Dr. Peter Lipson, an internal medicine physician in Southfield, MI wrote a commentary on my latest blog about mandatory vaccinations and summer camp. I am reprinting Dr. Lipson’s comments in italics, my original blog post in regular font, and my comments to Dr. Lipson in bold.
No Vaccination, No Camp. Finally. – Forbes by Peter Lipson
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlipson/2016/01/02/no-vaccination-no-camp-finally/
Dr. David Brownstein is a family doctor whose “goal is to inform the world about the power of holistic health solutions,” whatever that might mean. Yesterday he posted a dangerous and poorly-informed piece on his website. First a bit of cultural background.
Dr. Brownstein practices in the heart of Michigan’s Jewish community. Among American Jews, summer camping has been an important part of childhood for nearly a century. In the early part of the 20th century, it was felt that city children would benefit greatly from exposure to nature. Jews were not allowed to attend most camps and started their own. The tradition has remained strong.
I spend a week every summer helping to keep an eye on the kids at one such camp. During the flu epidemic of 2008–09, I watched as dozens of kids came down with a new flu strain, one for which a shot had not yet been developed. It was a frightening lesson in what can happen in unvaccinated populations. Thankfully, the strain wasn’t deadly in this population. Among the hardest hit were pregnant women.
Still, it did put a damper on the summer for many kids. Last winter, another in which we had a flu strain not well-covered by the vaccine, I lost nearly half-a-dozen patients. All were elderly, and really didn’t stand much of a chance. But if the people around them had been immune they might have lived through the winter never knowing what might have happened.
Dr. Lipson must be poorly informed here as there has not been a single flu vaccine—and the flu vaccine has been around for over 70 years–that has been shown to work for the elderly. In the best of the flu studies (which are hard to find), the efficacy for younger people is around 7-10%. That means the vaccine fails nearly all the elderly and fails around 90% of younger subjects. Dr. Lipson might want to review the research on the flu vaccine for the elderly. A 2005 study of a 33-season national data set found the “…national influenza mortality rate among seniors increased in the 1980s and 1990s as the senior vaccination coverage quadrupled.” (Arch. Int. Med. 2005;165:265-272). A 2012 systemic review found the original recommendation to vaccinate the elderly was made without data for vaccine efficacy or effectiveness. (Lancet Infect. Dis. 2012;12:36-44). Nothing much has changed since then. And, injecting the elderly with mercury? Nonsense. More about that later.
My daughter, who attends the same camp as I did, has had every shot, always on schedule. Thankfully so have her friends. I’d be very hesitant to let her play with kids who weren’t vaccinated, both because of the small but real risk she could catch something, and because I would not want her to give an illness to someone else.
One of our largest summer camps here reportedly sent out a letter this week informing the community that all staff and campers must be fully immunized to attend camp next summer. This is great news for our kids.
But Dr. Brownstein doesn’t think so. His blog lists the usual arguments against requiring vaccination, all of which are, to be blunt, total bullshit. It’s not even good bullshit, but bullshit that has long been known to be, well, bullshit.
That is unprofessional and uncalled for. We can argue the science if you would like. We should talk to each other like professionals.
For those of you who want the detail, read on. If you don’t, feel free to skip to the final paragraph for a summary. So let’s go through Brownstein’s arguments point-by-point:
You might assume that Tamarack Camps, which has been around for over 100 years, must have had an outbreak of a communicable disease. However, if that is true, I missed it. In fact, I would be interested in any data from Tamarack Camps of any outbreak of a communicable disease in its’ 100-year history.
I call this the “seat belt” argument. I’ve never been in a serious crash, but studies clearly show that if I were, wearing a seat belt could make the difference between life and death. The same is true for vaccination. While we may not see a lot of tetanus in this country, we still need to protect ourselves. Tetanus is a particularly hideous death, and we see so little precisely because of our vaccination efforts.
As far as I know, tetanus is not a communicable disease. Therefore, I am not sure why Dr. Lipson is arguing this point. How much tetanus do we see? According to the CDC, from 2001-2008, there were 233 cases of tetanus out of 322 million people. The annual incidence is 0.1 per 1,000,000 population. During this time period, among 92 subjects, out of the 233 reported cases where the vaccination status was available, 60% were vaccinated. In other words, the majority who got tetanus were vaccinated. Do we need to give routine tetanus shots to 322 million people to prevent about 30 cases of tetanus per year? Will that work? Those are questions that need to be answered. Moreover, the Td vaccine (Tetanus vaccine in multi dose vials) still contains mercury. Dr. Lipson is fine injecting mercury into people, but I am not.
Perhaps Camp Tamarack is unaware that over $3 billion has been awarded by the Federal Government to children and adults injured by vaccines. Maybe Camp Tamarack can assure all who will have to be fully vaccinated to attend camp that it is safe to inject numerous doses of neurotoxins like mercury, aluminum and formaldehyde into any living being. As far as I am aware, there are zero — ZERO — safety studies on injecting a neurotoxin into a living being. I would like to see where Jewish law says it is safe to inject a neurotoxin into a baby or any living being.
This is completely wrong in every conceivable way. First, the “$3 billion” thing: vaccines are not very profitable, and people who listen to Brownstein might be tempted to sue a drug company after getting a vaccine and having something bad happen. Serious vaccination reactions are vanishingly rare, but in order to protect the public and to protect the companies that make vaccines, the government has set up a “vaccine court”. While you may sue a drug company for causing injury through a poorly manufactured vaccine, you cannot sue them simply because you think you had a reaction. This court liberally awards money to people who feel they have been injured by a vaccine. The level of evidence needed is minimal. It is meant as a safety net both for those who are truly injured and for those who think they are, even if they might not be able to prove it in a normal court.
Vaccines are not very profitable? GIVE ME A BREAK! I don’t think I need to comment any further about that. I am amazed that Dr. Lipson even brought that up. In fact, the World Health Organization has estimated that the U.S. vaccine market is projected to rise to $100 billion dollars by 2025. (http://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/procurement/market/world_vaccine_market_trends.pdf)
Basically, Dr. Lipson says to trust Big Pharma without question. Since when does Big Pharma deserve our trust? What is wrong with questioning Big Pharma’s reasons for demanding no liability for their vaccines?
Serious vaccination reactions are rare. That is correct. However, the vaccine court has never “liberally” awarded funds. That is a fact. I have spoken to patients who have gone through the vaccine court. The vaccine court is a miserable experience for those who suffer vaccine injuries.
The “toxin” gambit uses scary words out of their scientific context. Aluminum is used in some vaccines in order to help create a stronger immune reaction. This allows us to use less of the actual antigens derived from the germ. It is not present in amounts that cause harm. Formaldehyde is sometimes present in tiny amounts left over from the preservation process. Your own body manufactures more formaldehyde in a day during its normal chemical processes than you would get from a lifetime of vaccines. The tiny amount that might be left in your shots is trivial for your body to deal with.
Oy vey! A neurotoxin, is a neurotoxin, is a neurotoxin. Injectable aluminum is a neurotoxin. That is a fact. If Dr. Lipson would simply search Pub Med for aluminum and neurotoxicity he could find 393 papers.
Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. Formaldehyde is not produced in the human body. As with injecting anything, there is 100% absorption of formaldehyde via injection. There are reports of inflammatory diseases developing after injection of formaldehyde in vaccines. (Cutan. Med Surg. 2015 Sep-Oct;19(5):504-6)
Formaldehyde is a direct acting genotoxic compound that affects multiple gene expression pathways including those involved in DNA synthesis and repair.
There have been no safety studies finding that is safe to inject formaldehyde into a living being (at least none that I am aware of).
Mercury is not present in most vaccines. It is present in a few in the form of thimerosal, a preservative that keeps vaccinations from becoming contaminated. Thimerosal in vaccines has been found in study after study to be harmless. No “neurotoxins” are injected into our children as part of the vaccination process. That is either a lie or profound ignorance of biology. Tetanus, on the other hand, produces a potent neurotoxin that kills people in a uniquely painful way.
Mercury is still present in vaccines. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances known to mankind. There are ZERO studies showing that it is safe to inject mercury into a living being. Injectable mercury has not been found to be harmless. Dr. Lipson, please present the safety studies with injectable thimerosal.
Animal studies have shown that injectable mercury easily crosses the blood brain barrier in both the animal and the fetus. Further studies looking at the cells form the brains of mice injected with Thimerosal indicate that Thimerosal causes cell damage and death. (Appl. Microbiol. 1967;15:590-3. Toxicology. 2004;Jan 15;195(1): 77-84)
In 1982, the FDA proposed to ban Thimerosal from over-the-counter topical drug products because it was found to be deadly to human cells in vitro. (U.S. Mercury in medicine report. Congressional Record. May 21, 2003;1011-1030). Perhaps it is too toxic for topical use, but ok for injectable use? Common sense should answer this question.
