of

an acute reaction. When the baby reacts to a DPT shot with " a slight fever and

fussiness for a few days " this may be, and often is, a case of encephalitis

which is quite capable of causing even quite severe long-term neurologic

consequences . . . . They further suggest that any who would dismiss this

possibility, must first establish a basis for distinguishing between

post-vaccinal encephalitis and encephalitis arising from other causes.145

As a final observation on the issue of short term vaccine dangers, is the

postulated linkage of immunization with the " mysterious " problem of sudden

infant death (SIDS) in which infants can die " suddenly and quietly " in their

cribs. Australian microbiologist Glen Dettman explains that when large amounts

of an antigen are given the body responds by a massive release of adrenal

products including: cortisol, adrenalin, and an excessive level of endorphins,

actually " as much as a thousand times more than is normally released by the

brain. " He goes on to observe that:

The endorphins will suppress respiration and cardiac function. Thus if a child

with malnutrition, or an immune problem, is given a load of antigen larger than

it can handle--and this antigen may be an immunisation--endorphins may result in

respiratory or cardiac failure and death.146

Torch's research indicates that two-thirds of 103 infants who were victims of

the sudden death syndrome had been immunized with DPT vaccine within the 3 week

period preceding death, with many dying within a day of receiving the

vaccine.147 In a widely debated occurrence of SIDS in Tennessee (USA), in which

eleven infant deaths occurred within eight days of a DPT vaccination, (nine from

the same lot), and five within 24 hours of vaccination (four from the same lot).

Mortimer reported that the probability of this being mere chance or coincidental

to be between 2 and 5 in 1,000;148 whereas reported a much lower chance

association of 4 and 5 in 10,000.149

LONG TERM (DELAYED) POTENTIAL ADVERSE EFFECTS OF IMMUNIZATION

Leaving the continuing controversies that exist over the extent and nature of

observable adverse reactions to vaccines, we go on to the equally serious

spectre of delayed reactions and the larger unanswered questions which surround

the long term consequences of immunization. (The material in both this and the

following section on " Immunization and Immune Malfunction " is afforded not

necessarily as definitive and factual conclusions, but rather as preliminary

research observations on vital--albeit controversial--issues and questions which

undoubtedly merit further examination, research and analyses.) We began the

exploration of this issue by reviewing some basic concepts and concerns relative

to the strongly suspected linkage between live viral vaccines and the enormous

escalation of varied auto-immune disorders.

Lederberg, a Stanford University School of Medicine geneticist and Nobel

Prize winner, was perhaps the first to raise the warning that the use of live

virus vaccines in mass immunization campaigns represents " biological engineering

on a rather large scale. " He goes on to comment:

While these [vaccines] are thought to be of indubitable value for preventing

serious diseases, their global impact on the development of human beings of a

side range of genotypes is hard to assess at our present stage of wisdom. . . .

Live viruses are themselves genetic messages used for the purpose of programming

human cells for the synthesis of immunogenic virus antigens.150

Researchers such as Buttram postulate that the use of live viral vaccines in

mass immunization programs introduces foreign genetic material into the human

system, which has precipitated an unprecedented escalation of various

auto-immune disorders in recent decades. These are disorders wherein antibodies

or immune cells indiscriminately attack the tissues of one's own body-mind

complex.151

Harvard graduate and physician, R. Moskowitz, explains how the live viruses in

vaccines can, in the long term, lead to such auto-immune disease conditions.

Vaccinal attenuated viruses attach their own genetic " episome " to the genome

(half set of chromosomes and their genes) of the host cell, and are thus capable

of surviving or remaining latent within the host cells for years. The presence

of this foreign antigenic material within the host cell sets the stage for their

unpredictable provocation of various auto-immune phenomena such as herpes,

shingles, warts, tumors--both benign and malignant--and diseases of the central

nervous system, such as varied forms of paralysis and inflammation of the

brain.152

Markowitz further poses the caution that vaccines do not act by merely producing

pale or mild copies of the original disease, but all of them commonly produce a

variety of symptoms of their very own. In some cases " these illnesses may be

considerably more serious than the original disease, involving deeper

structures, more vital organs, and less of a tendency to resolve spontaneously.

Even more worrisome is the fact that they are almost always more difficult to

recognize. " 153

A British Medical Journal article by et al, reports that " Various German

authors have described the apparent provocation of multiple sclerosis

by--vaccination against smallpox, typhoid, tetanus, polio, and tuberculosis. " 154

No less disconcerting is the warning raised by Rutgers University Professor R.

Simpson when he addressed science writers at a seminar sponsored by the American

Cancer Society:

Immunization Programs against flu, measles, mumps, polio and so forth may

actually be seeding humans with RNA to form latent proviruses in cells

throughout the body. These latent proviruses could be molecules in search of

diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus

erythematosus, Parkinson's disease, and perhaps cancer.155

As if echoing Simpson, Dettman also raises the caution: that " some of the

attenuated strains of vaccines that we advocate may be implicated with . . . a

number of degenerative diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, leukaemia,

diabetes and multiple sclerosis. " 156

A study in Science reported a notable similarity between certain diffffent

viruses (including measles and influenza) and the protein structure of the

brains protective myelin sheaths. This being the case, antibodies induced by

live viral vaccines could well be cross reacting and attacking brain cells.157

Medical historian Coulter has developed a systematic and comprehensive

thesis that childhood immunizations frequently result in a demyelinating

encephalitis.(As already noted, encephalitis [inflammation of the brain] has

been associated with the pertussis, tetanus, and measles vaccines.) This

condition prevents the normal development of the protective myelin sheaths of

the brain and nerve cells during infancy and early childhood. Such adverse

pathologic changes may, on a visible level, lead to a range of leaming

disabilities and behaviourial problems, (As many as one in five elementary

school children are now considered to have some form of minimal brain

damage. " 158 It is also estimated that in the US over one million children are

medicated with powerful amphetamine drugs.159) 158, 159 which are now being

encountered in the West with increasing frequency.160

Bruce Rabin, a professor of pathology and psychiatry at Western Psychiatric

Institute, Pittsburgh has found evidence that approximately one-third of all

cases of schizophrenia are auto-immune in nature, with immune bodies attacking

the brain cells.161 When we consider the alarming increase in the numbers of

schizophrenic cases, and the now credible " viral hypothesis of mental

disorders, " 162 childhood vaccine programs can be considered as highly suspect in

playing a causative role.

Medical Professor, R. Mendelsohn summarily comments that:

While the myriad short-term hazards of most immunizations are known (but rarely

explained), no one knows the long-term consequences of injecting foreign

proteins into the body . . . . Even more shocking is the fact that no one is

making any structured effort to find out.

There is growing suspicion that immunization against . . . childhood diseases

may be responsible for the dramatic increase in auto-immune diseases since mass

inoculations were introduced. These are fearful diseases such as cancer,

leukaemia, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, lupus

erythematosus, and the Guillain-Barré syndrome. . . . Have we traded mumps and

measles for cancer and leukaemia? 163

Noted Russian specialist in neuro-pathology, A.D. Speransky, concurs with the

foregoing premonitory insights when he warns that post-vaccinal diseases might

occur long after the operation has been forgotten. He raises the disquieting

observation that " . . . it is conceivable that by these methods we may be

crippling humanity. " 164

Whether considering the short or longer term dangers of immunization programs,

it is further unsettling when we consider the evidence that the public cannot

really place much confidence in organized medicine to conduct itself in an

honest and forthright fashion. For example, in 1982 the Forum of the American

Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) rejected a proposed resolution which would have

ensured that the:

AAP make available in clear, concise language information which a reasonable

parent would want to know about the benefits and risks of routine immunizations,

the risks of vaccine preventable diseases and the management of common adverse

reactions to immunizations.165

EVIDENCES FOR IMMUNIZATION INDUCED IMMUNE MALFUNCTION

There is a growing body of evidence that vaccinations damage the immune system

itself. For example, during a placebo controlled trial of acellular pertussis

vaccines, a cluster of invasive bacterial infections with fatal outcome occurred

among vaccinated children, as compared with unvaccinated children of the same

birth grouping. A review of the trial data led to the conclusion that " The

hypothesis of an immunosuppresive effect of the vaccines, which would explain

the deaths . . . could not be refuted by the data. " 166

It is the studied conclusion of H. Buttram and J. Hoffman (Harold Buffram M.D.,

a graduate of Oklahoma Medical School, with a post internship in internal

medicine, has over 30 years of medical practice in the State of Pennsylvania.

Hoffman Ph.D., is a Cell Biologist and when interviewed was serving as a

biomedical researcher in the Department of Molecular Biology at the University

of Wyoming), that early childhood vaccination " cannot help but have adverse

effects on the immunologic system of the child, possibly leaving this system

crippled in its ability to protect the child throughout life . . . . opening the

way for other diseases as a result of immunologic dysfunction. " 167

In reviewing their hypothesis of vaccine induced immune malfunction the evidence

they present is substantive (citing numerous references, including four

recognized textbooks on paediatrics and immunology), and their line of reasoning

convincing. The following observations are made:

" For many years immunologists have been aware of a state of anergy

(immunological unresponsiveness) following certain vaccinations "

A US Center for Disease Control examination of 700 Peace Corps volunteers who

had undergone a set of multiple vaccine injections in the US before departure,

exhibited an extremely weakened immune system response to the vaccine (HDCV)

administered after their arrival overseas

Vaccination against one disease seems to provoke another (on this point, a

physician's report of 15 case histories, over a five year period, where

diphtheria-pertussis vaccination lead to paralytic polio is described, and Sir

Graham is quoted [this doc. ref 7], " when a vaccine is injected . . . a

latent infection that might have given rise to no illness is converted into a

clinical attack. " )

Vaccines have been implicated by numerous investigators as playing a " causative

or contributory role " to various auto-immune and degenerative diseases, and

suggests that their role in the onset of allergies or their worsening, and

lowered resistance to infections needs to be further investigated

Given the one cell--one antibody rule, once an immune body (plasma cell or

lymphocyte) becomes committed to a given antigen, it becomes inert and incapable

of responding to other antigens or challenges to the immune system. It is

estimated that up 7 percent of the body's overall immune capacity is committed

in the natural immunological response to the usual childhood diseases, whereas a

child who undergoes the course of routine childhood vaccines could be realizing

a committal level of up 70 percent

The consequences of this significantly higher committal could result in

increased susceptibility to other infections, allergies, and auto-immune

diseases. (This particular observation is based upon sophisticated research

carried out by the Arthur Research Corporation, based in Tucson, Arizona.)

Evidence indicates that maternal immunization " may remove (abrogate) immune

defense from the level of the mucosa, thus potentially weakening mucosal

resistance " (immunologists have long recognized that the mucosal surface serves

as a " first line of defense " against infection)

Abnormal drops in the ratio of helper-to-suppresser T--lymphocyte cell

subpopulations in healthy subjects (a condition now associated with AIDS, and

possibly linked to transient hypogammaglobulinemia), observed after tetanus

booster immunization

Circumstantial evidence indicates that " cross-cultural " mass immunization

programs may be predisposing the onset of acquired immune deficiency syndrome in

" virgin soil " populations as found in the Developing World, " which have not

historically been subjected to the common diseases of Western civilization "

There remains a great need to conduct careful studies on the potential

" immunosuppressive effects of vaccines, " particularly with respect to

" cross-cultural immunizations where exaggerated adverse responses would more

likely be detected "

Where there is already advanced impairment in a child's general immune system,

the injection of multiple antigens (vaccination), can weaken it further to the

point of precipitating death in the vaccinate

Before public endorsement is accorded to the extensive usage of vaccines,

certain preconditions should be addressed which include: a comprehensive

evaluation of the multiple factors which constitute the etiologic basis of

infectious disease; and the full range of factors and influences which determine

natural resistance to infection and disease; with a full public disclosure of

such research data.168

Despite the fact that immune malfunction is " often delayed, indirect, and

masked, (and) its true nature is seldom recognized, " there is now sufficient

evidence to suggest that growing disclosure of both the short and longer term

dangers of current vaccination programs will serve to precipitate public demand

for research to examine danger-free alternative methods for the prevention of

infectious diseases.169

J.E. Craighead, in summarizing the results of a workshop on " Disease

Accentuation after Immunization with Inactivated Microbial Vaccines, " sponsored

by the US National Institutes of Health, indicated that the process of:

.. . . immuno-prophylaxis can be carried out safely only when the natural history

and pathogenesis of a disease is understood. In each of the conditions

considered at the workshop, this detailed knowledge was lacking when vaccine

trials were initiated in man. Had the vaccines induced lasting solid immunity,

prolonged protection might have resulted, although this conclusion is far from

certain. Moreover, production of circulating antibodies or induction of cellular

immunity (or both) may be hazardous when local immune mechanisms of the mucosa

are not operative.

Accentuation of disease was an unexpected complication of immunization in each

of the conditions. Disease was accentuated when the subject (vaccinate) was

exposed again, experimentally or under natural circumstances, weeks or even

years after completion of the immunization regimen. Prolonged, intensive

surveillance of immunization subjects apparently is a requirement. . . . One can

only wonder whether or not recipients of currently licensed vaccines . . . that

provide variable and transient immunity are being followed adequately . . . .

Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that susceptibility to infection and

disease is affected by still undefined constitutional influences. 170

It is evident that Craighead's key question of what constitutes the still

undefined " influences " will be effectively resolved only when the focus of

selective medicine is able to make a radical shift towards displacing its

present adventitious arsenal of vaccines and toxic drugs, with the normal and

natural requisites of life and health. This is stated because the historical

record, and common sense point to the latter approach as constituting the only

sound basis for ensuring--not undermining--immune functionality, thus

effectively resolving the actual underlying causes of both infectious and

degenerative disease in man.

THE ETHICS OF UNIVERSAL CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION

There is indeed more than sufficient evidence to warrant far greater caution and

questioning, than is now evident in the public drumbeating, idealism, and

unqualified affirmations promoting the safety and effectiveness of Universal

Childhood Immunization Programs. In fairness, it can be noted that some cautions

have been raised on this issue from within medical circles. In summarizing an

article on whether prevention of post-immunization adverse effects is possible,

the editor(s) of Postgraduate Medicine recommend that:

Parents must be informed of the rare possibility of serious adverse effects,

including seizure and allergic reaction. Every physician who administers vaccine

therefore needs to become familiar with the reactions that may occur with each

immunologic agent used. The best safeguard against litigation, when and if a

serious reaction follows vaccination, is the indication that these

considerations were discussed and that an informed choice was made.171

Nonetheless, we find that UCI-EPI as it has been generally conceived and

executed represents two major departures from the time honoured ethics and

traditions of medicine. These are:

that all forms of treatment should be individualized, particularly when

prescribing or injecting substances which carry the potential for disease,

disablement, and death; and

the objectively informed patient (or parent) should always have absolute freedom

to accept or reject any given measure or therapy, and have reasonable

opportunity to consider alternatives.172

Just as environmentalists rightly challenge the appropriateness and right of big

business interests to pollute our fragile natural environment with man-made

chemicals, there arises the more personal, urgent and serious matter of

protecting the precious body-mind complex from foreign and complex biological

products that may well be touted as safe today, but condemned as dangerous

tomorrow. Indeed scientists and physicians now openly admit that they have only

a limited knowledge of the short term, and even less understanding of the long

term consequences of challenging the bio-immune systems of children with a

myriad of manufactured vaccines and related toxins.

This in turn poses the more basic question of whether medical and political

authorities have the actual right--by reason and moral justice--to compel and

expose unnumbered children the world over to undertake what are in fact

unnecessary and potentially dangerous risks to their life and long term health.

It is reprehensible that such actions continue to be enforced by authorities,

while parents and local health workers are not accorded any practical knowledge

of the known dangers involved, and the extent to which there prevails a general

ignorance of the longer term consequences.173

It goes without saying that monopolization is just as dangerous in public health

as is it is in the field of general business. The human experience has

demonstrated time and again that monopoly and compulsion in any field inevitably

brings stagnation, whereas freedom of choice and the opportunity to explore

alternatives brings genuine progress.174

BANE OR BOON? SELECTIVE MEDICINE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Given the fact that UCI stands at the forefront as a centrepiece in the

" selective medicine primary health care model " (around which has grown a

powerful multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry), we must reconsider its

overall relevance to human health. In selective medicine the relationship

becomes one where the professional alone holds the authorized enlightenment and

skills, while the community and its people come to represent the baser qualities

of ignorance and subservient faith. This dynamic engenders in the community an

unhealthful respect for officially authorized solutions, even when their

effectiveness is in fact illusory. The Aboriginal peoples of N. America have now

reached the unenviable distinction of being not only the most thoroughly

immunized and medically drugged, but also the sickest group on the continent

(e.g., by the late 1970s, the Canadian Aboriginal infant mortality rate was

double that of the general population, with life expectancy at 36 years compared

with 62 years among Canadians generally.)175

Furthermore, alarming evidence suggests that in many Aboriginal communities

there is a continuing escalation in degenerative diseases and social malaise.

Both paleopathological and historical data convincingly indicate that when

living a way of life closely predicated upon natural law, and free of

adventitious medical interventions, North American Aboriginals were

distinguished as being one of the healthiest of world peoples.176

A more recent, albeit equally instructive picture can be fund among the Maori

(Polynesian) people, who likewise have been especially earmarked by their

national government (New Zealand) to receive the benefits of selective medical

intervention. A study covering the period of 1968 to 1971 found that when

compared with their racial counterparts who live in the remote island nations of

the Pacific, the New Zealand Maoris appeared more inclined to suffer from

infectious disease, rheumatic fever, and tuberculosis. They also seemed

considerably more prone to develop degenerative conditions such as heart disease

and diabetes, afflictions which were then virtually foreign to the remote island

peoples. (In fact, among Maori women in the age grouping of 35 to 55, coronary

heart disease was four to five times as frequent as among women of the same age

group living on the atolls of the central Pacific.)177

In the final analysis, disquieting evidence--much of which is not cited in this

research--suggests the overall irrelevance of selective Western medicine to

effecting longevity and ensuring general freedom from a range of infectious and

degenerative diseases. Furthermore, as a system, it continues to significantly

contribute to human morbidity and mortality " 178 (e.g., it has been shown in the

USA, Holland, Israel and other developed nations that when physicians engage in

a complete strike, within a week to 10 days death rates actually plummet, in

some cases by as much as 60 percent).

It would be appropriate here to quote Illich's unambiguous observation that

" Society can have no quantitative standards by which to add up the negative

value of illusion, social control, prolonged suffering, loneliness, genetic

deterioration and frustration produced by medical treatment. " 179 In reference to

selective medicine's central focus on absolving mankind from giving due respect

to the natural laws of cause and effect, Mahatma Gandhi shares the following

perspective.

