The controversy surrounding vaccines has become a hot-button issue among parents, doctors and politicians. Vaccines have been linked to everything from autism and sudden infant death syndrome to attention deficit disorder and food allergies. Many doctors say there is no research to back up these claims. Some parents are adamant that the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the vaccines are suppressing evidence of these problems and are paying off the American Academy of Pediatrics to agree with them. So, is there anything to any of these arguments?

It is true that vaccines contain many questionable ingredients. Thimerosal, a substance that is 50% mercury by weight, has been in the news a lot lately. Many people think that this one substance is the cause of our climbing autism rates. But others think aluminum, formaldehyde, antifreeze, MSG, latex and sorbitol are just as dubious. Moreover, foreign animal DNA, monkey kidney tissue, chicken embryo tissue, aborted fetal tissue and an assortment of viruses and bacteria may be the cause of rising cancer and allergy rates. The monkey virus SV40, a proven carcinogenic virus, was found in many polio vaccines in the 1960's. An unnecessary spike in the cancer rates resulted because the pharmaceutical companies were not careful enough to make sure their product was safe.

The routine vaccine testing that pharmaceuticals are required to subject their product to before releasing it to the public is insufficient. No vaccine has been tested for possible future infertility problems. Most of the testing is done on animals, which is a poor way to find out what effects they might have on humans. An animal cannot report mental or emotional problems or any discomforts that don't result in a loss of physical abilities. A long term test for a TB vaccine, for example, was conducted over 123 days on guinea pigs. I do not feel that this is enough for me to trust this chemical concoction in my baby.

But I think the real question here is are vaccines necessary? In the history of vaccines, only the smallpox vaccine has been taken out of circulation. It is well known that the Western Hemisphere has been certified polio-free since the 1990's. So why are we still vaccinating for it? It seems that the most cautious individual would only get it if they were going to a country in which polio was still endemic. Yet, in the United States, we are still required by law, unless we file an exemption, to vaccinate for

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