Tag: food allergies

8 Healthy Habits to Better Manage Adrenal Fatigue#Health#Vaccines#HPV

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By Dr Flannery

Do you always feel tired in the afternoon, wake up groggy, or feel flattened by exercise? You might suffer from a common condition called adrenal fatigue, in which the body can’t respond properly to life’s stresses. Some other signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue include: 

  • Overwhelming fatigue
  • Insomnia, especially between 2 and 4 a.m.
  • The afternoon ‘blahs’
  • Cravings for salt, sugar or stimulants, especially in the afternoon
  • Lightheadedness upon standing
  • Chronic low blood pressure
  • Irritability and jitters when hungry

Thankfully, certain lifestyle habits are highly effective in helping restore your energy and healthy adrenal function.

8 lifestyle habits to manage adrenal fatigue

Below are eight lifestyle habits that can go a long way in supporting adrenal health.

1. Sleep. Regular, plentiful sleep is one of the best supporters of adrenal health. Even if you experience midnight insomnia or trouble falling asleep, it’s possible to create better sleep by sticking to these good habits:

  • Go to bed at the same time every night, no later than 10 p.m.
  • Try to get 9–11 hours of sleep every night; do it on weekends if it’s not possible on weekdays.
  • Avoid computer, TV, and phone screens for the hour before bed; this allows the brain waves to shift gears in preparation for sleep. (If that’s impossible wear orange glasses that block the blue lights these screens emits. Blue light suppresses sleep hormones and can cause insomnia and a disrupted sleep cycle.)
  • Eat a small snack just before bed that is strong in protein and healthy fat and low in carbs.
  • Avoid sugar, stimulants, and high-carb foods before bed.

2. Relaxation Exercises. Think relaxation exercises are ineffective? Think again! Create at least ten minutes of quiet, stress-relieving activity for yourself every day, such as lying with your feet up, meditating, or breathing slowly. In addition, when you feel tired, respect the message your body is trying to send, and lay down for a few minutes.

3. Avoid junk food and excess sugar. Whether donuts or fruit, junk foods and excess sugar put the adrenal glands in overdrive, effectively sending them into energetic bankruptcy.

4. Avoid caffeine and other stimulants. Yes, that means coffee. Stimulants are one of your adrenals’ worst enemies! Like sugars, they drive the adrenals to work too hard, driving you into deeper exhaustion.

5. Gentle exercise only. With adrenal fatigue, prolonged, rigorous exercise will only drive you deeper into exhaustion. Try gentle exercise such as walking, yoga, or swimming. No matter what, avoid prolonged aerobic exercise. Caution: If you are exhausted after your workout, you overdid it.

6. Eat a breakfast strong in protein and fat, with no sugar or stimulants. Adrenal function, blood sugar, and energy levels are closely related. Eating a breakfast strong in protein and fat while avoiding sugars and stimulants allows the adrenals to get a strong start and remain steadier throughout the day. This can help you avoid the afternoon blahs and sleep better, too!

7. Take the stress out. Take a close look at what causes you stress, whether complaining friends, nagging bosses, or a crazy schedule. What stressors can you eliminate or minimize? Reducing stress is a huge factor in adrenal healing.

8. Avoid sugars and stimulants when you’re tired. When you hit the afternoon blahs, the first thing you might think of is a frothy cappuccino. However, that only serves to further bankrupt your adrenals. Instead, nourish your body with protein, healthy fats, and minimal carbs to support healthy blood sugar and brain function, which is what you really need to kick the blahs. Be prepared by having a healthy snack ready to go for the afternoon.

The bigger picture

Adrenal fatigue typically happens secondary to another issue, such as anemia, poor diet, hormone imbalance, autoimmune disease, inflammation, or micronutrient deficiencies. It’s important to determine the cause of your adrenal fatigue and include these lifestyle habits as part of your adrenal treatment plan –- with them, you will move much faster toward optimum health and energy.

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7 Things Being A Professional Ballerina Taught Me About My Body#iBelieve#Health#vaccines

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By Stephanie Burg

As a child I knew I was different. I would fall asleep at night listening to Chopin and Tchaikovsky, and draw versions of the tutus I wanted to wear on stage someday. I traded play time for ballet class and was hyper focused on achieving my life’s greatest goal, performing for a living.   

Through my 10-plus years as a professional ballerina, my relationship with my body has evolved from one of self-loathing and self-discipline to the deepest, closest, most intimate friendship I’ve ever had. I learn more from this relationship each day.

Here are seven big lessons I’ve learned over the years:

1. No pain, no gain works! Until it doesn’t.

During my career, I became so used to pain that I wasn’t always sure when an injury was serious or not. Ballet dancers must have a high pain threshold to stand on their toes and contort into unnatural positions, yet pain is the body’s signal that something is wrong, and ignoring it can lead to severe injuries…

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HPV Vaccine Trials in India: Is Merck above the law?#vaccines#iBelieve#HPV

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By Norma Erickson            

3 July 2014: As a result of continued investigations regarding clinical trials involving HPV vaccines in India, more allegations of unethical conduct have been lodged against Merck. These allegations pertain to Merck’s recent trials of the new V503 HPV vaccine, a proposed nine valent HPV vaccine. A complete report of the investigation results written by Dr. Anand Rai, Kelly O’Connor, Amoli Tuli, and Anisha Bhattacharya is now a matter of public record. (Link to report)

The additional allegations of multiple ethics violations were added to a currently ongoing Supreme Court Case via an affidavit added as an addendum to the brief previously prepared regarding the ’demonstration projects’ conducted by a U.S NGO PATH in India beginning in 2009. The deaths of subjects during the ’demonstration projects’ resulted in a government-ordered enquiry and  suspension of all HPV vaccine trials in India pending further investigation. This suspension was effective as of April 2010 and is still in effect.

