As much as I dislike the government in general and government interference in particular, I have to agree with Jon. We do need to keep an eye on the pharmaceutical companies. However, lets not throw the baby out with the bath water. My g-g grandmother lost all three of her children in one week in a diphtheria epidemic. She had other children, but it was something that she never recovered from emotionally as you can imagine. Lee et si omnes ego non
In a message dated 5/31/2008 2:32:51 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I've managed to hold back so far on joining this thread, but it's becoming pretty clear that some people simply don't understand how vaccination works or the role it has played in changing the incidence of infectious disease in this country over the last hundred years. Chris Eshleman asks: > Is my deciding to not be vaccinated going to affect someone who > has? The answer is: YES, IT WILL. The elimination of epidemics requires that VIRTUALLY EVERYONE in a given population be vaccinated. If you don't get nearly 100 percent coverage, then the control of infectious disease DOESN'T WORK. The elimination of the diseases that once accounted for the vast majority of deaths in this country wasn't the result of some plot by "big pharma" -- it was a concerted effort by every state in the union that succeeded through UNIVERSAL and MANDATORY programs of inoculation and treatment. One of the saddest developments in this country over the last few years is the reappearance of diseases once effectively eradicated due directly to the refusal of people ignorant of epidemiology to conform to the public health standards that once made us the most disease-free population on earth. We're talking here about major scourges like polio and whooping cough. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this development is that the mechanism requiring 100 percent coverage of a given population in order to eliminate disease epidemics has been established for over a century. There is nothing even remotely controversial about this. To believe at this point that vaccination against these killers is a matter of personal choice is like believing that the earth is flat. Given the drift of this thread, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone come back and insist that it's his right to believe that the earth is flat. But such a belief wouldn't threaten me personally, whereas the equally ignorant belief that epidemics can be prevented through personal choice does threaten me personally. If you want to turn back to a nineteenth-century view of the universe, that's your business. But turning back to a nineteenth-century level of infectious disease is everyone's business. I abhor the intrusion of government into our personal lives as much as anyone, but I have to say that running into someone who genuinely believes that diseases like diphtheria and tetanus can be controlled by "diet and lifestyle" makes me oddly grateful that it's there. Jon _______________________________________________ fingerlakespermaculture@lists.mutualaid.org listserv RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information: http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/fingerlakespermaculture Support the list host by donating to: http://www.mutualaid.org **************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)
_______________________________________________ fingerlakespermaculture@lists.mutualaid.org listserv RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information: http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/fingerlakespermaculture Support the list host by donating to: http://www.mutualaid.org