Thimerosal has also been found to be associated with cellular toxicity in studies of both human nerve and skin cells. (Toxicol. Sci. 2003. Aut;74(2):361-8). This study found Thimerosal induced DNA breaks, membrane damage and cell death in doses the most American children received before it was removed from many childhood vaccines.
And, I have a question for Dr. Lipson: Would you expose any living being to a known neurotoxin if there were safer alternatives? Common sense should also answer this question, though I am not sure of his answer. This reminds me of a famous quote: “Common sense is not so common.” Voltaire.
Maybe Camp Tamarack should take notice that there is a whistle blower at the CDC — a senior scientist who authored research papers on childhood vaccinations — who has stated that the CDC has hidden and altered data that confirmed a link with the MMR vaccine to autism. Or, perhaps they could provide an explanation of why another whistleblower scientist who worked at Merck (who manufactures the MMR vaccine) has filed a federal lawsuit saying the mumps data used to justify the MMR vaccine was falsified by Merck.
This bears repeating: There is no link between MMR vaccines and autism. None. The “link” was from a fraudulent paper published in a British medical journal by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. The paper has been retracted and his license has been revoked due to his fraud.
I did not write about Dr. Wakefield’s paper. I wrote about the senior scientist at the CDC, who co-authored a 2004 paper that found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Ten years later, the same scientist came forward and said he and his colleagues altered the data to report no link when such a link did, in fact, exist. Furthermore, he made claims that his superiors ordered him to throw out incriminating data. Get your facts straight, Dr. Lipson.
Dr. Brownstein goes on to make an argument that would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous. He argues that as vaccination rates have risen, so have childhood disabilities. Any 7th grade forensics student could tell you what the problem is here: just because two things occur at the same time does not mean one is the cause of the other.
There is nothing funny about any childhood illness or any child with a disability. An association does not equal causation. However, this association calls for more research and more debate—at least that is what I was taught in medical school.
For example, in the same time period cited by Brownstein, lead exposure in kids decreased dramatically, mostly due to the elimination of leaded gasoline. So was lead exposure protecting our kids from learning disabilities and autism? (For the definitive, ground-breaking book on the “rise” of autism, see Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes.)
No, Dr. Lipson. Lead causes problems, it does not prevent them. I am glad lead was taken out of gasoline. I would like the same done with mercury and aluminum in vaccines.
Maybe you skipped the details above and have arrived down here to the bottom of the page. Here’s the short version.
Vaccination, along with water sanitation, has saved billions of lives. Most of us are too young to remember life before vaccines, but before the fifties, being a parent was terrifying. Vaccination has been shown over and over to be safe and effective, so much so that there is nothing that unites the medical community more strongly. Failing to vaccinate your child puts them at risk, and puts others’ kids at risk.
Just because you make these statements does not make them true. Deaths due to communicable diseases were dramatically declining before mandatary vaccines were used and that includes every childhood illness that is presently being vaccinated for.
Water sanitation and better living conditions have been true public health miracles.
Many vaccines do work. They lower the incidence of illness. But, are we healthier for injecting more and more vaccines in our kids? And, should we continue to inject more and more vaccines in our population?
Dr. Lipson, you may not want to ask the appropriate questions, but I do. I have seen both the good and bad with vaccinations. We need better vaccination studies and safer vaccines. Unfortunately, due to rhetoric like yours, there is no need to do further research—just keep giving more and more vaccinations and hope that we are doing a good thing.
Summer camps are intimate environments, with kids sharing space, clothes, water bottles. I’ve seen what an outbreak of a mild disease can do. Can you imagine what would happen if, say, meningitis broke out at a camp? You don’t have to imagine it, all you have to do is read history.
So, I get accused of fear mongering, but you can make a ridiculous statement like that? If the CDC whistleblower is telling the truth, then we will all have to deal with one in forty five children suffering on the autistic spectrum from mandatory (or coerced) vaccination.
Camp Tamarack should be lauded for their policy of full vaccination. If there is a kid who for some medical reason can’t get all their vaccines, this policy will protect them from unvaccinated cabin-mates. And there is no downside to the policy.
Dr. Brownstein is wrong on the facts. That’s not my opinion. What is my opinion is that doctors like him are a threat to public health. Doctors who spread incorrect information about health and disease are endangering my child and yours. They are a threat to public health. It is my personal belief that doctors who practice so strongly against the standard of care should lose their license to practice.
To the reader: You judge who is right or wrong on the facts.
Perhaps you are right, Dr. Lipson; We should practice the standard of care without questioning or thinking. Then, we can go back to prescribing Vioxx—which caused 50,000 deaths and 100,000 heart attacks and strokes. By the way, Big Pharma Merck knew Vioxx would do this before it was released. In case you did not know, Merck is the same Big Pharma company who manufactures the MMR vaccine.
And, don’t forget the standard of care in medicine in promoting smoking. Both the AMA and most physicians promoted the use of cigarettes even though data showed their negative effects.
Perhaps we need more critical analyses of the standard of care instead of less. I teach the medical students who rotate through my office to question everything and do their own research. Only then, can they make rational medical decisions for their patients. Dr. Lipson, you might want to try that.
Finally, if, as Dr. Lipson states, all doctors who dissent from the standard-of-care should have their licenses taken away, medicine will be in a very sorry state. How will we ever improve if we don’t ask tough questions?
Let me finish with a quote from Galileo.
“Facts which at first sight seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which had hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.”
(Note: I edited my comment about formaldehyde on 1.4.16 to state that formaldehyde is not produced in the human body. Thanks to Dr. Cutler for this. DrB)
Just to comment with an average viewpoint. I have never had the flu in my entire life and have never had a shot. I continue to believe and follow in keeping my immune system in the most highest level. I do agree with Dr. Brownsein with the use of iodine to help keep the immune system in balance. I myself had a goiter in the early 2000’s and treated with iodine which repaired the problem. I work with many client who exibit troubles with their thyroid and I tell them to investigate the information that Dr. Brownstein offers. Many have done so with excellent results. I truly believe that a higher level of the immune system helps to resist the infections of most viruses including the flu. After doing my own research on what is contained in the vaccines I would never offer a recommendation to any of my clients to be innoculated. Finding that MSG is also a component of the vaccines I have realized that many people can have reactions to that and could reflect the symptoms of gut problems maybe mimmicing flu or IBS. I also cannot use MSG. Too many variables are contained in what has been forced on the people today. I feel that Dr. Brownstein is one of the few doctors who strive to inform us of the truths of what is being inflicted on us.
Humans seem fundamentally hard wired to believe in authority and need to have simple uncomplicated answers. Those that question and seek the truth are a small minority and often require “proof” before they are willing to consider alternative theories. The aspect of human nature is exploited by every level of society for profit and control. Health is not the only field where this activity is happening. Teaching our children to question and be critical thinkers as well as being aware of our fundamental need for societal belief systems is our only defense against this widespread control. Maybe natural selection is at work and only those with that can see through widespread misinformation can ultimately survive this period of human history. Time is running out for the countless children being affected by neurological illnesses and God only knows what else. Keep up the good fight dr. Brownstein.
Helen,
You are on the mark!!
Thanks,
Drb
Thank you Dr.Brownstein for keeping the general public informed on such important matter. As a parent if four children I wish I was more enlightened of the affects of vaccinations on our innocent babies. Everyone of my children were affected in some way in their physical and mental health by the attacks on their immune systems.
Anyway, my question is this: Why is there such a large debate by the population whose children who have been immunized if they truly work? Their children shouldn’t get the outbreak if they have been immunized. Am I missing something here?
Jennifer,
Welcome to Alice in Wonderland, where down is up and up is down. You are missing nothing.
DrB
No one seems to ask what happens 5, 10 , 20 years down the road , when the total Frankenstein chemical (vaccine constituents) stew starts creating the tons of chronic and immune undermining diseases that we are seeing, in younger and younger patients. It,s all happening rapidly, and we are not noticing it, because so much other horrific societal stuff is slamming our society and numbing us. I am a 60 year old nurrse……. As I have progressed through the years one rarely heard of cancer in children and for sure not every 3rd adult in the neighborhood had it. Vaccines are one more huge , but deftly hidden , metabolic insult to our body. All hard to follow through the toxic maize we traverse, each day, on this planet.
I just saw this in the news yesterday, but the actual paper was written in 2011.
ARTICLE: The Vaccine Hoax is Over. Documents from UK reveal 30 Years of Coverup
http://nsnbc.me/2013/05/10/the-vaccine-hoax-is-over-freedom-of-information-act-documents-from-uk-reveal-30-years-of-coverup/
DOCUMENT: The vaccination policy and the Code of Practice of the Joint Committee on
Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI): are they at odds?
http://nsnbc.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/BSEM-2011.pdf
I usually do not join into a discussion, whoever, I want to let you know of my personal experience with mercury. While I was a teacher I had an old filling replaced. About a week or so later I had an appointment for a physical and I had a lot of blood work done and a check for heavy metals. Before I got the results of my blood work I started not knowing the names of my students, and things were going downhill from there. I could not guess why I didn’t know my students’ names because I knew my students; very concerning, I’d look at them with a blank mind. While I was in the questioning stage of what was going on with me the results of my blood work and heavy metal tests was in and my doctor called me. He was really concerned because the mercury in my body was very high, in the danger zone. I went through the process of getting the heavy medal out of my body. After several treatments, I started remembering my students’ names and other mind empty experiences were gone also. That experience has always made me wonder about any amount of mercury in the shots of babies.