Ultimately, the suspension and subsequent investigations allowed advocates in India to take their case all the way to the Supreme Court. The petition for the case was formally admitted by the judges on January 7, 2013. By September 2013, the court had issued notices to all participants involved while the Indian Parliament issued a scathing comment condemning all organizations involved in the so-called ’demonstration projects’ calling them a case of child abuse expressly carried out to create a market for the two companies – Merck and GlaxoSmithKline.

According to new allegations, Merck ignored the suspension of HPV-related clinical trials and continued with a phase III trial of the yet-to-be-approved investigational HPV vaccine called V503, which theoretically adds protection against 5 types of HPV to the ones already included in their current HPV vaccine, Gardasil.

Allegations of Merck’s Misconduct

The supplemental affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court of India states that Merck and/or their representatives committed the following violations of basic human rights:

1. Respondent No. 8, MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.  and its affiliate companies in respect of pre-licensure trials with investigational HPV vaccine V-503.

2. Pre-licensure Phase III trials were carried out at many centres in India. One of these centres was Indore. In Indore this vaccine was administered to 44 children, boys and girls. A field study with the participants was carried out by Dr. Anand Rai and others and is detailed in the Annexure.

3. The timing of this trial was such that vaccination was carried out during the same period when Respondent no. 1, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, had asked all HPV related studies to suspend vaccination. As such then this was a violation of the government orders.

4. The Annexure also lists in detail all the problems with this trial on a case by case basis, some of them are summarized below:

a) This clinical trial was not preceded by any trial among adults thereby violating the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. This trial had the approval of the Respondent No. 2, The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), who violated the law that his job specifically asked him to uphold. The petitioners have complained to the court that is the second time regarding HPV vaccines the DCGI bestowed this favour on Merck and its associates.

b) The trial used middle men and women acting as agents of the investigator who went around residential areas recruiting subjects in complete violation of all national and international guidelines.

c) The trial was carried out at a government hospital using government stationery and seal even though this was a privately sponsored trial of the company thereby misusing the trust parents place in the governmental vaccination programmes.

d) The parents and children were told that they were getting a successful vaccine from abroad free which would otherwise cost Rs 10,000. This was a blatant lie as this vaccine was not approved for marketing anywhere in the world. Also this constituted undue inducement to recruit children to this trial.

e) None of the participants were informed that they were participating in a clinical trial.

f) Economically vulnerable sections and those from scheduled castes and minorities were recruited for the trial, those who would not be able to afford the vaccine if and when it is marketed; thereby the trial further violated all laws and guidelines in this regard.

g) Merck listed history of allergic reaction that required medical intervention, currently enrolled in another clinical trial, subject is pregnant, subject is immunocompromised or has taken immunosuppressants in the last year, subject has received a marketed HPV vaccine or participated in an HPV vaccine clinical trial and subject has history of positive test for HPV as exclusion criteria for this clinical trial. No examinations of the children who were selected for participation were undertaken prior to administration of the V503 vaccine.

h) There was no placebo involved in this trial, simply three different lots of V503, despite the fact that one purpose of the trials was to detect potential safety issues.

i) From the beginning to end, there was no examination of the children for their health status, and even though the trial was supposedly carried out to determine the safety of the vaccine not even fever post vaccination was recorded.

j) No medical care was provided for the health problems of the children nor were they provided any compensation. The study found many children who continue to suffer new medical problems even as late as 2013. Out of the 12 individuals interviewed, 4 have experienced health problems after the vaccine, such as mood swings, persistent stomach aches, dizziness, late onset of periods and severe anaemia. One boy whose family was interviewed has suffered extreme weight loss.

k) Though the investigation covered only the trial centre at Indore the entire list of trial centres is placed in the supplemental affidavit for information. In all hundreds of children have been affected in India.

One would think all of the complaints filed against PATH and Merck during the ’demonstration projects’ for Gardasil would have caused them to be on their best behavior. But apparently, when the government officials in India called a halt to any trials relating to HPV, Merck thought the decree did not apply to them. Either that, or they believed themselves powerful enough to be above the law.

Whatever the motivation, it appears hundreds more economically disadvantaged children and their families were put at risk by their participation in a clinical trial they were not told they were taking part in.

Compound this disregard for informed consent with participants being told they were priviledged to receive a successful and very expensive vaccine from overseas. Nevermind the fact that this ’successful vaccine’ had not been approved for use in any country in the world.

The people of India are not the only ones who may suffer the effects of this particular set of clinical trials. What ’results’ will Merck report to the rest of the world on this set of trials where the exclusion criteria was apparently ignored?

What ’results’ will Merck report to the rest of the world when no adverse events were recorded? One can certainly assume the adverse events which apparently were not recorded will no longer exist.

Will pretending these new medical conditions did not happen allow Merck to report their new V503 HPV vaccine is safe?

Is Merck above the law?

Will Merck be allowed to ignore the international laws protecting the basic right of informed consent prior to participation in clinical trials? Will Merck be allowed to continue to exploit economically disadvantaged people then extrapolate the resulting ’conclusions’ to the entire population of the world?

One can only hope the Supreme Court in India decides to protect the health and well-being of their young people by responding to the complaints of the organizations who put forth the allegations in a manner which will stop these types of abuses from ever happening in their country again.

By doing so, India’s Supreme Court Judges could help protect all of the world’s young people.

The Supreme Court of India has scheduled the final hearing of this case for August 12, 2014. The Court’s decision should be rendered on that date.

Whatever the ultimate outcome, advocates around the world will be watching.

Article in it’s entirety, compliments of SaneVax.org

Show Me The Science#vaccines#Health#iBelieve

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We have compiled this catalogue of science to help parents, lawmakers, medical practitioners and scientists understand several important points about the vaccine issue:

  • there is abundant science published in mainstream medical and scientific journals suggesting cause for concern about the safety of vaccines;
  • the vaccine debate is not a debate between parents and doctors but rather amongst scientists with opposing views;
  • vaccines may be linked to a host of chronic illnesses and conditions such as asthma, allergies, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, autism, unexplained infant death and autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS, and others;
  • there are connections between the gut, immune, and neurological issues often seen in vaccine injuries.

