A recent study has shown that a potent sunscreen ingredient, oxybenzone, may be a cause of endometriosis. This condition occurs when uterine tissue grows in abnormal sites in the abdomen and causes severe pain. Women are usually diagnosed because of severe cramping during their periods. In this study of 600 women, those with the highest levels of a form of oxybenzone in their urine had a 65 percent increased risk of endometriosis. Oxybenzone, like bisphenol-A (BPA), is a chemical that mimics estrogen. And endometriosis growth is fed by estrogen.

This study should be another warning sign that oxybenzone should not be put on the skin. The highest levels of oxybenzone in the urine of women in this study occurred in the months of July and August, proof that the sunscreen ingredient is readily absorbed into the bloodstream.

Exposure to sunlight promotes good health. The more sun exposure we get, the better our bodies function. Preventing sunburn during the hottest part of the day is a good idea. Sunburn damages the skin. But with all of the evidence that sunlight is beneficial in the prevention of cancer and heart disease, maintaining a strong immune system, and building bones, no one should be using sunscreens on a routine or daily basis.

This study provides further evidence that commercial sunscreens that contain cancer-causing and estrogenic chemicals should never be used. Sunscreens with oxybenzone, methoxycinnamate, and PABA are dangerous. The only proven safe sunscreen ingredient is zinc oxide.

Reference

Kunisue T, Chen Z, Buck Louis GM, Sundaram R, Hediger ML, Sun L, Kannan K. Urinary Concentrations of Benzophenone-type UV Filters in U.S. Women and Their Association with Endometriosis. Environ Sci Technol. 2012 Apr 17;46(8):4624-32. Epub 2012 Mar 29.

A study that correlated exposure to sunlight with cancer risk found that people exposed to more sunlight had a significantly lower risk of many types of cancer (Lin, 2012). This study followed more than 450,000 white, non-Hispanic subjects aged 50-71 years from diverse geographic areas in the US. Researchers correlated the calculated ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure in these different areas with the incidence of a variety of cancers. The diverse sites included six states (California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina), and the metropolitan areas of Atlanta and Detroit. They followed these subjects over a period of nine years in the study and eliminated other known risk factors for cancer such as smoking, body mass index, and physical activity. This was the first prospective study (participants were actively observed for the duration of the study) to look at the relationship of sunlight to cancer.

Less sun more cancer

A total of 75,000 participants in the study contracted cancer. The study found that 12 types of cancer were reduced in those subjects exposed to more sunlight. These included cancers of the lungs, prostate, pancreas, colon, thyroid and many other types. As expected, melanoma and other skin cancers occurred more often in the participants exposed to more sunlight. The incidence of cancers of female organs including the ovaries, breast, and uterus were not reduced in this study, possibly because men spend more time outdoors than women. This confirmed a previous study that showed a decreased incidence of cancer in men but not women in relation to sun exposure (Grant, 2012).

Cancer prevention formula: sunlight, vitamin D, and antioxidants

This research confirms the protective effect of Vitamin D for many types of cancer. No other known factors in sun exposure would account for these findings. This provides more evidence that sun exposure is protective and that the routine use of sunscreens is counterproductive. Sunscreen should be used to prevent sunburn during prolonged exposure to bright sun at midday. And only zinc oxide sunscreens are safe. Eating organic fresh fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants will also help prevent sunburn and protect you from skin cancer. Sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation promote health and prevent cancer. Similarly, in parts of the world and times of the year with limited sun exposure taking a vitamin D supplement in adequate amounts is beneficial to the immune system, promotes bone growth, prevents cardiovascular disease, and reduces the incidence of cancer.

References

Grant WB. An ecological study of cancer mortality rates in California, 1950–64, with respect to solar UVB and smoking indices. Dermatoendocrinol., epub April 2012

Lin SW, Wheeler DC, Park Y, Cahoon EK, Hollenbeck AR, Michal Freedman D, Abnet CC. Prospective study of ultraviolet radiation exposure and risk of cancer in the U.S. Int J Cancer. 2012 Apr 26. doi: 10.1002/ijc.27619.

