SchaferAutismReport: More Parents Send Children To School Without Vaccinations

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From: sarnets-bounces@... On Behalf Of schaferSent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 2:44 PMTo: Schafer Autism Report Subject: More Parents Send Children To School Without Vaccinations

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Reader Supported Vol. 12 No. 104p

In This Issue:

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PUBLIC HEALTHMore Parents Send Children To School Without VaccinationsChildren, Coal Don't Mix, China Study Shows Psychiatric Group Faces Scrutiny Over Drug Industry Ties

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RESEARCHDoctors Eye Vitamin D Link To Autism

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PEOPLEOmaha Police Find Missing 7-Year-Old Autistic BoyWoman Gets Nearly 11 Years For NY Adoption FraudFamily Ordered To Leave Restaurant Because Of Crying ChildLifesaving Labradoodle Guides Autistic TeenRunning Across Canada for Autism Awareness

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FINANCEPennsylvania Governor Signs Autism Insurance Coverage Bill

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ADVOCACYNetworking Groups In TexasCOMMENTARYReal Autism

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the Autism Calendartm hereHundreds of Local Autism EventsPUBLIC HEALTHMore Parents Send Children To School Without Vaccinations Team 5 Investigates Obtains New Report Showing Rise In Religious Exemptionstinyurl.com/6d6nld Boston - Countless medical studies and the federal government say it clearly: There is NO connection between childhood vaccinations and autism. But Team 5 Investigates learned that once again, the number of Massachusetts parents choosing not to vaccinate their children is up. In the pediatrics office at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, every parent of young children has heard about the vaccine debate. "You just want to do what you think is best for your children," said mother Amy Luoto. For a small but growing number of parents, that means avoiding immunization. Team 5 Investigates learned that while the number of medical exemptions has declined, the number of parents who claim vaccines violate their religious beliefs more than doubled in the past decade --- from 221 in 1997 to more than 500 last year, even as the total number of kindergartners has actually declined. Dr. Cohen, a pediatrician at Newton-Wellesley, called on the state to investigate the rise in religious exemptions that Team 5 first uncovered last year. "If the trend line for people using excuses like religious exemption continue to go up, that number of unimmunized children will get to a point where we will see diseases that we thought we'd never see again," he said. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health points out that the state has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country and that overall, the number of waivers is still quite low. There are Web sites that instruct parents on how to obtain waivers. And pediatricians like Dr. Janet Levatin support a parent's right to avoid vaccines they consider dangerous or unnecessary, even though the state specifically prohibits exemptions for philosophical reasons. "A parent could hold a religious view that giving medicine on an elective basis that they feel might harm their child, and their religious views include non-harming of their child and perhaps other brings as well," Levatin said. "They could say ethically and religiously say that vaccination conflicts with their religious views." Team 5 Investigates obtained public records that show last year 16 kindergartners in Brookline started school without vaccines. The same is true for 20 in Cambridge, 26 in Lowell and 44 in Worcester. "It's all philosophical exemptions that are going on," Cohen said. "In point of fact, there is no religion that says you shouldn't immunize your children. So it's a bad misnomer to say that these are religious exemptions. They're really not." Levatin admits most of her patients are not members of a religion that prohibits vaccines. "The vaccination law in Massachusetts is a non-sectarian clause," she said. "You don't have to be a member of any particular religion and you don't actually have to state what your religion is to school or other authorities, according to the law."For rest of today's SAR click here:www.sarnet.org/frm/forsar.htm Today's SAR is provided through the support of paid subscription readers. - THANK YOU -

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Copyright Notice: The above items are copyright protected. They are for our readers' personal education or research purposes only and provided at their request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used commercially without consent from the copyright holders. To find the copyright holders, follow the referenced website link provided at the beginning of each item.

Lenny Schafer editor@... The Schafer Autism Report is a non-profit corporation

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