Science Catalogue continued here

greatergoodmovie.org

Is The Epidemic of Sudden Infant Deaths A Medically Induced ‘Syndrome’?#vaccines#iBelieve#Health

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Written By: Dr. Kelly Brogan, M.D. and Sayer Ji, Founder

A new study published in Current Medicine and Chemistry titled, “Sudden infant death following hexavalent vaccination: a neuropathologic study,” lends support for the long theorized link between an ever-expanding number of infant vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

The fact that the peak age for SIDS is 2–4 months, which coincides with the introduction of 11 shots containing 16 vaccines (within the US immunization schedule), is so obvious a cause for concern, that even the CDC has been compelled to address the seeming ‘coincidence’ directly:

“From 2 to 4 months old, babies begin their primary course of vaccinations. This is also the peak age for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The timing of these two events has led some people to believe they might be related…With babies receiving multiple doses of vaccines during their first year of life and SIDS being the leading cause of death in babies between one month and one year of age, CDC has led research studies to look for possible linkage.”

Unsurprisingly, the CDC, whose pro-vaccine agenda is glaringly oblivious to the 100+ documented serious, unintended adverse effects of vaccines as evidenced in the biomedical literature, claims extensive research they commissioned has found vaccines do not cause SIDS. Despite the CDC’s dismissal, infant mortality rates are highest among countries that administer the most vaccines within the most vulnerable developmental window of infanthood. A 2011 study published in Human & Experimental Toxicology, for instance, observed that “The US childhood immunization schedule specifies 26 vaccine doses for infants aged less than 1 year—the most in the world—yet 33 nations have lower IMRs [infant mortality rates].” They found that across the 34 nations analyzed “a high statistically significant correlation between increasing number of vaccine doses and increasing infant mortality rates, with r = 0.992 (p = 0.0009).”

Also, a recent study published in Vaccine titled, “Co-administration of live measles and yellow fever vaccines and inactivated pentavalent vaccines is associated with increased mortality compared with measles and yellow fever vaccines only” found multiple infant vaccines dramatically increased the risk of mortality in a trial conducted in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau…

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greenmedinfo.com

HPV Vaccines: Time for Science#iBelieve#vaccines#HPV

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SaneVax-Featured

 

By Norma Erickson

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of January 2014 fifty-two countries have included HPV vaccines, either Gardasil or Cervarix, in their national immunization programs. During the last five years, the SaneVax Team has been contacted by representatives from 24 of those countries who are seeking to understand the vast array of new medical conditions occurring in the wake of these programs.

1.2014-WHO-Countries-with-National-HPV-Vax-programs(Note: SaneVax has been contacted by multiple people in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco,  New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States – all requesting further information on HPV vaccines and vaccination programs.)

Why would so many countries contact an organization dedicated to the promotion of only safe, affordable, necessary and effective vaccines and vaccination programs in such a relatively short period of time? Let’s take a look at the science.

In 2006, when the FDA approved the first HPV vaccine (Gardasil) for cervical cancer prevention they should have known that HPV does not cause cervical cancer without other risk factors being involved. They should have known that the endpoints chosen to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine were not sufficient to prove future cervical cancer prevention because ASCUS and CIN1/2/3 frequently resolve on their own, or can be detected by currently available tests (pap smears) and treated safely and effectively prior to progression to cervical cancer. They should have known that allowing the manufacturer to use a reactive aluminum adjuvant as a ’control solution’instead of an inert placebo could potentially mask adverse effects making the vaccine appear more safe than it actually is.

Any one of these facts should have raised questions about the practicality of utilizing HPV vaccines in any cervical cancer prevention program. Apparently the facts above were either not known, or they were ignored. Gardasil was awarded fast-track approval despite the fact there was no cervical cancer crisis in the United States. A short time later, Cervarix was approved for the same indication.

Since health officials at the FDA are apparently ignoring scientific facts medical consumers need to be aware of the science, or lack therof, behind HPV vaccines.

Does HPV cause cervical cancer?

HPV-real-risk-GSKAccording to WHO, only 0.15% of people exposed to any high risk HPV types will ever develop cervical cancer. We do not have a publication date on the chart to the right, so let’s assume this is new knowledge, information which the FDA officials responsible for the fast-track approval of Gardasil did not have when they made the decision to approve the vaccines for cervical cancer prevention.

Medical consumers need to know that according to the World Health Organization 99.85% of those exposed to oncogenic types of HPV will never develop cervical cancer.

IF the FDA did not know this prior to approving HPV vaccines to ’prevent’ cervical cancer, they are most assuredly know it now. Consider the following quote from an FDA/CBER (Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research) meeting held on September 19, 2012 to discuss the use of human tumor cells in vaccine production (verify on pages 91-92 of this transcript):

“However, even tumor induction by acute oncogenic viruses requires additional oncogenic events. The best example is the Human Papillomavirus, where even infection with a high risk of Papillomavirus types is not sufficient to induce cervical cancer. Mutation in other genes and perhaps also epigenetic events are required. If a single infection-induced cervical cancer after infection with HPV, say, 16, then teenagers will be getting cervical cancer. And as we know, cervical cancer is a disease of older people”.

So, there you have it – even infection with a high risk strain of papillomavirus types is not sufficient to induce cervical cancer. Since at least September 2012, FDA officials knew infections with high-risk HPV types will not induce cancer without genetic mutations and/or other epigenetic (relating to or arising from nongenetic influences on gene expression) events occurring also.

Did this cause the FDA or CDC to re-examine the usefulness of HPV vaccines? No.

Were clinical trial endpoints valid?

Prior to the marketing push for HPV vaccines, CIN1/2/3 were known as abnormal cells – something that needed to be observed until treatment was required. Now, they are almost always referred to as ‘pre-cancerous’ lesions. This serves no purpose other than to strike fear into the heart of almost any woman on the face of the planet. The nature of the abnormal cells has not changed, simply the terminology. No mention is made of the fact that CIN1, CIN2 and often CIN3 abnormal cells revert to normal cells without medical intervention.