The second experience was not personally to my body but to that of my great nephew. He was progressing as he should and everything was fine until after receiving shots, MMR included, he changed. He stopped progressing and actually started going backward; then diagnosed with autism. Maybe it is the build-up of mercury on a growing little brain. Has anyone checked the mercury levels in children with autism? This experience makes me wonder if their levels of mercury are high and if they got rid of the mercury in their bodies if their abilities would improve. Just thinking.
Notice Dr Lipson’s utter hypocrisy.
The massive (tenfold according to US census data) increase in childhood disabilities along with the widespread use of vaccinations is nothing more than a coincidence but any correlation between vaccines and good outcomes are 100 per cent definitive proof of causation.
The fact is that doctors differentially diagnose *on the basis of vaccination status*. That is all you need to know to see through the entire fraud of vaccines. While I appreciate Dr Brownstein’s views the fact is that *no* vaccine has ever worked. Inasmuch as they appear to it is all just a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Consider this quote from the CDC instructing doctors on diagnosing (or not diagnosing) measles:
“To minimize the problem of false positive laboratory results, it is important to restrict case investigation and laboratory tests to patients most likely to have measles (i.e., those who meet the clinical case definition, especially if they have risk factors for measles, such as being unvaccinated,[…]”
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt07-measles.html
There are plenty more like this:
Here is the UK’s National Health Service: “Following assessment, if a diagnosis of measles is considered likely, it is essential to notify the local Health Protection Unit (HPU)” and subsequently: “Measles is very unlikely in people who have been fully immunized”, followed by “Consider a different cause if the patient is likely to have immunity” http://cks.nice.org.uk/measles#!diagnosissub
And this is for diphtheria: “Because diphtheria has occurred only rarely in the United States in recent years, many clinicians may not include diphtheria in their differential diagnoses. Clinicians are reminded to consider the diagnosis of respiratory diphtheria in patients with membranous pharyngitis and who are not up-to-date with vaccination against diphtheria.”
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt01-dip.html
Like I said. The entire so called success of every single vaccine is nothing more than a self fulfilling prophecy – a circularity. Doctor don’t diagnose polio, diphtheria, measles, etc in vaccinated patients because they simply believe that because they are vaccinated for that condition the cause must be something else.
So the diseases have been renamed.
Measles has been renamed roseola, fifth disease, etc;
Polio has been renamed Guillain Barre, transverse myelitis, coxsackie, MS, cerebral palsy, viral meningitis (we actually use more respirators today than we ever did iron lungs by the way it is just that iron lungs were too expensive and dangerous to keep using);
Diphtheria/pertussis were renamed respiratory syncytial virus, croup, strep, tonsillitis etc;
Hepatitis just runs its way through the alpabet;
Meningitis/pneumonia/sepsis blamed on Hib was renamed meningitis/pneumonia/sepsis blamed on some other bacteria;
Smallpox too was renamed monkey pox/severe chicken pox.
Many thanks to Dr. Lipson for his courage to share his thoughts on this hot-button issue. If he had not opened-up as he did how would we ever know how the rank-and-file doctor thinks? Incredible! G_d help us! Main-stream medicine seems content to “follow the leader” ignoring horrible consequences for our children-especially. Patients need to know where their doctors are “coming from” before placing their lives in hands that have been soiled by poor judgement and gross incompetence. Ask – Question – Research. Your life and health depend on it. Thanks Dr. B, as always, for your courage to champion the cause.
Whenever I read an article where the writer attacks another writers article with flaming lies and sarcasm, I’m always amused because I know for certain, somewhere in that article one of two names are going to appear: Dr. Andrew Wakefield or Jenny McCarthy. It never fails. This to me is a red flag that the individual is either a highly paid pharmaceutical operative in the form of Dorit Rubinstein Reiss or a legit MD but needs to make a little on the side so they troll for the industry. Think of Dr. David Gorski and the Science Based Medicine Blogs. IMHO, once you mention the names of Wakefield or McCarthy you are initiating an emotional attack because the public has no genuine information on the Wakefield saga created by the CDC/pharmaceutical industry/media. Whatever creditability Lipson’s story may have had and there is little to it except his name, was completely eliminated by this well know troll tactic.
“This bears repeating: There is no link between MMR vaccines and autism. None. The “link” was from a fraudulent paper published in a British medical journal by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. The paper has been retracted and his license has been revoked due to his fraud.”
Lipson would do well to read the following adjudication by the British High Court:
England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court)
Decision Between: PROFESSOR JOHN WALKER-SMITH Appellant- and – GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL- Respondent.
MR STEPHEN MILLER QC AND MS ANDREA LINDSAY-STRUGO
(instructed by EASTWOODS SOLICITORS) for the Appellant MISS JOANNA GLYNN QC AND MR CHRISTOPHER MELLOR (instructed by FIELD FISHER WATERHOUSE LLP) for the Respondent
Hearing dates: 13th. 14th, 15th, 16th & 17th February 2012.
But following the successful appeal of the paper’s senior clinical investigator – John Walker-Smith – the GMC findings that served as the basis for Lancet’s retraction have since been overturned.
-With regard to the GMC’s false claims that the patients in the paper were not “consecutively referred”: “157. …Thus construed, this paper does not bear the meaning put upon it by the [GMC] panel. The phrase “consecutively referred” means no more than that thechildren were referred successively, rather than as a single batch, to the Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology.”
-Similarly, the GMC’s rulings that the children in the Lancet paper weresubjects of a research project that did not gain ethical approval also proved unfounded:
“158. …The [GMC] panel’s finding that the description of the patient population in the Lancet paper was misleading would only have been justified if its primary finding that all of the Lancet children were referred for the purposes of research as part of Project 172-96 is sustainable. Because, for the reasons which I have given, it was not, this aspect of its findings must also
fall.”
The judge found only one misleading statement in the paper, but it was not because investigations undertaken were unethical experiments described as gaining ethical approval in the paper according to the now-overturned findings on which the paper’s retraction was based. On the contrary, it was because investigations in the paper were described as being ethically approved when most were clinically indicated and required no such approval, although a few investigations were ethically approved. This may require an erratum, but it does not justify keeping the paper fully retracted.
Read the entire adjudication at: http://www.bailii (dot) org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2012/503.html.
Interesting Lipson used Wakefield’s name as a trigger but failed to name the paper. I wonder if he even read the paper. Based on the court finding in regards to PROFESSOR JOHN WALKER-SMITH Dr. Wakefield has more than sufficient grounds to file suit to have his license reinstated but from my reading on the subject, he doesn’t not want to. He feels he can serve families and their children more on the present path he is on of a being a film maker, lecturing and informing the public about the dangers of vaccines.
The really interesting thing about the Wakefield saga, he was never anti-vaccine. He only began to delve into the lack of science behind them after the witch hunt against him began.
Lipson, if you are reading this blog: are you aware that there is no diagnostic test for tetanus? Yup, it’s right on the CDC’s website.
Thimerosal aka mercury is still in vaccines in trace amounts. It’s not just listed. Vaccines are one of the most filthiest product to be injected into a human being so in order to disinfect them and kill off as many pathogens as possible they are processed with thimerosal but it is filtered out in the final product. Thing is, it cannot all be removed.
During an investigation into the mercury issue, HAPI learned that Thimerosal, a 50% mercury compound, is still being used to produce most vaccines and that the manufacturers are simply “filtering it out” of the final product. However, according to Boyd Haley, PhD, Chemistry Department Chair, University of Kentucky, mercury binds to the antigenic protein in the vaccine and cannot be completely, 100% filtered out.-Thus trace amounts.
Nice response Dr. Brownstein. So glad to have you out there being bold and fighting for our health & the greater good.
Great response Doc. Funny all the ‘science advocates’ up selling vaccines are so unscientific with their arguments. Like the seat belt analogy we keep hearing over and over. No it’s not a good analogy. What they are trying to say is that if my child does not wear a seatbelt somehow your child is going to die in an accident.
Dr. C. and others,
These are excellent comments. However, I fear that on this blog, we are preaching to the choir. I recommend signing up to follow the Forbes’ health writers and help debunk their myths as soon as they put up a new article. That way their readers, who are sadly only getting the Big Pharma viewpoint with Forbes’ writers may at least get another take. It’s one of the only ways to influence the mainstream media.
Diehard vaxapologists like Lipton have to portray and protect their image. This distorted image is more important than facts.
For the record, the body doesn’t “produce” formaldehyde. This effective marketing ploy came from the chemical companies (after formaldehyde was labeled as a carcinogen) so hopefully the following can end this regurgitated myth.