I am forwarding an urgent message from the National Vaccine Information Center. The unconstitutional and coercive bill to require a doctor’s signature in order to obtain a vaccine exemption for school entry has passed the appropriations committee and is headed to the full Assembly.

Please call your assembly member and urge them to Vote No on AB 2109.

You can easily find your Assembly member at this website.

http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers

URGENT CALIFORNIA ACTION ALERT:
CALL YOUR ASSEMBLY PERSON NOW TO OPPOSE AB2109
Bill Requiring Medical Visit for Vaccine Exemptions Scheduled for Assembly Vote TODAY May 3^rd

Dear California NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

AB2109 is on the schedule for a vote in the full assembly  today, May 3^rd.

PLEASE STOP EVERYTHING AND PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER TO ASK THEM TO VOTE NO ON AB2109! (directions below)

AB2109 was passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee with a “B” roll call on May 2^nd  which means the vote went straight down party lines with 12 l Democrats voting yes and 5 Republicans voting no. NVIC submitted financial arguments in opposition and California State NVIC Director Dawn Winkler testified at the hearing against the bill. We disagree that the fiscal analysis done by the committee staff accurately portrays the cost burden of this unnecessary bill.

Video of the hearing in Assembly Appropriations and Assembly Health Committee are both available to watch on-line. Look for Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 2^nd and Assembly Health Committee on April 17.  Click on the video link.  http://www.calchannel.com/2012-archive/

ACTION NEEDED:

1.    Contact your state assembly member and tell them to VOTE NO when AB2109 comes up for a vote on the assembly floor. If you log in to the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org your legislators are displayed on the right side. You can click on their names to open up their contact information. Additional information for all members is available at http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers.

2.    Send this to as many friends and family in California that you can and ask them to please register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org so they can get added to this state email list and receive updates on how they can help fight this bill. If the bill is passed by the full assembly, it will then go to the senate.

SAMPLE PHONE PLAN:

• Call the office number for you state assembly member, introduce yourself and ask to talk to someone about AB 2109 which is being voted on today.
• Let the appropriate person know you are opposed to AB 2109 because it requires you to have to pay for an extra medical office visit you don’t want or need, it requires additional bureaucratic paperwork, and as a parent if this passes, you have no guarantee you will be able to find a provider who will take these appointments or sign the form. (If you’ve ever been harassed by a doctor before or denied care, this is a great place to talk about this).  If you have a vaccine injured child, tell them the vaccine vulnerable or vaccine injured should not have to go back to the same doctor who caused the injury to your child in order to be “counseled” and get permission to exercise your right to a personal belief exemption.
• Let the legislative office know that this bill wastes your time and money because you are already well educated on vaccine risks and benefits (explain the steps you have taken to educate yourself above and beyond any handout could provide).

·         Let them know about your personal story, what got you involved in this issue and why an unrestricted personal belief exemption is important to your family especially if anyone in your family has had a vaccine reaction.

There is a concerted campaign to dissuade parents from sleeping with their babies. The latest study published in the American Journal of Public Health attempts to prove that sleeping with your baby can cause death. This was a survey of statistics concerning babies who died unexpectedly. The data reveal that significantly more babies who died unexpectedly of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) were sleeping in a parental bed than sleeping alone in a crib. These statistics were taken from data over a three-year period in nine states to assess where babies who died of SIDS were sleeping when found. However, this study proves nothing.

A similar study could be done showing that more children develop asthma symptoms when outdoors. Should we then dissuade children from going outdoors or exercising? Or we could study low income families and discover that more of these children have asthma compared to children from more affluent families. Obviously other factors are present which would increase the risk of these children developing asthma such as poor nutrition or more exposure to pollution. Similarly there are risk factors that increase the likelihood of babies dying of SIDS, such as a parent’s use of alcohol, drugs, or sleeping pills. However, the greatest risk factor that remains relatively unknown is the toxic fumes that disperse from mattresses treated with fire retardants. Simply covering the mattress with plastic sheeting or using an organic mattress brings the incidence of SIDS to zero.

