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More Parents Refusing to
Get Kids Vaccinated
The above headline comes
from the Feb. 9, 2004 issue of the AMA News. The article came with a
sub-title that read, " Physicians are increasingly confronting parents who
are concerned about the safety of childhood immunizations."
According to a recent
University of Michigan study that surveyed by mail a random national
sample of 750 pediatricians and 750 family physicians, an increasing
number of parents express concerns about rumored ill effects like autism,
autoimmune diseases, compromised immunity, learning disabilities, diabetes
and paralysis. Gary L. Freed, MD, MPH, the study's lead investigator and
director of general pediatrics at the university's health system in Ann
Arbor, Michigan explained the purpose of the study, "We wanted to quantify
the degree to which parents were refusing or expressing concerns." He
continued, "Our findings indicated to me that parental concern and refusal
is a relatively common occurrence."
The study, originally
published in the January American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed
that 93% of pediatricians and 60% of family physicians reported that at
least one parent had refused a vaccination for his or her child in the
last year. Additionally, 69% percent of the physicians said that the
number of concerns had increased substantially over the past year.
Although there continues
to be much debate, the evidence continues to mount as to the dangers of
adverse reactions from vaccinations. One such study was published on the
"NewsWise" website from Northeastern University, and started with the
headline, "New Research Suggests Link Between Vaccine Ingredients and
Autism, ADHD." That article began with a chilling statement, "According to
new research from Northeastern University pharmacy professor Richard Deth
and colleagues from the University of Nebraska, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins
University, there is an apparent link between exposure to certain
neurodevelopmental toxins (ingredients found in vaccines) and an increased
possibility of developing neurological disorders including autism and
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder". This research was the first to
offer an explanation for possible causes of two increasingly common
childhood neurological disorders and is published in the April 2004 issue
of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
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