http://www.quantumbalancing.com/no_shots_no_school.htm

No Shots, No School - More Efforts To Force Injections On Our Children
By Julie Foster
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20001203_xnfoj_no_shots_n.shtml
12-3-00

When Marie's children were born, she had them vaccinated in accordance with state laws and she turned over the mandated documentation to the local schools in Ohio. Little did she foresee that school officials would threaten her with education neglect several years later because her daughter's records could not be found.

Earlier this fall, Marie was informed that until she produced new copies of the vaccination record or had her daughter re-vaccinated, the girl could not begin junior high school -- a consequence that ultimately could have resulted in neglect charges against Marie.

Refusing to have her adolescent daughter re-vaccinated, Marie questioned the school board on the accuracy of record keeping in the district and was eventually heard. Her case is now settled, but other parents who question not only accuracy of record keeping but also the merits of mandated vaccinations are facing intimidation, she said.

"The mandated vaccinations must have adequate record keeping or else children will end up being re-immunized unnecessarily with unproven and unknown, potentially damaging side effects," said Marie, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Schools are cracking down on mandated vaccinations in other states as well, including New York -- the new home state of Senator-elect Hillary Clinton, who authored a notorious universal health-care proposal during her husband's first term as president.

In New York, as in Ohio, children are required by law to be vaccinated for hepatitis B -- primarily an adult disease usually spread by multiple sex partners, drug abuse or an occupation with exposure to blood. Children are at a very low risk of exposure, unless the pregnant mother is infected, according to the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, a non-partisan professional association

The families of 77 middle-school students in Utica, N.Y., were told to have their children vaccinated last month for hepatitis B, under threat of losing custody. Government studies, however, say that particular vaccination can be deadly to children.

On Oct. 10, the students were sent home for failing to get hepatitis B vaccines by the state deadline. Parents were warned the children would be turned over to Child Protective Services for neglect if they were still without a vaccination in two weeks.

"This is Hillary-care coming home to roost in New York," said Jane M. Orient, M.D., executive director of the AAPS. The Clintons pledged during the 1992 presidential campaign to create the Vaccines For Children program, which was to become the first domestic policy initiative of the administration. It was designed as their first shot to pass the Health Security Act.

"Their campaign to pass VFC was based on creating a false crisis by claiming that millions of children would be exposed to risk of disease without a government program," said Orient.

"This (hepatitis B) vaccine is a potential death sentence for some children," Orient continued. "Government studies show that children under the age of 14 are three times more likely to die or suffer adverse reactions after receiving hepatitis B vaccines than to catch the disease itself."

Nevertheless, states are demanding that parents have their children vaccinated for the disease.

The American Academy of Pediatrics admits, "In the U.S., most persons infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) acquired their infection as young adults or adolescents. HBV is transmitted primarily through sexual contact, injecting-drug use, regular household contact with a chronically infected person, or occupational exposure. However, the source of infection is unknown for approximately one third of persons who have acute hepatitis B."

According to its own statement, "The AAP recommends that providers administer hepatitis B vaccine to all adolescents for whom they provide services."

Claire Pospisil, spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Health, said, "This is the first year we're requiring schools to immunize seventh-graders." Ideally, she continued, students are given the vaccine at the beginning of the school year. However, the state did have some "problems" with compliance in certain areas of the state.

Many parents do not want their children immunized for certain diseases, including hepatitis B and polio, because of the risk factors involved. However, Pospisil believes "parents may not be used to immunizing their kids in the seventh grade [compared to] when they first start school."

The spokeswoman noted parents may apply for an exemption, "but it's fairly narrow." Parents must obtain certification from a New York physician that a vaccine may be detrimental to a child's health, or parents can submit a written and signed statement to the child's school principal indicating the family has "sincere and genuine religious beliefs" against receiving the vaccination.

Pospisil said principals may ask for more information than just the signed letter and that requests for exemption are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

At least one group advocates the elimination of mandated vaccines altogether. AAPS recently adopted a resolution calling for an end to mandatory childhood vaccines. The resolution passed without a single "no" vote at the group's annual meeting this month.

"This is not a vote against vaccines," said Orient. "This resolution only attempts to halt blanket vaccine mandates by government agencies and school districts that give no consideration for the rights of the parents or the individual medical condition of the child."

According to Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, 42 states have mandatory vaccine policies, and many children are required to have 22 shots before first grade.