Not many people are aware of the fact that most CIN1 lesions go away on their own within two years. 25-50% of CIN2 lesions regress on their own within the same two year time frame. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), World Health Organization, the results of a pooled analysis of studies published between 1950 and 1993 indicated only 12% of CIN3 lesions progress to invasive cervical cancer.

Consider the following quote from Chapter 2 of the IARC’s COLPOSCOPY AND TREATMENT OF CERVICAL INTRAEPITHELIAL NEOPLASIA: A BEGINNER’S MANUAL states:

“Despite women’s frequent exposure to HPV, development of cervical neoplasia is uncommon. Most cervical abnormalities caused by HPV infection are unlikely to progress to high-grade CIN or cervical cancer, as most of them regress by themselves. The long time frame between initial infection and overt disease indicates that several cofactors (e.g., genetic differences, hormonal effects, micronutrient deficiencies, smoking, or chronic inflammation) may be necessary for disease progression. Spontaneous regression of CIN may also indicate that many women may not be exposed to these cofactors.”

Please note this manual was designed to teach medical and nursing personnel in developing countries where diagnostic and therapeutic expertise is not readily available. In other words, the progression from HPV exposure to potential development of cervical cancer is similar in both developing countries and developed countries. It also indicates that several cofactors (risk factors) may be needed for HPV exposure to progress to abnormal lesions, much less cervical cancer.

Surely, FDA officials were aware of the information contained in a beginner’s manual to treatment of so-called ‘precancerous’ lesions published by the World Health Organization. If not, they certainly should have been. Nevertheless, they allowed these very same abnormal cells which typically revert to normal on their own to be used to evaluate the efficacy of HPV vaccines against cervical cancer.

Medical consumers need to know, according to WHO only 1% of CIN1, 1.5% of CIN2 and 12% of CIN3 progress to invasive cervical cancer. This is in developing countries. In countries where pap smears are routinely administered the percentages should be much lower. Could using these abnormal cells as endpoints in clinical trials artificially inflate the predicted efficacy of HPV vaccines against cervical cancer? Absolutely!

Why not use a true placebo during clinical trials?

When conducting scientific experiments to evaluate a new substance, standard practice is to have at least two groups – one group using the substance being examined and the other using a placebo. This way, the scientific team can evaluate the effects and safety of the new substance by comparing both groups’ results at the end of the study.

The definition of placebo is “a substance having no pharmacological effect, but administered as a control in testing experimentally or clinically the efficacy of a biologically active preparation.”

There is no doubt about vaccines being a biologically active preparation. But, how about aluminum – one of the major ingredients in the proprietary AAHS solution which Merck was allowed to use as a control solution in the vast majority of clinical trials for Gardasil?

A quick search of PubMed, using the terms ‘aluminum toxicity human’ returns 1620 papers on studies conducted as early as 1966. If you narrow the search to ‘injected aluminum toxicity’ you come up with 116 papers published as early as 1974. Refine the search even further to ‘injected aluminum toxicity human’ and you still get 31 scientific papers published between 1979 and 2014.

It is extremely difficult to believe the FDA officials responsible for reviewing Gardasil’s application for approval did not know that aluminum compounds were potentially toxic to humans. Yet, they accepted the use of a proprietary (meaning no one knows what was included other than aluminum) AAHS aluminum adjuvant as a control solution instead of an inert placebo.

FDA officials knew, or should have known, that clinical trials conducted in this manner proved nothing other than the fact that Gardasil was no less dangerous than the new AAHS adjuvant which had never been tested for safety in humans. FDA officials ignored the fact that over 70% of all clinical trial participants reported new medical conditions after the trials. (Verify here) One can only speculate as to why this fact did not raise a huge red flag, but apparently it did not.

The FDA could certainly not use the excuse that it would be unethical to withhold vaccination from any of the clinical trial participants because there was currently no ‘comparable’ vaccine available. Why then, did they not require a real placebo?

Is the FDA ignoring new scientific evidence?

Below is a list of scientific information presented to government health officials around the world. None of the presentations below have brought forth a response from FDA officials. Please keep in mind this is by no means a complete list; it is simply a sample:

How long are medical consumers supposed to put their faith in an agency that repeatedly ignores standard scientific methodology, not to mention scientific evidence? Medical consumers need to remember every single medication that has ever been pulled from the market was first approved ‘safe and effective’ by the FDA. Can you trust them with your life?

Remember – Research before Consent – you can’t un-vaccinate.

Article compliments of SaneVax.org

Spotlight on Gardasil in France#Vaccines#HPV#iBelieve

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SaneVax-Featured

By Helen Kimball-Brooke MARH, guest author

A press conference on the Gardasil vaccine was held in Paris on Wednesday the 2nd April 2014 at the local offices of the European Parliament, a short walk from the French National Assembly.  It was organised by MEP Michèle Rivasi (Vice-Chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance group) who has held meetings in the past on pharmacovigilance in Brussels and other press conferences on the aluminium salts used as adjuvants in vaccines, in Paris.  Three members of EFVV (the European Forum for Vaccine Vigilance) attended the conference: myself, Françoise Joët from the French group ALIS and Dr. Françoise Berthoud, retired homeopathic paediatrician from Switzerland.

French Press Conference

Aside from Michèle Rivasi, the speakers included the parents of two HPV-vaccine victims: 18-year-old Marie-Océane Bourguignon who after receiving two doses of Gardasil at age 15 now suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS) and Orianne Lochu, age 21, a former first-year medical student now struggling with severe macrophagic myofasciitis, an illness thought to be linked with the aluminium adjuvants in vaccines.  Both HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, contain aluminium salts.  Within months of her jabs, Océane, the only French HPV vaccine victim for whom the link to the vaccine has been officially recognised by a Medicine Injury court, temporarily lost both her sight and the use of her legs after being hospitalised for what appeared to be either acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) or multiple sclerosis.