In the old literature, N5, N10 -Methylene Tetrahydrofolic Acid was called “Active formaldehyde”. It is one of the substrates used by the enzyme MTHFR in the methylation pathway.
“The Structure of “Active Formaldehyde” (N5, N10 -Methylene Tetrahydrofolic Acid)” http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01503a043
“PRODUCTION OF ACTIVE FORMALDEHYDE IN THE MITOCHONDRIAL OXIDATION OF SARCOSINE-CDs*” http://www.jbc.org/content/222/1/145.full.pdf
When you debate vaxapologists they claim formaldehyde makes our DNA (synthesis), neurotransmitters, protein synthesis, and helps detoxify toxicants. Well, this is true if you are talking about 5-10 Methylene THF (which again) back in the 60’s was called “active formaldehyde”, but it isn’t the toxicant called formaldehyde.
Here is a classic example of a confused vaxapologist. Actually describes formaldehyde as “essential” as in we could die if we had a deficiency and describes it being produced endogenously: “Formaldehyde is a normal, essential human metabolite with a biological half-life of about 1.5 minutes (Clary and Sullivan 2001). It is endogenously produced and is involved with methylation reactions for and biosynthesis of some proteins and nucleic acids. It is also rapidly metabolised to formate and excreted in urine or to carbon dioxide and exhaled” http://justthevax.blogspot.com/search/label/formaldehyde
Here is an example from the American Chemistry Council on how they downplay formaldehyde. “it is present in low levels within our body” http://www.formaldehydefacts.org/what_is_formaldehyde
An example of how corrupt chemical companies have been trying to fight the carcinogen label: http://blogs.edf.org/health/2013/03/26/the-chemical-industry-says-formaldehyde-and-styrene-dont-cause-cancer-only-one-of-52-scientists-agree/
Ironically, from the National Cancer Institute: “Formaldehyde also occurs naturally in the environment. It is produced in small amounts by most living organisms as part of normal metabolic processes”. http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/formaldehyde/formaldehyde-fact-sheet
Even the ATSDR gets it completely wrong and these are the people that should know toxicants in and out! “Small amounts are produced naturally by plants, animals, and humans”. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=218&tid=39
That is how powerful indoctrination can be and I have to give the chemical industry major credit from making a known carcinogen into an “important” and “essential” intermediate in numerous biochemical processes. Governmental agencies are not immune in providing misinformation.
Bottom line, there is no anabolic pathway (keyword: anabolic), you can search all your life because it doesn’t exist.
What you will find is in reference to the catabolism (keyword: catabolism) of the toxicant formaldehyde. Big difference. The references (I have seen them all) are in regards to the catabolism/elimination of the toxicant formaldehyde or one of the several pathways that involves 5-10 Methylene THF. There is no production, no synthesis, and no anabolism of the toxicant formaldehyde.
So all of this leads to the question, what is the limit of formaldehyde exposure before it has a carcinogenic affect? I am not willing to roll the dice with patients. This is why we practice “do no harm” first and challenge the very archaic concept that the “dose makes the poison”.
We now know that even in “low concentrations” that formaldehyde promotes nuclear tau aggregation. This can lead to DNA damage and cell death. And we wonder why we have epidemics in certain cancers when these toxicants at minuscule levels wreck havoc on our DNA? In vaxapologist land, our body makes formaldehyde to damage its own DNA. Common sense has never been their strong suit so if they really believe formaldehyde is “essential” to the body then they should be taking it in supplement form on a daily basis.
Fun stuff! I enjoyed the article! Keep up the great work! The biggest medical fraud in history is just a house of cards and the public is waking up to this reality!
Thank you Dr. Cutler. I learned a lot from this and I stand corrected. You have given me homework to do and I will get at it!
DrB
“This is completely wrong in every conceivable way. First, the “$3 billion” thing: vaccines are not very profitable, and people who listen to Brownstein might be tempted to sue a drug company after getting a vaccine and having something bad happen. Serious vaccination reactions are vanishingly rare, but in order to protect the public and to protect the companies that make vaccines, the government has set up a “vaccine court”. While you may sue a drug company for causing injury through a poorly manufactured vaccine, you cannot sue them simply because you think you had a reaction. This court liberally awards money to people who feel they have been injured by a vaccine. The level of evidence needed is minimal. It is meant as a safety net both for those who are truly injured and for those who think they are, even if they might not be able to prove it in a normal court.” _ Dr. Lipton
Dr. Lipton does not seem to be aware that since 1986, drug companies cannot be sued for vaccine damage and have complete indemnity. There is no incentive to improve vaccines, just the incentive to bring on more and more of them. These are the same drug companies which are sued frequently for damage caused by drugs to the tune of billions of dollars. Why is the public expected to believe they are suddenly honourable when it comes to the vaccines they produce? It beggars belief.
Many many thanks to Dr. Brownstein, and the small but growing number of physicians who are willing to raise the questions that need answers.
I applaud your objective response to mainstream medicine. The only way to improve health today is to look at the individual and use all appropriate methods to change the outcome. There is too much emphasis on comformity and ‘standard of care’. We must continue to question everything and demand individualized care from our physicians. Dr Brownstein, I am a bigger fan now more than ever.
As a Biochemical Engineer, I am certain that vaccines are a scam and impose a very real danger to health and life.
I am pro-choice and have no dog in this fight. Dr Lipson is pretty typical and it’s amazing that he does zero research. Merck and every other pharmaceutical company in the world are extremely profitable. All it would take is for Dr Lipson to google Merck’s financials. Dr. Lipson is a doctor and not a scientist and he should always be learning, as should the rest of us. He looks like a little kid in this back and forth. I would leave him immediately if this was my doctor.
Bravo Dr. Brownstein! You once again show you are a REAL doctor who does scientific research. Your ability to keep your cool and stick with the facts, without name calling, shows your sophistication and intelligence.
I agree with Allen S. Hoaglund DC, who asks what this doctor is afraid of if his kids have had every immunization on the planet. They should not have anything to fear from someone who has had none. How in the world did he make it to old age without the mandatory 60 something vaccines the kids face in the first 5 or so years of their lives these days?
I think I may have gotten a half dozen doses of shots to protect against disease. I have made it to 54 and been exposed to germs every day I go to the store, or anywhere out of my environment. Oh, wait, there are germs in my home environment too. Watch a clip on germs in the kitchen and you will know they are all around you no matter how careful you are. The human body is amazing at keeping those germs at bay, when it is healthy. The fight goes on every second of every day.
Certain toxins can accumulate in our body. What about repeated doses of them?
I agree with Lauren K., who said, “A child breaks a mercury thermometer and an entire school goes on lock down and has to be decontaminated. Yet mercury is safe to inject in our bodies? Anybody with half a brain knows the answer to that.” I am no doctor, not a scientist, or a pharmacist, but I can certainly see injecting toxins in our bodies is, ummm, crazy.
To say that there is not much profit in immunizations is quite laughable! Dr. Brownstein mentioned the profits of the drug makers, but the doctors are affected when they do not prescribe enough immunizations because they are controlled by the insurance companies, who are following the CDC & FDA recommendations via Medicare mandates. When I worked at a doctors office, I was told that the insurance company took away a pretty good percentage of the practice’s reimbursement money because they did not meet the quotas set forth by the contract (Just so you understand this: That means they were to prescribe a certain amount of drug therapies – like immunizations, specific amount of tests to be done – like colonoscopies, a certain amount of programs – such as diabetes classes, etc.). The loss was across the board (I think somewhere in the 7% range) for every patient that came in after that point, for every procedure done. This smack down was because they did not meet the quotas and the percentage loss lasted the entire year, after which I was told, they could get an even higher percentage drop if they did not meet the quota again.
Please put yourself in Dr. Lipson’s position. How could you admit that making it mandatory for your children and yourself to get any and all immunizations might be dangerous? It is my hope that neither he, nor his family, do not have to face a traumatic health issue due to continued {Supposed} “non-toxic” doses of adjuvants, stabilizers, and sterilizers (Clearly listed on the CDC website) in these drugs.
Thanks again, Dr. Brownstein, for having the courage to speak out on this issue! I appreciate you sharing your research links and helping me to make an informed decision about my health!
I thought I would weigh in one more time after reading the thoughtful response by Dr. Wine. I could not agree more with her comments. After all, ad hominen attacks should be left to ‘small’ people with ‘small’ minds. To hear this from an adult, let alone a professional, is, in aword, pitiful. In Dr. Wine’s third point she addresses studies and to that end I would like to offer these into evidence.
1. In GlaxoSmithKline’s FluLaval Product Monograph as well as insert, it states: “there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with FLULAVAL.” It goes on to state: “Safety and effectiveness of FLULAVAL have not been established in pregnant women, nursing mothers or children…” It also states: “Safety and effectiveness of FLUVAL in pediatric patients have not been established.” One more: “FLULAVAL has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility.”