I was at one time a great lover of the medical profession. . . . I no longer

hold that opinion. . . . Doctors have almost unhinged us. . . . I regard the

present system as black magic. . . . Hospitals are institutions for propagating

sin. Men take less care of their bodies and immorality increases. . . . ignoring

the soul, the profession puts men at its mercy and contributes to the diminution

of human dignity and self control. . . . I have endeavoured to show that there

is no real service of humanity in the profession, and that it is injurious to

mankind. . . . I believe that a multiplicity of hospitals is not test of

civilization. It is rather a symptom of decay.180

Evidence suggests that Western medicine's over specialization and singular focus

on pathology has literally obfuscated its perception and undermined its faith in

the preventive and restorative power of the normal requisites of health. To a

great extent it thus remains as an inexact and ever shifting system of trial and

error, apparently more interested in maintaining its monopolistic pecuniary

interests and professionalist pride, than in opening itself to new avenues of

thinking and practice.

With all seriousness then we must raise the question as to whether we can

realistically expect the self-same medico-industrial system that has for so long

offered humankind little more than palliative and pathological inducing vaccines

and drugs, to offer us anything better. (To obtain additional background on the

practical impacts which the medico-industrial system of the West is having on

the Developing World, please refer to Annex I--Problems With Developing World

Medicalization and the Traditional Medicine Alternative.) It is here that we

turn to consider the larger issue of what constitutes safer, more effective and

sustainable approaches to ensuring the development and maintenance of human

health.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SECTION II

TOWARDS MORE APPROPRIATE PRIORITIES IN DEVELOPING WORLD PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

We should ascertain whether natural resistance to infections could be conferred

on man by definite conditions of life. Injections of a specific vaccine or serum

for each disease, repeated medical examinations of the whole population,

construction of gigantic hospitals, are expensive and not very effective means

of preventing diseases and of developing a nation's health.

is Carrel in Man the Unknown, p.207

THE REAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

IN a recent article in the WHO publication World Health, Khan et. al suggest

that normatively health services in the Developing World continue to be either

substandard, inaccessible, unaffordable and under-utilized, or to " suffer from a

combination of these factors. " The authors go on to comment that while the

governments of many nations " have spent millions on building physical

infrastructures at district levels, the over-all health status, especially of

the urban and rural poor remains deplorable. " 181

This and a number of like articles on Primary Health Care and UCI, suggest that

the prime weaknesses now requiring rectification relate to inadequate local

involvement in and the non-sustainability of medical services. Without any

intent to lessen the critical importance of local participation and

sustainability in development, I would put forward the view that each of the

specific problems and weaknesses as identified, including the larger issue of

overall ineffectiveness, stem from the very principles and nature of

conventional selective medicine itself Primarily the medicine (both vaccines and

drugs representing the arsenal of what is postulated as a " war on disease " ) and

secondarily the established system whereby it is " delivered, " is what is

ineffective. In place of the popular drumbeating for local communities to

further embrace and sustain this system, there are far more urgent and

fundamental health priorities that must be addressed.

In a chapter on " Health and the Human Environment " found on the classic work

Health, Food and Nutrition in Third World Development, M. Sharpston provides

critical insights on how multiple social and environmental factors ultimately

serve as the real determinants of survival, or alternatively death. In his words

" . . . there is a limit to what conventional health services can achieve in an

unchanged physical and social environment. " He then refers to the experience of

a medical school affiliated hospital in Cali, Columbia which had a special

program for premature infants. During their period of critical care, survival

rates remained comparable to those found in North American critical care

settings, however within three months of being discharged, 70 percent of the

infants had died. With reference to those regions within the Developing World

where notable health improvements have occurred he suggests that:

The most likely factors leading to health improvements . . . are a rise in the

levels of nutrition and the slow spread of modern ideas of personal hygiene.

Across the Developing World, per capita incomes are rising, and transport

systems are improving,, the result is more food, better quality food, fewer

localized food shortages, and a more varied diet. In other words, the principal

factor behind the improvement in health . . . in Developing countries is

probably not any form of health measure, but economic development itself. . . .

Mere exposure to a disease agent need not produce clinical disease and very

frequently does not do so. Malnutrition is of such significance essentially

because it hampers the body's resistance. Malnutrition acts " synergistically "

with disease agents to increase the incidence of clinical disease and aggravate

its severity. " 182

In a very recent article focusing on the major influences on health in the

Developing World, McKeown, past Chairman of the World Health Organization

(WHO) Advisory Group on Research Strategy also articulates a view that clearly

takes the issue of human health out delimiting bounds of selective medicine. His

incisive conclusion follows:

.. . . evidence is now available from a number of Third World countries that have

advanced rapidly in health: China, Costa Rica, Cuba, India (Kerala State),

Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and a few others.. . . The improvement in health

was almost entirely due to a reduction from infectious disease. To assess

priorities in health policies in the Third World the chief requirement is

therefore to come to a conclusion about the reasons for the decline of the

infections.

.. . . All the countries that advanced rapidly achieved a substantial improvement

in nutrition, which led to increased resistance. Indeed in some countries this

was the only important direct influence. It is perhaps surprising that

immunization appears to have contributed relatively little to the advances . . .

the reduction in mortality occurred during a period when vaccine coverage was

still low.

To anyone who has traveled extensively in the rural areas of the Third World,

the common causes of ill health may seem self-evident. Many children are visibly

malnourished, sanitary conditions are primitive, drinking water is unclean, the

food . . . is contaminated, and the number of people competing for the means of

life is clearly excessive. Our conclusions concerning the determinants of health

can be epitomized by the simple statement that people must have enough to eat

and must not be poisoned.183

In a World Health article highly germane to the " determinants " as raised by

McKeown, Finland's H. Hellberg (a former Division Director at the WHO)

postulates that the success of any genuine effort to alleviate disease in the

Developing World must incorporate " intersectoral and multisectoral action. " In

his words " involvement of specialists other than the traditional healing

professions; water, food, housing, sanitation and education are all important

prerequisites for health. If they are neglected curative repair . . . may even

be impossible. " 184

To conclude these critical observations on Developing World health development

priorities, it would prove instructive to consider the similar conclusions

reached by K.L. Standard (Professor and Head of the Department of Social and

Preventive Medicine, University of the West Indies).

.. . . . mere survival is not enough. With no improvement in their standard of

living and nutrition, they (children) frequently succumb to infection, with

repeated relapses . . . . It will be extremely difficult to make further

reductions in mortality rates in developing countries without significantly

raising standards of living, including nutrition. Among the general measures of

primary prevention that may be considered, an increase of food production is of

paramount importance. Environmental sanitation deserves high priority, and

health education of the public is a key activity at both national and community

levels. . . . The final and permanent answer to the problem will rest in. social

and economic development . . . taking into account the need for nutritional

improvement of the present generation.

For obvious reasons, the highest priority must be given to preventive measures.

If good nutritional status is maintained in the first years of life, successive

attacks of most infectious diseases of moderate virulence will probably produce

no more than mild effects.. . . Optimal maternal diet during pregnancy,

prolonged breastfeeding, progressive weaning with appropriate foods, and

education of mothers on infant-feeding practices are the basis of good

nutritional status in children.185

ECLIPSING THE SPIRIT OF ALMA ATA

It would be instructive at this point to go back to relatively recent history to

see how this vitally sound and rational perspective was officially recognized at

an international level, but then practically scuttled in favour of the

annamentarium of Universal Childhood Immunization.

On the opening page of the recently completed Evaluation Assessment of the

Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) Health Sector the observation

is made that by the mid-seventies, " after more than 30 years of international

health assistance, it had become apparent that curative strategies that directly

addressed disease causing agents had failed . . . recipient countries . . . [in

meeting] their long term health needs. " 186 It was a recognition of this reality

that presumably led Canada and other industrialized nations to the signing of

the historic Alma Ata Declaration in 1978. The basic principles of Primary

Health Care as embodied in this Declaration follow:

The Principles of Primaly Health Care

As Emboclied in the Alma Ata Declaration

1 . Equitable Distribution-- addressing the root causes of ill health, and

ensuring health resources are equitably distributed among all groups and across

geographic regions

2. Community Involvement-- genuine health decision-making by the community

3. Multisectoral Approach-- due recognition of the key influence on health of

environmental (incl. nutritional), economic, and social factors as well as

health services

4. Appropriate Technology-- sociocultural acceptability and relevance.187

By 1980 CIDA published a public affairs statement on CIDA's Involvement in

Health thereby reaffirming that in its support of Bilateral Primary Health Care

initiatives in the Developing World, the Agency would place central priority on:

the training of health auxiliaries; health and nutrition; essential education;

adequate food production; potable water supply; family planning; and provision

of simple equipment and supplies.188

Despite the virtual eclipsing of these priorities by Canada's massively

increased support for Universal Childhood Immunization in the late 80's and into

the 90's, the Canadian Govemment's Official Development Assistance Policy as

embodied in the 1987 policy document Sharing Our Future, actually emphasizes

that a fundamental priority of CIDA " must be to supply all the basics of health "

which is defined as " clean water, sanitation, (and) adequate nutrition. "

Furthermore there was to be a mobilization of the poor at the community level as

" partners " in the design, implementation and evaluation of health activities.189

Canada's aforenoted actions have not been singular, as it must be noted that

virtually all of the industrialized nations had likewise overshadowed their

earlier vision and commitment to ensuring fundamental health improvement

measures by instead allocating a major portion of their " health " investments to

mass artificial immunization and selective curative programs. In response to

this major reversal, in November of 1985 alarmed community health specialists

and practitioners from several developed and developing nations convened at

Antwerp, and there articulated what is called The Antwerp Manifesto For Primary

Health Care. Some key excerpts from the Manifesto follow:

.. . . In spite of the lessons of history and of past experiences, major and

international donor agencies are diverting scarce resources into a short term

approach known as " selective primary health care. . . " This approach is in

total contradiction with the fundamental principles underlying Primary Health

Care. These principles are:

The main roots of poor health lie in living conditions and the environment in

general, and more specifically in poverty, (and) inequity . . . of resources in

relation to needs

Since health is . . . of people, it is self defeating not to consider them as

partners who are able to play a great part in the protection and improvement of

their own health

Health services must provide . . . promotive and rehabilitative measures. This

has to be done in a coordinated and integrated way which responds to the peoples

needs.

This manifesto is issued because the proliferation of selective health

intervention programmes undermines . . . Primary Health Care. It is issued also

because these interventions purport to offer " quick solutions " and " instant

success " for which they divert scarce resources from the solution of the real

underlying and continuing problems, thus helping to maintain ill health. In

addition, experience has taught us that selective interventions tend to become

permanent even though they are presented as " interim " responses only. . . . And

above all, the selective approach rules out the possibility of people's

participation in decision making about their own health.190

EMERGING--A MORE PRACTICABLE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE MODEL

Table E which follows on the next two pages, was developed with the appreciated

assistance of medical sociologist L. Chetelat. It provides a clear picture of

the paradigmatic contrasts existing between the selective war on disease model

as exemplified in Westem selective medicine, and the emerging causal based

approach to health sustenance and restoration.

The causal model is strongly predicated on the principle that man's relationship

to the laws of nature (natural law) and life, must undergird any effective

health maintenance and or restoration strategy. Such an approach is recommended

as inherently more sensible, balanced, and cost effective for attaining and

sustaining public health, whether among Developed or Developing World

populations. The causal based model strongly emphasizes the importance of

strengthening self-knowledge, self-responsibility, and self-care and thus far

more closely corresponds to the challenge and direction mandated in the historic

Alma Ata Declaration. It also affords genuine respect for the integral

principles which undergird the practice of participatory development. As a final

point its characteristic qualities of local accessibility, manageability,

affordability, and effectiveness herald its great promise for humankind.

Table E--The War on Disease Approach Versus The Health Causal Approach WAR ON

DISEASE APPROACH HEALTH CAUSAL APPROACH

1. Orientation & Philosophy 1. Orientation & Philosophy

Disease is understood as an entity separate from and attacking the patient.

Recognition of acute disease as a systemic reparative process inseparable from

the person.

The body and mind are separated, with distinct diseases and organs treated

singly. Recognizes the body and mind as being inseparably one, to be treated as

a unity.

The focus on labeling, isolating, and destroying " disease, " i.e., its entities,

and symptoms. The focus on strengthening the protective and regenerative health

energies, and resources of the person.

2. Causality 2. Causality

The focus of causality is external to the patient--viruses, bacteria, poisons,

and in more recent time stresses in the environment. The focus of causality is

both internal to the person as it relates to primary lifestyle practices,

deficiencies, negative emotions, etc.; and external as it relates to

debilitative factors in the natural and social environments.

3. Prevention & Cure 3. Prevention & Cure

Artificially separates preventative and curative measures. Recognizes that

health sustenance and restoration depend on the selfsame measures.

The emphasis is on removing or palliating symptoms. It aims at achieving quick

results. The emphasis is on removing causes through lifestyle, psycho-spiritual,

and other sustainable changes to debilitative bio-nutritional, environmental,

social, and political conditions.

Relies on highly sophisticated technological and costly measures that are not

amenable to self and include: family based care, i.e., manufactured vaccines,

organ transplants, drugs, etc. These measures are noted for bearing harmful side

effects (latrogenesis). Relies on health building and restorative measures that

are harmless, non-invasive, efficacious,and uncostly. These include adequate and

quality nutrition, potable water, local (non-toxic) plant medicines, enhanced

natural environment, and other apropos regenerative measures.

4. Care Providers 4. Care Providers

The emphasis is on exclusive management and control of health and disease by

medical professionals who know all, while patients blindly follow the " doctor's

orders. " Emphasis is placed on the informed and responsible involvement of

people in understanding and managing their own health needs.

Relies solely on the expertise of highly trained medical professionals, holding

occult knowledge, and unfathomable wisdom. Builds upon the distinctive knowledge

and inherent capacities of individuals, families and communities. " Local

healers " are prepared to provide basic care, coupled with training in wellness

principles and family self care.

5. Cost 5. Cost

Cost is escalating to the point of being an unmanageable and unsustainable

burden on society. Cost is de-escalating, to the point of being negligible.

6. Research 6. Research

Research focuses on tracking, isolating and destroying " disease " and its

associated entities. Research focuses on better understanding and appropriating

the fundamental requisites of life and health.

The absence of disease is considered the result of techno-medical interventions.

The absence of disease is recognized as the consequences of compliance with the

natural laws of creation.

7. Health Care Outcomes 7. Health Care Outcomes

Produces a system of disease care and disease scare. People learn to fear,

distrust and disrespect the natural world, and their own bodies. Produces a

system of health care based upon people developing a practical knowledge of,

trust in and respect for the natural world, and for their own bodies.

People become unduly dependent on medical institutions and authorities. This in

turn diminishes self-respect and moral responsibility, while coping strategies

are diminished leading to resignation, helplessness and hopelessness. People

develop and carry out coping strategies, which in turn will inevitably lead to

better health, along with longer and fuller life.

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SECTION III

A CONSIDERATION OF ALTERNATIVES TO

ENSURING NATURAL IMMUNITY

THE SOIL AS CHIEF DETERMINANT OF HEALTH AND THE FOUNDATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH

POLICY

In recognition of the indubitable axiom that all forms of life derive their

basic sustenance from the earth itself, it remains equally evident that any

policy to ensure public health must first and foremost be predicated on ensuring

the quality and integrity of the soil. Prominent British horticulturist Sampson

offers the following incisive observation.

My long continued studies in the dust have convinced me that diseases in soils,

plants and men arise from conditions, brought about by the introduction of

poisons and by imperfect environment,- and experiments have satisfied me beyond

doubt that this is the natural and correct explanation.191

Indeed there is a substantial basis for suggesting that it is of the highest

importance that health and development ministries in both industrialized and

Developing World nations should henceforth predicate their strategic health

policies upon a practical recognition that the treatment and condition of the

soil is by far the most critical determinant of health (whether in plants,

animals, or human beings). In his seminal research on the underlying causes of

the outstanding health and longevity among the population of Hunza--a society

that until very recently has remained essentially free of medical

intervention--G.T. Wrench aptly concluded:

The importance of the method of culture of food is primary, radical, and

fundamental in the matter of health. It exceeds all other aspects of nutrition.

.. . Nature endows life with a powerful, eternal capacity to renew itself

healthfully, given the right conditions. The genes know nothing of diseases.192

Shelton seconds this conclusion in his observation that through the relatively

simple measure of building up our soils, crops can be freed of fungal

infections. In his view fungi, which live at the expense of living plants, " are

incapable of successfully attacking one that is completely healthy. . . . In

plant, as in animals, the nutritional status largely determine the . . .

soundness . . . of tissue developments.193

INSIGHTFUL EXPERIMENTS

The historically significant experiments of Sir Albert , British Imperial

Economic Botanist, based in India in the first quarter of this century, confirm

the correctness of this view. Through natural soil feeding and regeneration

methods, the plants and crops under his management demonstrated continuous

improvements to the point of being impervious to all forms of disease as well as

insect pests. Speaking of his organic gardens and orchards at Indore, he stated

that during seven years of observation " I cannot recall a single case of insect

or fungus attack. " Indeed it was his studied opinion that:

.. . . plant diseases . . . only attack unsuitable varieties or crops improperly

grown. Their true role in agriculture is that of censors for pointing out the

crops which are imperfectly nourished. Disease resistance seems to be the

natural reward of healthy and well-nourished protoplasm. The policy of

protecting crops from pests by means of sprays, powders and so forth is

thoroughly unscientific and radically unsound; even when successful, this

procedure merely preserves material hardly worth saving. The annihilation or

avoidance of a pest . . . are mere evasions.

However, Sir 's most vital findings pertained to the animals feeding on

his crops who in turn developed total freedom from disease and deformities.

For twenty-one years I was able to study the reaction of the well-fed animals to

epidemic diseases such as rinderpest, hoof-and-mouth disease, septicaemia, and

so forth, which frequently devastated the countryside. None of my animals were

segregated, none were inoculated; they frequently came in contact with diseased

stock. No case of infectious disease occurred.194

This calls to mind a personal interview I conducted with A. Kalokerinos, Chief

Medical Officer at the Aboriginal Health Clinic in Redfern (Sydney), Australia.

He related an experience wherein cattle feeding on grass grown on re-mineralized

soil, were grazing literally nose to nose--at the fence line--with another herd

infected with hoof and mouth disease. Without the benefit of any specific

protective measures including vaccines, the uninfected herd manifested total

immunity.

In returning to the subject of insect pests, we find that there is clear

evidence that insects have an innate ability to detect mineral defeciencies and

imbalances--even at a subtle level--in plants, and selectively devour only those

which are deficient or imbalanced. According to horticulturist S. Mueller

" Satellite photographs of Africa have shown how gigantic flights of locusts will

cover thousands of miles ignoring healthy vegetation, then descending and

destroying fields where the soil is wom out.195

This and the earlier observations made on the relationship of microbes to human

disease, parallels the view that pathogenic microorganisms act as nature's

censors, proliferating only when the host's psychophysiology has been imbalanced

and weakened by factors such as stress, malnutrition, endo and environmental

toxins, etc. Sir 's experiences with the building of natural immunity in

plants had been preceded by such great soil scientists as Julius Hensel in

Germany, and Sampson in England, whose findings were later replicated by

Dr. Northern and Albert Savage in North America.

These scientists employed soil re-mineralization and regeneration techniques,

employing the use of ground stone dust or sea vegetation, and green (plant)

compost, and the periodic aeration of plant or tree roots through cultivation.