Océane’s case was originally heard by the Bordeaux Commission de Conciliation et d’Indemnisation or Medical Accident Arbitration and Compensation Committee, set up by the Ministry of Justice with members appointed by the local Public Health Authority.  As of the judgement in September 2013 she was awarded compensation amounting to 50% of her claim but given that Sanofi-Pasteur were clearly incriminated in the case and thinking of all the other victims, her parents chose to forfeit the compensation by filing charges in the criminal courts.  The criminal court case is still pending.

The parents of both girls expressed anger and frustration over the way they had been treated: refusal by the medical profession to acknowledge that their daughters’ illnesses had been triggered by the vaccine, lack of support and treatment for the girls’ ailments, even suspicion and ostracism for having dared to blame the vaccine.  The experience has been all the more difficult for Orianne’s parents who are medical professionals themselves: her father is an anaesthesiologist and her mother a nurse.

Océane’s lawyer, Maître Jean-Christophe Coubris, also defending over 100 other French HPV-vaccine victims, was another speaker, as was Serge Rader, a pharmacist who has done research on the widely varying prices of vaccines across Europe, and Elena Pasca, a philosopher, member of the board of Sciences Citoyennes and author of a blog called Pharmacritique, who discussed the conflicts of interest inherent in the development and marketing of these vaccines.

Others present included French medical consultants Profs. Authier and Gherardi, doing research on the aluminium salt adjuvants in vaccines at the Henri-Mondor Hospital in Créteil, a Parisian suburb, and consultant Dr. Laurent Belec, head of the virology laboratory at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris.  The sudden withdrawal in 2013 of the funding for the important work of Authier and Gherardi was the topic of another press conference organised by Michèle Rivasi last year.  Their funding was only re-instated after two members of the NGO victim support group E3M went on a hunger strike.

Professor Christopher Shaw

The speakers of honour however were Drs. Christopher Shaw, neurologist, and Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD, from the University of British Columbia, Canada, known for their research on Gardasil and the dangers of its adjuvants.  Currently doing research with Professor Yehuda Shoenfeld in Tel Aviv, Israel, on vaccine adjuvant-induced autoimmune diseases, they spoke of the effects on the body of the aluminium in vaccines.  It has been shown that aluminium migrates through the body to the brain, where it accumulates, potentially causing many adverse effects: convulsions, fainting spells, Guillain-Barré syndrome, transverse myelitis, facial paralysis, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune diseases, pulmonary embolisms, macrophagic myofasciitis, pancreatitis and even death.

Lucija Tomljenovic

 Dr. Tomljenovic demonstrated how these vaccines were rushed prematurely to market.  In the USA, the FDA approved the vaccine very fast, reflecting, in her opinion, the flaws and incompetence which are now sadly a characteristic of the organisation.  Development of cervical cancer from HPV infection is in fact very slow and 90% of HPV infections resolve of their own accord within three years.  The duration of follow-up in the clinical trials was only 4.5 years for Gardasil and 8.4 years for Cervarix but given the slow growth of these cancers, at least 15 if not 20 years would really be needed to establish accurate efficacy. The manufacturers have nonetheless claimed 70% efficacy based on these short-term trials, and Sanofi-Pasteur, who market Gardasil for its manufacturer Merck, have even claimed ‘up to 100%’ efficacy while true vaccine efficacy could be as low as 16.9%.

STIKO, the German Standing Vaccine Committee’s flawed assumption that the vaccine would confer lifelong protection of 92.5% led to the decision to reimburse the HPV vaccine in Germany and incited many German doctors to recommend it.  Since its introduction 7 years ago, nearly 2 million young French women between the ages of 13 and 26 have received at least one dose of Gardasil, reimbursed at 65% by the Social Security, even though its effectiveness has not yet been proven and is highly controversial.  There are in fact over 100 strains of HPV but Gardasil contains only antigens from strains 6, 11, 16 and 18, considered the most oncogenic.  Strains 16 and 18 are responsible for 70% of cervical cancers which is why these are the only two in Cervarix but infections with these two strains also seem to be less common in Europe.  In fact, cervical cancer represents only 1.7% of all cancers in France so it is not actually a public health problem there anymore.

On the 4th of February 2014 however, President François Hollande announced that as part of his ‘Cancer Plan’, he wanted HPV vaccine uptake amongst young French women to double over the next five years.  This came as an enormous shock to the parents of the 10 girls with very severe neurological complaints, who by November 2013 had already initiated legal proceedings against both Sanofi Pasteur and ANSM, the French national medicines safety authority.

To quote Dr. Tomljenovic:

‘Just as pizza-bearing cheerleader drug reps are a poor substitute for medical education, pharmaceutical lobbying is a poor substitute for well-reasoned public health policy-making….Is it ethical to put young women at risk of death or a disabling autoimmune neurodegenerative disease at a pre-adolescent age for a vaccine that has not yet prevented a single case of cervical cancer, a disease that may develop 20-30 years after exposure to HPV, when the same can be prevented with regular Pap screening which carries no risk?’

The number of HPV vaccine victims continues to grow in France and worldwide, with some countries taking a more cautious stance: Austria refused from the start to include the HPV vaccine in its vaccination schedule and during 2013, under pressure from victims, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare withdrew its recommendation for the HPV vaccine.  Shortly after the press conference in Paris, it was announced in Japan that instead of reinstating the HPV vaccine recommendation, the authorities would hold off for at least another year.

On the 30th March, only three days before the press conference, it was reported in French newspaper Journal du Dimanche that 420 French doctors plus nearly another 300 pharmacists, midwives and other medical professionals had signed a petition demanding a parliamentary mission to reassess Gardasil, claiming that its effectiveness is limited (only 20% according to clinical trials) and its cost exorbitant. They also fear that the vaccine may mislead women into thinking that a Pap smear, whose effectiveness has been proven, is not necessary.  As of late May 2014, there were nearly 1200 signatures on the petition.