2. The Journal of Clinical Oncology, Voume 16, Issue 8, December 2004, pages 549 – 560 offers this little pearl. In a study entitled The Contribution of Cytotoxic Chemotherapy to 5 Year Survival in Ault Malignancies, which is based on data from randomized, controlled trials published from January 1990 to January 2004, the conclusion of the authors was “For ALL adult onset cancers, chemotherapy is 97% ineffective. That is ninty-seven percent failure. No typo.
3. According to Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 250,000 deaths per year are caused by medical errors, making this the third-largest cause of death in the U.S., following heart disease and cancer. Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr. Starfield has documented the tragedy of the traditional medical paradigm in the following statistics:
• 106,000 deaths per year (DPY) from prescriptions taken as prescribed
• 80,000 DPY from infections in hospitals
• 45,000 DPY other errors in hospitals
• 12,000 DPR unnecessary surgery
• 7,000 DPY medication errors in hospitals
As Mark Twain once reminded us, and this is something Dr. Lipson may want to pay attention to: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Thanks for commenting Mahatma.
DrB
It saddens me as a physician to hear Dr. Lipson’s response 1) Because he had to use an arrogant tone and swear words to defend his view while talking to another physician. Any person who has to use these means usually has weak laurels to stand upon. I respect your opinion but be professional, not crass and ignorant, if you are going to stand behind it. People look up to you as a physician, act like you deserve that respect. 2) I used to be one of these traditional doctors like Dr. Lipson, so mighty and arrogant and unknowledgeable in the opinions that were spoon fed to be by the CDC, FDA, and outdated residency medical training. If my information didn’t come from one of those sources then it was “quackery”! That is until my son was born severely autistic after I received a forced flu shot while I was a pregnant doctor, which then caused me to get serious pneumonia immediately afterwards. It was my son’s illness that forced the removal of the blinders that so many traditional doctors have been trained to only accept as doctrine and law. My response to this is …doctor’s use to think washing their hands before surgery was hypocrisy and quackery until it was shown that it wasn’t and millions of lives were saved by this one intervention. So why can’t we question vaccines as well, when Autism, autoimmune diseases, and a long list of uncommon disorders are on the rise and becoming common place. Why can’t we as a medical community listen to our patients who question our judgement and flawed science and take a moment to question the obvious? We have done it before with other drugs and devices… Premarin, Provera, Vioxx, etc…. In fact why is Gardasil being banned in other countries from dangerous side effects and outcomes, but we aren’t allowed to question that here in this country? Sadly until Dr. Lipson has a family member injured by the same medicine he believes in, he will continue to be the sheep like doctors we are producing in this country, afraid to take off the blinders. 3) And finally – just look at the studies. At the end of the day regardless of everyone’s opinions, you have to look at the science, the safety data, and the studies. Dr. Brownstein has presented it all. It’s ok if you don’t agree with his opinion but show a valid scientific rebuttal explanation of the data that he has presented before you attack him personally.
Aristotle once wrote that doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing. While I’m certain Aristotle was not speaking directly about Dr. Lipson, he might as well have been. For that matter, he might have been speaking about the vast majority of them. The sad truth is not that Dr. Lipson has forgotten what he was taught in medical school but that he is only parroting what he was taught. His ‘edjicashun’ for all intents and purposes ended when he left school except for the sound-bytes he continues to hear from such places as the CDC, the FDA and the AMA. While he believes he is practicing ‘evidence-based medicine’ nothing could be further from the truth. What he practices is ‘consensus medicine’. If he disagrees, he should send his next cancer patient in for IV vitamin C and IV ozone treatment rather that the standard cut, burn and poison treatments and see what transpires. Not only does Dr. Lipson have absolutely no understanding of health and wellness (after all he is only there to treat symptoms with pharmaceuticals that have on average 70 side effects, as opposed to statins, which have in excess of 300 known side effects) he also has no understanding of history. For starters he might listen to Rockefeller Medicine by James Corbett (https://www.corbettreport.com/rockefeller-medicine-video/), or read Rockefeller Medicine Men: Medicine and Capitalism in America by E. Richard Brown. From either he would hear, no doubt for the first time in his myopic life, about the Flexner Report; its purpose and the consequences. To wit, the highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.
There is one thing I have never understood. Why no one researches actual therapies for acute infections and bet the house on prevention alone? I like the vitamin c idea and the ozone idea, and even the UV light blood irradiation idea, but most doctors climb the walls a yell like angry monkeys when they hear anything along those lines. We are well into the XXI century, Why there is no “anti-viral” for viruses yet?
This reeks of politics!
Let’s talk about economics. A nostrum, a real nostrum that actually worked for most infections, a substance cheap to produce, easy to transport, would greatly reduce the medical expenses of the whole world. But that would also put many people out of business. As a rough estimation, it is possible that 300 hundred million people owe their job directly to the non-existence of a real, cheap, effective treatment for infections and long term damage caused by infections. It would be in the best interest of everyone to have such treatments developed and let these people go to work in more productive sectors of the economy.
If we could a cheap and efficient way to store solar energy, then virtually all energy generated by combustion would no longer be generated (which may be bad news for plants, by the way). In that day, most people working in areas realted to oil and gasoline motors would lose their job. Petroleum would only be used for fiber and chemicals, and someone may even find a way to efficiently create octane from plants, rendering oil extraction pointless. Leaving behind oil and vaccines and most drugs because we have better technologies would be a very good thing. It would be a very bad thing to cling to worse technologies just because of tradition, pride or personal gain. It would be criminal to pass a law forbidding a real cure for cancer just to protect the cancer treatment business.
In my opinion, any one interested in improvement and in the safety and well being of others should be more humble and more thoughtful than this Peter Lipson.
I am opposed to mandatory vaccination schedules. I frequently comment on articles on the subject and am appalled at the name calling that goes on in the pro-vaccine comments. They have no arguments to support their stance. They can only quote propaganda and when someone challenges that propaganda, they have to resort to name calling.
From Lipson’s first snide remark that he doesn’t understand what “holistic health solutions” are, I knew what was coming – more conventional pro-vaccine medical drivel from someone who can’t reason correctly.
A child breaks a mercury thermometer and an entire school goes on lock down and has to be decontaminated. Yet mercury is safe to inject in our bodies? Anybody with half a brain knows the answer to that.
Dr. Lipson, science is not always accurate. Ask the majority of people that grew up eating food that did not come in a box. And we didn’t get umpteen shots before we entered first grade. If we did get some bug it was good for our immune system. Come to think of it…How many autism cases were found in the 50s ,60s, and early 70s ? How many cases before moms had to work to help support their families. That is about the same time the food in a box became popular!
I had the chicken pox in 1st grade.. My younger brother and sister got it. The neighbors sent their kids over to play with us. We had fun. We are still alive. I had the mumps on both sides at the same time. I am still alive. Siblings didn’t get it, must have made antibodies. Sister had 3 day measles. She is alive and brother and I didn’t get the measles. Must be those darn antibodies again. When I was little we ate food that had nutrients in it. Our digestive tract could digest it. Drank cleaner water. We also played outside all the time and got germs all over us. We loved playing with bugs, lizards, salamanders and crawdads in the branch when we were little. Oh my! We are still alive! My daughter born in 77 had the chicken pox, She did not get mumps or 3 day measles. Maybe she got my antibodies! And not one of us went to the doctor for any of the above.
I got the flu shot once in my 20s and I got the flu, I haven’t gotten a shot since then and have had the flu once maybe twice in almost 40 years. Mom stopped getting colds and flus as often because of peroxide. She was in her 70s and got the flu every flu shot. Peroxide works every time if you use it as soon as you are feeling off. I will be 59 in march and rarely get anything. I live in a 6 story building with germs all over door handles and elevator buttons. I still don’t get the flu. Rarely have symtoms. People in building get sick all the time. They don’t go outside and be in the weather hot or cold, they don’t get germs on them. They eat food with ingredients they can not pronounce. Tthey drink water full of chemicals from the SEWER PLANT! They don’t exercise. Those that have ask me now use peroxide to knock out colds and flus. And good old salt water for bad cuts. Or soak in epsom salt. I haven’t had a tetanus shots since I was a kid. But I am dangerous with a knife and cut myself every so often. I haven’t gotten tetanus yet. And some cuts needed stitches. I used salt water instead of going to doctor. And I am still alive.
There are a lot more diseases since the 60s. Food started going down hill and people started getting sick. I am shocked at all the “young people” with diabetes. Food=bad digestion or un-digestable. Makes hardship on and strains other organs like liver and pancreas. Food companies want to put everything in food that one can not pronounce.
In my humble opinion it is good for kids to get sick and build a strong immune system. And it is very wrong for the government to let big food corps. to put chemicals in our foods that we can not pronounce.
Thank you for this clear, concise, consideration of a hotly debated topic. You words are filled with wisdom which to me is understanding the fitness of things. You are indeed a pioneer. Please know that you are supported and appreciated.
Dr. B., your argument prevails. As usual. Rock on.
