A CONTROVERSY

     Pat McKay: Many health professionals, medical doctors, parents and guardians of animals are beginning to see the dangers of vaccinations. Unfortunately it has taken many chronic illnesses and deaths from these vaccines before people are taking notice.

     Even veterinarians and pediatricians who are aware-because they are so controlled by the bureaucratic medical and legal systems-are afraid to state their concerns over the effects of vaccines, and rightly so. The AMA, the AVMA, other medical and legal organizations, city, county and state governments, peers, pharmaceutical companies, et aI, would come down on them; they stand to be ostracized; to be put through lengthy and expensive legal proceedings; to lose their licenses to practice medicine; and ultimately, they may have to stop doing what they love, caring for animals and children.

     Then we have the medical professionals who are brave enough to speak up and have suffered some or all of the above. My thanks to those

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dedicated pioneers who are changing the system. Whether you are a medical professional, a guardian of animals, a parent, or all of the above, I am happy to say that at least now we do have a great deal of controversy.

     Some quotes from Celeste Yarnall's book, CAT CARE, NATURALLY, bring out the concerns.

     Celeste Yarnall: "Though vaccination has become a highly controversial subject, those who challenge the concept are sometimes treated as if they were against apple pie and motherhood. I consider conventional vaccines to be extremely dangerous. As you will see in this chapter, many veterinarians agree that vaccination is one of the most harmful things we do to our animals."

     W Jean Dodds, DVM: "Recently, polyvalent (containing different viruses) vaccines have been shown to induce suppression of absolute lymphocyte responsiveness. Previous studies have shown a reduction in platelet count. Can antigenic overload from single or combination vaccines overwhelm the host's immune system" If so, can immunosuppression result?"

     Richard Pitcairn, DVM, PhD: "If you knew when you gave a vaccination that you might save an animal from an episode of an acute disease, and you also knew that you would be sentencing the animal to a lifetime of chronic disease, would you still vaccinate?"

     C Edgar Sheaffer, DVM: "Vaccinosis in animals is a true disease state. My own research

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leads me to believe that some vaccines prevent acute disease by presenting a chronic disease in its place and that the disease will come back in a form that modern veterinary (allopathic) medicine is incapable of curing."

     Dr Pitcairn: "In many ways, chronic panleuko-penia looks like feline leukemia."

     Jeff Levy, DVM: "I believe that feline leukemia evolved because of vaccination for panleukopenia. And then with the vaccination for feline leukemia, the cat just came up with a different disease, FIV (Feline AIDS). You can see this in cats that are vaccinated and later turn up with all the symptoms of feline leukemia but still test negative. The disease is coming from the cat. And each subsequent incarnation that is necessitated by vaccination, by taking away a natural form, is more serious."

     Christina Chambreau, DVM: "Poor nutrition and vaccinations are the primary causes of all chronic and most acute health problems our beloved pets experience today. Under conditions of optimal nutrition, the number of animals succumbing to infectious disease would decrease dramatically in three to four generations. This would virtually eliminate the pressure to develop and promote vaccines.

     C E I Day, MA, Veterinary MB, MRCVS: "There is an awakening recognition among veterinarians of the connection between immunization and various illnesses and conditions, including bloat, stained teeth, ulcers, chronic gastroenteritis and seizures. After conducting controlled studies of the effects of both

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 vaccinations and homeopathic immunizations for kennel cough in dogs, I have concluded that this vaccine is not an advantage, but a health risk."

     Celeste Yarnall: "A breeder friend of mine told me about how, when one of her buyers took a naturally raised, unvaccinated kitten for a checkup, the veterinarian talked her into going against her breeder's advice and she allowed him to vaccinate the kitten. The kitten died in its carrier on the way home."

     Pat McKay: When an animal dies that soon after a vaccination, it is hard for anyone to dispute the cause. The greater danger is the cat, dog or child who has much more subtle signs of vaccinosis and develops a chronic disease over many months or years and the fact that it was caused by the vaccination is not apparent to the guardian of the animal or child. That is what I see over and over. Believe me, it is difficult to get the guardian to see the association, especially when the traditional veterinarian says there is no connection. Celeste gives an example of a typical traditional veterinarian reaction.

     Celeste Yarnall: "My first Tonkinese litter contained four of the healthiest, most beautiful kittens I'd ever seen. The evening of their first kitten series of three-way modified live vaccine, they all ran a 105 temperature. One kitten's eyes crossed from the acute conjunctivitis and high fever. Another's eyes were damaged as a result of the infection and a third's eyes still run to this day. Coincidence? Genetics? I don't think so. My veterinarian didn't make the connection to the vaccine and inoculated them three more times,

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completing the kitten series. The last two vaccinations were four-way, including immunization for chlamydia. I thought this was extraordinarily risky because it was my understanding that cats were never supposed to be vaccinated when sick.

     "The terrible and costly ordeal continued:

Consultations with eye specialists mounted into thousands of dollars. Extensive blood work was performed. Steroids and antibiotics were administered. All these procedures only made matters worse. It took me over a year to restore health to these precious kittens through the use of homeopathic remedies.

     "To make matters even worse, after this episode Chloe developed a cyst at the site of her last vaccination. Celina's hair fell out in a big round patch at her vaccination site, and several other cats suffered from a general malaise. Conventional veterinarians consider a symptom or condition to be a side effect only if it occurs within seventy-two hours of the vaccination. But holistic veterinarians tell me that vaccinosis can occur any time during the life of our cats."

     Pat McKay: When people ask me what are some of the signs you see of vaccinosis, the list is so long, it is hard to know where to begin. The above disastrous experience is just one example.

     Dr Pitcairn lists such symptoms as laziness or inaction, finicky or ravenous appetite, poor grooming, hairball vomiting or cough, cystitis, nephritis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic upper respiratory infections, increased sexual desire, aggression, destructiveness, sucking on

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wool, excessive licking and seizures.

Pat McKay: The controversy continues.

What will really bring forth change is to have knowledgeable guardians, who stand up for their animals and children, ask questions, demand straight answers and make informed choices.

Confessions of a Medical Heretic

 by Robert Mendelsohn, MD

     My suspicion, shared by others in my profession is that nearly 10,000 SIDS deaths in the US each year are related to the vaccines that are routinely given to children.

The People's Doctor Newsletter

by Vera Chatz, Managing Editor, 1988

     Dr Mendelsohn's position on childhood vaccines evolved gradually. At first, he took on only the pertussis vaccine, the most deadly and dangerous one of them all. But as years went on, he took on all the elephants. In the end, he opposed all vaccines, arguing that no-one knew what harm the injection of all those foreign substances into a child's body could cause during the course of a lifetime.

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