Maligning the family bed is a favorite pastime in conventional medicine. The vast majority of families in the world sleep with their babies, and SIDS incidence in those cultures is low. Many studies have shown the benefits of babies sleeping with a parent, including an increased incidence of breast feeding, better sleep for babies, more stable heart and breathing patterns, and greater confidence and security in babies. At least one other study has shown a fourfold decrease in SIDS in co-sleeping babies. All of these studies should reassure parents that the family bed is a safe and healthy choice for babies to sleep.

Schnitzer PG, Covington TM, Dykstra HK. Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths: Sleep Environment and Circumstances. American Journal of Public Health. 2012 Apr 19. [Epub ahead of print]

Vitamin D prevents language problems

A study published in the March 2012 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Association of Pediatrics, has shown again how important vitamin D3 supplementation is during pregnancy (Whitehouse, 2012). This study measured the vitamin D level of pregnant women and then observed language development in their children at different ages (2, 5, 8, 10, 14, and 17 years of age).

The study found that women who had a vitamin D level less than 46 nmol/L during pregnancy were at least twice as likely to have children with language difficulties at ages 5 and 10 years compared to women with a vitamin D level of 70 nmol/L or higher.

This finding is especially interesting because most labs place the normal limit of serum 25(OH)-vitamin D in the 30 range, rather than the 70 range. Many vitamin D experts have said that a range of 60 to 100 is ideal, and this study suggests that at least during pregnancy these higher levels of vitamin D are ideal. In order to achieve these levels pregnant women need to take a significantly higher level of vitamin D3 than is found in most prenatal or calcium supplements. A supplement in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily is usually required to raise serum vitamin D levels to these levels.

Vitamin D prevents respiratory problems

Vitamin D taken during pregnancy has shown other benefits for later childhood as well. Several studies have shown that higher vitamin D levels during pregnancy are associated with less respiratory infections and asthma during childhood.

In a study published in the January 2011 issue of Pediatrics, the umbilical cord-blood level of vitamin D was evaluated at birth for 922 healthy newborns and these levels were compared to the incidence of respiratory infections, wheezing, and allergies over a 5 year period. The researchers discovered that low levels of vitamin D in cord-blood were associated with a higher risk of respiratory infections during the first months after birth and a higher risk of wheezing episodes throughout early childhood (Camargo, 2011). Twenty percent of the newborns in this study had a cord-blood level that indicated a deficiency of vitamin D (less than 25 nmol/L), and these babies had more infections and wheezing than infants with higher vitamin D levels.

Four previous studies published between 2006 and 2009 showed that the babies of mothers who ate foods high in vitamin D or took vitamin D supplements during pregnancy had a decreased incidence of wheezing and/or asthma (Erkkola, 2000; Miyake, 2010). This new study was the first to test the vitamin D level at birth and associate it with the occurrence of respiratory symptoms.

It was remarkable that a single low cord-blood level of vitamin D at birth would be associated with wheezing even several years later. The authors propose several possible reasons for this finding. Because vitamin D is essential for healthy immune system function, vitamin D may be necessary to initiate immune mechanisms while the baby is still in the womb or soon after birth.

Recommended supplements for pregnancy

Pregnant women should take a high quality prenatal vitamin/mineral supplement that contains folate. In addition during pregnancy it is important to take vitamin D, an omega-3 fatty acid supplement with DHA, and probiotics, all of which have proven to have positive health benefits for babies. Pregnant women should also have their vitamin D levels checked during pregnancy to ensure that they have achieved recommended levels of 70-100 nmol/L.

References

Camargo CA, et al. Cord-Blood 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Risk of Respiratory Infection, Wheezing, and Asthma. Pediatrics Vol. 127 No. 1 January 2011, pp. e180-e187.

Erkkola M, Kaila M, Nwaru BI, et al. Maternal vitamin D intake during pregnancy is inversely associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis in 5-year-old children. Clin Exp Allergy. 2009;39(6):875-882.

Miyake Y, Sasaki S, Tanaka K, Hirota Y. Dairy food, calcium and vitamin D intake in pregnancy, and wheeze and eczema in infants. Eur Respir J. 2010;35(6):1228-1234.