Of course a counter-petition was also launched by seven scholarly medical groups affirming the benefits of the vaccine but speaking of cost: what in fact is the actual cost of this HPV vaccine campaign in France?  Mr. Rader informed us that a single dose of Gardasil costs €123.44, compared with prices ranging from €6.50 to €57 for other French vaccines, the prices of which have increased as new vaccines were introduced over the years.  The three jabs required would therefore come to a whopping total cost of €370.32 per individual.  The duration of protection conferred by the initial vaccination is still not known so the overall cost would increase if boosters were required.  A ‘catch-up’ period could generate a cost to the French Social Security of a shocking €926 million and in subsequent years, the annual cost would be €148 million.  What incites more questions however is that a single dose of Gardasil costs only €60.50 in Italy and the Rotavirus vaccine recently recommended for all new-borns by the French High Council for Public Health, costs €54.60 per dose, including tax, compared with only $1 per dose in India.  Why do vaccines cost so much in France?

Pap smears, costing €15.40 each in France, remain the best and most effective way to fight cervical cancer.  The speakers therefore questioned why the French government was so intent on pushing Gardasil whose effectiveness is debateable and will not be known for 15 or more years, let alone its excessive cost.  An indecent communication campaign with lobbying and aggressive advertising was apparently engaged a number of years ago to promote this vaccine.  The adverts played on the fears and guilt especially of mothers and in 2010, one of them was even banned for ‘lack of objectivity’ by the French Medicines Agency.

Mme. Rivasi therefore concluded the press conference with a forceful:

‘Enough is enough!  It is time to demand a moratorium on this vaccine!   EU member states must stop recommending this vaccine until more studies are conducted on Gardasil, its effectiveness and its dangers.’

Michele Rivasi, MEP

Less than two months later, her efforts seemed finally to be having some effect: on the 22nd May, under pressure from victim support groups, primarily E3M, an NGO supporting patients with macrophagic myofasciitis, two colloquia with round-table debates open to the public and in the presence of the press, television and even French Health Minister Marisol Touraine, were organised at the French National Assembly: one in the morning by E3M and facilitated by journalist Viginie Belle, the other in the afternoon by Office parlementaire des choix scientifiques et technologiques (Opecst, similar to our House of Commons Science and Technology Committee).

A fair number of the speakers from the April press conference (Gherardi, Authier, Shoenfeld, Orianne Lochu’s mother, Tomljenovic, Belec, Rivasi) took part, alongside representatives from Sanofi-Pasteur, GSK, the French government and other scientists promoting vaccines.  Pro-caution and pro-choice scientists also included our own Prof. Christopher Exley from Keele University, Dr. Lluis Lujan, veterinary pathologist from the University of Zaragoza in Spain and Prof. Michel Georget, French biologist and author of books on the adverse effects of vaccines.

Topics of the four round-table debates: 1) Aluminium: Adjuvant under Scrutiny. 2) HPV Vaccine: Time to Exercise Caution, in the morning.  Then in the afternoon: 1) The Safety and Efficacy of Aluminium Vaccine Adjuvants.  2.a) Is a Moratorium Appropriate?  2.b) Are there Alternative Vaccine Adjuvants?

For those who speak French, these debates can be viewed here: http://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/video.5464.  Compared with our House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check into Homeopathy in 2009, this series of debates seemed far more balanced!  The focus in France seems at present to be only on aluminium, which may not be the only issue but time will tell as to where it takes the whole French and European vaccine debate.

Knowing that the French Health Minister attended these colloquia and is therefore now fully aware of the latest research on the damage caused by aluminium adjuvants and the Gardasil vaccine, it came as a shock when instead of calling for a moratorium she later reaffirmed the French government’s intent to vaccinate all young French women with this vaccine.  Yet another debate was then organised on the 23rd of June by a group of galvanised GPs from La Réunion island, one of France’s overseas departments.  The thrust of this series of medical and statistical presentations, again hosted by Michèle Rivasi, was that HPV vaccination is not needed to prevent cervical cancer, is excessively costly and the whole vaccine development and marketing process is fraught with conflicts of interest.  Gardasil is clearly a hot topic in France with articles, blogs, petitions and debates appearing frequently.  The doctors, researchers, support groups and victims behind these are not about to give up the fight for both a moratorium on Gardasil and aluminium-free vaccines in general.

Remember that in the USA and the UK, HPV and other vaccine victims are fortunate to have SaneVax (http://www.sanevax.org) who in addition to providing the necessary information for making an informed choice, can locate appropriate medical/legal assistance in the event of an adverse event post-vaccination.

Since the April press conference, the EFVV has prepared a Manifesto in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch and Slovenian (other languages possibly to follow), demanding the abolition of mandatory vaccination in the EU (see http://www.efvv.eu).  The plan is to launch a petition based on this Manifesto and a delegation of EFVV members will be meeting with Michèle Rivasi in September to discuss the best way to utilise these documents and submit their demands to the European Parliament.  Watch this space, both in France and Europe-wide.

(Note: This article was originally written for Homeopathy in Practice, the journal of the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths in the UK but, with kind permission of HIP, is appearing here first.)

Article compliments of SaneVax.org

UK: Parliamentary meeting with families of girls injured by HPV vaccines#iBelieve#HPV#Vaccines

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By Freda Birrell

We would like to thank Luciana Berger, MP Shadow Minister for Public Health, her Parliamentary Assistant Kat Thompson, The Countess of Mar from the House of Lords, Pat McFadden, MP, Joe Benton, MP, Mary Creagh, MP and Tom Fieldhouse, researcher in the office of Oliver Letwin, MP for taking the time to meet the parents and girls who had an adverse reaction to the HPV vaccines.

From the presentations given we would like to highlight a few very disturbing points which we hope Ms Berger will take on board and ask relevant questions. The points made are not unique to this group of families from the United Kingdom. They are the same for many families around the world.