"It's obscene to threaten to seize a child just because his parents refuse medical treatment that is obviously unnecessary and perhaps even dangerous," Orient added. "AAPS believes that parents, with the advice of their doctors, should make decisions about their children's medical care -- not government bureaucrats. This resolution affirms that position."

In the meantime, parents like Marie continue to battle with school districts over controversial vaccines and immunizations. To those parents, Marie gives some advice: "Above all, educate yourself. The schools will not trouble themselves to educate parents," she said. "An educated parent is the sole defense of a child that is to be instructed in a schooling environment. Always, always appeal to lawmakers, school administrators and anyone who will listen to address with good medical sense the necessity of mandated vaccination."

Doctors Who Are Opposed To Compulsory Vaccinations
By Julie Foster http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20001203_xnfoj_a_differen.shtml
12-3-00

Physicians' association calls itself 'the Delta Force of private medicine'...

In an age when doctors' associations routinely advocate gun-control measures, expanded government-funded health insurance and ever-further regulation of tobacco products, one organization goes against the flow, supporting free-market principles in the world of health care.

Since its founding in 1943, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has dedicated itself to "preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and the practice of private medicine."

"AAPS believes in the oath of Hippocrates and that the physician should work for his patient, not some third party," said Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of AAPS.

The Hippocratic oath is a pronouncement of medical ethics taken by physicians. Originally, the oath included a promise to do no harm to patients "and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion."

"It's interesting that the 'do no harm' clause has been eliminated from the supposedly updated oaths," Orient noted. "We're seeing an inversion of medical ethics lately that is based on population ethics, in which physicians are being indoctrinated to believe that it's OK to sacrifice the individual to the good of the whole."

One such area is mandated vaccinations. In an extraordinary move, the AAPS recently voted to oppose compulsory vaccinations. "There are increasing numbers of mandatory childhood vaccines, to which children are often subjected without meaningful informed consent, including information about potential adverse side effects," said an official statement.

The resolution goes on to assert that "safety testing of many vaccines is limited and the data are unavailable for independent scrutiny, so that mass vaccination is equivalent to human experimentation and subject to the Nuremberg Code, which requires voluntary informed consent."

On other social issues, AAPS takes a limited-government position.

"Public health approaches can be used as a pretext for state intrusion into private affairs," said Orient. "You have to know what people are doing so that you can try to change their behavior."

For example, on the issue of tobacco regulation, AAPS stands apart from other professional associations, which advocate government involvement.

Stated Orient, "We don't think people should smoke but it should not be used as an excuse for government intrusion into private decisions."

In contrast, the American Medical Association actively supports anti-tobacco programs sponsored by government agencies. In a March letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the AMA wrote: "On behalf of its 300,000 physician and medical student members, the American Medical Association urges the Senate Appropriations Committee to continue to devote needed resources to the federal government's anti-tobacco programs."

Additionally, the letter expressed support for the Clinton administration's lawsuit against the tobacco industry. "The AMA strongly supports adequate funding for the Department of Justice to pursue this important lawsuit on behalf of U.S. taxpayers," the group wrote.

Similarly, the American Academy of Pediatrics has taken the notion of "comprehensive" health care to a new level, advising pediatricians to question children on gun issues and media exposure. As reported in WorldNetDaily, a California doctor even decided to drop a child from his care after a parent expressed disapproval of a doctor-initiated discussion about guns.

Despite the trend toward tighter alliances between medical professionals and government agencies, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons continues to advocate for private, individual-specific and patient-directed health care. A champion of what it calls "true free-market reforms (such as Medical Savings Accounts) as an alternate to more-of-the-same nostrums that caused the crisis in medical costs," the group presses on in fulfilling its mission.

It has won a number of legal victories "for the rights of patients and physicians," according to its website, including:

"Protecting physicians against threats of Health and Human Services' sanctions for unassigned billing for laboratory tests at a time when such billing was perfectly legal (AAPS v. Bowen I and II);

"Establishing the right of physicians to be heard in federal court in a challenge to a fee freeze (Whitney v. Heckler);

"Challenging the Health Care Financing Administration's attempt to abrogate the freedom of patients and physicians to contract privately if no Medicare benefits are claimed (Stewart v. Sullivan);

Bringing to light the illegal secret operations of the President's Task Force on Health Care Reform (AAPS v. Clinton)." Orient summed up the organization's philosophy in one sentence: "We believe in the U.S. Constitution, and we believe in scientific integrity." The group, which calls itself "the Delta Force of private medicine," can be reached through its website.

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.