The results were indeed phenomenal. Marketed spinach grown on ordinary soil

contained from 600 to 1,600 parts per billion of iodine, whereas spinach grown

on re-mineralized soil contained as high as 640,000 parts per billion. Testing

revealed that various vegetables grown in Savage's " mineral garden " possessed as

much as 400% more iron and other minerals than crops grown by standard

methods.196

SOIL RE-MINERALIZATION--A RETURN TO PRIMEVAL CONDITIONS

The necessity of soil re-mineralization is based on the premise that over the

millennia the earth's surface has undergone a progressive erosion of both its

major and trace minerals. As well, the widespread and serious de-mineralization

problem has been vastly exacerbated in this century by deforestation, massive

mono-culture cropping, and heavy agrochemical dependency. Today the only place

where the full range of vital minerals can be found is in the seabeds where

streams and rivers have carried them, or in the earth's rocks. Thus the

utilization of sea plants and rock dust became a central feature in strategic

efforts to achieve balanced soil re-mineralization.

The place of soil re-mineralization--as a fundamental health strategy--is

corroborated not only by experimenters in improving plant and animal wellness,

but as well in prehistoric fossil records. For instance, paleopathologist Roy L.

Moodie has found that " the early faunas were free of disease " and that " the most

ancient bacteria were harmless, " i.e., non-pathogenic in nature. He maintains

that " There are no known cases or examples of infection, no tumors, few

traumatic lesions or injuries of any kind prior to Devonian " and that " the

earliest animals were free from disease.197 It is also worth noting in this

regard that the earliest book of antiquity in the Judeo-Christian record,

Genesis, gives no account of any specific human diseases, and as well makes no

reference to conditions such as imbecility, blindness, deaffiess, or other

deformities.

SOIL DIETETICS AND DISEASE

In reviewing a modern text-book of domesticated crop diseases, one is as

appalled by their number and variety as one is by the list of human illnesses in

a text-book of medicine. The correlation is remarkable. We find in both a number

of deficiency diseases; excess diseases; parasitic diseases; virus diseases;

diseases due to insufficient or defective water, oxygen and sunlight; those

associated with excessive heat or cold; chemical induced diseases (i.e.,

spraying/drugging); and last but not least multiple degenerative and deformity

diseases. How did the major share of these diseases come into being? By cause,

or mere chance? Wrench answers:

I take it that what has happened to man has happened no less to his domesticated

plants. Science has effected a marvelous progress in variety and fragmentation,

but at the same time it has torn plants from their traditional conditions upon

which their health depends. . . . here is, no doubt, I think, that modern man

has made plant life in his own image.198

Part of today's larger shift toward environmental responsibility and

sustainability, are the commendable efforts to reduce excessive dependency on

soil and plant chemicals in agricultural methods. However, the growing impetus

toward " organic " approaches to agriculture relies heavily upon manure

fertilizers. On this point Shelton comments that " . . . it has long been known

that heavy manuring of the soil results in the plants grown thereon being

subject to parasitic infestation because of their lack of health.199

also contends that fertilizers derived from stable manure or of animal

origin (as well as chemicals), were significantly injurious to the health of

soil and plants. In fact, he maintains that their widespread use has served to

create conditions of disease and degeneration consecutively in soil, plant,

animal and human life. In his words:

I have proved that susceptibility to disease is greatest with large dressings of

dung. It is the main cause of fungoid infections of plants . . . and bad

eyesight, bad teeth, and kindred troubles in human beings. . . . As to

[chemical] fertilizers, they often deplete the soil of its fertility and induce

acidity. . . . 200

His experimental work in England in the early part of this century, closely

paralleled those of Sir in India. The farms surrounding his own--all

employing conventional agribusiness methods--were struck again and again over

the years by multiple forms of disease and a variety of pests. 's vast

fruit orchards, vegetable gardens and grain fields thrived, totally immune' to

these perennial problems.201 (For more background discussion on the need and

potential for achieving an enhanced agricultural system that is more conducive

to ensuring natural immunity, in plants, animals, and man please refer to Annex

II--Agrochemical Agriculture--the Need for a Saner Alternative.)

Another notable and much more recent horticultural experimenter who bears

mentioning is Australian . In his outstanding book From Soil to

Psyche, he maintains that when plants are deprived of vital organic and mineral

nutrients and instead are stimulated to undergo enforced growth--as in the case

of chemical fertilization--such plants " react by a wild development of cellular

structure which is deficient in trace elements and amino acids. " He goes on to

affirm that:

Such poorly constituted crops cannot avoid, and must inevitably attract, any

prevalent form of disease. At our own organic farms, not one papaya tree was

lost during the severe disease epidemic of 1973 which followed Eastern

Australia's 1972 partial drought. Every newspaper reported the severe plant

losses of up to 90 percent of plantations from " three strains of virus. . . "

It was no strange or mystical phenomenon that our farm, with its organically

mulched plants, registered not even a decline in crop production while other

farmers in the district were bemoaning their huge losses.202

KEY NUTRITIONAL MEASURES IN PREVENTING INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Until lately disease was regarded as a sin of commission by some unseen and

subtle agency. The vitamins are teaching us to regard it . . . as a sin of

omission on the part of civilized and hyper-civilized man. By our habit of

riveting our attention on microbes and their toxins we have sadly neglected the

side of the question which concerns itself with our own bodily defenses.

Prominent British Physician--Leonard

Given the necessity for limiting the scope of this document, and the wide

ranging dimensions which the issue of alternatives represent, it would be

impracticable to attempt to highlight all the promising directions for

systematic applied research on strengthening natural immunity that exist.

However, given the singular recognition that is being accorded to the role of

nutrition as a lifestyle factor in both the prevention and treatment of

infectious and degenerative diseases, it clearly represents a primal area for

undertaking far more intensive applied research and experimentation.(The scope

of viral, toxin and bacterial associated conditions to be considered in this

section on nutrition and infection will not necessarily be delimited to the

UCI-EPI childhood diseases.)

It seems remarkable that some of the most significant experimental and clinical

based research literature that exists on the relationship between nutrition and

infectious disease were published in the first half of the twentieth century.

Much of this early and now largely forgotten applied research documented the

considerable preventive and therapeutic values of the newly discovered vitamins.

Given that the relationship between nutrition and health represents in itself a

vast and complex subject, for brevity's sake this discussion on nutritional

measures will necessarily be limited to an examination of the two vitamins which

both clinical research and practice have revealed as holding the most

significant role in the prevention and alleviation of various infectious

diseases, i.e., Vitamins A and C.

VITAMIN A

Vitamin A is recognized as an essential nutrient for maintaining normal

physiologic functions, including cellular differentiation, membrane integrity,

vision, immunologic responses and growth. Literature dating back as far as the

1920's has noted an association between Vitamin A deficiency and an increased

incidence and severity of infection,203 which led to the labeling of Vitamin A

as the " anti-infective Vitamin " by Clausen. 204 In more recent time, Vitamin A

deficiency has received considerable attention in international health circles.

This has been largely due to various field studies which have linked Vitamin A

deficiency with an increased risk of childhood morbidity and mortality.205, 206,

207

Of these,206 it was observed by the field researchers that preschool children

with mild xerophthalmia (night blindness and bitot's spots, a condition clearly

attributable to Vitamin A deficiency) were dying at a rate ranging from 4 to 12

times greater than that of neighboring children with normal eyes and vision.

(This represented an 18 month longitudinal study of 4,600 Javanese [indonesian]

preschool children from six separate communities.)

In fact such relationships persisted even after stratifying for the presence or

absence of respiratory disease, protein energy malnutrition, and diarrhoea. The

researchers asked but did not answer why mildly Vitamin A-deficient children

died at such increased rates, " especially those who were [apparently] well

nourished and seemingly free of diarrhoea and respiratory disease, " which are

considered the major causes of childhood mortality in developing countries.

The first major controlled field study to be published in an established medical

journal detailing an observed relationship between Vitamin A deficiency and

infectious disease, 207 reported on the results of a randomized, community trial

of Vitamin A supplementation in northern Sumatra (Indonesia). 450 villages were

randomly assigned to either participate in a Vitamin A supplementation scheme

(229 villages), or serve for one year as a control (221 villages). The study

observed that among children aged 1 to 6 years at baseline, the death rate in

the 221 control villages--which did not receive the vitamin nor any placebo--was

49% greater than in those villages where supplementation was given. (Although

the study was actually designed to examine nutritional blindness, these

unanticipated results were found when comparing mortality rates between the

treatment and the control villages.)

Despite such promising findings, the posture of the medical community has

generally been one of either questioning the " validity " of the research

methodology and findings, or of putting the brakes on initiating any actual

policy and or programming changes. To quote a 1990 statement of Kjolhede and

Gadomski of s Hopkins University in response to the various Sommer et al

studies:

Because scientific evidence relating to Vitamin A is being generated by diverse

sources, and because there is a paucity of data strictly relevant to childhood

survival in developing countries, the implications of these and other findings

have been dijficult to translate into specific policies and programmatic

recommendations.208

According to secondary research carried out by Mamdani and Ross, and reported in

their exhaustive article " Vitamin A supplementation and child survival: magic

bullet or false hope?, " 209 Vitamin A deficiency represents " . . . a major

nutritional problem among preschool children in many countries of Africa, Asia,

as well as some areas of Central and and South America. " In fact an estimated

250,000 young children will go blind each year due to a lack of Vitamin A in

their diets, while another 250,000 will experience lesser degrees of permanent

impairment of vision due to corneal damage; (According to West and Sommer, an

estimated 700,000 preschool children will develop active corneal lesions; and

6,700,000 new children will manifest mild Vitamin A deficiency annually. As

well--at any one time--an estimated 20 to 40 million are suffering from mild

levels of Vitamin A deficiency.) 210 with up to 75 percent of the blinded

children dying within a few months of the blinding episode. The literature

indicates that the association between " severe Vitamin A deficiency and infant

and child mortality has been established for some time. " The authors go on to

conclude that:

An association between Vitamin A deficiency and infectious diseases, in

particular diarrhoea, respiratory infections and measles--which are among the

most important causes of death during childhood in the Developing World--has

significant policy implications. . . .

Overall, the balance of evidence suggests that Vitamin A deficiency does lead to

an increased risk of infections such as measles, respiratory infections and

diarrhoea, and hence to an increased risk of death. Conversely, the evidence

suggests--but as yet does not prove conclusively--that Vitamin A

supplementation, or other strategies' 211 (Other strategies include the

fortification of selected commercial foods which are commonly consumed, and

dietary modifications. The latter measure includes a " long term solution, " i.e.,

the increased production of Vitamin A-rich foods through home, school, and

community gardens, wherever climate and soil conditions permit. An example where

the increased production and distribution of garden produce--coupled to basic

nutrition education--worked well was the Applied Nutrition Program in Tamil

Nadu, India. Mothers diagnosed as anaemic and VitaminA deficient were given

access to this produce. Examination, after six months, revealed " considerable "

improvements to their general nutritional status, along with the " disappearance

of all the clinical signs of Vitamin A deficiency. 211) for improving Vitamin A

status, would lead to a decrease in the incidence and/or the severity of these

infections and of the substantial mortality associated with them. The magnitude

of this potential effect remains unclear, however, though the evidence from the

Indonesian studies implies that it may be substantial.212

It is encouraging that as of 1987 the following nations have already adopted

home gardening as a national priority: Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Dominica,

Honduras, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and SriLanka.213

VITAMIN C

In introducing the subject of Vitamin C, it would be fitting to share the

following observation made by the Australian microbiologist/physician team of

Dettman and Kalokerinos, who over many years have conducted wide ranging

research--both secondary and original--on the prophylactic and therapeutic

potential of Vitamin C.

If you were offered a substance that could assist with the endogenous production

of interferon and PGE1, that activated enzyme systems, assisted with mineral

uptake and collagen production, aided healing, prevented capillary fragility and

stimulated renal function, was capable of curing both viral and bacterial

infections, was a universal detoxifier effective against drugs and venomous

bites and was currently being used more and more in the treatment of

degenerative diseases, you would rightly scoff. More particularly if you were

told that this substance was Vitamin C, yet all these claims and more have been

documented and put to clinical trial.214

As we go on to examine what is indeed a vast body of experimental and clinical

data on Vitamin C, we find that there are indeed substantive evidences for its

efficacy as a low cost, perfectly safe, and wide spectrum anti-viral, anti-toxic

and anti-bacterial agent. Internationally noted biochemist Irwin Stone has alone

described and documented a wide range of applied biomedical research and

clinical experience employing 122 literature citations--spanning a 40 year

period showing its marked efficacy as a prophylactic and therapeutic agent.215

In obtaining and reviewing a number of the original source documents cited by

Stone--relative to Vitamin C and the infectious diseases--it was both amazing

and perplexing that so little of this vital knowledge which was discovered

earlier in this century is being further researched and or utilized today.

I. Viral Infections

Within a relatively limited timeframe after the 1933 discovery of ascorbic acid

(Vitamin C) and its identification as an anti-scorbutic (scurvy) substance, a

diverse range of researchers found that ascorbic acid had significant potential

as a wide-spectrum antiviral agent. Throughout the 30's in rapid succession

Jungeblut showed that ascorbic acid would inactivate the virus found in

poliomyelitis; 216 Holden and Molley, inactivation of the herpes virus;

217Lagenbusch and Enderling, inactivation of the virus found in hoof and mouth

disease; 218 and Amato, inactivation of the rabies virus.219 It should be noted

that Jungeblut observed that the " antiviral " effect of Vitamin C is not due to

the acid reaction of the ascorbic acid, since it occurs also when the latter has

been adjusted to a pH at which the virus remain " unharmed. " 220

Jungeblut continued his experimental work at Columbia University with primates

in which he demonstrated that a scheduled administration of ascorbic acid both

enhanced resistance to poliomyelitis, and in cases of infection markedly reduced

the severity of the disease. His experiments also demonstrated a very marked

superiority in the level of effectiveness of natural source ascorbic acid,

versus the laboratory synthesized product. For example in one experimental

series, " the percentage of non-paralytic survivors following treatment with

natural Vitamin C was about six times as large as that of the untreated

controls, " whereas " in the animals treated with synthetic Vitamin C this

percentage was only twice that of the controls.221 (Despite such promising early

findings, no serious or systematic efforts were made by organized medicine

during this historical time period to incorporate the vitamin as a prophylactic

or therapeutic agent.)

However, the later results achieved in the direct clinical practice of North

Carolina physician F. Klenner approached the extraordinary. He graphically

describes--from his own practice and other sources--the substantive efficacy of

this vitamin in preventing and/or reversing pathological and life threatening

conditions which literally extend over " the entire gamut of medical knowledge. "

The following list details the range of conditions as described in this and

other journal articles by Klenner. Although viral related conditions are being

discussed in this section, a few bacterial diseases have been included in this

list and are italicized for identification (the list also includes some serious

toxic and degenerative conditions).

TABLE F -- CONDITIONS SUCCESSFULLY PREVENTED AND OR REMEDIATED EMPLOYING VITAMIN

C infectious hepatitis virus pneumonia

influenza diphtheria

virus encephalitispoliomyelitis pertusis (whooping caugh)

measles chicken pox

parotitis (mumps) tetanus (lockjaw)

mononucleosis rheumatic fever

scarlat fever botulism

heavy metal intoxication poisonous insect, spider and snake bites

trichinosis* bacillary dysentary

malignancies post-operative deaths

childbirth labor (easing and shortening) postpartum hemmorages (prevents)

cardiovascular diseases peptic and duodenal ulcers

pancreatitis severe burns (mostly external treatment)

radiation sickness carbon mooxide poisoning

barbiturate poisoning222

*In Klenner's successful reversal of trichnosis, a combination of Vitamin C and

para-aminobenzoic acid were used.

He describes the role played by ascorbic acid in intercellular reactions and its

neutralization and perceived control of virus production. Its enzymic action

contributes to the breakdown of virus nucleic acid to adenosine deaminase which

converts to inosine. The end result are purines which are " extensively

catabilized. " As well, when ascorbic acid joins the available virus protein, it

results in a new macromolecule which acts as the " repressor factor. " In fact it

has been " demonstrated that when combined with the repressor, the operator gene,

virus nuclcic acid, cannot react with any other substance and cannot induce

activity in the structural gene, therefore inhibiting the multiplication of new

virus bodies.223

Writing in an early article published in the Journal of Southern Medicine and

Surgery, he ascribes the relative limitations in success as attained in much of

the earlier experimental results with Vitamin C, to the very low dosage levels

used. Conversely, the key to his unprecedented clinical achievements lay in the

much higher dosage he administered. He comments:

The years of labor in animal experimentations; the cost in human effort and

" grants, and the volumes written, make it difficult to understand how so many

investigators could have failed in comprehending the one thing that would have

given positive results [i.e., to the degree Klenner attained] a decade ago. This

one thing was the size and frequency of its administration. 224

In the same article he goes on to describe:

a measles epidemic in which " Vitamin C was used prophylactically, " in which

without exception all who received 1 gram every six hours either intravenously

or intramuscularly " were protected from the virus. "

In treating 60 acute cases of poliomyelitis, (in a number, the diagnosis was

confirmed by lumbar puncture, with cell counts ranging from 33 to 125) for the

first 24 hours, 1 to 2 grams depending on age--of Vitamin C was administered

every second to fourth hour (intramuscularly in children up to four years). For

the following 48 hour period the 1 to 2 gram dosage was given only every sixth

hour, with all 60 patients diagnosed " clinically well " within 72 hours from the

commencement of treatment.

Six cases of virus encephalitis were similarly treated with Vitamin C

injections, and all without exception made dramatic recoveries.

Diphtheria was successfully treated using the same intensive treatment method

" in half the time required to remove the membrane and get negative smears by

antitoxin.225

Summarily, Klenner could well affirm that " we have been able to assemble

sufficient clinical evidence to prove unequivocally that Vitamin C is the

antibiotic of choice in the handling of all types of virus diseases. " As well he

demonstrated--through trial and experimentation--that where tissue levels of the

vitamin are maintained, an environment that is extremely unfavourable for

virtually all forms of viral infection is created in the human body.226

II. Bacterial Infections

Within five years of the discovery of Vitamin C, research studies were being

published in the medical literature on the clear association between scurvy and

the prescorbutic state (both evidencing Vitamin C deficiency) to a range of

infections (both bacterial and viral) in guinea pigs and humans.227

Beginning in this same time period other applied researchers discovered that

ascorbic acid has both bacteriostatic (inhibiting) and bactericidal (destroying)

properties. For example, researchers Gupta and Guha, demonstrated that 2

milligram percent (2 mg% is equivalent to 2 parts of ascorbic acid to 100,000

parts of bacterial suspension) inhibited staphylococcus aureus, and B. typhosus.

