Brian Deer has Selective Hearing. How is Yours When it Comes to Andrew Wakefield, Vaccines and The Supreme Court? It's Time to Dig in and Stay Informed!

I posted a bit earlier this week on Dr. Andrew Wakefield and how he was misrepresented by Brian Deer in the BMJ article.  I found the following video today and was totally riveted to the screen and had to share.  It's about information right?

Well for some, as it was for my family, it is about fair compensation for damages incurred because they did not have all of the information about vaccines and have suffered.  Yet this week, The Supreme Court handed a victory to vaccine makers and left families with injured loved ones with only one, very limited, option to be compensated fairly.

In a 6-2 ruling, the court decided that U.S. law shields vaccine manufacturers from product-liability suits alleging defects in a vaccine's design. The high court ruled in the case of a Pennsylvania couple who alleged that their daughter suffered profound impairments after receiving a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine made by Wyeth, now part of Pfizer Inc.  The result takes a key legal tool out of the hands of those who contend their children's autism was caused by vaccines.  But remember, not Wakefield, nor the parents who had been studied and referenced in his article ever contended autism was caused by vaccines.   Brian Deer's BMJ article was wrong.  Watch the video of Brian Deer above.

Perhaps vaccines are causing something entirely more devastating to consumers than the cruelty of autism.  Perhaps they are causing an epidemic of illness.  Do you know that consumers are injured each and every day by vaccines and sometimes it looks like autism and sometimes it doesn't.  Am I saying vaccines cause autism?  No I am not.  I am saying that vaccines, in certain people like those who perhaps have a mitochondrial defect, an allergy to or some other predisposition to the ingredients in vaccines, end up with a life altered by neurological disease, bowel disease, autism or worse. Are you seeing the distinction?  Shouldn't there be some liability for the vaccine manufacturers to make sure each and every person who gets a shot, or parent who is allowing their child to get a vaccination, knows the possible negative outcomes? 

We consumers, parents, children and families suffer because there are no more than a few words on an insert of a vaccine, which the patient never sees unless they ask, that point out what the true cost of taking a vaccine may be.  Now, those who contend that they or their children were injured by vaccines that were improperly designed must now seek compensation only through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.  That is how my father, after his vaccine injury, received much needed help for himself and my mother to do things like make their home wheelchair accessible.

The New York Times quoted Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote in dissent:

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said Congress had meant to establish a societal bargain in the 1986 law. “The vaccine manufacturers fund from their sales an informal, efficient compensation program for vaccine injuries,” he wrote. “In exchange they avoid costly tort litigation and the occasional disproportionate jury verdict.” 

In a vigorous dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused the court majority of imposing “its own bare policy preference over the considered judgment of Congress” depriving “vaccine-injured children of a key remedy that Congress intended them to have.

Perhaps now is the time to really dig in and get informed about the true costs of vaccines before it hits your wallet and changes your life forever.  The vaccine manufacturers are just fattening their wallets as they push vaccines, that are certainly not safe or necessary for all, without having to insure people know the true costs of taking vaccines. It's time to fight back with the free flow of consumer information and chats with your friends about what you are discovering.  Don't just blindly trust the folks in the white coats, our government or the vaccine manufacturers.  This is YOUR life, not theirs! 

If you have a daughter or son, please check back on Monday for a post that will help you dig in and get informed.  The health of our future generations depends on the knowledge we gain today and how we act on that knowledge tomorrow.  We must work to create safer vaccines, make better informed decisions as to which vaccines are truly necessary for our families and come up with the best protocol as to when and how they should be administered.

P.S.- I am really glad that you stopped by our Environmental Booty Blog and I hope you have learned or shared a thing or two.  I hope that , now that you've found us,  you won't lose us!  You can join our green living online community, subscribe to our posts,  download our community toolbar or Tweet with me on Twitter to stay in touch!  - Shane :)

Sources: Health Ranger YouTube  , WSJ, Care2, NY Times
Photo Credit: Pregnancy Hub