Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/635319
U pon fi rst discovery in 1796, vaccines were hailed as a game changer in the fi ght against disease, but in the past 30 years at least, there has been considerable controversy regarding the belief that some vaccines may be linked to other serious diseases and conditions. In the 1960s, the Sabin live polio vaccine replaced the inacti- vated Salk vaccine, until some healthy people began contracting polio from the vaccine; use of the live Sabin vaccine was com- pletely suspended in the U.S. in 2000. In the 1980s, the DPT vaccine (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus), particularly pertussis, was alleged to have caused irreversible brain and neurological damage in some healthy children; the vaccine was replaced in 1996 with one that is ostensibly safer. The MMR vaccine (measles-mumps-rubella) has been a source of ongoing dispute for decades with allegations of links to Au- tism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and more recently, the HPV (hu- man papillomavirus) vaccine has come under fi re. In addition to the vaccines themselves, there have been con- cerns about thimerasol, the preservative used in large batch vac- cines. Many vaccines have been reformulated without thimera- sol, in single-batch vials. Sparked by an outbreak of measles in California in Decem- ber 2014, State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) introduced a vaccine mandate bill, SB277, to California legislators, which was quickly approved by members of the Senate and Assembly. This wasn't the fi rst vaccine-related bill for Sen. Pan; he had in- troduced AB2109 in 2012, which mandated that a parent could receive a personal belief exemption only by a meeting with, and signature from a physician and/or surgeon, nurse practitioner or physician assistant. SB277, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 30, 2015, mandates that all school-aged children receive 30–31 vaccinations by the time they are age 6, and a total of 37-38 by the time they are age 18. If not, they will not be permitted to attend public or private school, in- cluding preschool. Andrew Wakefi eld, a clinical re- searcher from the U.K. now of- ten described as "one of the leaders of the antivax move- ment," is more accurately a leader of the "safe vaccine movement." He advocates against such "cocktail" vaccines as MMR and DPT. It's been 20 years since Wakefi eld, then M.D., fi rst noticed problems in children vaccinated with MMR (measles-mumps-ru- bella). A report he wrote in The Lancet regarding a link between autism and gastrointestinal disease was initially lauded but later retracted by the journal, and ultimately Wakefi eld was barred from practicing medicine in his native country. Now a resident of Texas, Wakefi eld is director of the Autism Media Channel. What fi rst alerted him to a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, or autism and gastrointestinal disease, was a pattern he said he observed in autistic children of a bowel condition, which he labeled "autistic enterocolitis." He said there were "Parental histories of marked gastrointestinal symptoms (GI) in their children with autism, which psychiatrists, pediatricians and psychologists had dismissed as [not related to autism]." His research since that time has been in uncovering whatever link might be hidden in the MMR vaccine. Research is still in progress, but there is no doubt that intesti- nal disease and associated intestinal abnormalities are common in children with autism. The Autism Research Institute notes: "Gastrointestinal disor- ders and associated symptoms are commonly reported in indi- viduals with ASDs, however, it can be diffi cult to recognize and characterize gastrointestinal dysfunction due to the communi- cation diffi culties experienced by many affected individuals." A 2006 study noted that 70 percent of children in the study with ASDs had GI Issues, compared to 42 percent of the children with developmental disorders other than ASD, and just 28 percent of children with typical development—a signifi cant difference. Food allergies are also common in this population—30 percent of autistic children vs 5–8 percent of neurotypical children. Whether or not your child is autistic cannot be defi nitively de- termined by GI problems, but this would certainly be a red fl ag. Most parents are not fully educated to make vaccination decisions for their children, even though they can signifi cantly affect the quality of their lives. Get more information at the Vaccine Panel at the Conscious Life Expo, 2/19–22. And as always, do your own research. Your child will live with your decisions for a lifetime. city of angels By Daniel Hall THE VACCINE CONTROVERSY Not all agree with the new California mandates 14 wholelifetimes.com