Whitehouse, AJO, et al. Maternal Serum Vitamin D Levels During Pregnancy and Offspring Neurocognitive Development. Pediatrics 2012; 129:3 485-493; published ahead of print February 13, 2012, doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2644

A California Congressional bill (AB2109) threatens to take parents’ choice about vaccinating their children and placing that choice in the hands of doctors. If this bill is passed into law, then parents who choose not to give a vaccine on the recommended schedule will need to find a doctor who is willing to sign a paper stating that they have informed parents of their choices. This will require a visit to a physician who is willing to discuss vaccines. If parents cannot afford or cannot find a doctor willing to do this, then they will not be able to obtain a personal belief exemption. This bill could effectively eliminate the personal belief exemption in California because many pediatricians refuse to see children whose parents choose not to give a vaccine they recommend.

A public hearing on Assembly Bill 21009 has been scheduled for April 17 by the Assembly Committee on Health. I urge you to write a letter to the Committee members opposing this bill. The law as it stands is completely adequate to provide parental choices in their vaccination decisions. No legislative action needs to be taken to ensure that parents have the right to choose what vaccines their children will receive.

Letters must be received by 12:00 PM on April 11 either by mail or by fax.

A simple letter stating your opposition to the bill is sufficient. Here is some suggested text.

Dear California Assembly Health Committee Members:

I am opposed to the passage of AB2109, which would impair a parent’s ability to obtain a personal (philosophical) belief exemption to vaccination for their child. This should be a parent’s right, and California immunization act currently allows parents to make this choice. The requirement to obtain a doctor’s approval of this choice places an unnecessary burden on parents, who may not have access to a physician willing to sign such a waiver.

Mail or Fax your letter to:

Assembly Member Bill Monning
Chair, Assembly Health Committee
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0027
Tel: (916) 319-2027
Fax: (916) 319-2127

Here is my newest post at the excellent SAFbaby website on vaccines

Measles Warning

You’ve probably heard about the latest headline news that a possible Measles outbreak could hit the US this year.

USA Today reported a few weeks ago that The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned folks that the Olympics in London and the Euro 2012 soccer cup in Poland and Ukraine will be huge draws for American travelers and will increase the risk for measles infection. We wonder, “Is FEAR the ONLY way to push people into getting their shots?”

Today, we are asking our own SAFbaby expert, Dr. Randall Neustaedter OMD, to give us his opinion about these current ‘scary’ headline news:

Doom and Gloom Tactics

Doesn’t everyone get tired of hearing the CDC and the media making predictions of deadly epidemics year after year in an attempt to scare people into getting vaccinated?

Do we have such short attention spans that we forget the predictions of worldwide bird flu epidemics that would wipe out millions of people in 2004 and the H1N1 flu from Mexico that would devastate the population in 2009? Because none of those supposed epidemics that dominated the news ever materialized. Are we having a hard time distinguishing reality from disaster movies? Are we so gullible that we don’t recognize these manipulative tactics of the pharmaceutical industry?

US Tourists told to get Measles Vaccines

Now we receive this pure speculation about how tourists are going to bring measles home to America. The CDC is constantly trying to scare Americans into running to their doctors and pharmacies to get shot up with protective vaccines. The vaccine campaigns have also shifted to target adult populations with flu, pertussis, and measles vaccines, another lucrative market.

Make no mistake that the CDC, mainstream media, and vaccine policy makers are in league with vaccine manufacturers whose only goal is profit, not public health.

A profitable way to promote vaccines?

Vaccine companies are worried about the negative press that measles vaccine has received over the past few years. The association between measles shots and skyrocketing autism rates is not good press for them.

Who in the marketing department thought up this newest angle for vaccine promotion? Europeans infect Americans with deadly diseases at the Olympics. Intriguing. And what if there were some cases of measles in the US?

Conventional Medicine has no treatment for Measles

Everyone used to have measles as a child. It was a normal childhood disease. Like most childhood diseases there were sometimes complications. Conventional medicine has no treatment for measles, or most other viral diseases. Doctors are interested in preventing these diseases without regard for consequences of the vaccines. And this prevention makes billions of dollars.

Holistic Medicine to prevent complications and treat Measles

Holistic medicine is able to prevent complications and treat these diseases. A holistic program and lifestyle that creates a strong immune system will enable the body to handle these illnesses. If they occur, then a holistic treatment program using Vitamin A in high doses, Chinese antiviral herbs, elderberry, and homeopathic medicines are all effective in treating these diseases.