The same inhibitive effect was produced at 5 mg% for B. diphtheria, and

streptococcus hemolyticus.228 Whereas Sirsi reported that 10 mg% was sufficient

to destroy virulent strains of M. tuberculosis.229 Other researchers found that

ascorbic acid was effective in completely neutralizing and rendering harmless a

wide variety of bacterial toxins. These included: diphtheria--Jungeblut and

Zwemer,230 tetanus Jungeblut; 231 staphylococcus--Kodama and Kojima; 232 and

dysentery--Takahashi. 233

In a revealing nutritional status survey conducted close to mid-century on the

aboriginal population in Northern Manitoba (Canada), it was found that the most

prevalent micro-nutrient deficiency was Vitamin C, i.e., on average less than

1/71 the recommended daily allowance. At the time, the death rate from

tuberculosis among this group stood at 1,400 per 100,000 in comparison to 27 per

100,000 in the white population. The researchers concluded " . . . it is probable

that the Indian's great susceptibility to many diseases, paramount amongst which

is tuberculosis, may be attributable . . . to their high degree of malnutrition

arising from lack of proper foods.234

Charpy reports on a clinical trial where 15 grams (15,000 milligrams) of

ascorbic acid were administered daily to a group of extremely advanced

(terminal) Tuberculosis patients. (Of the six to be tested one actually died

before the trial could begin). The five patients who were fortunate enough to

receive this treatment, all underwent a spectacular transformation in their

general condition, and not only left their beds, but within a six to eight month

period had regained from 20 to 70 pounds in body weight. As an added point of

interest, each patient had cumulatively taken about 3 kilograms (3,000,000

milligrams) of ascorbic acid during the test period with absolute safety and

perfect tolerance.235

Hochwald employed injections of 1/2 gram of ascorbic acid every one-and-a-half

hours (6 grams in a 12 hour period) in croupous pneumonia until the fever and

local symptoms subsided. The speed with which this treatment worked was so rapid

that it was actually possible within the first day to practically eliminate all

local symptoms of infection including the fever, and to attain a normalization

of blood counts.236

Two articles in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported on oral

Vitamin C therapy i.e., 1/2 gram the first day, followed by an average 1/5gram

each day thereafter--on 29 pertussis (whooping cough) patients. The researchers

concluded that " this treatment markedly decreases the intensity, number and

duration of the characteristic symptoms.237

In DeWit's clinical experimentation in the Netherlands 1/2 gram of ascorbic acid

was administered daily in the treatment of children with pertussis for a period

of one week, after which it was gradually reduced stepwise. Of the 90 children

treated (who were divided into 3 comparable groups) the duration of the illness

was 15 days for those receiving the injections, 20 days for oral recipients, and

34 days for the control group who did not receive the vitamin in any form, but

had alternately received the newly developed vaccine.238

Other clinical trials on the reversal of human bacterial infections by ascorbic

acid exist in the biomedical literature, e.g., in the treatment of leprosy,

typhoid fever and dysentery. In these various reports, without exception, the

level of success as reported correlates directly with the amount of dosage

administered.239

III. Phagocytotic Activity

From an historical perspective, it is of interest that as early as 1943

Cotingham and Mills demonstrated the necessity for the presence of ascorbic acid

in maintaining defensive phagocytotic activity.240 It appears that their

important discovery remained largely unknown. However, three decades later the

rediscovery and public pronouncement of this same finding by DeChatelet et al,

did at least generate wide newspaper coverage, if not any real impact on medical

practice.241

IV. Conclusion

Not unlike earlier clinicians who employed Vitamin C prophylactically and

therapeutically, R. Catheart's extensive clinical experience led him to conclude

that proportional to the level of ascorbic acid depletion, there would follow

human immune system failure, consequently increasing the susceptibility and

potential manifestation of a wide range of disorders including various acute,

secondary, and chronic infections (viral and bacterial), allergic reactions,

inflammatory and collagen diseases, as well as an impaired ability to heal.242

It was the Noble Prize Laureate Linus ing who made the observation that:

I have been astonished . . . that in the last quarter of the twentieth century a

single substance would be recognized to be helpful no matter what disease a

person is suffering from. . . . Vitamin C is such a substance . . . by its

involvement in many biochemical reactions in the human body it makes the body's

natural defenses more powerful, and it is these natural defenses that provide

most of our resistance to disease.243

In considering the practical implications and strategic importance of the

knowledge of Vitamin C relative to the issue of child survival in the Developing

World, it would be worthwhile to conclude this discussion of Vitamin C with the

following summarization of Canadian Physician W. McConnick.

From increasing evidence of the anti-toxic and anti-infectious action of Vitamin

C, and from personal clinical experience in the prophylactic and therapeutic

application of this vitamin, the author is firmly convinced that the major

factor in bringing about . . . [the major decline in] infectious disease

incidence has been the steady and phenomenal increase in the consumption of

Vitamin C-rich fruits . . . during the period in question.

In many cases of deficiency, where the dietary intake indicates a subnormal

intake of Vitamin C over a lengthy period, the correlated clinical history shows

repeated occurrence of infectious processes. . . . The author has made intensive

application of Vitamin C therapy, orally and parenterally, in many . . .

infectious diseases . . . with results in every case even more rapid and

favorable than could be expected from the use of the modern antibiotics, and

with the added advantage of complete exemption from toxic or allergic reactions.

244

A New and Better Strategy

From the foregoing evidence it is clear that a markedly greater emphasis on the

development of home, school, and community horticultural and gardening crop

production of Vitamin A and C rich foods designed to increase local

consumption--coupled to appropriate cormnunity nutrition education campaigns,

could in and of itself make significant inroads in reversing the phenomena of

infectious disease in today's Developing World.

GENERAL CONCLUSION ON APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVES

To summarize and conclude the vital issue of what constitutes a more appropriate

policy alternative in the effective prevention of human disease--whether

infectious or degenerative--we must return to what are the original and thus

fundamentally legitimate sources of health immune system success. There is

indeed an abundance of evidence confirming the fact that multiple lifestyle

factors are not only effective in preventing and reversing degenerative

diseases, but the full range of infectious diseases as well. Having already

reviewed two key nutrient factors in relation to the prevention and cure of

infections, what follows is a concise cross-sampling of research demonstrating

the role of other lifestyle and nutrition factors in strengthening natural

immunity.

Evidence suggests that physical exercise can enhance natural killer cell

ftinction; and elevate interferon, serum leukocyte, and interleukin-1 levels.

(Interleukin-1 enhances both B and T lymphocyte activity and is involved in the

body's initial response to infection and inflammation; 245 while interferon is

known to arrest the reproduction of viruses, and is vital in reversing many

forms of viral infection including hepatitis, chicken pox, herpes simplex and

zoster etc.246

Recent studies have documented that even sub-clinical levels of " malnutrition

and deficiencies of vitamins, minerals and trace elements " have been linked to

the " impairment of immune responses.247

A reduction in dietary fat in humans, correlates with a strengthening of natural

killer cell activity.248 It has also been shown in vitro that polyunsaturated

fats weaken lymphocyte ability to respond to antigens.249

Even brief periods of sleep deprivation (7 hours) have been linked to dramatic

decreases in basic host immune responses.250

" Stressful conditions can profoundly suppress immune responses of blood and

splenic lymphocytes, including T-cell mitogenesis, natural killer cell activity,

production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon, and IL-2 receptor

expression. " 251

Bodily exposure to ultraviolet rays as found in natural sunlight, significantly

strengthens the immune system. For example:

* It increases the number of lymphocytes, antibodies (mostly gamma globulins),

and lymphocyte produced interferon. As well, the effectiveness of neutrophils in

engulfing bacteria can be at least doubled; 252

* A 12 year study of male college students revealed that only 10 minutes of

irradiation with ultra violet light, up to 3 times weekly during the winter

months, reduced colds by up to 40.3 percent; 253 under similar treatment during

Winter, there was observed a greatly increased resistance to a range of

infectious diseases in Russian children.254

* Truly dramatic results have been and can be achieved in treating a broad range

of both viral and bacterial associated diseases.255

* The current medical concept pictures a sun that is destructive to human

health, i.e., responsible for accelerating the aging of the skin, and the prime

causative factor behind the now endemic onset of skin cancers. However,

extensively documented research on the health effects of both sunlight and

nutrition by Kime clearly point to the fact that " the highly refined western

diet plays the leading role, both in the aging process and in the development of

skin cancer.256

Alcohol is an " immunosuppressive drug with far reaching consequences, " e.g., it

interferes significantly with antibacterial defense, and adversely affects

cell-mediated immunity, thereby increasing risks for viral infections,

tuberculosis, and neoplasia (tumor formation).257 Alcohol inhibits the normal

function of B lymphocytes, with as little as 3 ounces (2 drinks) reducing

antibody production to1/3 normal amounts.258 It has been documented that there

is increased susceptibility to HIV (AIDS associated virus), with the virus

growing more rapidly when even moderate intake levels (e.g., 4 beers) are taken,

immune suppression lasting 3-7 hours with T-cells producing less interleukin-2,

and T-suppresser cells producing less of the soluble immune response suppression

factor.259

Smoking of cigarettes weakens host defenses against bacteria and viruses,

including the impairment of macrophage function.260

Table G on the following page provides a fully rational explication of the

dynamic processes and factors determining health (natural immunity) and disease.

In reviewing this table, we may safely conclude that our individual and

collective states of " health " and " disease " depends essentially upon our

understanding of and respect for nature. Indeed we must come to the ultimate

realization that it is in the very best interest of humankind to seek and to

obey the voice of nature, with the assurance that the consequences of this

commitment will be sound and lasting health of both body and mind.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table G -- Psycho-Physiological Integrity-The Health and Disease Continuum

Life healing--i.e., vital systemic cleansing, balancing, reparative and renewal

processes--with varied infectious disease symptoms being severe and acute

manifestations are continuously at work, at all stages from the highest level of

functioning and on downward to the point of death. The efficacy of these healing

processes depend solely upon the appropriate and moderate provision of the

following primal and lawful requisites of human life.

Air (pure, with electrically balanced ion levels)

Water (in potable form, employed for bodily--internal and external--cleansing,

and environmental sanitation)

Sunlight (early morning and late afternoon, including regular exposure to living

quarters)

Exercise (physical, mental, social and spiritual faculties)

Rest (physiological and psycho-emotional)

Sound Nutrition (i.e., a balanced variety of unrefined and unadulterated plant

foods derived from mineral rich-living soil)

Positive Thinking (including positive/constructive motives, emotions and

relationships)

Psycho-Bio-Physical lntegrity depends upon the foregoing requisites, coupled

with: sound heredity; non-abuse of the central nervous system; and general

freedom from adverse influences, e.g., chemicals, drugs, radiation, foreign

antigens, trauma and physical injuries. Whether through inheritance [i.e.,

pre-dispositional weaknesses] or in one's own life, DENIAL OF THESE BASIC LIFE

REQUISITES, OR THE INTRUSION OF THESE ADVERSE INFLUENCES, CONSTITUTES THE

PRIMARY AND SUSTAINING CAUSES UNDERLING THE MULTIPLE SYMPTOMS OF

PSYCHO-BIO-PHYSICAL DEGENERATION (PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DISEASE). The distinction

between " prevention " and " cure " is an artificially contrived notion and does not

exist in nature, viz. the self-same primal, i.e., original causes by which

systemic (psychophysiological) health is maintained, also serve as the only

sound measures by which lost health can be restored.

Compliance with primary psycho-physiological laws ensures an increase and

strengthening of inherent vital force and immunity leading to High Level

Healtlh.

Death > Degeneration > Impairment > Low > Medium > High health

Non-Compliance with primary psycho-physiological laws ensures a weakening of

inherent vital force and immunity, leading to Degeneratlon and Death

Death < Degeneration < Impairment < Low < Medium < High Health

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONCLUSION

Belief in artificially induced immunization is actually predicated on an assumed

technological ability to annul the natural bio-system laws of cause and effect.

It is in essence an imaginative belief that we can improve upon nature's

original design and purpose through deceitfully manipulating her to our own

heedless benefit. It would be fitting at this point to quote from Kime:

We may believe that we are responsible to nothing but our own pleasure, that we

may freely violate and disregard natural law and then artificially manipulate

the deleterious consequences. We may believe that we can eat poorly, sleep

rarely, work constantly, exercise sparingly, and avoid any physical consequences

by some wonder drug. . . It requires no discipline and no sacrifice. . . .

[However] For all our advances in science, we still remain humbly, pitifully

dependent upon the forces of nature: air, water, food, and sunlight. It seems in

fact, the more advanced our technology becomes, the more capable we are of

destroying ourselves . . . by more insidious inroads into our health.261

Finally, it is indeed incontrovertible that the only sure answer to the

frightening dilemma that indiscriminately employed artificial universal

childhood immunization now poses, is a counter-public health policy which

supports a studied and respectful return to the original and immutable laws of

life and health, thus encouraging people of all nations to return to the grand

design as embodied in the creation by an all wise Creator.

REFERENCES

***Note: Some may understandably raise the concern that a number of the

references cited are not directly related to Development and the Developing

World, and secondly are not uniformly recent. In response to this point, it

remains obvious that the conventions of Western Selective Medicine are

inherently predicated on a Western perspective of health and disease.

Consequently it seems only consistent and apropos that Western based applied

research and experience can and should be brought to bear in any serious effort

to constructively examine these areas.

On the issue of the how recent the data is, it is one of the foibles of

Westernized thinking (particularly in the medical field) that unless an

observation or a practice is very recent, it should be held suspect as being

obsolete and due for relegation to the trash can. 'Ibis view is correct only

insofar as erroneous concepts undergird a system, and faulty theories and ever

changing practices have no better foundation than unanchored and footloose

empiricism. More precise sciences such as astronomy, and physics continue to

heavily utilize and build upon older research sources and practices, some even

going back over many centuries. The reason this is so, is because insofar as the

principle ---> practice ----> observation continuum is correct and valid, the

data remains unchanging and unaffected by the vagaries of both time and

circumstances.

1 World Health Organization, Publication No. 6, Rev. 1, Geneva, Switzerland,

June, 1983.

2 Etherington, A., & Associates, Assessment of the CIDA Health Sector--Profile

of Health Project Disbursements 1984-1988, prepared for CIDA Policy Branch,

Evaluation Division; and Health Section, Professional Services Branch, Hull,

Canada, February, 1989, Executive Summary, p. iv.

3 Hawes, F. et at, Canada's International Immunization Programme--Operational

Review 1986-1991, Final Report, Intercultural International, prepared for: ICDS;

and CIDA, Ottawa, Canada, November, 1989, Summary P. 1, and Main Report p. 37

4 Etherington, A., Assessment of the CIDA Health Sector Integrated Paper,

prepared for: CIDA Policy Branch, Evaluation Division; and Health Sector,

Professional Services Branch, Hull, Canada, February, 1989, p. 16.

5 Ibid, Executive Sunnnary, p. v.

6 Bloom, B.R., " Vaccines for the Third World, " World Health, World Health

Organization, Geneva Switzerland, June-July-August, 1990, p. 14.

See also:

Nature, Vol. 342, November, 1989.

7 lbid, p. 13.

8 Grant, J., " Simple, Available and Effective Interventions, " A Shift in the

Wind, Vol. 18, UNICEF, May, 1984,p. 7.

9 The LJN Department of Public Information and the United Nations University,

" The Immunization Success Story " in Development Forum, Vol. XVI, No. 1,

January-February, 1988, Cover Page Story.

10 Etherington, A., Assessment of the CIDA Health Sector--Integrated Paper, p.

3.

11 Fulginiti, V.A., " Immunization: Current Controversies, " The Journal of

Pediatrics, Vol. 101, No. 4, 1982, p.487.

12 UNICEF Thailand, " Progress Report on the Utilization of the Contribution of

$8,220,000 Cdn--Integrated Services Project for Children, " Bangkok, Thailand,

March 21, 1988.

13 Mathurosapas, R., Factors Associated with High and Low EPI Coverage in

Thailand, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Thailand, 1986.

14 World Health Organization, Expanded Programme of Immunization Immunization

Policy, WHO-EPI-General, Rev. 1, Geneva, Switzerland, July, 1986.

15 Dick, G., Practical Immunization, MTP Press Ltd., (a member of the Kluwer

Academic Publishers Group), Falcon House, Lancaster, England, 1986, pp. 2-5.

16 lbid, pp. 29-77.

17 Chetelat, L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation in Primary Health

Care, Food and Nutrition and Expanded Programs of Immunization, prepared for

Canadian International Development Agency, Policy Branch, Evaluation Division,

Hull, Canada, January, 1990, pp. 139 142.

18 Dick, G., Immununization, Update Books, London, England, 1978

See also:

Dick, G., Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 167, 1974, pp.

371-374

Hill, L., " Primary Immunization Deficiency in Children, " Thorax 25, 1970, p. 254

Bousfield, G. " Reactions to Immunization, " British Medical Journal, February 23,

1974, P. 327

Dettman, G., " Aboriginal Infant Health and Mortality Rates, " The Medical Journal

of Australia, April 7, 1973, pp. 711 and 712

Kalokerinos, A., Every Second Child, , Australia, 1981

Vessal, S., and Kravis, L., " Imunologic Mechanisms Responsible for Adverse

Reactions to Routine Immunizations in Children, " Clinical Pediatrics, Vol. 15,

No. 8, 1976, pp. 688-696

19 Kalokerinos, A., and Dettman, G., " Viral Vaccines Vital or Vulnerable, " The

Australasian Nurses Journal, August, 1980, p. 27

20 Guthrie, C., UNICEF Canada's " Field Trip Monitoring Report on The Integrated

Services Project for Children, " observations covering Nakhan Phenom and Mudaban

provinces, January 16, 1989, p. 44

21 Noble, G.R., et at, " Acellular and Wbole-Cell Pertussis Vaccines in Japan:

Report of a Visit by US Scientists. " Journal of the American Medical

Association, Vol. 257, 1987, pp. 1351-1356

22 Chetelat, L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation in Primary Health

Care, p. 159. Also, Personal Communications with the International Development

Research Centre's Health Sciences Division, September-October, 1989

23 on, J.W., Assessing and Improving Health Outcomes: The Health

Accountinig Approach to Quality Assurance, Ballinger Publishing Co., Cambridge,

1978, p. 5

24 Dick, G., Practical Immunization, p. 1

25 Cheraskin, E., et at, Diet and Disease--Medical Proof of Their Life and Death

Relationship, Keats Publishing Inc., New Canaan, Connecticut, Health Science

Edition pub., 1977, p. 369

See also:

Chandra, R., " Nutrition as a Critical Determinant in Susceptibility to

Infection, " World Review--Nutr. Diet, Vol. 25, 1976

Hook, R., and Hutcheson, D., " Impairment of the Primary Inunune Response in

Early-Onset Protein-Calorie Malnutrition, " Nutrition Reports International, Vol.

13, 1976

, D., et at, " Long Term Effects on Immune Function of Early Nutritional

Deprivation, " Nature, Vol. 241, 1973

Moscatelli, P., et al, " Defective Immunocompetence in Fetal Undemutrition, "

Helvetica Paediatrica Acta, Vol. 31, 1976

Newberne, P., and Gebhardt, B., " Pre- and Post-Natal Malnutrition and Responses

to Infection, " Nutrition Reports International, Vol. 7, 1973

Puffer, R., and Serrano, C., " The Role of Nutritional Deficiency in Mortality

Findings of the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality in Childhood, " Pan

American Health Orizanization, Vol. 7, 1973

McGrath, W.R., Bio-Nutronics, A Signet Book, New American Library, Times Mirror,

Bergenfield, New Jersey, 1972, P. 216

Hoffer, A., and , M., Orthomolecular Nutrition, Keats Publishing Inc., New

Canaan, Conneticut, 1978, P. 209

McDougall, J.A., A Challenging Second Opinion, New Century Publishers Inc.,

Piscataway, New Jersey, USA, 1985, p. 307, etc.