  • Serious loss of education and the opportunity to interact with their peers socially;
  • Young girls’ mental health being questioned without justification; psychiatric care being promoted time and time again;
  • Threatening behaviour towards families by health care officials;
  • Families being accused of fabricating their daughters’ illnesses;
  • Inadequate duty of care from health care officials;
  • Lack of knowledge by medical doctors and consultants on how to recognize and treat the vaccine injured;
  • Medical doctors who believe illnesses were caused by the HPV vaccines but are too afraid to speak out.

This sadly is how it is in the UK at the present time. A very important point was made below, ‘these are real people in real situations and it does not matter whether it is a Conservative or Labour government, as politicians you are elected to speak on our behalf and work on our behalf at all times.’

Meeting with UK Politicians

All these families ask for is to be respected, to be listened to and, most importantly, to be believed.

The undernoted presentations were given by girls who were injured by an HPV vaccine and parents speaking on behalf of their daughters.

Julie Jones, mother of Stacey Jones, Bilston, Midlands:

My daughter Stacey had her first Cervarix vaccine on 15th November 2008, aged 17, and we noticed that her mood changed following this vaccination. After the second jab in January her aggressive behaviour was more noticeable and then after her third vaccination in May 2009 she became very disorientated which increased in intensity, couldn’t sleep and that was followed by partial seizures which then developed into full blown seizures.

There were many serious faults here with the NHS, not treating our daughter correctly, sending her to a psychiatric hospital which could not help her but thankfully they recognised her illness was a medical illness and she was sent home.

New Cross Hospital at that time let us down badly and that was when I made contact with my MP, Pat McFadden. Pat gave my family a lot of support for which we are very grateful.  Over a period of time Stacey was allocated a place at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust – Stacey spent 12 weeks there relearning simple tasks and she was also assigned a neurologist from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Stacey was officially diagnosed with Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis – an autoimmune form of encephalitis – NOT VIRAL ENCEPHALITIS. According to NHS Choices, in ‘rare’ cases this condition has followed vaccination.  It is strange then that at the same time a young girl called Paige Brennan also from the Midlands was vaccinated with Cervarix and was also diagnosed with the same autoimmune condition as Stacey – not so rare after all.

Now after five years of great improvement in Stacey’s health and being able to go to University, we are devastated that she has had a re-occurrence of this autoimmune form of encephalitis – Stacey was admitted to hospital where she received the best of treatment which was so much better than the last time – I can report she has just been allowed to go home with further rehabilitation to take place.  What does the future hold for our daughter – according to the MHRA there are no serious adverse reactions to the Cervarix vaccine – well that is not the case.

 Ashleigh Cave, Liverpool:

My name is Ashleigh Cave and I received the HPV Cervarix injection in October 2008 when I was twelve years old. Within an hour of having the injection I had extremely bad headaches. I was going for a routine doctor’s appointment and the doctor said I was suffering from possible side effects of the vaccine and that I should start to feel better in the next forty eight hours. Only I never and over the course of the next week I suffered from severe flu like symptoms and I had no energy to stay awake.

My legs became so weak that I was admitted to hospital as I couldn’t walk or move my legs. I suffered with excruciating pain and was put on a concoction of eight different painkillers. I had tests, scans and x-rays yet they all came back inconclusive. At this point, the doctors didn’t know what was wrong and came to the conclusion that my health issues were psychosomatic. I had to have a full psychiatric assessment which came back in my favour that my health problems were not in my head. So their next move then was to try and blame my mum. They got social services involved and we were threatened that I would be taken into care if my mum did not stop speaking to the press. All in all I was in Alder Hey Children’s hospital for twelve months where I had intensive Physio and Hydrotherapy sessions daily.

I can now walk, however I am limited as I have never fully regained the strength back in my legs. I had health problems before I had the injection, such as Noonan syndrome, pulmonary stenosis, bronchomalacia, bladder problems and chronic asthma. Since I had the injection, everything I previously suffered with was intensified. I have had three surgical procedures to try and help my bladder so I do not have to rely on self-catheterising and administering treatment weekly and I am constantly picking up every cold that is going meaning I am quite frequently in hospital as it affects my chest.

Every girl who has had a reaction has had different health backgrounds, some having previous medical problems and some having a clean bill of health. Some girls have been affected in different ways ranging from paralysis, to having seizures daily but the one thing we all have in common is the fact we have all received this injection. The past five and a half years have been horrendous for me and my mum but what makes it worse is the fact that girls are still having this injection and are still being damaged.

How many more girls have to go through this before someone will take notice and listen?  How many more families have to be blamed before being offered support and finally how many more lives have to be turned upside down before we get the recognition and medical help we need for what we are going through? 

Emily Ryalls, Ossett, W. Yorkshire:

Hello, my name is Emily. I’m 16 years old and have just completed my GCSE year in high school.

 I’d like to thank you for this opportunity to share my experience of the HPV vaccination as well as being able to speak on behalf of other girls. I’m incredibly nervous, as you can probably tell, but so grateful for you taking the time to listen to me today.

I had the HPV vaccination 3½ years ago. I became ill after the first jab, the 2nd jab worsened my condition and after the third jab the visits to A&E started. At first I had complete faith in doctors. Then I was labelled with ME/CFS and I realised this meant that doctors didn’t know what to do with me.

I was so ill, I was missing lots of school, missing my friends and the only treatment given was to see a psychologist. My paediatrician wanted me under the care of a psychiatrist. Every doctor I saw refused to consider vaccine damage and none of them reported it.

After 2 years and a lot of research, we found a specialist who confirmed I had POTS – Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Everything that the body should do automatically doesn’t work properly for me, especially when I’m sitting or standing up. It affects every part of my body – eyesight, heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion and especially cognitive problems, which I hate the most because I often feel humiliated in school and it’s affected my education so much.

I’m finally under a neurologist who is trying to help me and who has confirmed my POTS is a result of vaccination.

The only thing that has got me through the last 3 years has been the support of my mum and family and having such a great group of friends. I can’t begin to imagine how hard it is for the girls who don’t have this support.