Dr. Lipson presents himself as a well-educated doctor above reproach, yet he never bothered to look up a definition for holistic medicine? Below is a definition of holistic medicine:
“Holistic medicine is a term used to describe therapies that attempt to treat the patient as a whole person. That is, instead of treating an illness, as in orthodox allopathy, holistic medicine looks at an individual’s overall physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being before recommending treatment. A practitioner with a holistic approach treats the symptoms of illness as well as looking for the underlying cause of the illness.”
“The concept of holistic medicine is not new. In the 4th century B.C., Socrates warned that treating one part of the body only would not have good results. Hippocrates considered that many factors contribute to the health or otherwise of a human being, weather, nutrition, emotional factors, and in our time, a host of different sources of pollution can interfere with health. And of course, holistic medicine existed even before ancient Greece. In ancient healing traditions, such as those from India and China, date back over 5,000 years. However, the term “holistic” only became part of everyday language in the 1970s, when Westerners began seeking an alternative to allopathic medicine.
Interestingly, it was only at the beginning of the twentieth century that the principles of holistic medicine fell out of favor in Western societies, with the advent of major advances in what we now call allopathic medicine. Paradoxically, many discoveries of the twentieth century have only served to confirm many natural medicine theories. In many cases, researchers have set out to debunk holistic medicine, only to find that their research confirms it, as has been the case, for example, with many herbal remedies.”
Dr. Lipson uses defenses such as “wrong in every conceivable way”. This is a ridiculous and exaggerated statement that cannot be verified.
“Vanishingly rare” – This is a double negative – which actually means the opposite of what I believe Dr. Lipson is trying to say.
“Profound ignorance” – where is the evidence to back this up? It seems to me that Dr. Brownstein’s writing suggests a highly educated professional, with well-researched statements –unlike Dr. Lipson’s very prevalent elaborate meaningless exaggeration.
“Vaccinations have saved billions of lives” – again no research to back up this statement.
Dr. Lipson also brings irrelevant subjects to the discussion such as water sanitation and Tetanus vaccines.
Allopathic medicine is not sacrosanct. Methods and ideas should be questioned and tested for continuous improvement. One of the most important issues to me not addressed in this discussion is that I SHOULD HAVE A VOICE AND A CHOICE.
Thank you, Dr. Brownstein, for standing up for the truth! I’m sure “time” will show the wisdom of your words. I really appreciate your bravery and common sense.
Dr. Brownstein’s comments are very, very problematic. Here is a detailed analysis of some the problems:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AVWOS/permalink/647402338731086/
Dr. Lipson’s response to your blog terrified me. It reminded me of why I chose holistic, alternative, functional medicine type doctors for mine and my children’s health care. Thank you for your blow-by-blow response. It helped to calm me. We need more doctors like you who are not afraid to speak up and question the status quo. We are heading into terrifying territory – especially for moms like me who have kids with MTHFR mutations and immune system problems. Please continue to be brave and courageous!!
Conventional medicine (allopathy) has tunnel vision using pseudo science. The EPA established no safe level of mercury exposure. It is ludicrous to think that this and other toxic ingredients in vaccines are harmless. The big fraud is that, by law,
vaccine makers are exempt from lawsuits as they & physicians knowingly do harm!
Because we can do it, is it ethically safe to do it???
Thank you Dr. Brownstein for your research and respect of our physical nature wellness. As you report using a wider lens, this I find to be most trustful.
Thank you so much Dr. Brownstein, for standing up to the Medicine Monsters that care only for their own profit, not our health or best interests/ as a long time college teacher, I still remember an earnest young mother asking me my opinion about whether she should let “them” give her son Ritalin,/ the teachers said he’d be more manageable in the classroom/ I gave her my honest answer to be careful/ a young boy is just doing what young boys do and should not be medicated out of his normal self/ I took Dr. B’s advice about iodine and at age 80, I feel so much better!!/ I am in the less than 2% of US population of people my age who TAKE NO MEDS!!/ unless I have some acute situation or emergency, I tend to let my own body heal itself//my arthritis is much better when I do meditation and ride my bike every day/ exercise, stress reduction, standing up for yourself rather than letting “the professionals” make your decisions help a lot/ I am helping others by contacting the local utility company about people’s lights that are out and not fixed, about living in an HOA community and what that’s like, about contacting our legislators to listen to us average taxpayers, not their lobbyists and other special interests/ you have to be your own best doctor/ cheers and Happy New Year, Dr. B and all of your readers!!
Thabk you, Dr. Brownstein for your courage and integrity to stand by the truth and logic!!!
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. Albert Einstein
As a 38year working Nurse-Midwife/Nurse Practitioner, I have worked with many Dr. Lipson’s in the past and have been on the receiving end of public chastising for asking the “whys” in science and medicine or while being a patient advocate. Choosing to improve my critical thinking skills (as opposed to being brainwashed) I learned to stand up for myself quoting the very the science and data to support my work thanks to MD’s like you who helped me to grow in courage to question and to fine tune my deliverance of care instead of giving “recipe” care to clients. Like Dr. Lipson, many physicians can’t handle the truth or envision the possibility that a one size treatment doesn’t fit all. This is especially true with vaccines. Vaccines should be about choice and if vaccines work so well and people feel protected -what is the worry if someone isn’t? There are no studies that have been done on the unvaccinated vs the vaccinated and we know we’ll never see one. The only anecdotal articles that have come out are those who have come down with an illness but these are the same children/adults who were recently vaccinated for that very disease. The Disneyland measles outbreak was a pharmaceutical false flag event.
Today’s controversy regarding vaccines hits a personal note for me as my children were affected when I “responsibly” had them vaccinated. Knowing what I know now I would have never gotten them vaccinated because I am certain their reoccurring health issues (as picked up by various testing) were caused by vaccines and excessive antibiotic use. My knowledge and work in restorative medicine is effectively reversing and improving their gut health and immune systems.
I have learned a lot from you and others like you, Dr. Brownstein, and I applaud your integrity and due diligence in providing facts while promoting self-responsibility through education. The exceptional medical care that you provide to your clients is noted by their numerous unsolicited testimonies. It is how I choose to provide quality care to my clients as well.
You rock Dr. B!
I am continually perplexed why doctors like Lipson are afraid of unvaccinated people. If you believe vaccines are there to protect you why are unvaccinated people a problem? Does he understand “shedding”which is that as soon as people are vaccinated they shed that virus or disease for several weeks everywhere they go. Why have people forgotten that we are born with an immune system that recognises bugs we inhale through the mouth or nose and procedes to fight them,but is completely thrown into confusion when these same bugs accompanied by toxic chemicals are injected into our bloodstream. Australia now has brought in a law that will not pay child allowance, or allow kids entry into school unless they are vaccinated. This is a disaster for low income families. The drug companies are destroying our health for money.
Sharp as a tack as usual. We so need more doctors with your discerning mind Dr B. Bring on human cloning.
Your first!
I appreciate your ethics, accurate information and data supporting and clarifying your position throughout this debate. You’re setting a healthy example for public discourse and modeling ethics in medicine. Your model of defending yourself against Dr. Lipsom’s personal attack, is in keeping with principles of non-violent communication and I’m grateful you helped set a less stressful tone.
You are a credit to western medicine while raising the bar. You’re taking the kind of risk that all of us in our various health professions and vocations are being asked take. I live in California, where so many innocent lives and the quality of life itself are being steadfastly challenged and eroded by poisonous vaccines mandated by the recklessness and obvious greed of Big Pharma at the top…on down.
The use of force by any perceived “authority” by over-riding parental freedoms to informed choices in health care and medical procedures, is always a time for pause and a sign of clear and present danger.
Since I was quite young I’ve felt that exposure to different types of viruses & bacteria can make me stronger, although strict hygiene & sanitation was taught in our family. My great grandmother made a liniment during the 1918 flu pandemic. She was a mid-wife whose practice was most likely inclusive of duties similar to a holistic family physician. None of those in the community she cared for at that time, died of the flu or of its complications. I have enjoyed having a truly remarkable immune system my whole life. I’ve never had the flu nor caught a cold, and have nursed many highly contagious people without spreading infective agents.
The immune system fascinates me. Your debate here reminds me of how adamantly our systems and cells communicate internally to hold ground, work collaboratively and furiously to defend the internal communities of cells in our bodies. Here’s to strong health in the New Year, Dr. Brownstein! Thank you for all you do.
It is not widely known that pharmaceutical companies have been sued to the tune of >$10 Billion (Billion, not million) for the criminal mis-selling of drugs, including falsification of research (Details have appeared on the US Dept of Justice website).