Holistic practitioners have confidence in treating these diseases. Where conventional medicine has no recourse except to watch the disease and see if complications occur, holistic medicine has active preventive and treatment methods. It’s a matter of perspective.

 How Safe Are Vaccines?

Vaccines are assumed to be safe by the majority in conventional  medicine. The CDC, WHO, FDA, and other health administration and vaccine policy making bodies all staunchly defend vaccines as safe and effective. However, for at least the past 40 years the safety of the vaccine campaign has been called into question. The very questioning of vaccine safety has been viewed as heresy and outright blasphemy by those proponents who view vaccination as a savior of humanity. Vaccines, after all, have been credited with ridding the world of the scourges of smallpox, polio, and measles. But because of the cost of serious adverse vaccine reactions the US government has passed laws that protect vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits involving vaccine damage.

Pro-Vaccination / Anti-Vaccination Debate

The myriad controversies and some vaccine fiascos, have led to a polarization of the vaccine camps into pro-vaccination and anti-vaccination factions. At times this polarization has erupted into outright warfare with professional casualties in the form of ruined professional careers and apparent witch hunts. And all of this heated debate centers on the question of whether vaccines have saved countless children’s lives or devastated the health of countless children.  Anyone who cares to take even a casual look at the literature and numerous internet sites dedicated to the subject of vaccine safety will find a wealth of sobering, considered, and reasonable arguments on both sides of the debate. One can also easily find heated arguments and outright rage at the audacity of the other group which is risking the lives of children. One group will claim that children are being vaccinated into a chronic disease state, and the other accuses parents of leaving the unvaccinated prey to the evils of dreaded diseases. One side flings accusations of vaccine damage and conspiratorial cover-up, and the other side produces scholarly medical studies that vindicate vaccination.

The issue is not whether one vaccine is safe or not, but whether the entire program of universal and enforced vaccination may be misguided. – Dr. Randall Neustaedter

Are vaccines responsible for the rise in a handful of chronic, epidemic diseases in children?

That is the current state of the world that new parents venture into if they question the wisdom of subjecting their infant to the long list of routine vaccines in the modern recommended schedule.

Vaccine safety is not a simple question. For many parents, and many experts in the holistic medical field, the issue is not whether one vaccine is safe or not, but whether the entire program of universal and enforced vaccination may be misguided. There is a convincing argument that vaccines are responsible for the rise in a handful of chronic, epidemic diseases in children, specifically asthma, autism, attention, and diabetes. There is no question that the incidence of these diseases has been steadily increasing in children during the same period of time that the number of vaccines administered to those children has multiplied. And there is no other cogent explanation for the rise of these diseases except their possible association with vaccines.

The Decision to Vaccinate is Yours

Ultimately, every parent must decide whether they are more anxious about the disease or the vaccine hurting their child. This is a complicated decision process. Each of the diseases has varying risks and severity. Some are frightening and some are benign. Some diseases like whooping cough are more severe in infancy when the vaccines seem to have the greatest risk of harm, and some diseases like hepatitis B and cervical cancer from HBV are sexually transmitted and only prevalent in adults. This is a difficult subject for anyone to navigate, even for those with medical training. To help you make your own educated decision read my book, The Vaccine Guide.

I am passing along this important information from the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) so that you can protect your rights to vaccine exemptions. Please ask your representatives to oppose AB2109.

Contact California Legislators NOW to Oppose AB2109

Your rights to make informed independent vaccination choices for your family are under attack by forced vaccination proponents in California who want to profit from restricting your independent access to a personal belief exemption to mandatory vaccination.  We need your timely help to contact California legislators to oppose Assembly Bill 2109.

AB2109, introduced by Assembly Member Richard Pan, who himself is a pediatrician, would impose these additional costly and time consuming burdens on parents wanting to use a personal belief exemption to:

1)    pay for an expensive appointment at a medical doctor’s office to be given vaccine risk and benefit information that is already available online for free; and

2)    jump through the bureaucratic hoops of obtaining yet additional new forms provided by the Department of Public Health which state that the health care practitioner has provided risk and benefit information to the parent; and

3)    find a health care provider actually willing to take the appointment and then sign the new forms within 6th months of starting school for the exemption to be valid.

