Controversial. . .

I know this topic is a controversial one, but I've been thinking alot about it lately, and thought I'd share.
I have an 8 year old niece, named Lauren. Lauren is autistic. She is beautiful. She is sweet and caring. She is smart. She can talk and she can understand many things. She has been throwing tantrums since she could walk. You might imagine, having ever dealt with a tantrum, how tiring it must be for my sister and her husband to deal with this on a daily basis. Jonathan is my third son, but my first to throw tantrums. I can tell you that it wears me out. . . and I struggle with keeping my cool when he breaks out into tantrum mode.
Interestingly enough, Lauren is one of the many children in the United States of America that has been permanently injured by a vaccine. In her case, it is most certain that it was the DTaP vaccine that began her downward spiral. It was given to her at 2 months old for the first time, after which she had a pretty typical vaccine reaction. There was a slight fever and some swelling at the injection site. Both of those reactions are typical. However, she also had a reaction that was less typical. Following the vaccine, she slept for 15 hours straight without waking. . . and she went over 8 days without a bowel movement. My sister didn't know it at the time, but this was indicitive of a bad reaction to that vaccine. The DTaP was repeated at 4, 6, and 18 months old. She was showing signs of autistic behavior at 18 months, but at that time they didn't realize it. They thought that she was just slow in developing expressive skills.
I became pregnant with my first child when Lauren was only a couple months old. Being the researchers that my husband and I are, we started researching the vaccines. We had friends that alerted us to the topic and suggested that we research before having our baby vaccinated. Rich started the research process and immediately found information on how several vaccines are cultured by using human diploid cells from an aborted fetus. We immediately decided that we would not agree to any of the vaccines that contain human diploid cells. We knew that we did not want to benefit from something that we so adamantly oppose.

"The following vaccines are grown on aborted fetal tissue - rabies, some mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis a, smallpox (some), ipv. One of the single measles vaccines is further attenuated in diploid cells
This can be seen in the package inserts - referred to as diploid cells"
( http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/abortedtissue.htm )

So, at first we looked for an alternative to those vaccines. We weren't sure yet that we didn't want to vaccinate, so we searched for vaccines that did not use those cells. But the more that we researched, and the more time that I spent researching each of the ingredients in the vaccines, the more I knew that we could not vaccinate our children. All of that happened without even knowing that a vaccine is what caused Lauren's autism. Many will be skeptical that vaccines cause autism. After all, the CDC says that vaccines DO NOT cause autism. I won't speak to that. I have spent hours upon hours of my spare time researching vaccines down to the individual ingredients in each of the vaccines. . . and the side effects . . . of not only the vaccine as a whole, but also possible side effects of each individual ingredient. A bit much??? Maybe, but I make it a point to know as much as I can about everything that goes into my children's bodies. (including the food that they eat)
When I started researching the side effects of each of the ingredients of the DTaP vaccine . . . I slowly became sick to my stomach. It seemed as if they were describing what Lauren had experienced. She was tested at about 2 1/2 years old by a doctor in Richmond, VA who specialized in childhood autism. They took many viles of blood and a hair sample down to her very roots. They actually confirmed that they believed (based on what was present in her blood sample and her hair sample) that it was the DTaP that caused her adverse reaction.

Before I have too many readers getting upset with me, I will say that I am not suggesting that you choose not to vaccinate your children. I advocate, to any parent, that you do your research. Don't choose to vaccinate because you trust your doctor. Why would your doctor suggest that you vaccinate if it isn't safe, you might wonder? I can assure you that most pediatricians don't have time in their lives to research every vaccine down to the individual ingredient. And besides, they don't have the vested interest in your child that you do. The pediatricians also get paychecks from the pharmaceutical companies who are peddling the vaccines. Bottom line??? Choose to vaccinate your child because you have researched it and believe it to be the best decision for your family. . . not because the pediatrician thinks that you should. I suggest that if you do vaccinate, that you do NOT follow the schedule that the AAP suggests. Delay the vaccines if possible, and then follow your own schedule, getting only 1 or 2 injections at a time. I'd also suggest that you carefully read the insert that comes with the vaccine. Make certain that the vaccine does NOT contain thimerasol.
In the past 20 years, in this country, we have not seen too many cases of the childhood diseases that you and I probably had at one time or another. (measles, mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough, etc.) However, in the past 20 years, we have seen a rise in chronic conditions. So, I am just wondering if we are trading a week of the measles or chicken pox for a lifetime of a chronic disease, like autism - among many others.

"Fisher concludes, "I've always argued that public health is not measured only by an absence of infectious disease. It also is measured by the absence of chronic disease. By that score we get a big fat 'F.' So we don't have measles and mumps, but look what we have now. " ( http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32988 )

The link I provided to the article is about taking mercury out of the vaccines, which I do believe to be a good thing, however, mercury is just one of the many toxins in vaccines that should be eliminated.

I am not sure who will be reading this post, but I do want to answer a question that some of you may be thinking. "Are you afraid that your children will get one of these childhood diseases?"

Stay tuned . . . I'll answer that question soon! :)