There really should be this warning on their products
Dr. Lipson sounds to be either brainwashed, bought off (by Big Pharma) or ignorant…or all three. His tone sounded arrogant, uninformed, confrontational and unprofessional, as stated. I grew up when measles, mumps and chickenpox were considered to be one of the nuisances of childhood. Not to make light of the fact that these can be very serious diseases in certain cases, but I don’t recall parents living in “terror” during those days. What really terrifies me is the extreme increase in vaccines mandated for newborns and children in recent years, the lack of safety studies being done on the consequences of injecting all of these toxins and foreign materials into vulnerable young bodies, and the “bully tactics” being used to intimidate and “shame” parents who are concerned and question their doctors regarding the above. My grand baby is not a science experiment. Besides aluminum and mercury, I also worry about the other adjuvants being used in vaccinations, such as peanut oil, and the increase in allergies. If you want to talk about fear, have a child with a life-threatening food allergy. I won’t go into specifics about the friends whose children spiked 106-degree fevers and had febrile seizures after being vaccinated. Thank God for doctors like Dr. Brownstein for questioning, taking the time to research, and being advocates for all of us parents and grandparents. I pray for you and all of the other courageous doctors who are being attacked for doing the right thing.
Anything sufficiently robust can withstand questioning and that questioning can re-enforce the rightness of the original – or if after the questioning what we believed fails the test then we have gained knowing what we once believed was false and must think again.
Put another way. All things must be questioned repeatedly. Anything less will leave us floundering in darkness and ignorance. The history of human progress has proven this fact constantly.
The Dr Lipsons of the world would burn Galileo Galilei on the stake!!
Dr. Lipson seems to have a very big ego. I faced pediatricians with similar views when my two boys were baby’s and we were discussing our options in regards to vaccinations. They were extremely pig headed about the guidelines and did everything possible to put tremendous fear into me and even put my husband against me. In the end I decided to break up all the combo vaccines (special order!) and take my child monthly for just one. Another time the nurse asked me if I would rather give my child the polio vaccine in a sugar cube (minimal risk of getting polio) or with a needle (no risk). I asked “Does anyone ever go with the sugar cube?!?!” The nurse said almost everyone did because they didn’t want their child to get poked!!! (So risk getting polio??). Yes, it took forever but I felt much better about their little bodies being able to handle that amount. What I think is the most important thing to take away from all this: If there is the slightest possibility that children can be harmed we should error on the side of caution!
Dr. B thank you so very much for ALL that you do!!
Serena,
Thanks for the comment. Your case illustrates my point–parents need a choice. I have said it before and I will repeat it: I am not anti-vaccine, I am pro-health. We should not mandate vaccines without a clear and rational reason. A small measles outbreak in Disneyland is not a reason.
DrB
Dr. Lipson, if he really does exist, should be aware of the fact that the standard-of care as to which he stictly adheres to, is now the fourth leading cause of death in this country. Sounds incredible,unfortunately very true. Unlike Dr. Lipson, I will provide my sources for this bold statement. My first citation is from the British Medical Journal June 7,2012 (BMJ 2012:344:e3989) authored by Jeanne Lenzer. In her article she refers to a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. “It calculated that in 2011 prescription drugs were associated with two to four million people in the US experiencing ‘serious, disabling, or fatal injuries, including 128,000 deaths.’” These numbers were compiled by researchers using the database of the FDA for “Serious Medical-Drug Events”. Perhaps Dr. Lipson missed that report. Did he happen to read Dr Barbara Starfield’s report, “Is US health really the best in the world?”, which was published in the Journal of American Medical Association on July 26, 2000. In her report, she indicates that 106,000 are killed by medically prescribed drugs every year. Dr. Starfield, until her death in 2011, worked at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She also attributed 119,000 deaths per year to mistreatment and medical errors in hospitals—bringing the annual total of US medically caused deaths to 225,000.
Here’s another study: April 15, 1998, Journal of the American Medical Association, “Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients.” l by Jason Lazarou and others writes: …Our study on ADRs [Adverse Drug Reactions], which excludes medication errors, had a different objective: to show that there are a large number of ADRs even when the drugs are properly prescribed and administered.” They too conclude that 106,000 patient deaths will occur in any any given year, directly from properly prescribed standard-of care drugs.
If I do the math correctly, using Dr. Starfield’s numbers, that comes out to 2.25 MILLION deaths in a decade. To make it sound even more horrific, (like that is even possible), that would be equivalent to 2 jumbo jets crashing and killing all aboard EVERY DAY for 10 years straight (3652 days).
I have a question for you Dr. Lipson, If you and your family are fully vaccinated and supposedly immunized, why do you fear the un-vaccinated.They shouldn’t bring you any harm, unless of course, vaccines are totally worthless, right? When will you realize that the legalized drug cartel you seem to idolize doesn”t care a rat’s ass about the collateral damage inflicted upon the trusting public? They (the Drug cartel) are a clear and present danger. But I guess being one of their henchmen, prescribing drugs that don’t cure shit and dispensing vaccines that really have no proof of efficacy is quite lucrative. Don”t want to rock that boat,now do you Dr Lipson? Your shillness (not a real word, but you may catch my drift) is quite evident in your rebuttal to Dr. Brownstein”s blog. I think I’ve said enough. Nope, one more thing. Dr. Lipson, what is your position on Genectically Engineered foods and glysophate?
Thank you Dr. Brownstein. We need more great doctors like you who are not afraid to speak the truth rather than just pushing the agenda of the AMA and the drug companies. I agree with you 100%, and am dismayed by the vaccine agenda put out main stream medicine and mainstream media. There are so many injured by vaccines but we never see them on mainstream media.
Dr Lipton obviously is a very lucky man. I wonder what his ‘professional’ opinion would have been had he observed his otherwise healthy three-year-old daughter begin to virtually speak in tongues 16 hours after her MMR?
Never to be the same again.
She considers herself lucky to have escaped with ‘high-functioning’ autism.
I know there’s been a crime committed.
But you see, we’re kept far too busy, just surviving, to pursue anything else.
You’re a good man, Dr. Brownstein. In so many ways.
And a good son to boot.
One immediate response I always have with this statement Dr Lipson said here………….. “My daughter, who attends the same camp as I did, has had every shot, always on schedule. Thankfully so have her friends. I’d be very hesitant to let her play with kids who weren’t vaccinated, both because of the small but real risk she could catch something, and because I would not want her to give an illness to someone else.”………………..is if vaccines are so effective and safe, why are you afraid of having your children interact with unvaccinated children? Your child is completely protected from the unvaccinated child because of receiving a vaccine or isn’t that how it really works?
Bravo Dr. B! You clearly do not need my help on this, but I can’t help but comment. I could not disagree any more with Dr Lipsom; it’s like we have completely opposite ways of thinking. It’s not that I don’t feel as passionately about my side of the argument, but I’m not going to publically name-call & swear about it. All I really need to say is that I am happy & thankful that you are my doctor. While we are respectful enough to Not only was Dr B able to help, he was the only one even willing to consider who look at my health from a prospective that could not only quickly figure out what was wrong AND how to heal me!! We can are patient becuase we know that the truth will always prevail!
Thank you J for the nice comment. I am honored to be your doctor.
DrB
I would also emphasize that holistic health providers also advocate personal (rather than government) responsibility for ones health. Everyone, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, who were to eat a healthier diet, manage their stress and optimize nutrients such as vitamin D and iodine, would have significantly better immune responses when exposed to infectious agents. Those of us, like Dr Brownstein, practicing holistic medicine see these results daily in our practices.
Bravo Dr. Goldstein,
The perfect comment.
Dr. B, I respect doctors like you and scientists like Boyd Haley that are willing to stand up and fight for what is right. As Boyd Haley once said (my paraphrasing) “when I was in the military, they told us if you just hide in a foxhole, then you will get shot in that foxhole. You might as well stand up and fight.” Thank you Dr. Brownstein for taking a stand for the truth, and looking out for the best interests of others. Doing so in a medical and regulatory system dominated by greed, deception, and corruption is a sure way to make oneself a target for ridicule and persecution. Thanks for your courage!
As a Jewish woman scientist I am astounded at the lack of science presented in Dr. Lipson’s attack on Dr Brownstein, and his need to bring religious camp into the debate as if that has any relevance.
I am a biochemist who has studied the molecular structures of hormones for years- and the astounding distinctions between bioidentical molecules- those that are exact replicas of what the female body desires- and those “monster molecules” altered by the drug companies to make them profitable and patentable.
When I see women still using a “bad”molecule like synthetic progestin in any form instead of real progesterone, and she is told ‘but you are using a much lower dose,’ I find this completely absurd.
It is the same with developmental neurotoxins such as mercury, aluminum and yes, fluoride in our drinkling water: any amount of a bad molecule ingested is bad.
The vaccine issue is complex and disturbing. It is interesting to note recent data asserting that the majority of parents choosing to not vaccinate are the most highly educated per capita- affluent yes, but not necessarily the most affluent. Money alone cannot be the basis for intelligent decision making regarding one’s children. Most people when dealing with medical dogma are like sheep, or lemmings. Don’t think- do as Lipsom advises.
This is a very serious issue and requires every parent to think twice. Read Sherry Tenpenny’s great book on vaccines, and think again..
Great response Dr Brownstein!
