SIDS
According to the Mayo clinic, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the leading cause of death for infants in the first year of life.Characteristics of SIDS:
- Occurs mostly at around two and four months old
- A death that is not caused by suffocation, vomiting or choking, birth defects or infection
- “Researchers have discovered that abnormalities in a part of the brain that helps control breathing and arousal likely play a role in SIDS. Infants who die of SIDS may have brainstems that mature more slowly than those of other infants. Myelin, a fatty substance involved in nerve signal transmission, also may develop more slowly in infants with SIDS.”
- Stomach sleeping- infants who sleep on their backs have lower arousal thresholds (1), (2)
- Occur mostly at two and four months
- Have been linked to several infant deaths
- Central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) complications
- Excessive sleepiness
- Seizures
Deaths related to the pertussis vaccine are very controversial. The CDC says that DTP has never been proven to cause any deaths. The evidence is suspicious, though:
- In 1979, 4 infants in Tennessee all died within 24 hours of receiving the same lot of DTP vaccine. (3)
- Dr. William Torch of the University of Reno found that of 103 children who died of SIDS, two-thirds had been vaccinated with DTP three weeks before death. (4).
- The Torch study in 1986 summarized case reports of more than 150 deaths following DTP vaccination by 37 authors in 12 countries. (5)
- The 1990 Walker study concluded that infants vaccinated with DTP were 7.3 times more likely to die of SIDS in the first three days after vaccination than those in the control group. (6)
- A Swedish study of 2,800 infants observed that four babies vaccinated with the acellular pertussis vaccine died within two weeks to five months of vaccination. Based on these findings, Sweden withdrew licensure for the acellular pertussis vaccine. (7)
- In 1983, UCLA’s department of pediatrics conducted a study of 145 infants in Los Angeles county and found that 53 of the babies had received the DTP vaccine shortly before their deaths. 27 died within 28 days of receiving the shot, 17 within a week, and 6 within 24 hours. (8).
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/laura.html
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/dorey.html (permanent damage, later resulting in death)
Two large studies are said to be proof that there is no connection between SIDS and DTP, the Griffin and Cherry studies. These studies suffer from a big problem though: conflict of interest. Dr. Marie Griffin reportedly received her funding from Burroughs Wellcome, the one of the largest manufacturer of pertussis vaccine in the world and Dr. James Cherry was a paid consultant for Ledberle Laboratories, America’s largest pertussis vaccine manufacturer. In 1988, Cherry also admitted to receiving $50,000 per year for testifying on the behalf of vaccine manufacturers in vaccine injury lawsuits. He also received $400,000 in grant funds for UCLA (which partly covered his salary and expenses) and his department at UCLA received $450,000 in “gifts” from Ledberle Laboratories (9). To say these studies were biased is an understatement.
This is in sharp contrast to what happened Andrew Wakefield, the British physician who conducted an infamous study connecting autism and MMR. In 1998, Wakefield and 13 other colleagues published the results of their study of 12 children who had developed gastrointestinal issues and autism simultaeneously and has since studied over 150 children with autism. He found that a majority had elevated levels of IgG measles antibodies when compared to children in a control group and measles specific antigens in their colons. Wakefield’s findings have been replicated by two other researchers, Dr. H. Kawashiwa and Dr. John O’Leary. (10) In May of 2010, Britain’s General Medical Council revoked Wakefield’s license, charged him with “serious professional misconduct”, called his findings flawed, and accused him of presenting his research in a dishonest manner and acting with “callous disregard” towards the children in his study. The council also accused him of failing to disclose conflicts of interest and mishandling the funds he received for research. (9)
Now whether or not Wakefield behaved unethically, he stands accused of the very things that Drs. Griffin and Cherry have been accused of and even admitted to. Yet the medical community has rallied around them and held up their research to be ethical, thorough, and sound. Furthermore, the fact that Wakefield’s results have been replicated gives supports his claims that his research was, indeed, sound. This mother’s experience also supports Wakefield’s findings:
http://mothering.com/health/searching-reasons-why-mothers-report-autism
References
(1) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_sleep)(2)http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sudden-infant-death-syndrome/DS00145/DSECTION=risk-factors
(3) How to Raise a Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, Robert S. Mendelsohn, pg. 250
(4) How to Raise a Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, Robert S. Mendelsohn, pg. 250
(5) The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Decision, Randall Neustaedter, pg. 131
(6) The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Decision, Randall Neustaedter, pg. 131
(7) The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Decision, Randall Neustaedter, pg. 137
(8) How to Raise a Healthy Child... In Spite of Your Doctor, Robert S. Mendelsohn, pg. 251
(9) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults, Randall Neustaedter, pg. 21
(10) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults, Randall Neustaedter, pg. 46
(11) (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264513643960110.html)
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