This raises many questions legislators need to answer including:

How will the state pay for all these extra required office visits for families on public assistance and for the kids of state employees who have their health coverage provided by the state?

What happens to a parent who can’t find a provider willing to make these types of appointments and then sign the form?

What will stop doctors from using this law to deny access to philosophical exemptions? It is already hard enough for families to find providers who are willing to just treat children in their practice at all when they deviate from the required vaccination schedule.

The bill has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Health.  Text of the bill can be found here:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_2101-2150/ab_2109_bill_20120223_introduced.html.

In the meantime, we need you to take the following actions to help oppose this bill:

1) Contact your state senator and state assembly member and ask them to oppose AB2109.   If you log in to the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and view this alert on the California state page, we will automatically lookup who your legislators are and display them to the right of this alert. You can click on their names to open up their contact information.  This free confidential service requires your registration and login in order for us to be able to calculate who you legislators are.

2) Contact members of the Assembly Committee on Health and ask them to oppose AB 2109 (suggested phone call outline below).

William Monning (D) -  Chair
Tel: (916) 319-2027
Fax: (916) 319-2127

Dan Logue (R) – Vice Chair
(P) 916-319-2003
(F) 916-319-2103

Tom Ammiano (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2013
Fax: (916) 319-2113

Toni Atkins (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2076
Fax: (916) 319-2176

Susan Bonilla (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2011
Fax: (916) 319-2111

Mike Eng (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2049
Fax: (916) 319-2149

Martin Garrick (R)
(P) 916-319-2074
(F) 916-319-2174

Richard .S Gordon (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2021
Fax: (916) 319-2121

Mary Hayashi (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2018
Fax: (916) 319-2118

Roger Hernandez (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2057
Fax: (916) 319-2157

Bonnie Lowenthal (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2054
Fax: (916) 319-2154

Allan R. Mansoor (R)
(P) (916) 319-2068
(F) (916) 319-2168

Holly J. Mitchell (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2047
Fax: (916) 319-2147

Brian Nestande (R)
(P) 916-319-2064
(F) 916-319-2164

Richard Pan (D) – sponsor
Tel: (916) 452-0505
Fax: (916) 452-5525

V. Manuel Perez (D)
Tel: (916) 319-2080
Fax: (916) 319-2180

Jim Silva (R)
(P) 916-319-2067
(F) 916-319-2167

Cameron Smyth (R)
(P) 916-319-2038
(F) 916-319-2138

Das Williams
Tel: (916) 319-2035
Fax: (916) 319-2135

Additional contact information for district offices is available by clicking on the assembly members name here – http://ahea.assembly.ca.gov/membersstaff

Emails are listed as assemblymember.lastname@assembly.ca.gov

3) Let us know if you can help with the hearings by contacting NVIC CA State Directors, Dawn Winkler or Michelle Gutierrez, at CADirector@NVICAdvocacy.org or call Dawn Winkler at (530) 283-1018. if you

a) are willing to attend the committee hearings and/or testify against the bill; or

b) have a family member who has suffered an adverse reaction to a pertussis containing vaccine and are willing to provide written or oral testimony against the bill while describing that reaction; or

c) you have been thrown out of your doctor’s office for delaying or declining a vaccine and are willing to share your story with legislators; or

d) you are a health care provider who is willing to provide testimony against the bill.

4) Send this to as many friends and family in California that you can and ask them to please register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org so they can get added to this state email list and receive updates how they can help fight this bill during this session.  TO LIKE AND SHARE THIS ALERT ON FACEBOOK, link to http://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/CAOPPOSEAB2109RestrictingVaccineExemptions.aspx and click on “like” or “send” by the Facebook tag on the top of the page.

Sample Phone Plan:

·         Call the office number and introduce yourself and ask to talk to someone about AB 2109. If this is your assembly member’s office, let them know you are a constituent and what town/city you are from.

