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The Sky is Falling

“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” cried Chicken Little. But was the sky really falling or was Chicken Little living in a world of fear and paranoia reminiscent of fear depicted in a Michael Moore docu-drama? “B.C. health officials brace for pandemic” is a classic example of a fear/paranoia headline, grabbing your attention, begging you to read or else you may die!

Last April, in a presentation to doctors, a top spokesman from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told doctors that emphasizing "alarm" and "dire outcomes" from the flu increased demand for flu shots. He further outlined for doctors what he called a "recipe" for increasing demand, saying, "Heightened concern, anxiety and worry" drove demand for flu shots. The presentation reminded doctors that the flu arrives "in cities and communities with significant media outlets," including newspapers and television stations. Adding to the hype, Glen Nowak, director of media relations, used this headline as a good example for increasing the demand for flu shots,” Mayo Clinic official predicts worst flu season in 30 years," Mayo Clinic's Dr. Greg Poland told USA Today last November, "This will probably be the worst flu season we've had in several decades. My guess is that we'll be in the 50,000 to 70,000 deaths this year due to this strain." Obviously the death toll did not occur, in fact, the flu vaccine did not have the correct flu strains and the data from the CDC Web site showed the effectiveness of last years shot ran from -0.14 to 0.33. "The zero means that statistically it is not different from zero and has no efficacy,” David Geier, a Maryland consultant on vaccine issues, said. He continues, "In other words last year's vaccine made no difference in the rate of developing influenza-like illness,". "The CDC says it had "no or low effectiveness," but that's just the CDC's spin that maybe one person was helped but they can't find them." The paradigm seems to be; don’t trust your body – trust us to do what’s right for your body and if what we do, doesn’t work – it’s better than nothing. Fear seems to be a best seller when it comes to getting the public and the government to spend.

Saying a pandemic occurs every 10 to 40 years is a blanket statement not applicable to the world today. The world was a completely different place in 1918. World War I was in full swing and many living conditions around the world were unhygienic including pollution in the air, ground and water overwhelming nearly every person’s immune system. So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and state, a pandemic has occurred without explanation twice in the last century – within eleven years of each other. Preparing for a pandemic is another issue altogether. Saturday’s article states, “Up to 1.1 million doses of the vaccine could be needed in the FHA alone… Health services would be overwhelmed, the delivery of services and social order could be threatened, and buildings would be needed to house the ill and dead.” The article states the last two pandemics (1957 and 1968) killed a million people, worldwide. The population of the world in ’57 was 2.9 billion and in ’68 was 4 billion. The pandemic affected .025% in ’57 and 34.4% in ’68. Extrapolating these figures to today’s population in B.C. means we could see a pandemic affecting (roughly) anywhere between 1,050 and 147,000 people. However, with the technology and understanding we have today, diseases glorified by the media like SARS, kills about 495 people in 29 countries. Therefore, a pandemic would likely not hit the heights to which the media predicts.

Going back to the efficacy of last year’s flu vaccine; why is it necessary to stockpile 1.1 million doses of the vaccine? A flu vaccine has a shelf life of 12 months and at a cost of $4 to $12 U.S. dollars, spending would be around $4.4 to $13.2 million every year. The continued desire to spend more and more money on disease and crisis care is unheralded. While most people think the government is spending money on Health Care, it is actually spending money on Disease and Crisis Care. Health Care is helping people stay healthy, utilizing Chiropractic, Massage, Acupuncture, Yoga, Diet and Exercise – all of which cost considerably less than surgery or other invasive procedures and all affect the immune system. The Georgia Strait, in November, reported the ingredients in vaccines include; thimerosal, formalin and other formaldehyde preparations, as well as aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, and aluminum potassium sulfate, all three of which are used to cause an inflammatory response at the injection site so that there is an increased blood supply in the area. Also, dyes, antibiotics, viral inactivators, glycerine solvents, hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid, sodium bisulfite, sodium hydroxide, polysorbate 80, streptomycin, neomycin, and a host of phosphate buffers are just a few of the excipients in common use. Monosodium glutamate is used as a stabilizer in the chickenpox vaccine. Chick embryos, monkey kidney, lung tissues of fetal rhesus monkeys, mouse brain, cow substrates, and human tissues are also used as vaccine growth mediums.

Definitely sounds like ingredients I want to put inside me to keep the flu away, especially when the influenza vaccine’s efficacy is from -0.14 to 0.33. Also seems logical to me to spend millions of dollars every year on inefficiency rather than spend the money on children, education, HEALTH CARE or even transportation. We must step out of the fear paradigm and into life – living it with respect and understanding that your health is your responsibility.

Dr. Kevin Ehl, Chiropractor

Café of Life, Port Moody