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Vaccines, Autoimmunity and the Changing Nature of Childhood Illnesses
by Thomas Cowan MD, Foreword by Sally Fallon Morell
listed in vaccination
The title of this book caught my attention as I have a strong interest in the vaccination schedule, the ingredients within vaccines and how, within my own practice, I have seen a definite change in children who are, in my personal opinion, so heavily vaccinated.
As I read through the introduction I smiled to myself as the author described himself running away from the doctors when, as a child, he was scheduled to attend for his vaccinations.
In the first section of his book Dr Cowan reviews acute illness explaining that when the body comes into contact with a noxious substance it will try to flush out the problem either by raising the body temperature as in a fever or producing pus and that by mistreating the acute illness with antibiotics it could pave the way for chronic illness to ensue. Fever and acute illness serves to develop the immune system.
He explains in a simplified manner the role of both the cell mediated immune system and the humoral immune system. How the cell mediated system springs into action first as the body responds by exhibiting symptoms while trying to clear toxins and when necessary the humoral immune system acts by producing antibodies or antigens to destroy the ‘invader’. Cowan describes modern paediatrics as ‘essentially an assault on the cell-mediated immune system. Nothing illustrates this better than the administration of vaccines’
In order for vaccines to ‘work’, an antigenic piece of a virus must be linked to an irritant adjuvant (otherwise referred to as a toxin). When the vaccine is administered the body naturally tries to provoke a response to the toxin. It appears to be common practice for parents to be advised to give an anti-inflammatory medicine at the time of the vaccine but in doing so it prevents the body from being able to react and in turn this could lead to a negative outcome. He quotes the conclusion of research carried out on animals in 2009 at Kobe University in Japan stating “autoimmunity appears to be the inevitable consequence of over-stimulating the host’s immune system by repeated immunization”[1]and he is of the opinion that autoimmune disease is higher in vaccinated children and that mass vaccination programmes could be a link.
In chapter four, Autoimmunity and the Gut, he gives us an overview of the gut microbiome and the gastrointestinal tract explaining how when the gut is healthy it keeps pathogens in check. Modern vaccines contain ingredients such as mercury, formaldehyde and some agricultural chemicals and these, among other factors can compromise the cell creating what is known as ‘leaky gut’ and that shrunken, distorted cells are the hallmark of celiac disease and other autoimmune diseases.
The vaccine programme overstimulates the immune response causing it to form antibodies the same as what the body does in autoimmune disease.
Cowan discusses cell biology and the developing field of epigenetics, as well as what he believes to be the origins of autism and autoimmunity and in respect of vaccines states “my understanding, after years of studying the science behind vaccines, is that a truly safe and effective vaccine has not yet been discovered”.
The second section of the book covers three vaccines, chicken pox, polio and measles. He researched that children who contract chicken pox gain immunity for life and questions the need for the chicken pox vaccine since it generally resolves with very little complications. However, after the chicken pox vaccine was introduced and the incidence of the disease declined, the number of shingles cases dramatically increased leading to the introduction of the shingles vaccine. A number of people who were vaccinated against shingles have claimed that the vaccine gave them shingles rather than afford them protection some of whom experienced serious personal injuries and in 2017 Marc J Bern & Partners LLP, filed numerous complaints against Merck, the manufacturers of the shingles vaccine Zostavax.[2]
The cause of 20th century polio epidemic has been linked to widespread agricultural use of DDT and other neurotoxins as concluded by author Mark Blaxill and investigative journalist Dan Olmsted and when the use of DDT was curtailed in the United States, the polio epidemics ceased.
In 1963 the measles vaccine was introduced but in the United States the disease had ceased to be a public health threat. The measles vaccine does not offer lifelong immunity as would happen should the child contract measles naturally.
In the third section of the book Cowan gives two case examples and then introduces us to the therapy what is called the Cowan Autoimmune Diet or GAPS Diet that uses food to restore the health of the gut
He concludes by offering his thanks to, among others, the authors of the website Vaccine Papers www.vaccinepapers.org as a key reference and an appendix of the components of common vaccines.
My conclusion, this is a very interesting book that is well worth investing in.
References:
1 Ken Tsumiyama, Yumi Miyazaki and Shunichi Shiozawa “Self-Organised Criticality Theory of Autoimmunity” PLos ONE 4, N. 12 (2009)
2 https://bernllp.com/lawsuits-filed-against-merck-alleging-shingles-zostavax-vaccine-defective/
Further Information
Available from Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com and Chelsea Green Publishing.
- Reviewer
- June Sayer
- Publisher
- Chelsea Green Publishing
- Year
- 2018
- Format
- Hardback
- Price
- £11.87 / $17.36
- Isbn
- 1603587772