·         Let the appropriate person know you are opposed to AB 2109 because it requires you to have to pay for an extra medical office visit you don’t want or need, it requires additional bureaucratic paperwork, and as a parent if this passes, you have no guarantee you will be able to find a provider who will take these appointments or sign the form. (If you’ve ever been harassed by a doctor before or denied care, this is a great place to talk about this).

·         Let the legislative office know that this bill wastes your time and money because you are already well educated on vaccine risks and benefits (explain the steps you have taken to educate yourself above and beyond any handout could provide).

·         Let them know about your personal story what got you involved in this issue and why an unrestricted personal belief exemption is important to your family especially if anyone in your family has had a vaccine reaction.

Additional Talking Points Against AB 2109 to be used in your written letters/email:

·         Forcing parents into a paid contractual relationship with a health care provider they wouldn’t otherwise utilize for their children’s health care is not only a violation of basic parental rights, it creates distrust and resentment towards public health programs run by the state.

·         Especially in California, many families utilize health care providers not reliant on pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines, and only practitioners part of the pharmaceutical paradigm or medicine are allowed to provide the information and sign the form under this bill.

·         AB 2109 discriminates against families utilizing complementary and alternative medicine by forcing them into paying money to a medical practitioner they wouldn’t otherwise use who is already philosophically opposed to the parent’s personal and religious convictions regarding vaccination.

·         Parents who utilize vaccine exemptions are typically  more educated regarding the risks and benefits of vaccination than both the parents who choose vaccination and aren’t required by this bill to receive this information and the health care providers who would be required to sign the exemption in order for it to be valid.

·         Many doctors’ offices throw families out of their practice for delaying or declining a vaccine.  There is nothing in this bill to prevent a doctor’s office from refusing to take these appointments to begin with or for refusing to sign the form once a family pays for a visit.  These real obstacles will restrict or deny access to the personal beliefs exemption for some families currently using it.

·         The state is not in the financial position to pay for all these extra required office visits within 6 months of school starting for families on public assistance and for the kids of state employees who have their health coverage provided by the state and who want to delay or a decline one or more vaccines.

·         The information required by this bill is already available to parents online for free and coercive measures like this bill do nothing but create and further distrust and resentment towards public health programs run by the state.

·         There is NO current crisis that would indicate that CA needs to make it more difficult to obtain exemptions from vaccination.

·         Most vaccination rates in CA for children 19 to 35 months old for individual vaccines are at or above the CDC Healthy People 2020 goal of 90%. (http://www2a.cdc.gov/nip/coverage/nis/nis_iap2.asp?fmt=v&rpt=tab03_antigen_state&qtr=Q1/2009-Q4/2009)

·         Vaccination rates for children entering kindergarten in California have increased from 2010 to 2011 and are at or above the CDC Healthy People 2020 goals of 90%, except for one category, which is at 89.4%. (http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/2011SelectiveReviewResults.pdf)

·         Bill Sponsor Assembly Member Dr. Richard Pan, claims in a press release that his bill will help prevent outbreaks of pertussis. It is important for legislators to understand that the pertussis outbreaks in CA are due to waning immunity of the vaccine, and not because of families taking the exemption.  Here are some references to back this point.

o   “The rise in pertussis doesn’t seem to be related to parents’ refusing to have their children vaccinated for fear of potential side effects. In California, pertussis rates are about the same in counties with high childhood vaccination rates and low ones. And the C.D.C. reports that pertussis immunization rates have been stable or increasing since 1992.”(http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/vaccination-is-steady-but-pertussis-is-surging/ )

o   Children can be susceptible to pertussis even if they are completely vaccinated. (http://www.inewsource.org/2011/03/28/experts-zero-in-on-waning-immunity/ )

o   The acellular pertussis vaccine’s failure to deliver durable infection protection to children aged 7-10 years led to the 2010 California pertussis epidemic. (http://www.internalmedicinenews.com/news/conference-news/infectious-diseases-society-of-america-conference/single-article/acellular-pertussis-vaccine-s-waning-immunity-caused-california-epidemic/71de9826f4.html)

o   The pertussis vaccine has been found to wane after only 3 years, leaving a much larger population of fully vaccinated children susceptible to pertusssis than unvaccinated children.  KPBS and the Watchdog Institute performed a joint investigation into the recent increasing pertussis rates in California and found the majority of cases of pertussis were occurring in fully vaccinated populations of children in the 8-12 year old age group.  They went on to show that the vaccine wanes after only 3 years.   (http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/sep/20/whooping-cough-vaccine-wanes-after-three-years/)