26-Edierington, A., Vol. I--Program Evaluation of Canada's International

Immunization Program, Cowater International, for the Canadian International

Development Agency, Ottawa, March, 199 1, pp. 22 and 30

27 Banerji, D., " Hidden Menace in the Universal Child Immunization Program, "

International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 18, No. 2, Haywood Pub. Co. Inc.,

1988, p. 294

28 Chetelat., L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation In Primarv Health

Care, (based on the author's precis on Banedi's " Hidden Menace " article), P. 157

29 Banerji, D., " Hidden Menace in the Universal Child Immunization Program, " p.

296

30 Rifken, S.B., and Walt, G., " Why Health Improves: Defining The Issues

Concerning 'Comprehensive Primary Health Care' and 'Selective Primary Health

Care,' " Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 23, pp. 562 and 563.

31 Chetelat, L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation in PHC, P. 156

32 , G., British Medical Journal, January 31, 1976, reprinted in The

Australasian Nurses Journal by Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, A., in the article

" 'Mumps' the word but you have yet another vaccine deficiency, " June, 1981, p.

17

33 " Immunization Public Health Protector?, " Issued under NIB National Office of

Health Development, Ottawa, Canada, 1979, pp. 1 and 2

34 Bumet, M., Auto Immunity and Auto Immunune Disease, MTP, London, England,

1973, Chapter 3

35 , W., Immunization--The Reality Behind The Myth, Bergin & Garvey

Publishers Inc., S. Hadley, Massachussetts, 1988, p. 64, refers to original

source reference: Report No. 272, British Medical Council, London, England, May,

1950

36 Allan, B., Australian Journal of Medical Technology, Vol. 4, November, 1973,

pp. 26 and 27]

see also:

Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, A., " Second Thoughts About Disease--A Controversy

and Bechamp Revisited, " Journal of the International Academy of Preventive

Medicine, Vol. IV, No. 1, Houston, Texas, July, 1977 and reprinted by Committee

of the Biological Research Institute, Warburton, , Australia, (p. 15 in

this reprint edition)

37 Polk, B.F., et al, " An Outbreak of Rubella (German Measles) among Hospital

Personnel, " The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 303, No. 10, September 4,

1980, pp. 541-545

38 , W., Immunization, p. 100

39 " Immunization Public Health Protector?, " pp. 10 and 11

40 Shelton, H., " Basis of Resistance, " the Hygienic Review, Vol. 38, No. 9, May,

1977, P. 196

See also:

" Immunization Public Health Protector?, " p. 1 1

41 , W., Immunization, p. 64

42 Novikoff, A., and Holtzman, E., Cells and Organelles, Holt, Rinehart and

Winston Inc., 1970

See also:

Bradbury, S., The Optical Microscope, Arnold Pub. Ltd., 1976

Lacey, A., Editor, Light Microscopes in Biology, A Practical Approach, IRL

Press, Oxford University Press, 1989

43 Bird, C., " The Rife Microscope, " Technology Tomorrow, February, 1980, pp.

5-14

44 Seidel, R.E., and Winter, E., " The New Microscopes, " Journal of the lin

Institute, Vol. 237, No. 2, February, 1944, pp. 103-130

See also:

Lee, R., " The Rife Microscope or 'Facts and Their Fate,' " Lee Foundation for

Nutritional Research, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (commentary on the Seidel and

Winter article, undated)

" Local Man Bares Wonders of Germ Life, " San Diego Union, November 3, 1929

" Science's Latest Strides in War on Ills Disclosed, Development by San Diegan

Hailed as Boon to Medical Research, " Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1931

" Here is Most Powerful Microscope, " Los Angeles Times, November 27, 1931

" What's New in Science--The Wonderwork of 193 I, " Los Angeles Times Sunday

-Magazine, December 27, 1931

, Newell, " Rife Bares Startling New Conceptions of Disease Germs, " San

Diego Tribune, May 11, 1938

" Giant Microscope May Yield Secrets of Bacteria World, " Los Angeles Times, June

26, 1940

Lynes, B., and Crane, J., The Rife Report, The Cancer Cure That Worked--Fifiy

Years of Supression, Marcus Books, Toronto, Canada, 1987

45 Carrel, A., Man the Unknown, Harper Brothers, New York and London, 1935, p.

207

46 Dubos, R., " Second Thoughts on the Germ Theory, " Scientific American, May,

1955, pp. 31-35

47 Dubos, R., Mirage of Health, Harper, New York, NY, 1959, p. 73

48 Maxcy-Rosenaw Preventive Medicine and Public Health, edited by Sartwell,

P.E., 10th Edition, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, USA, 1973, p. 117

49 Buttram, H.E., and Hoffman, J.C., Vaccinations and Immune Malfunction, The

Humanitarian Publishing Co., Quakertown, Penn., USA, 1985, p. 22

50 Duesberg, P.H., " Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency

Syndrome: Correlation but Not Causation, " Proceedings of the National Academy of

Science USA, Vol. 86, February, 1989, pp. 755-764; Interview [with Duesberg],

" AIDS " , Spectrum, No. 38, September/October, 1994, Belmont, New Hampshire, USA,

pp. 26-34

See also:

, J., AIDS, The HIV Myth, St. 's Press, New York, NY, 1989

Fumento, M., The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS: How a Tragedy has been Distorted bv

Media and Partisan Politics, Basic Books, New York, NY, 1990

Duesberg, P., " AIDS Acquired By Drug Consuption and Other Non-Contagious Risk

Factors, " Pharmac. Ther. No. 55, United Kingdom, pp. 201-277, 1992 (This article

contains 17 pages of reference citations.)

DeMeo, J., " HIV is Not the Cause of AIDS: A Summary of Current Research

Findings, " Pulse of the Planet, No. 4, 1993, pp. 99-105

Root-Bernstein, R., Rethinking AIDS: The Tragic Cost of Premature Consensus,

Free Press, New York, NY, 1993

51 Sonnabend, J.A., " Fact and Speculaton About The Cause of AIDS, " AIDS Forum,

Vol. 2, No. 1, New York, May, 1989, pp. 3-12

52 , W., Immnunization, pp. 55-87

53 Ibid, (modified and adapted from--Table 1, " Two Theories of Disease, " P. 65)

54 McCormick, W.J., " Vitamin C in the Prophylaxis and Therapy of Infectious

Diseases, " Archives of Pediatrics, Vol. 68, No. 1, January, 1951

See also:

McCormick, " The Changing Incidence and Mortality of Infectious Disease in

Relation to Changed Trends in Nutrition, " The Medical Record, September, 1947,

reprinted by the Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,

USA

55 Table I--Data presented at the British Association for the Advancement of

Sciences (Presidential Address), in The Dangers of Immunization, The

Humanitarian Society, Quakertown Penn., USA, 1979; source cited: Porter 1971

56 Table II--McKeown, T., The Role of Medicine--Dream, Mirage, or Nemesis?,

Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 1979, p. 103

57 Table III--lbid p. 105 and data from Waltzkin, H., " ...Analysis of the Health

Care Systems of Advanced Capitalist Societies, " in The Relevance of Social

Science for Medicine, edited by Eisenberg, L., and Kleinman, A., 1980; source

cited: Kass, 1971

58 Table IV--Based on McKeown, T., The Role of Medicine--Dream, Mirage, or

Nemesis?, Princeton University Press, 1979, p. 104

59 Table V--Based on , R., Medicine Out of Control, Sun Books, Melbourne,

1979, Figure 1.1, p. 9 and text p. 8; source cited; Australian Bureau of Census

and Statistics, Demography Bulletins, Canberra, Australia

60 Table VI--The Dangers of Immunization; source cited: Dingle, J., Scientific

American, 1973

61 Table VII--Based on , R., Medicine Out of Control. Figure 1.2, p. 11;

source cited: Crofton, J. and , A., " Epidemiology and Prevention of

Pulmonary Tuberculosis, " in Respiratory Diseases, Blackwell Scientific

Publications, Oxford, UK, 1969; and data from McKeown, T., The Role of Medicine,

(Basil Blackwell edition) p. 92

62 Table VIII--Based on Hoole, F.W., Evaluation Research and Development

Activities. Sage Publications, Newberry Park, California, Figure 2.3, p. 58

63 Table IX--Ekanem, E.E., " A 10 Year Review of Morbidity from Childhood

Preventable Diseases in Nigeria: How Successful is the Expanded Programme of

Immunization (EPI)? " Department of Community Health, College of Medicine,

University of Lagos, Nigeria, published in Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, Vol.

34, Oxford University Press, England, 1988, Figure 1, p. 324

64 Table X--Ibid

65 Table XI--Based on , R., Medicine Out of Control, Figure 1.3, p. 12;

sources cited: Glover, J., " Incidence of Rheumatic Diseases, " Lancet, 1:499,

1930; and WHO, Geneva, " Annual Epidemiological and Vital Statistics 1950-196 I, "

World Health Annual Statistical Reports (causes of death) 1962-1975

66 Table XII--Based on Waltzkin, H., " . . . Analysis of the Health Care

Systems. "

67 Table XIII--Epidemiology data for years 1978-1987 taken from UNICEF

Evaluation Publication No. 6, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, May 27, 1988;

and data for years 1988 and 1989, obtained in personal communication from the

Pan American Health Organization, EPI Unit, August 21, 1990

68 Table XIV--Ibid

69 Table XV--Ibid

70 Table XVI--Ibid

71 Table XVII--Ibid

72 Table XVIII--Ibid

73 Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immununization Against Disease, "

East West Journal, November, 1984, p. 51

74 Mendelsohn, R., " The Truth About Immunizations, " The People's Doctor--A

Medical Newsletter for Consumers, Vol. 2, No. 4, ton, Illinois, p. 6

75 Morton, A.R., " The Diptheria Epidemic in Halifax, " Canadian Medical

Association Journal, Vol. 45, 1941, p. 171

76 McCormick, W.J., " The Changing Incidence and Mortality of Infectious Disease

in Relation to Changed Trends in Nutrition, " The Medical Record, Toronto,

Canada, September, 1947, Reprint No. 5a, Lee Foundation for Nutritional

Research, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, p. 4

77 Eller, C.H., and Frobisher, M. Jr., " An Outbreak of Diptheria in Baltimore in

1944, " American Journal of Hygiene, Vol. 42, 1945, P. 179

78 Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, A., " Second Thoughts About Disease, " p. 16

79 Cournoyer, C., What About Immunization? A Parent's Guide to Informed Decision

Making, Private Research Publication, Canby, Oregon, USA, 4th Edition, 1987, p.

5

80 Clymer, E.M., et al, The Dangers of Immunization, The Humanitarian Society,

Quakertown, Penn., USA, 1983 Edition, p 47

See also:

Neustaedter, R., The Immunization Decision--A Guide for Parents, The Family

Health Series, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California, 1990, pp. 50 and 51

81 , W., Immunization, p. 31

82 Cournoyer, C., What About Immunizations?, p. 5

83 Ekanem, E.E., " A 10 Year Review of Morbidity from Childhood Preventable

Diseases in Nigeria, " Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, Vol. 34, December, 1988,

p. 325

84 Dayton, L., " Measles Vaccination May Not Protect for Life, " New Scientist,

Vol. 4, Vancouver, Canada, November, 1989, p. 6

85 Shasby, D.M., et al, " Epidemic Measles in a Highly Vaccinated Population, "

New England Journal of Medicine, 296: 1987, pp. 585-589

See also:

Gustafson, T.L., et at, " Measles Outbreak in a Fully Immunized Secondary School

Population, " New England Journal of Medicine, 316: 1987, pp. 771-774

Weiner, L.B., et al, " A Measles Outbreak Among Adolescents, " Journal of Tropical

Pediatrics, Vol. 90, 1987, pp. 17-20

Hull, H.F., et al, " Risk Factors for Measles Vaccine Failure Among Immunized

Students, " Pediatrics, Vol. 76, 1985, pp. 518-523

86 Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immunization Against Disease, " p.

43

87 Markowitz, L.E., " Patterns of Transmission in Measles Outbreaks in the United

States, " New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 320, 1989, pp. 75-81

88 " Measles--Quebec " MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), Vol. 38 (a),

1989, pp. 329 and 330

89 Kalokerinos, A., and Dettman, G., Viral Vaccines, Vital or Vulnerable,

published by: The Conunittee of the Biological Research Institute, Warburton,

, Australia, p. 27. (Note article of same title--but different

content--is also referenced in the August, 1980 issue of the Australasian Nurses

Journal)

90 Kenya, P.R., " Measles and Mathematics: Control or Eradication, " (Kenya

Medical Research Institute, Nairobi) East African Medical Journal, Vol. 67, No.

12, December, 1990

91 Wixen, J.S., " Twentieth-Century Miraclemaker, " Modem Maturity, December,

1984-January, 1985, p. 92

92 Hearings Before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Connnerce, House of

Representatives, " Eighty-Seventh Congress, Second Session on HR 10541, May,

1962, pp. 94-112

See also:

The American Journal of Public Health, Vol.45, Sup.1-63,1955

93 Section Panel on " Preventive Medicine and Preventive Health " at the 120 "

Annual Meeting of the Illinois State Medical Society, May 26, 1960--reported in

the Illinois Medical Journal, August and September issues, 1960

94 , W., Inununization, p. 28

95 Ibid

96 Neustaedter, R., et al, Immunizations, Are They Necessary?, Hering Family

Health Clinic, Berkeley, California, 1981, p. 19

See also:

Delarue, F., L'intoxication vaccinate, Editions de Seuil, Paris France, 1977, p.

57

97 US House of Representatives, Hearings on HR 10541, p. 113. (Reported in the

Toorak Times, Melbourne Australia, October 5, 1986)

98 Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immunization Against Disease, " p.

52

99 Sutter, R., et al, " Outbreak of Paralytic Poliomyelites in Oman. Evidence for

Widespread Transmission Among Fully Vaccinated Children, " Lancet, Vol. 338,

September, 1991, pp. 715-720

See also:

Patriarca, et al, " Randomised Trial of Alternative Formulations of Oral

Poliovaccine in Brazil, " Lancet, February, 1988, pp. 429-432

Kim-Farley, R., et al, " Outbreak of Paralytic Poliomyelitis in Taiwan, " Lancet

No. 11, 1984, pp. 1322-1324

Deniing, M., et al, " Epidemic Poliomyelitis in the Gambia Following Control of

Poliomyelitis as an Endemic Disease: Part 11. The Clinical Efficacy of Trivalent

Oral Polio Vaccine, " American Journal of Epidemiology, (in press)

100 Fulginiti, V., " Controversies in Current Immunization Practices: One

Physician's Viewpoint, " 1976, in , J.A., Statement Submitted to US Senate

Committee on Labor and Human Relations. Subcomniittee on Investigations and

General Oversight, June 30, 1982. (Dr. served as Director of the Slow,

Latent, and Temperant Virus Section of the US Bureau of Biologics, Food and Drug

Administration)

101 , G.T., British Medical Journal, January 31, 1976

See also:

, G.T., " Vaccination Against Whooping Cough: Efficiency vs. Risks, "

Lancet, 1977, p. 234

102 Medical Tribune, January 10, 1979, p. 1

103 Ekanem E.E., " A 10 Year Review of Morbidity from Childhood Preventable

Diseases in Nigeria, " Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, Vol. 34, p. 325, December,

1988

104 Neustaedter, R.,The Immunization Decision, p. 32

105 Cournoyer, C., What About Immunizations? p. 12

106 lbid

107 , DM., " Fatal Tetanus After Prophylaxis with Human Tetanus, Imnune

Globulin, " Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 207, 1969, p. 1519

108 Cournoyer, C., What About Immunizations? p. 12

109 Epidemiology data for years 1978-1987 taken from UNICEF Evaluation

Publication No. 6, May 27, 1988; and data for years 1988 and 1989, obtained from

the Pan American Health Organization, EPI Unit, August 21, 1990

110 Buttram, H.E., and Hofftnan, J.C., " Bringing Vaccines Into Perspective, "

(reference to " vaccines, a therapy in question, " Theropocia, June, 1981, p. 23)

Mothering, Vol. 34, Winter Edition, 1985, p. 43

111 Creighton, C., " Vaccination, " Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica,

pp. 29 and 30

112 Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, A., " Viral Vaccines Vital or Vulnerable, "

Australasian Nurses Journal, August, 1980, p. 30

113 Ibid, p. 29

114 " Natural History of Smallpox, " in the New Scientist, November, 1978, p. 30

115 Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, A., " Viral Vaccines, " p. 29

116 Hoole, F.W., Evaluation Research and Development Activities, Sage

Publications, Newberry Park, California, Figure 2.3, p. 58

117 , W., Immunization, p. 18

118 Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, A., " Viral Vaccines, " ANJ article, p. 30

119 Belshe, R.B., Editor, Textbook of Human Virology, PSG Publishing Co. Inc.,

Littleton, Massachusetts, USA

See also:

s, Sir , et at, Viruses of Vertebrates, Bailliere Tindall,

London, UK, Fourth Edition, (Figure 33.5 Sharing Distribution of Human Monkeypox

Cases, courtesy of I. Arita, Smallpox Eradication Unit), p. 944

120 Hawes, F., Canada's International Inununization Programme: 1986-1991, full

document

121 Chetelat, L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation in Primary Care, p.

142

122 Karzon, D.S., " Immunization on Public Trial, " The New England Journal of

Medicine, Vol. 297, No. 5, August 4, 1977, pp. 275 and 276

123 UNICEF Canada, Annual Report on the Northeast Thailand Integrated Services

Project for Children, Toronto, March 31, 1990, P. 5

124 Reported in the Toronto Star, December 10, 1989, P. B5

125 , G.S., The Hazards of Immunization, The University of London, Athlone

Press, London, UK, 1967, pp. 4-6 and 282-289 (Still in print)

126 Mendelsohn, R., " The Truth About Immunization, " p. 7

127 " Immununization Public Health Protector?, " p. 4

128 Neustaedter, R.,The Inununization Decision, pp. 72 and 73

129 " Links Between Contaminated Vaccines, Cancer and AIDS, " Townsend Letter for

Doctors, May, 1989, p. 254, (review of Snead, E. documentary video, " Is it AIDS?