When did people start being afraid of having a cold???
Also, Dr. B, on your next book on cholesterol can you put how B complex, Vitamin C, and Niacin together are a million times better than prescription statins? Heck those are over the counter and super healthy, and work better than mainstream statins.
Dr. Brownstein – I just love it when you are brave enough to post both sides. This is what people need to see because they get so confused and don’t have the time to research extensively enough! My teacher at NTA, Gray Graham spoke highly of you…
Dr. Brownstein… Excellent response to the good doctor with regards to vaccines. The idiocy of his comments is staggering, but certainly in keeping with most of his colleagues. This is why I finally left an academic position. Our self-anointed guardians of health are anything but – arrogant, close-minded, corrupt – sad. Mainstream medicine in my 40 year career has become focused on disease creation and maintenance rather than actual healing. The constant cries for better “preventive medicine” (for which vaccines are endlessly promoted and mandated!) from our mainstream colleagues is both ludicrous and hypocritical. People can care for themselves better than most white coat shamans by simply educating themselves. Thank you for being brave enough to stand up for Truth in our profession and for providing resources for people to care for themselves. My advice to patients for years has been to “stay away from doctors” as much as possible.
The way you are working Dr. Brownstein, represents the evolution of medicine.
It’s important to keep questioning, review studies, have open and honest discussions
and share the findings. Thank you!
Being a parent is still terrifying, Dr. Lipson! Forced vaccinations are terrifying. Medical doctors who question nothing are terrifying. Big Pharma is terrifying. I’m waiting for them to show up at my door with mandatory flu shots for all. Thank you for questioning, Dr. Brownstein. I thought that was what all good scientists did!
Wow! Is he a real doctor! His facts are all wrong and he highlights tetanus! Tetanus can only grow in the presence of farm fecal matter and in an anaerobic environment. The statistics and data are clear, if one desires to read then, vaccines cause more harm than good, period! I pray for your protection Dr Brownstein, too many doctors who are speaking out against Big Pharma are going missing or mysteriously dead. Thank you for sticking to the truth and the facts and sharing it with others.
Dr. B.,
I am sure Dr. Lipson means well. Thr problem here is that he only accepts facts that are convenient
to him. We were all brought up to have respect for immunizations for the prevention of communicable
diseases. But when facts and results change we, as professionals and health care consumers, MUST
evaluate the consequences of indiscriminate immunizations that are NOT working AND instead creating additional
and more serious health problems, like Autism. Autism very rarely seen. Now it occurs in 1 in 50 births.
This is appalling and needs to be objectively evaluated. Plus, my research is showing the artificial immunizations
don’t provide much protection at. Then why do them?
W. Greene, D. C., RPh.
Houston, Texas
Thankyou, excellent discussion.
Quotes from Peter Lipson
“During the flu epidemic of 2008–09, I watched as dozens of kids came down with a new flu strain, one for which a shot had not yet been developed.”
“Last winter, another in which we had a flu strain not well-covered by the vaccine,”
In other words the flu shot that year was useless.
So even if everyone had had the vaccine, the flu would still have effected the elderly people and children.
A good argument for not relying on a vaccine but build immunity in everyone with good nutrition.
And test for low levels of important micronutrients to supoort the body.
I have come to believe more & more in the nocebo effect so I am reluctant to take most prescription drugs as well as any vaccines.
Wish true facts such as that Vitamin C prevents scurvy, could be posted all over Google so we can make choices about nutritional facts that offer more benefit than harm. Then maybe we would not need vaccines at all.
Public health? What a joke. The polio vaccine in the 50’s was equipped with the SV40 virus. Midway through dispensing it to 100 million people SV40 was proven to cause soft tissue cancer. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH pressed forward to dispense 100 million more doses rather than pull it. Youtube “dr marys monkeys” to get the rest of the story. This was a major contributor to kick starting the cancer industry. I applaud Dr B for having the courage to speak the truth. Thank you Dr Lipson for commenting so your colleague has the opportunity to rebut your illconceived perception of “Public Health”. I wish Good luck to your misinformed patients, Dr Lipson.
I reaaly appreciate doctors like Dr. Brownstein who are helping to get out the facts so that people can make rational, informed decisions about medical treatments. I discovered the same information about the tetanus vaccine when trying to make an informed decision about my daughters’ 12 year old vaccinations (I unquestioningly vaccination my twins when they were babies, before I realized that conventional standard of care medicine is not what it seems). My question is about Dr Brownstein’s statement “Many vaccines do work. They lower the incidence of illness.”. Which vaccines do you feel are worthwhile, if any?
Julie,
Every vaccine should be evaluated before you allow or refuse it. Each patient needs to make their own choice. I am not anti-vaccine. I am pro health.
DrB
this letter from “dr. lipson really got me riled! this is the type of dr. we a (ALL OF US) at one time or another get for our health exams, know it alls who don`t really know the basics. they just want to give you something, anything to show their smart, he didn`t have the decency to call you “Doctor” like you didn`t deserve the title. he called you “Brownstein” you always replied with Dr.Lipson. He said he`s afraid Doctors like you will spread the wrong information, I say theirs not enough Drs. like you telling people whats happening. Of course all these vaccines are bringing in lots of money. He doesn`t care what`s in the vaccines? a little of this and that won`t hurt? well your wrong Dr. Lipson it hurts many people. some of us are old now some young Moms unfortunately believe Drs. like you and their kids I pray don`t get autism, but the chances of it are getting worse.
The camp head people making these rules could also get the vaccines if they want others to get them. Then they would see that vaccines may destroy health and may not help and may spread viruses that shed. Vaccines may hurt brain/body. The camp may kill off all it’s customer’s/staff help and may be for disabled people in the future. The head people may not realize the vaccine schedule is very different than a long time ago. 3 vaccines at the same time may hurt and 7 vaccines every two month as babies grow and more when a teen may cripple/disable once healthy kids. People who don’t know much about health/science may think many vaccines are a good deal, but they may destroy a person. Also Lyme is strong and being outside may let kids catch Lyme. Many people are undiagnosed with Lyme. Being in nature is good. Nature/sunlight/exercise. We are mostly bacteria on our bodies compared to regular cells. That is normal. If you want health…natural things like 2000mg of fish oil daily…stopped my colds/flu for more than 20 years.
Me thinks Dr. Lipson doth protest too much. Also, it has been my experience that when someone starts swearing in response to another’s viewpoint they are using anger to clip in the bud any coherent and intelligent discussion.
I worked on a campaign to end water fluoridation and our opposition was quite vocal as well. Funny, they were never able to provide the requested safety studies for human ingestion of fluoride. That is because there are none. Also, ours was a grassroots campaign which involved fewer than a dozen very hard working people. We shouldn’t have been surprised when our opposition, the California Dental Association and the American Dental Association spent over $70,000 to our $10,000. It was also quite telling that the only people they could get to walk in support of continued fluoridation were town dentists and dental assistants. At least the government lowered the recommended amount of fluoride added to drinking water for the first time in more than 50 years this past spring. They could see the result of too much fluoride, white spots, on children’s teeth. Let’s hope that our government takes a similar interest in the possible damage done to people through vaccination and at least starts a dialogue.
Id like to add to the Great Vaccine Influenza Debate that getting the flu once in a while is normal and easily treated with natural means like Echinacea tincture etc. and if fact I would think that getting the flu once in the while can be considered beneficial to the immune system. Perhaps Dr. Brownstein can comment on the benefits of getting the common cold/flu and the dangers of preventing this normal occurance? It seams to me that Dr. Lipson has the all to common parental “mental distorder” of overprotectiveness rendering him blind to common sense.
Carla,
I think there is some benefit to getting colds and other viruses as they stimulate the immune system.
DrB
Dear Dr. Brownstein,
Thank you very much for your letter about vaccinations. Thank you for your rebuttal to Dr. Lipson. I wonder if he receives any benefits from Big Pharma? It might seem so…..I am deeply thankful to you and all the other physicians who fight for their patients and who give them the truth. You, and all the other physicians who risk so much nowadays, it is scary and you are all full of courage and you follow the truth, may God protect and bless you.
Bravo Dr Brownstein- you’er a class act, well done!
Dear Dr.Brownstein are allergy shots safe?
Lidiya,
Allergy shots help about 50% who take them.
DrB
I have to hand it to you Dr. Brownstein, you are a true doctor who seeks better answers for his patients and our society than most other doctor especially Mr. Lipson. Thank you for your time and diligence.
Dr. Brownstein, thank you for being a strong voice for those of us who have lost a lot of trust in our doctors, Big Pharma and the FDA. Yours is the better argument & I’m sticking with you.
Thank you for this outstanding and intelligent reply to a Dr. that isn’t willing to “Ask the tough questions.” I am grateful for you, Dr .Brownstein, who will ask the questions and take action on our health.
Semi-OT: if you haven’t yet, read “Healing Lyme, 2nd Edition” by Stephen Buhner. I’m learning a LOT about the immune system from this book. You two would probably get along.