·         Bill supporters claim that vaccines are safe.   The reality is there is real risk.  The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was established by Congress in 1986 to protect vaccine manufacturers and doctors from liability for vaccine injuries and death. As of Jan. 3, 2012, there have been 14,073 claims filed for vaccine injury and 1077 death claims.  The total dollar amount of vaccine injury and death awards granted and paid to families of vaccine victims by our government is $2,366,649,931.96. (http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statisticsreports.html#Claims)

·         Just for pertussis containing vaccines alone administered in the state of California,  11,516 reports of Vaccine Adverse Events have been filed with the federal government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System where 77% of the reports of adverse events are for children 6 and under.  There have been 5,775 disorders of the nervous system reported and 172 deaths.  96% of the deaths reported were in children three and under.  (http://www.medalerts.org/)

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) works diligently to prepare and disseminate our legislative advocacy action alerts and supporting materials.  We request that organizations and members of the public forward our alerts in their original form to assure consistent and accurate messaging and effective action. Please acknowledge NVIC as originators of this work when forwarding to members of the public and like-minded organizations. To receive alerts immediately, register at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, a website dedicated to this sole purpose and provided as a free public service by NVIC.

I am now able to see patients who live at a distance from the San Francisco Bay Area by conducting interviews via Skype or Google Video. Anyone can set up these accounts for free and connect with me through a webcam wherever you live.

I conduct interviews with parents about babies and children, and with adults about complicated health problems. I can coordinate with your local medical practitioners to offer complementary care for health problems that might also need physical exams or lab tests.

I will advise you about appropriate nutritional supplements, herbal formulas, and homeopathic medicines to treat your health problems, and I will arrange for you to receive all the products you need to maintain an optimum level of health. This may include immediate treatment for current problems and a long-term plan for prevention and

Follow-up visits are also important for ensuring maximum progress and a high level of future health.

To schedule an appointment, send me an email at cureguide@gmail.com.

Dr. Neustaedter

This is the first in a series of articles about alternatives to common pharmaceutical medications.

There are situations when antibiotics are necessary and sometimes life-saving. Severe infections of the nervous system, kidneys, blood, and lungs require antibiotics. But common respiratory and ear infections, for example, do not need antibiotics.  Most of these are caused by viruses anyway, so antibiotics will have no benefit. And antibiotics can cause significant adverse health effects, including setting the body up for future infections. Antibiotics kill off beneficial bacteria that discourage infections. Antibiotics also have a suppressing effect on the immune system, especially whilte blood cell productions and the body’s own ability to fight infection. In addition, overuse of antibiotics and exposure to antibiotics through the food we eat has led to bacterial resistance. Then antibiotics are ineffective in fighting infections and we have to move to stronger antibiotics with even more side effects.

A better way

A much better solution is to use antiviral and antibacterial herbs and supplements to fight infections. So at the first sign of a virus take a Chinese Herbal Yin Chiao (pronounced “chow”) formula. There are also children’s liquid versions of this formula (Children’s Clear and Release by Golden Flower and Yin Chiao Jr by Health Concerns and). Windbreaker by Kan Herbs is a similar formula. Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) is also an excellent antiviral and safe for children. It is available in liquid extracts for children. Echinacea is sometimes helpful to stimulate white blood cell production as well. These are all available at many health food stores or on the Internet.

For any infections take liquid silver, vitamin C (children can take Emergen-C powder, vitamin A (10,000-50,000 IU), and increase your vitamin D to at least 10,000 IU (children can take 4,000-5,000 during infections).

Use homeopathic Belladonna pellets for any type of acute inflammation and infection, whether it’s a fever, red sore throat, earache, or skin infection. If colds develop with congestion then switch to Pulsatilla. And for flus with chills, aching muscles, and extreme tiredness take Gelsemium. Homeopathic medicines are always safe for children as well.

Stock up on these supplements for the winter season. Keep them available and start taking them at the first sign of infection.