Or Leukemia or Immunization Related Syndrome " )

130 Bloom B.R., " Vaccines for the Third World, " p. 15

131 Mendelsohn, R., " Immunization Controversies Continue, " The Peoples Doctor--A

Medical Newsletter for Consumers, Vol. 2, No. 10, ton Illinois, USA

132 , W., Immunization, pp. 10 and 72

See also:

Cournoyer, C., What About Inmiunizations?, P. 3

133 Moskowitz, R., " Immunizations: The Other Side, " Mothering, Vol. 31, Spring

Edition, 1984

134 , W., Immunization, pp. 14 and 15

135 Fenical, G.M., " Neurological Complications of Immunization, " ls of

Neurology, No. 12, 1982, pp. 119- 128

See also:

White, F., " Measles Vaccine Associated Encephalitis in Canada, " Lancet, No. 2,

1983, pp. 683 and 684

Zilber, N., et al, " Measles Vaccination and Risk of Subacute Sclerosing

Panencephalitis (SSP), " Neurology, Vol. 33, 1983

St. Geme, J.W., et al, Exaggerated Natural Measles Following Attenuated Virus

Immunization, Pediatrics, Vol. 57, 1976, pp. 148-150

Neustaedter, R., The Immunization Decision, pp. 55-58

Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immunization Against Disease, " p. 49

136 Cody, C.L., et al, " Nature and Rates of Adverse Reactions Associated with

DPT and DT Inununizations in Infants and Children, " Pediatrics, Vol. 68, pp.

650-660

See also:

Baraff, L.J., et al, " Possible Temporal Association Between

Diptheria-Tetanus-Toxoid-Pertussis Vaccination and Sudden Infant Death

Syndrome, " Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, No. 2, 1983, pp. 7-11

son, V., et at, " Relationship of Pertussis Immunization to the Onset of

Epilepsy, Febrile Convulsions and Central Nervous System Infections: A

Retrospective Epidemiologic Study, " Tokai Journal of Experimental Clinical

Medicine, Vol. 13, Supplement, pp. 137 ,142, 1988. ( " Records of 2,199 children

with febrile seizures were reviewed and a significant association between the

first febrile seizures and the scheduled age of pertussis immunization was

noted, " such association was not significant with epilepsy and CNS infections.)

Hutcheson, R., " Follow-up on DPT Vaccination and Sudden Infant

Deaths--Tennessee, " MMWR, March 30, 1979

Kalokerinos, K., and Dettman, G., " A Supportive Submission, " The Dangers of

Immunization, Biological Research Institute, Warburton, , Australia,

1979, p. 74

Coulter, H.L., and Fisher, B.L., DPT: A Shot in the Dark, Harcourt, Brace,

Jovanovich Publishers, San Diego, USA, 1985

, L., " DPT Vaccine Roulette, " 60 minute documentary produced for WRC-TV,

Washington, DC, April, 1982

Hyman, J., " Children at Risk: The DPT Dilemma, " The Democrat & Chronicle,

Rochester, N-Y, 1987

137 --Mendelsohn, R., " Immunization Update, " The People's Doctor--A medical

Newsletter for Consumers, Vol 10, No. 5, ton, Illinois, USA

138 Church, J.A., and s, W., " Recurrent Abscess Formation Following DPT

Inununizations: Association with Hypersensitivity to Tetanus Toxoid, "

Pediatrics, Vol. 75, 1985, pp. 899 and 900

See also:

Mendelsohn, R., " More Anti-Vaccine Arguments, " The Peoples Doctor--Medical

Newsletter for Consumers, Vol. 8, No. 12, ton, Illinois, USA

Neustaedter, R., The Immunization Decision, p. 33

139---Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immununization Against Disease, "

p. 52

See also:

Neustaedter, R., The Immunization Decision, pp. 40 and 41

140 Sabath, L., et at, " Antigen Induced Transient Hypersusceptibility: A Cause

of Sporadic and Fulminant Infection in Normals, " Clinical Research, Vol. 35, No.

617A, 1987. (This case controlled study found that childhood purulent meningitis

victims had a higher record of recent inununization, than children of comparable

age who were free from meningitis.)

141 Alderslade, R., et al, " The National Childhood Encephalopathy Study, " in

Whooping Cough, Reports from the Committee on Safety of Medicines and the Joint

Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, Department of Health and Social

Security, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1981, pp. 79-154

142 , W., Immunization, p. 14

143 Cournoyer, C., What About Immunizations?, pp. 8 and 9

144 . W., Immununization, p. 13

145 Coulter, H., and Fisher, B., DPT: A Shot in the Dark, Avery Publishing

Group, Garden City Park, New York, 1991

See also:

Coulter, H.L., Vaccination, Social Violence, and Criminality--The Medical

Assault on the American Brain, Center for Empirical Medicine, Washington, DC,

USA, 1990

146 Dettrnan, G., " SIDS--Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, " Blackmores

Communicator--The Professional Services Newsbrief of Blackmore Laboratories,

Vol. 6, Sydney Australia and Auckland New Zealand, May, 1983

147 Torch, W., " Diptheria-Pertussis-Tetanus (DPT) Immunization: A Potential

Cause of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), " Neurology, No. 32, 1982, p.

A169

148 Mortimer, E., Jr., " Pertussis Immunization: Problems, Perspectives,

Prospects, " Hospital Practice, October, 1980, pp. 103-118

149 , D., and , D., " SIDS and Near-SIDS, " New England Journal of

Medicine, 306: (17), 1982, pp. 959-1028

150 Lederberg, J., Science, October 20, 1967, p. 313

151 Buttram, H., " Live Virus Vaccines and Genetic Mutation, " Health

Consciousness, April, 1990, pp. 44 and 45

152 , W., Immunization, p. 15

153 Markowitz, R., " The Case Against Immunizations, " Journal of the American

Institute of Homeopathy, Washington, DC, 1983, Institute reprint

154 , et al, " Multiple Sclerosis and Vaccinations, " British Medical

Journal, April 22, 1967, pp. 210-213

155 , W., Immunization, p. 15

156 Dettman, G., " Immunization, Ascorbate and Death, " Australian Nurses Journal,

December, 1977

157 Jahnke, U., et al, " Sequence Homology Between Certain Viral Proteins and

Proteins Related to Encephalomyelitis and Neuritis, " Science, Vol. 29, July 19,

1985, pp. 282-284

158 Shaywitz, S., and Bennet, A., " Diagnosis and Management of Attention Deficit

Disorder: A Pediatric Perspective, " Pediatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 31,

No. 2, April, 1984, pp. 428-457

See also:

Shaywitz, S., and Bennet, A., American Psychiatric Association (Journal), 1987,

pp. 44-47

Cowart, V., " Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Physicians Helping

Parents Pay More Heed, " Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 259,

May 13, 1988, pp. 2647-2652

159 Buttram, H., " Live Virus Vaccines and Genetic Mutation, " p. 44

160 Coulter, H., Vaccination, Social Violence and Criminality, Washington, DC,

1990, (entire work)

161 McGuire, R., " Brain Auto-Antibodies in 33% of Schizophrenics, " Medical

Tribune, July 14, 1988, p. 6

162 Morozov, P., editor, " Research on the Viral Hypothesis of Mental Disorders, "

in Advances in Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 12, published by Karger, S., New

York, 1983, pp. 52-75

See also:

Crow, T., " Is Schizophrenia an Infectious Disease?, " Lancet, 1:8317, 1972, pp.

173-175

Halonen, P., et al, " Antibody Levels to HSV-1, Measles, and Rubella Virus in

Psychiatric Patients, " British Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 125, 1974, pp.

461-465

163 Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immunization Against Disease, " pp.

47 and 48

164 " Immunization Public Health Protector?, " p. 8

165 Mendelsohn, R., " The Medical Time Bomb of Immunization Against Disease, " p.

48

166 Storsaeter, J., et al, " Mortality and Morbidity from Invasive Bacterial

Infections During a Clinical Trial of Acellular Pertussis Vaccines in Sweden, "

Pediatrics Infectious Disease Journal, Vol. 78, 1988, pp. 637-645

167 Buttram, H.E., and Hoffman, J.C., " Bringing Vaccines Into Perspective, "

Mothering, Vol. 34, Winter Edition,1985, p. 42

168 Buttram, H.E., and Hoffman, J.C., Vaccinations and Immune Malfunction, pp.

5-18, article in ref 167

See also:

" Vaccinations and lmmune Malfunction, " Mothering, Vol.28, Summer Edition, 1983,

pp.31 and32

169- lbid (article ref.), p. 32

170 Craighead, J.E., " Report of a Workshop: Disease Accentuation After

Immununization with Inactivated Microbial Vaccines, " at the National Institutes

of Health, Bethesda land, in Journal of Infectious Diseases, (University of

Chicago), Vol. 131, No. 6, June, 1975, pp. 749-754

See also:

Nader, P., et al, " Severe Illness (Atypical Exanthem) Following Exposure to

Natural Measles: 11 Cases in Children Previously Inoculated with Killed

Vaccine. " American Pediatrics Society Abstracts, 1967, p. 13

Kim, H., et at, " Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease in Infants Despite Prior

Administration of Antigenic Inactivated Vaccine, " Progress in Medical Virology,

Vol. 13, 1971, pp. 239-270

171 Zimmerman, B., and Stone, A., " Allergic Reactions Associated with Viral

Vaccines, " Progress in Medical Virology, Vol. 82, No. 5, October, 1987, pp.

225-232

172 Buttram, H.E., and Hofftnan, J.C., Vaccinations and Immune Malfunction, p.

46

173 Coulter, H.L., and Fisher, B.L., DPT, p. 407

174 Buttram, H.E., and Hoffman, J.C., Vaccinations and Immune Malfunction, p. 47

175 Epidemiological Data Presented in Canadian Parliamentary Debates, Ottawa,

Canada, June 14, 1978

176 Obomsawin, R., " Traditional Lifestyles and Freedom from the Dark Seas of

Disease, " Community Development Journal--An International Forum, Oxford

University Press, Vol. 18, No. 2, Oxford, England, April, 1983

177 Prior, I., " The Price of Civilization, " Nutrition Today, Vol. 6, No. 4,

July-August, 197 1, pp. 3 and 11

178 Illich, I., Limits to Medicine--Medical Nemesis? The Expropriation of

Health, Penguin Books, Middlesex, England, 1977

See also:

, R., Medicine Out of Control, (see ref 59 for complete information)

Mendelsohn, R.S., Confessions of a Medical Heretic, Warner Books--Warner

Communications Company, New York, NY, USA, 1979

Corea, G., The Hidden Malpractice--How American Medicine Mistreats Women, Jove

Publications, New York, NY, USA, 1978 Edition

Tushnet, L., The Medicine Men--The Myth of Ouality Medical Care In America

Today, Warner Books Inc., New York, NY, USA, 1969 Edition

Inglis, B., The Case for Unorthodox Medicine, G.P. Putnam's Sons and Berkley

Publishing Corp., New York, NY, USA, 1969 Edition

179 Illich, I., Tools for Conviviality, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Toronto,

Ontario, Canada, 1963, p. 7

180 Gandhi, Mahatma, The Health Guide, published by Shri Anand T. Hingorani,

Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad, India, 1965, pp. 5- 1 0

181 Kahn, K.S., et al, " A Health Care Paradox, " World Health, Published by the

World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, May, 1989

182 Sharpston, M.J., " Health and the Human Environment, " in Health, Food and

Nutrition in Third World Development, Ghosh, PK. editor, prepared under the

auspices of the Center for International Development, University of land,

and the World Academy of Development and ation, Washington, DC,

International Development Resource Book No. 6, Greenword Press, a division of

Congressional Information Service Inc., Westport, Conn. USA, 1984, pp. 85 and 80

183 McKeown, T., " The Road to Health, " World Health Forum, Published by the

World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, Vol. 10, 1989, pp. 410 and 411

184 Helberg, H., " An Evolving Process, " World Health Forum, published by the

World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, January-February, 1988

185 Standard, K.L., " Infections and Malnutrition--Child Mortality, " in

Epdemiology and Community Health in Warm Climate Countries, Cruickshank, R., et

al, editors, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, UK, 1976, pp. 45-48

186 Etherington, A., Assessment of the CIDA Health Sector Integrated Paper, p. 1

187 Chetelat, L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation in Primary Health

Care, p. 2

189 Ibid, p. 3

189 Sharing Our Future--Canadian International Development Assistance, Canadian

International Development Agency, Hull, Canada, 1987, P. 37

190 " Proceedings of the Meeting on Selective Primary Health Care, " November

29-30, 1985. Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium, 1985

191 , S., Clean Culture--The New Soil Science, Health Research, Mokelunme

Hill, California, USA reprint of 1918 Edition, p. 6

192 Wrench, G.T., The Wheel of Health--The Sources of Long Life and Health Among

the Hunza, Shocken Books, New York, 1972 reprint of 1938 Edition, pp. 91 and 107

193 Shelton, H.M., " Basis of Resistance, " Hygienic Review, Vol. 37, No. 9, San

, Texas, USA, May, 1977, p. 194

194 , Sir A., " The Role of Insects and Fungi in Agriculture, " The Empire

Cotton Growing Review, Vol. XIII

195 Mueller, S., " A Horticulturist Speaks Out on Health, " Health Science,

April-May Issue, 1980, p. 28

196 Bernard, R.W., Super Foods From Super Soil, Health Research, Mokelunme Hill,

California, 1956, p. 13

197 Moodie, R.L., " Paleopathology: An Introduction to the Study of Ancient

Evidences of Disease, " and Moodie, " The Antiquity of Disease, " quoted by

Hubbard, R.A., in Historical Perspectives of Health, undated private

publication, Professional Health Media Services, Loma , California

198 Wrench, G.T., The Wheel of Health, pp. 117-118

199 Shelton, H.M., " Basis of Resistance, " p. 194

200 , Clean Culture, p. 21

201 lbid (whole text.)

202 , A., From Soil to Psyche, Woodbridge Press Publishing

Company, Santa Barbara, California, USA, 1977, pp. 193 and 194

203 Kjolhede, C., and Gadomski, A., " Ten Best Readings in . . . Vitamin A, "

Health Policy and Planning: 5 (1):, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England,

1990, p. 88

204 Clausen, S., " The Pharmacology and Therapeutics of Vitamin A, " Journal of

the American Medical Association, Vol. 111, 1938, pp. 144-154

205 Sommer, A., et al, " Increased Mortality in Children with Mild Vitamin A

Deficiency, " Lancet, No. 2, 1983, pp. 585-588

206 Sonuner, A., et at, " Increased Risk of Respiratory Disease and Diarrhoea in

Children with Pre-Existing Mild Vitamin A Deficiency, " American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 40, 1984, pp. 1090-1095

207 Sommer, A., et al, " Impact of Vitamin A Supplementation on Childhood

Mortality: A Randomized Controlled Community Trial, " Lancet, Vol. I, 1986, pp.

1169-1173

208 Kjolhede, C., and Gadomski, A., " Ten Best Readings in ... Vitamin A, " p. 88

209 Mamdani, M., and Ross, D., " Vitamin A Supplementation and Child Survival:

Magic Bullet or False Hope?, " Health Policy and Planning: 4 (4), Oxford

University Press, Oxford, England, 1989, pp. 273 and 274

210 West, K., and Sommer, A., " Delivery of Oral Doses of Vitamin A to prevent

Vitamin A Deficiency and Nutritional Blindness: A State-of-the-Art Review, " UN

Administrative Committee on Coordination--Sub-Committee on Nutrition

State-of-the-Art series, Nutrition Policy Discussion Paper #2, Food Policy and

Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, 1987

211 Eastman, S., " Vitamin A Deficiency and Xerophthalmia: Recent Findings and

Programming Implications, " Assignment Children, UNICEF, NY, 1987

212 Mamdani, M., and Ross, D., " Vitamin A Supplementation and Child Survival:

Magic Bullet or False Hope?, " p. 287

213 lbid, pp. 274, 289 and 290

214 Dettman, G., and Kalokerinos, K., " The Spark of Life, " Health and Healing:

Journal of Alternative Medicine, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1981 (This article was

originally accepted by the Royal Australian College of Practicioners, but not

published because--according to a letter prepared by the Chairman of its

Editorial Advisory Panel-- " an article giving a contrary opinion . . . was not

obtainable. " )

215 Stone, I., The Healing Factor--Vitamin C Against Disease, Grosser and Dunlop

Publishers, (produced in cooperation with Whitehall, Hadlyme and , Inc.),

New York, NY, USA, 1974 Edition, pp. 70-89 and 202-212

216 Jungeblut, C., " Inactivation of Poliomyelitis Virus In Vitro by Crystalline

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), " (Department of Bacteriology, College of Physicians

and Surgeons, Columbia University), Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 62,

1935, pp. 517-521

217 Holden, M., and Molley, E., " Further Experiments on Inactivation of Herpes

Virus by Vitamin C (1 -ascorbic acid), " Journal of Immunology, Vol. 33, 1937,

pp. 251-257

218 Langenbusch, W., and Enderling, A., " Einfluss der Vitaniine auf das Virus

der Maulund Klavenseuch, " Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie, Vol. 140, 1937, pp. 1

12-115

219 Amato, G., " Azione dell'acido ascorbico sul virus fisso della rabia e sulta

tossina tetanica, " Giomale di Bafteriologia, Virologia et Immunologia, Vol. 19,

1937, pp. 843-849

220 Jungeblut, C., " Inactivation of Poliomyelitis Virus in Vitro by Ascorbic

Acid, " Experimental Medicine, Vol. 62, p. 203

221 Jungeblut, C., " Further Observations on Vitamin C Therapy in Experimental

Poliomyelitis, " (Department of Bacteriology, College of Physicians and Surgeons,

Columbia University), Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 65, 1937, pp.

127-146

See also:

Ibid, Vol. 66, 1937, pp. 459-477

Ibid, Vol. 70, 1939, pp. 315-332

222 Klenner, F., " Observations On the Dose and Administration of Ascorbic Acid

When Employed Beyond the Range of A Vitamin In Human Pathology, " The Journal of

Applied Nutrition, (official publication of the International College of the

International College of Applied Nutrition), La Habra, California, USA, Vol.

223, No. 3 and 4, Winter, 1971, pp. 60-89

See also:

References 221--223

223 lbid, pp. 64 and 65

224 Klenner, F., " The Treatment of Poliomyelitis and Other Virus Diseases with

Vitamin C, " Southern Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 111, 1949, pp. 209-214

225 lbid

226 Klenner, F., " The Use of Vitamin C as an Antibiotic, " Journal of Applied

Nutrition, Los Angeles, California, USA, Vol. 6, 1953, pp. 274-278

See also:

Klenner, F., " Massive Doses of Vitamin C and the Virus Diseases, " Southern

Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 113, 1951, pp. 101--107

227 Faulkner, J., and , F., Vitamin C and Infection, ls of Internal

Medicine, Vol. 10, 1937, pp. 1867-1873

See also:

Perla, D., and Marmorsten, " Role of Vitamin C in Resistance, " Archives of

Pathology, Vol. 23, pp. 543-575, and pp. 683-712

228 Gupta, G., and Guha, B., " The Effect of Vitamin C and Certain Other

Substances on the Growth of Microorganisms, ls of Biochemistry and

Experimental Medicine, Vol. 1, 1941, pp. 14-26

229 Sirsi, M., " Antimicrobial Action of Vitamin C on M. Tuberculosis and Some

Other Pathogenic Organisms, " Indian Journal of Medical Sciences, Vol. 6, Bombay,

India, pp. 661 and 662

230 Jungeblut, C., and Zwemer, R., " Inactivation of Diphtheria Toxin in Vivo and

in Vitro by Crystalline Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Proceedings of the Society of

Experimental Biology and Medicine, Vol. 32, 1935, pp. 1229-1234

231 Jungeblut, C., " Inactivation of Tetanus Toxin by Crystalline Vitamin C

(1-ascorbic acid), " (Department of Bacteriology, College of Physicians and

Surgeons, Columbia University), Journal of Immunology, Vol. 33, No. 3, 1937, pp.

203-214

232 Kodama, T., and Kojima, T., " Studies of the Staphylococcal Toxin, Toxoid and

Antitoxin, Effect of Ascorbic Acid on Staphylococal Lysins and Organisms, "

Kitasato Archives of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 16, 1939, pp. 36-55

233 Takahashi, Z., Nagoya, Journal of Medical Science, Vol. 12, 1938, p. 50

234 , P., et at, in Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol. 54, 1946, p

233

235 Charpy, J., " Ascorbic Acid in Very Large Doses Alone or With Vitamin D2 in

Tuberculosis, " Bulletin de I'Academie Nationale de Medecine, Vol. 132, Paris,

1948, pp. 421-423

236 Hochwald, A., " Observations on the Effect of Ascorbic Acid on Croupous

Pneumonia, Wien Archiv fur Innere Medizin, Vol. 29,1936, pp. 353-374

237 Onnerod, M., and Unkauf, B., " Ascorbic Acid Treatment of Whooping Cough, "

Canadian Medical Association Journal, No. 37, 1937, p. 134

See also:

Onnerod, M., et al, " A Further Report on the Ascorbic Acid Treatment of Whooping

Cough, " Canadian Medical Association Journal, No. 37, 1937, p. 268

238 DeWit, J., " Treatment of Whooping Cough with Vitamin C, " Kindergeneeskunde,

Vol. 17, 1949, pp. 367-374

239 LEPROSY:

Gatti and Goana, " Ascorbic Acid in the Treatment of Leprosy, " Archiv Schiffe-und

Tropenhygiene, Vol. 43,1939, pp.32

Ferreira, D., " Vitamin C in Leprosy, " Publicacoes Medicas, Vol. 20, 1950, pp.

25-28

TYPHOID FEVER:

Szirmai, F., " Value of Vitamin C in Treatment of Acute Infectious Diseases, "

Deutshes Archive fur KlinischeMedizin, Vol. 85,1940, pp. 434-443

Drummond, J., " Recent Advances in the Treatment of Enteric Fever, " Clinical

Proceedings, Vol. 2, South Aftica, 1943, pp. 65-93

DYSENTARY:

Veselovskaia, T., Effective of Vitamin C on the Clinical Course of Dysentery,

Voenno-Meditsinskii Zhumal, Vol. 3, Moscow, 1957, pp. 32-37

Sokolova, V., " Application of Vitamin C in Treatment of Dysentery, "

Terapevticheskii Arkhiv, Vol. 30, Moscow, 1958, pp. 59-64

Other readings on Vitamin C and bacterial infections:

Kuribayashi, K., et al, " Effect of Vitamin C on Bacterial Toxins, " Japanese

Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 18,1963, pp. 136-142

Sweany, H., et al, " The Body Economy of Vitamin C in Health and Disease, "

Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 116, 1941, pp. 469-474

Dujardin, J., " Use of High Doses of Vitamin C in Infections, " Presse Medical,

Vol. 55, 1947, p. 72

240 Cottingham, E., and Mills, C., " Influence of Temperature and Vitamin

Deficiency Upon Phagocyfic Functions, " Journal of Immunology, Vol. 47, 1943, pp.

493-502

241 DeChatelet, L., et al, " Ascorbic Acid: Possible Role in Phagocytosis, " paper

presented at the 62nd Meeting of the American Society of Biological Chemists,

San Francisco, USA, June 18, 1971

242 Cathcart, R., " Clinical Trial of Vitamin C, " Medical Tribune, June 25, 1975

See also:

Cathcart, R., " Vitamin C, Titrating to Bowel Tolerance, Anascorbemia, and Acute

Induced Scurvy, " Medical Hypothesis, Vol. 7, 1981, pp. 1359-1376

243 ing, L., How to Live Longer and Feel Better, Avon Books of the Hearst

Corporation, New York, 1986, pp. 177 and 178

244 McCormick, W., " Vitamin C in the Prophylaxis and Therapy of Infectious

Diseases, " Archives of Pediatrics, Vol. 68, No. 1, January, 1951, pp. 3 and 7

245 Simon, H., " Exercise and Infection, " The Physician and Sports Medicine, Vol.

15, 1987, pp. 135-141

246 White, K., " Interferon: The Promise . . . and Reality, " Medical Tribune,

Vol. 19, October 16, 1978, p. 31

247 Sauberlich, H., " Implications of Nutritional Status in Human Biochemistry,

Physiology and Health, " Clinical Biochemistry, Vol. 17, April, 1984

See also:

Chandra, R., " Nutritional Regulation of Immunity and Infection, " Journal of

Ped., Gastroentorology. and Nutrition, Vol. 5, pp. 844-852

248 Barons, et al, " Dietary Fat and Natural Killer-Cell Activity, " American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 50, 1989, pp. 861-867

249 Coffnan, L., " Effects of Specific Nutrients on the Immune Response, "

Medicine and Clinicians--North American, Vol. 69, July, 1985, p. 5

250 Brown, R., et al, in Brain Behaviour and Immunity, Vol. 3,1989, pp. 320-330

251 Wiess, J., et al, " Behavioural and Neural Influences on Cellular Immune

Responses: Effects of Stress and Interleukin-1, " Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,

Vol. 50, Supplement 5, 1989, pp. 43-53

See also:

Girard, D., et al, " Psychosocial Events and Subsequent Illness--A Review, "

Western Journal of Medicine, Vol. 142, March, 1985, pp. 358-363

252 Belyayev, I., et al, " Combined use of Ultraviolet Radiation to Control Acute

Respiratory Disease, " Vestn Akad Med Nauk SSSR, Vol. 3, 1975, p. 37

See also:

Zabaluyeva, A., et at, " The Mechanism of Adaptogenic Effect of Ultraviolet, "

Vestn Akad Med Nauk SSSR, Vol. 3, 1975, p. 23

Frick, G., " Effect of UV on Blood Picture, " Folia Haemat, Vol. 101, 1974, p. 871

Rylova, S., " Effect of Short Wave Ultraviolet Rays on the Phagocytic Activity of

Leucocytes in Patients Suffering from Rheumatoid Polyarthritis, " Vop Kurort

Fizioter, Vol. 32, 1967, p. 344

, J., and Sturm, E., " The Lymphocytes in Natural and Induced Resistance to

Transplanted Cancer, " Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 29, 1919, pp. 25-35

253 Maughan, G., and Smiley, D., " The Effect of General Irradiation with

Ultraviolet Upon the Frequency of Colds, " Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol.

2, 1928, p. 69

254 Zabaluyeva, A., " General Inununological Reactivity of the Organism in

Prophylactic Ultraviolet Irradiation of Children in Northern Regions, " Vestn

Akad Med Nauk SSSR, Vol. 3, 1975, p. 23

255 Miley, G., " The Knott Technic of Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation in Acute

Pyogenic Infections, " New York Journal of Medicine, Vol. 42, 1942, p. 38

See also:

Hollaender, A., and Oliphant, J., " The Inactivating Effect of Monochromatic

Ultraviolet Radiation on Influenza Virus, " Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 48,

1944, p. 447

Downes, A., and Blunt, T., " Researches on the Effect of Light Upon Bacteria and

Other Organisms, " Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 26, 1877,

p. 488

256 Kime, Z., Sunlight Could Save Your Life, World Health Publications, Penryn,

California, USA, 1980, p. 315

257 MacGregor, R., " Alcohol and Immune Defense, " Journal of the American Medical

Association, Vol. 256, No. 11, September 19, 1986

258 Aldo-Benson, M., et al, Abstract No. 7966, Federation of American Sciences

for Experimental Biology, May, 1988

259 Bagasra, O., Abstract No. 3111, Federation of American Sciences for

Experimental Biology, Reproduced from a May, 1988, presentation

260 Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 154, 1986

261 Kime, Z., Sunlight Could Save Your Life, Author's Preface

ANNEX l

PROBLEMS WITH DEVELOPING WORLD MEDICALIZATION

AND THE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE ALTERNATIVE

By: Obomsawin

The medicalization of large parts of the Third World . . . has occurred in the

context of the destruction of whole systems of traditional philosophies in the

name of science and health. Present patterns of dependence are a product of this

.. . . evolution. The addictive nature of the new pill culture may as one of its

unwanted consequences have played a role in creating and sustaining poverty in

the Third World. The price of foreign products is often out of proportion to the

purchasing power of the poor, who thus may squander a large part of their income

in the pursuit of what may be illusory hopes of benefit.. . . Pharmaceuticals

are an inappropriate solution to many major health problems and . . . their

consumption often does not meet the health needs of people.

Goran Sterky, Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden.

THE DISTURBING DILEMMA OF DEVELOPING WORLD MEDICALIZATION

Some leading international health officials, such as Bannerman of the

World Health Organization, have legitimately raised the concern that " orthodox "

and " conventional " health care services--as devised for and administered to

Developing World populations--remain culturally alienating and " economically

unobtainable. " He also maintains that, whether in the Developed or Developing

Worlds, the disparity between the actual benefits and the high costs of Western

medicine continues to be an issue of major socioeconomic and political concern.

As part of this picture, it is noted that in the Developing World, roughly one

third of all health care costs are devoted to " the drug bill alone, " with

relatively poor countries importing such drugs against payments in scarce hard

currency.1

Medawar, Director of a London-based research unit, Social Audit Ltd.,

has conducted extensive international research on the issue of medicalization

practices in the Developing World. He has documented the following disturbing

conclusions in an article on the need for the strengthening of international

regulation in pharmaceutical practice:2

The major proportion of pharmaceuticals on the world market are " unessential

and/or undesirable products "

there are well documented cases of the ongoing marketing of pharmaceuticals to

the Developing World that are known to be inherently unsafe and dangerous

excessive prescribing constitutes a major cause of " adverse reactions, " with

" chronic and serious under-reporting " of adverse reactions being the norm

(Estimates of the extent of under-reporting of adverse reactions in the United

Kingdom, " which has one of the most sophisticated post-marketing surveillance

systems in the world' through the mechanism of the UK Committee on Safety of

Medicines, range from 90 to 99 percent.)

information from tests and trials on drugs typically ranges from inadequate to

appalling (in most clinical trials, the sample sizes are too small and the

length of treatment too short to substantiate the claims made on the strength of

them)

most prescribing information is partial, unreliable and incomplete, with the

benefits routinely " emphasized and over-emphasized, " while the disadvantages and

potential dangers are routinely played down or ignored

in most countries (especially in the Developing World), the right to redress of

damaged patients or clients is extremely limited, or does not exist at all

as a rule, decisions about medicines are almost totally dominated by

professional and commercial interests, and are usually carried out in secret,

with public accountability for the medical system and its practitioners severely

restricted

Internationally, the pharmaceutical industry devotes about 1 percent of its

research and development expenditures on " poor world " diseases, despite the fact

that no " good drug treatments " exist for over half of the diseases specific to

the poor countries.

Medawar also provides evidence which suggests that the World Health

Organization's (WH0) intimate cooperation and " contractual relations with many

pharmaceutical companies, " inter alia, cripples its capacity to effectively

represent and support the most fundamental health needs of the Developing World

through developing a system of care in which the most prevalent and serious

health needs are met. Multisectoral measures which are safe, effective, simple,

and uncostly hold the answer to attaining sustainable and long term health

improvement. Indeed, without due leadership in this direction he contends that

" Health for All by the year 2000 must appear a sham. "

Even where the WHO has been able to advocate a more rational public sector

approach to medical practice in the Developing World, as in its 1981 Action

Program on Essential Drugs and Vaccines, the fact remains that in most

Developing World countries there is readily available in the private sector from

10 to 20 times as many pharmaceutical products as the 250 which are recommended

in the Organization's Action Program.

According to Sterky " . . . in some Third World countries, up to 75 percent of

the drugs moving in the market may be outside the control of health ministries. "

This active trade in up to 4,000 drug products is largely monopolized by

powerful transnational corporations. In fact, it is estimated that 90 percent of

the world's production of commercially marketed pharmaceuticals originates in

the industrialized countries, with this percentage growing.3

INDIA--AN ALARMING CASE IN POINT

Trisha Greenhalgh's seminal survey of 2,400 individual patients under treatment

in the public and private medical sectors of India is illustrative of conditions

which are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout much of the Developing

World.4 It will thus be reported on in some detail.

Her research confirmed that drugs which have a high incidence of side effects or

a " significant risk of fatal idiosyncrasy " are being sold over the counter and

prescribed by doctors for trivial complaints. Chloramphenicol, barbiturates,

anabolic steroids and high dosage oestrogen preparations " are used freely, often

from bizarre indications and in unsuitable dose regimens. "

She refers to one national study which estimates that India is experiencing

between five to ten thousand deaths annually, from chloramphenicol-induced

aplastic anaemia alone. High dose estrogen-progesterone (EP) although containing

warnings of teratogenicity (potential to cause birth defects) remain the

cheapest and most widely employed pregnancy test in the country.

Furthermore, medical drugs which have been banned in Western countries due to

their dangers are actively prescribed, dispensed and marketed. A few cases

include: phenylbutazone, which has been associated with more deaths in Britain

than any other drug; and clioquinol which is officially accepted as a " safe

drug, " in apparent ignorance of the major scandal in which literally tens of

thousands of people were left crippled from the drug, with its manufacturer,

Ciba Geigy conceding full blame.

Greenhalgh further reports that the pharmaceutical industry argues that " these

drugs have not been shown to be hazardous to the Asian population, " and that it

awaits the results of post-marketing surveillance before withdrawing them. In

her words " this is less a cry for objectivity, than a justification for

exploiting the sorry state of medical audit. " Indeed, case records are rarely

kept by doctors engaged in private practice, and polypharmacy remains rife, so

most adverse drug reactions remain inevitably undetected. Even if they were

detected, there exists no system for the reporting of suspected reactions, and

there is no official procedure or mechanism for alerting doctors of suspected

adverse reactions in new drugs.

This situation is further compounded by the fact that to all appearances with

the exception of teaching hospitals, postgraduate education in clinical

pharmacology remains the " unchallenged province of representatives from the

pharmaceutical industry. "

Simple solutions appear to be ignored. For example, 30 percent of all child

deaths in the nation are due to diarrhoea, yet in over 90 percent of such cases

oral rehydration is ignored by practicing medical doctors. In the population,

millions are known to have a Vitamin A deficiency, with as many as 30 thousand

children being blinded each year. This occurs despite the fact that " a fresh

mango provides many weeks supply of Vitamin A for a child and costs much less

than a bottle of vitamin syrup. "

To conclude this summary of Greenhalgh's findings, I would share her following

observation.

.. . . one cannot ignore the long term effects [and the ethical implications] of

encouraging a poorly educated population to develop blind faith in the

infallibility of modern medicine, and the magical properties ofprescribed pills

.. . . . people who are too poor to buy rice are being led to believe that they

need a cough mixture for every cough, an antibiotic for every sore throat, and a

tranquiliser to solve the problems of everyday life.

A COMPELLING VOICE OF PROTEST

Mira Shiva, Coordinator of the Voluntary Health Association of India, drawing

upon her practical experience as a medical doctor in her home country, protests

that low cost, self reliant, and indigenous " health care alternatives " have been

unduly marginalized with the rapid growth of the medical-industrial complex.

Indeed, while clinics and drug dispensing units,, nursing homes, drug marketing

outlets, and diagnostic labs have literally mushroomed throughout the nation, at

rapidly escalating costs, there has been " no significant and substantial change

in the health status of the people. "

She further contends that:

Simple health care solutions, for example changes in diet, simple massages, home

remedies and herbal medicines, which are as relevant today as in the past . . .

have been gradually excluded from the health care scene, because of an assumed

superiority of modern drugs for all kinds of health problems. This assumed

" scientificity " has not been demonstrated by comparing the existing and new

pharmaceuticals with alternative therapies in terms of efficacy, side effects,

drug interaction, costs, acceptability, and availability.

Shiva also puts forward the view that the worldwide indigenous traditions

encompassed a superior holistic concept of health and disease, in which the use

of medicines served to complement and not displace more fundamental and broadly

based nutritional and environmental provisions. She concludes by stating that:

.. . . the concept of the universalization of the pharmaceutical medical solution

.. . . irrespective of the nutritional and health status of patients [and or

recipients] in deprived areas, is irrational. . . . It also indicates an

unhealthy First World bias on the part of drug exporters, transferors of

technology and propounders of myths.5

THE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE ALTERNATIVE

The human experimentation with and exploration of plant medicines has evolved

over the millennia to what is a current usage of some 20,000 plant species,

which remarkably--according to scientists on and , of the School

of Pharmacy on London-- " form the major sources of medicine for the population of

the majority of the World.6

Nonetheless--as the preceding sections portray--initially in the First World and

now universally, there has been an aggressively pursued and increasingly

actualized goal to displace this traditional knowledge and practice system, with

commercially marketed Western pharmaceuticals. Commercially subsidized and

influenced university-based medical curricula have fimctioned to shift the focus

and faith of medical practitioners--and in turn those they practice upon--from

plant medicines, towards what is considered a modernized pharmacopoeia. This

public faith receives continual reinforcement through the medium of public media

advertising. (It should be noted that approximately 75% of modem commercial

pharmaceuticals are strictly synthetic chemical substances,7 that without

exception, bear toxic and thus harmful side effects.)

It is widely acknowledged that synthetic agents can be far more easily patented

and thus profited from. This, inter alia, has led Pharmacological researchers

such as de Smet (Royal Dutch Association for the Advancement of Pharmacy, the

Hague, Netherlands) and Rivier, (Institute of Legal Medicine--The University of

Lausanne, Switzerland) to suggest that the predominant view that traditional

plant medicines are of marginal value " could well be an economic verdict, rather

than a well balanced scientific judgment. " They go on to " deplore the commonly

held belief that the study of traditional agents is nothing but an evaluation of

outdated exotic, which cannot be relevant for Western Medicine.8 Their view is

backed by Labadie, who has conducted extensive research on traditional plant

medicine at the State University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He confirms that

although it " in general represents a still poorly explored field of research, "

there is nonetheless a compelling basis for recognizing " the international

relevancy of research and development in the field of traditional drugs. . . .9

This relevancy that Labadie speaks of, has in part arisen from the growing

recognition of the practical limitations, high costs, and iatrogenic features

incidental to allopathic (conventional) medicine, with such awareness being the

most prevalent in the First World, where it has been the most widely practiced.

Consequently, there has arisen in very recent decades--from the lay to

professional levels--a significant counter-movement towards according " natural, "

(variously termed e.g., nature based, lifestyle, and holistic) approaches to

health care more prominent recognition and employment.

An important part of this increasingly worldwide trend has been the prominent

re-emergence of an integrated science termed ethno-pharrnacology. Although it

central focus is on traditional pharmacognosy (medicines derived from natural

sources), it is necessarily interdisciplinary in scope encompassing the

functional co-relationship and integration of scientific data in the areas of

cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, history, botany, toxicology,

botany, chemical physics, and biochemistry. Furthermore, it entails both the

preventive and therapeutic dimensions of medicine.10

University of Messina pharmaco-biologist de Pasquale in conducting a

detailed historical review of plant derived medicine, which she has coined " The

Oldest Modern Science, " came to the conclusion that

The re-examination of nature in the search for new therapeutic means has

obtained remarkable results. The study of ancient official drugs, which had

fallen into disuse . . . has brought about a re-discovery of therapeutic means

used for millennia . . . . [ethnopharmacology], this millenarian precursor of

medical sciences, is still alive and vital and it has its own place in the

future of man. It possesses all the premises to enable it to give a substantial

contribution to a more efficacious and rational research of medicaments. . . .11

(Eugene Linden's September 23, 1991 article in Time " Lost Tribes Lost

Knowledge, " cites M. Balick's (Director of the New York Institute of Economic

Botany) observation that only 1,100 of the earth's 265,000 species of plants

have been thoroughly studied by Western scientists, but as many as 40,000 may

have medicinal or undiscovered nutritional value for humans. He concludes with

the recommendation that traditional " healers . . . can help scientists greatly

focus their search for plants with useful properties. " )

Anne Mcllory's article " Medical secrets of the forest " in the February 18, 1991

issue of The Toronto Star speaks of the renewed interest of a limited number of

Western scientists in the " enormous " potential of traditional plant medicines.

Such interest has of course taken on much greater urgency as the forests, and

the elders who've retained this knowledge appear to face impending extinction.

One noteworthy example where this renewed interest has richly paid off is found

in the rosy periwinkle, which now ftimishes an extract providing Western

medicine with an 80 percent recovery level for the once fatal condition of

childhood leukaemia.

In going back to the 1978 Alma Ata Conference on Primary Health Care, we find

pragmatic approval given--at a political level--to the recommendation that

essential drugs and biologicals be locally produced and distributed " at the

lowest feasible cost. " In concert with this recommendation, the Conference

recognized the need to curb the growing over-dependency on medical drugs. It was

further affirmed that " proved traditional remedies be incorporated in primary

health care, including the establishment of effective " supply systems. " 12 In the

Words of Medawar, " The importance of local medical need is recognized in the

AlmaAta recommendation on drugs, partly in the provisions on local manufacture

and use of indigenous remedies. " 13

From within the WHO, Bannerman has since gone on to play a vital role in

encouraging a renewed reliance upon " well known and tested herbal medicines in

primary health care. " He refers to a growing interest on the part of Developing

World governmental and research institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

with respect to the possibilities of further developing and re-utilizing their

own medicinal plant resources. He forcibly argues that:

.. . . medicinal plants are generally locally available and relatively cheap, and

there is every virtue in exploiting such local and traditional remedies when

they have been tested and proven to be non-toxic, safe, inexpensive and

culturally acceptable to the community. . . . There are many records of

traditional therapies employing herbal medicines that are said to be effective

against common ailments and usually without any side-effects. . . The

cultivation of medicinal plants and herbs can also be linked with the production

of vegetables and fruit with high nutritive value that should be of particular

benefit to mothers and children.

(While conducting an evaluation mission in Northeast Thailand, the writer, in

the company of UNICEF Officer Dr. Supote Prasertsri, visited the Reanunakorn

District Health Centre to examine its experimental traditional plant medicine

program. Program Director Pradit Tongyus--who also directs the Centre's health,

mental health, nutrition and sanitation services--explained why he was inspired

to establish the program. His own son developed a serious urinary infection

which failed to respond to regular antibiotic treatments throughout 10 days of

hospitalization. Upon turning to a known local plant medicine, virtually all

symptoms of infection subsided within a 10 hour period. He went on to describe

various local plant medicines which had proven to be non-toxic and highly

efficacious in the remediation of a wide range of conditions such as: burns;

herpes simplex; snake and scorpion bites, kidney stones, ulcers, and high blood

pressure. Indeed, such reputable attestations exist worldwide, and only await

honest inquiry and further clinical testing.)

As well, Bannerman recommends that community health workers be afforded with a

working knowledge of the therapeutic value of local medicinal plants, including

their identification, cultivation, collection, preparation, and therapeutic

application. He maintains that provisions for such training and practice

represent a fundamental strategy to the strengthening local and community

self-reliance in health care.14

One of the key arguments of those who would oppose this is view, is that before

such medicines can be employed there must be extensive and detailed testing of

each specific plant medicine, extraction and refinement of the active

ingredients, followed by official recognition and approval. However, there are

some basic reasons why this conventional drug development methodology is not

only impracticable, but as well unnecessary.

A significant number of plant medicines have been used successfully for

centuries, and in some cases millennia. Where there has been a long and

established history of efficacy, no apparent adverse side effects, and social

acceptance, the only common sense response is to fully permit and encourage

continued usage. Researchers such as de Smet and Rivier forcefully maintain that

the endorsement of and reliance upon traditional plant medicines in the

Developing World, cannot and should not be made conditional upon the full

assemblage and weighing of " chemical, pharmacological, clinical and

toxicological evidence, " as such requirements " would be untenable in the

developing countries . . . where Western alternatives for traditional therapies

may be unavailable, unpayable or socially unacceptable. "

Consequently, the most practical course recommended--as a means of attaining

more " immediate health care improvement " --is to conduct simple assays on a

series of traditional plant medicines, rather than undertake costly and detailed

chemical, clinical and toxicological studies of each and every particular

medicine.15 As an added and important point, internationally such " simple

assays " --as well as some very sophisticated pharmacological and clinical

studies--already exist on a number of traditional plant medicines, with the

former primarily found in the bio-etbnographic, and the latter in the

bio-science literature.

CRITICAL CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS

As a fitting synthesis of the issues and concerns as raised in this paper, we

can turn to the outstanding work of the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation in Uppsala,

Sweden. The Foundation convened a landmark international seminar in 1985 on the

issue of attaining Another Development in Pharmaceuticals. The following salient

observations are derived from the " Summary Conclusions " of the Foundation's

report on the seminar, which had both public and private sector representation

from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

The pharmaceutical industry has evolved and been sustained, in part, by

encouraging the vision of human health problems as being solvable only by

technological means. A contrived international " pill-popping culture " may be in

the short-term economic interests of the industry, however it effectually

undermines the vital long term interest of attaining " indigenous, " and

" self-reliant " health development.

There has been too great a tendency to dismiss traditional medicine as

unscientific and superstitious, while accepting unquestioningly all that is new.

This is true despite the fact that traditional forms of medicine at times " yield

better results " than those which can be obtained by the use of " modem

pharmaceuticals. "

Perhaps more important than the actual nature of traditional remedies, was the

holistic perception of the nature of illness and the healing process. This view

often led to the use of therapies which enhanced the healing process through

treating the whole being, rather than the specialized " targeting " of specific

symptoms.

Medical policies and practices must be " ecologically sound, " viz. avoiding the

" unnecessary pollution of patients bodies with toxic chemicals. " The

pharmaceuticals market should be replaced by programs and therapies for better

health. The crisis will be solved only by a fundamental change both in the

training of health workers, and in the thinking of a community which has " been

seduced into believing that every ill can be solved by a little pill. "

Both the mystique of professional monopolies of expertise and transnational

corporation monopolies of technology, which in concert deny development to the

South, " must be shattered. " Medicine should be " endogenous, " that is primarily

derived from the cultural, human and material resources available to each

society.16

It is the view of the writer, that to ignore these conclusions and oppose these

recommendations will be but to help insure the continuation of oppression,

poverty, and disease throughout the Developing World. Furthermore, it will serve

to deny both the developed and developing nations with the enormous opportunity

of properly assessing and accessing a vastly untapped reservoir of vital

experiential knowledge, insights, and plant medicines which may tragically

perish with the older generation of increasingly marginalized and threatened

indigenous " nature based " societies.

REFERENCES

1 Bannerman, R., " The Role of Traditional Medicine in Primary Health Care, " in

Traditional Medicine and Health Care Coverage--A reader for health

administrators and practitioners, 1983, edited by Bannerman, R., Burton, J., and

Wen-Chieh C., The World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, p. 319

2 Medawar, C., " International Regulation of the Supply and Use ofP

harmaceuticals, " in Development Dialogue, Vol. 25, 1985, The Dag Hammarskjold

Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden, p. 16-34

3 Sterky, Goran, " Another Development in Pharmaceuticals: An Introduction, " in

Development Dialogue, Vol. 2, 1985, The Dag Hanunarskjold Foundation, Uppsala,

Sweden, pp. 5 and 6

4 Greenhalgh, T., " Drug Prescription and Self-Medication In India: An

Exploratory Survey, " in Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 25, No. 3, 1987,

Pergamon Journals Ltd., Great Britain, pp. 307-316

5 Shiva, M., " Towards a Healthy Use of Pharmaceuticals--An Indian Perspective, "

in Development Dialogue, Vol. 25, 1985, The Dag Hammarskjold Foundation,

Uppsala, Sweden, pp. 69-72

6 on, J. , and , L., " Etlmopharinocology and Western

Medicine, " in Journal of harmocolo Vol. 25, 1989, Elsevier Scientific Publishers

Ireland Ltd., pp. 61 and 65

7 lbid, p. 71

8 de Smet, P., and Rivier, L., " A General Outlook on Ethnopharmocology, " in

Journal of Ethnopharmocology, Vol. 25, 1989, Elsevier Scientific Publishers

Ireland Ltd., pp. 130 and 131

9 Labadic, R., " Problems and Possibilities in the Use of Traditional Drugs, "

plenary lecture presented at the Second International Congress on Traditional

Asian Medicine, September, 1984, Surabay, Indonesia

10 de Smet, P., and Rivier, L., " A General Outlook on Ethnopharacology, " p. 127,

and see, de Pasquale, A. " Pharmacognosy: The Oldest Modern Science, " in Journal

of Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 11, 1984, Elsevier Scientific Publishers Ireland

Ltd., p. 13

11 de Pasquale, " Pharmacognosy, " pp. 13 and 16

12 Primary Health Care, Report of the International Conference on Primary Health

Care Jointly Organized by the WHO and UNICEF, at Alma-Ata, USSR, September 6-12,

1978, published by the WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, 1978

13 Medawar, " International Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, " p. 19

14 Bannerman, " The Role of Traditional Medicine, " p. 326

15 de Smet, P., and Rivier, L., " A General Outlook on Ethnopharmacology. " pp.

135 and 136

16 Dag Hanimarskkiold Seminar on Another Development in Pharmaceuticals, June

3-6, 1985, " Summary Conclusions, " in Develoment Dialogue, Vol. 2, 1985, The Dage

Hanunarskjold Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden, pp. 130-143

See also:

Akerele, O., (The World Health Organization), " The Best of Both Worlds: Bringing

Traditional Medicine Up-To-Date, " Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 24, No. 2,

1987, pp. 177-181

van der Geest, S., (University of Amsterdam), " Pharmaceuticals in the Third

World: The Local Perspective, " in Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 25, No. 3,

1987, pp. 373-376

" Kyerematen, G., and Ogunlana, E., (University of Uppsala Biomedical Centre),

" An Integrated Approach to the Pharmacological Evaluation of Traditional Materia

Medica, " Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 20, 1987, pp. 191-207

Huizer, G., " Indigenous Healers and Western Dominance: Challenge for Social

Scientists?, " Social Compass, XXXIV/4, 1987, pp. 415-436

Quah, S., Editor, The Triumph of Practicality--Tradition and Modernity in Health

Care Utilization in Selected Asian Countries, Social Issues in Southeast Asia

Programme, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1989

, C., Editor, Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study, University of

California Press, Berkely, California, USA, 1977

Ademuwagun, Z., et at, Editors, (representing the universities of Ibadan,

Tennessee, and Iowa State), African Therapeutic Systems, (African Studies

Association, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass., USA, Crossroads Press, 1979

ANNEX II:

AGROCHEMICAL AGRICULTURE THE NEED FOR A SANER ALTERNATIVE

By: Obomsawin

THE DILEMMA OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZATION

The worldwide use of commercial chemical fertilizers and pesticides has

increased by factors of 9 and 32 respectively, during the recent 35 year

period.1 For an appreciation of the impact of this on soil and plant nutrition

we should consider the observation of Chesworth:

Geochemically, farming is a kind of rape, with annual harvests removing plant

nutrients one or two orders of magnitude faster than . . . (natural processes)

can replace them. . . . The inherent fertility of soil, a renewable resource, is

largely ignored in modern mechanized agriculture in favour of chemical

fertilizers largely mined from non-renewable deposits. A saner attitude once

should be re examined as a possible basis for future strategies.2

A highly significant practical concern is the increasingly high costs associated

with agrochemical fertilizers, coupled to their incapacity to provide a range of

essential micro nutrients to the soil.

Since the energy crises of the seventies, the cost of artificial fertilizer has

increased at least three fold, and most tropical countries are faced by severe

restrictions in foreign currency. The second drawback is that commercial

fertilizers are invariably incomplete. They look after N, P and K, but most of

the minor nutrients are left out . . . With this form of agriculture becoming

increasingly beyond the means of the Developing World, alternatives are needed.

3

A further critical question that is rarely given due consideration is the

popularly promulgated belief that synthetically developed chemicals bear no

difference from those which naturally occur in the biosphere. In response to

this view, eminently successful horticulturist D. contends that such a

view overlooks the highly vital " life force " factor. In his words " A synthetic

chemical can appear to represent a natural one only to the extent that a waxen

image is a dummy of its living model. " 4

PESTICIDE POISONS

Throughout the Developing World, it is estimated that close to a million people

are annually poisoned by pesticides, of which 40,000 die. It is also well worth

noting in comparison with the Developed World, " the incidence of pesticide

poisoning is 13 times higher in the Third World. " To give but one example, in

Sri Lanka where there was not a single death from malaria in 1978, in that same

year it is estimated that there were 1,000 deaths from pesticide poisoning.5

Not only is there an accelerated use of pesticides as pests adapt to and resist

these poisons, but the pesticide manufacturers make them ever more deadly. This

all seems very strange, when we consider that extensive research conducted by

Cornell University Entomologist, Pimentel (editor of the Handbook of Pest

Management in Agriculture, CRC Press, 1981) and others, confirms that data

covering the last four decades indicate a direct cause and effect relationship

between pesticide dependency--along with other large scale agribusiness

techniques and highly significant increases in crop losses due to pest damage.

" The share of crop yields lost to insects has nearly doubled (7% to 13%) during

the last 40 years, despite a more than 10-fold increase in the amount and

toxicity of synthetic insecticide used. " As if this wasn't damning enough, it

has also been found that " often less than 0. 1 % " of pesticide applications

actually reach the targeted pest(s).6

BIOLOGICALLY SOUND ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES

To give only one example in the developing world of the potential for local

alternatives to toxic pesticides, while visiting Thailand's Reanunakom District

Health Centre's Traditional Herbal Medicine Program (Nakhon Phanom Province), I

found that there has been successful development of and early field trials for

non-toxic plant source alternatives to chemical pesticides. The biological

product shown, had as its base a locally growable variety of lemon grass.

In my discussion with the Program Coordinator P. Tongyus, it became evident that

there remains a considerable potential for villages to raise the basic

ingredients as a means of replacing their present dependence on commercial

chemical pest control products. Furthermore, there remains potential for large

scale industrial production of such non-toxic herbal pest control products, if

interest could be further generated, investments made, and appropriate marketing

channels established.

THE PROMISE OF CLEAN ORGANICULTURE METHODS

It is also of compelling interest that little acknowledged, albeit superior

agricultural methods such as the " clean culture " system (see pp. ??? in main

text) developed by Sampson bear great promise not merely for preventing

disease and human degeneration, but for alleviating the crippling effects of

starvation in the underdeveloped regions of earth.

At the time of 's experiments the average potato yield for the world,

stood at about 6 tons per acre, that of wheat 15 bushels. In the words of

, I broke all records for potatoes . . . digging fine samples at the rate

of 65 tons an acre, a success never achieved by any other experimenter. " As for

wheat, he was able to produce up to 100 bushels per acre. He correctly perceived

that the bankruptcy of the soil means the impoverishment of the people; both in

quality and quantity of food provided. In his words " 'ne colossal loss of

foodstuffs through the present system is criminal. " His products included the

largest apple that had ever been recorded at 34-1/2 oz and nearly I-1/2 ft in

circumference. Additionally " clean culture " methods produced plants far more

impervious to adverse weather conditions, including frost. The shelf life of

produce was also greatly extended.7

A further major benefit of clean culture--of great significance to more and

regions--is the fact that porous rock based " mulches " are generally highly

potent in reducing evaporation of water from the soil. In fact, evidence

suggests that such mulches actually serve to extract " moisture from humid

atmospheres. " 8

A RECENT INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE IN CLEAN ORGANICULTURE

With support from Canada's International Development Research Centre, the

University of Guelph (Ontario) Department of Land Resources Science--in

cooperation with various Tanzanian universities in the late 80's undertook an

historic applied research initiative on the potential of locally accessible rock

dust (what the University has coined as agro-geology) applications to restore

what has become largely infertile and acid soils in the Mbeya, Morogoro and

Mbozi regions of Tanzania.

At its outset, Somoka of Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania

realistically projected that through rock dust fertilization:

vital micronutrients will be replaced

reductions in dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers will be achieved

farmers can anticipate -potential increases of 50% to 70% in crop yields.

(This particular project's level of success, and potential for replication was

assessed upon its completion in 1991.)9

REFERENCES

1 MacNeill, et al, CIDA and Sustainable Development, The Institute for Research

on Public Policy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1989

2 Chesworth, W., " Late Cenozoic Geology and the Second Oldest Profession, "

Department of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada,

published in Geoscience Canada, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1981, pp. 54-56

3 Chesworth, W., et al, " Agricultural Alchemy: Stones Into Bread, " Episodes,

Vol. 1983, No. 1, p. 3

4 , A., From Soil to Psyche, Woodbridge Press Publishing Company,

Santa Barbara, California, USA, 1977, p. 195

·5 Chetelat, L.J., A Synthesis of Key Issues for Evaluation in Eaanded Programs

of Immunization, prepared for CIDA Policy Branch, Evaluation Division, Hull,

Canada, January, 1990, p. 36

6 Pimental, D., personal communication, May 8, 1990; Pimental, D., et at,

Environmental and Economic Impacts of Reduciniz US Agricultural Pesticide Use,

draft text, Cornell University Department of Entomology, October, 1989, p. 4;

and Pimental, D., and Levitan, L., Pesticides: " Amounts Applied and Amounts

Reaching Pests, " Bioscience, American Institute of Biological Science,

Washington, DC, Vol. 36, No. 2, February, 1986, p. 86

7 , S., Clean Culture--The New Soil Science, Health Research, Mokelumne

Hill, California, reprint of 1918 Edition, whole text

8 Chesworth, Agricultural Alchemy, p. 5

9 Toomy, G., " Agrogeology--Rocks in the Service of Soil " --The IDRC Reports,

Ottawa, Canada, July, 1986, pp. 12-13

[Vaccination]