Although as a group, we all have different stories; we all share the HPV vaccination as the trigger. The question is how many more girls have to go through this before something is done?

Thank you.

Brianna Price, Newport Pagnell:

I’m Brianna, and I’m 15 years old. I had my first and only dose of Cervarix in September 2011, when I was 12 years old. I then experienced my first symptoms 3 weeks after in October, when I’d just turned 13. I went to my GP and had a wide range of tests done but they all came back negative. 6 months later I was diagnosed with CFS/ME by a Great Ormond Street consultant.

Before the jab I’d represented my school in athletics and won them medals, been dancing since I was 2 – I’ve now had to stop this, performed at the Royal Albert Hall and even done some TV work in a BBC drama series.

In the beginning of being ill I was bullied at school. I had people laughing at me, saying I was faking, and even hurtful comments like ‘why aren’t you dead yet?’  I’ve lost all of my friends but one friend because I wasn’t in school and I couldn’t go out with them so now I’m just not invited anymore. It has taken 2 ½ years to get me from 0% attendance to 30% in school, with me doing 12 hours a week maximum.

I have 6 monthly paediatrics and Great Ormond Street check-ups and monthly psychology and physiotherapy sessions. (I got discharged from CAMHS because it wasn’t helping). I have to take tablets to sleep. If I don’t take the tablets I don’t sleep at all that night. I also have chronic back pain which I’m on medication for and when it’s at its worst I can’t breathe properly because of it.

Since then I have also been diagnosed with Raynaud’s, hypermobility and postural hypertension.

My mum thought it was the best idea to allow me to get the vaccine, but if we knew then what we know now about it, I would never have had it.

When we first saw the Great Ormond Street consultant we asked him did he think the vaccine had caused my illness. He replied, “All I can say is I’m treating a lot more girls following the vaccine.” 

Presentation with reference to the autoimmune condition Alopecia:

(For the sake of her daughter, mum is not sharing her name – but she presented in full to the Shadow Minister) 

My daughter is 13- the youngest of our 3 children. She has 2 older brothers aged 18 and 21. We are a very close knit, fun loving, happy family and all 3 children are extremely close.

Sport and particularly swimming is in the family, the lads have won medals at national level and my daughter has club records.  She also has a gold medal for gymnastics and trampolining. She used to play water polo for fun.

She had her 3 Gardasil HPV immunisations, for genital warts, in October 2012 then January and April 2013. On each occasion she had a significant reaction and with hindsight we wouldn’t have let her have number 2 and 3 but we can’t turn back the clock now! She was lethargic, had muscle fatigue, lost her appetite, stopped her beloved sport and had time off school (unheard of) and her periods stopped. In April 2013 following her 3rd jab her hair started falling out in clumps, she lost her eyebrows, lashes and by the summer of 2013 she was totally bald.

I want to share with you the medical professions reaction as I believe this helps mask the bigger HPV picture…

One Dr said and I quote, “These things happen and Jemma needs to move on…”

Another, “This is quite common around the 12/13 year age group”…not surprising in my mind since this is when the immunisation is given.

When confronted with the possible link, the doctor was extremely dismissive and didn’t offer the opportunity of yellow carding the vaccination (which I believed was meant to be a procedure carried out post thalidomide).  I did this under my own steam and told him retrospectively what I had done. I was not popular for taking this course of action.

This may be why the recorded numbers of side effects are quite low…..you have to be proactive….

Friends who are GPs have said off the record that Gardasil was and is the cause of her ill health; but for fear of the backlash are not prepared to put their heads above the parapet.

In summary, she no longer does any sport, her school attendance is poor due to total lack of energy, and she sleeps 14+ hours a day and her periods have still not started. Her lack of hair has turned her from a fun loving outgoing and positive person into a self-conscious and reclusive child.

We have explored every avenue for antidotes and suggested courses of action but this has been done with no backing from the very people who should be there to support us.

Clare Ramagge, Reigate, Surrey:

In 2009, Dr Jawad paediatric consultant, demanded why I had allowed my daughter to have the third Cervarix vaccination? We were advised that he had previously highlighted the link between the vaccination and side effects of arthralgia and he verified this concern to Crispin Blunt MP for Reigate.  Mr Blunt successfully secured a debate in Parliament to highlight the fact that formally fit healthy young girls were experiencing a number of severe adverse reactions.  He highlighted the fact that there was a lack of a robust compensation scheme or mandatory warning system to report such adverse reactions and he questioned the suitability of school as an environment in which to vaccinate children.

In Rebecca’s case, when standard treatment did not cure her, concerned paediatricians brought in multi-disciplinary teams. As described by Dr Leonard Jason, social psychologist,”As a group otherwise caring professionals can commit acts of cruelty that they would not be capable of as individuals.”

We were threatened with legal action if we did not agree to her being sent to a lock up psychiatric unit for eating disorders even though she did not have an eating disorder. They tried to put different labels on her but never diagnosed a psychiatric problem and tried to Section her. After 16 months, a new social worker to Rebecca’s case, with the advice of Dr Nigel Speight, Lady Mar and a solicitor secured Rebecca’s discharge from the unit. Rebecca is still very poorly but being cared for at home by her family, GP, Nurses, nutritionist and a consultant lead. This consultant, an immunologist who also specialises in ME/CFS, explained to the GP that it is likely that it was the Aluminium in the vaccine that triggered Rebecca’s very severe ME.

On all of Rebecca’s notes there is reference to her deterioration starting straight after the first vaccination. 2 consultants have made reference to the vaccine, one to query why she had been allowed to follow through with it and the other to point out the link with Aluminium being the trigger. Rebecca will never get back the 6 years she has lost as a consequence of having this vaccine and we as a family will never recover from the treatment we have received from some of the so called professionals involved in this case. Rebecca remains positive and hopeful of a recovery but like all the other girls affected, she deserves to have recognition as to the vaccine being the cause, she deserves better treatment and better support.

Points raised by Steve Hinks, Carol Green and John Ramagge:

Steve Hinks:

Before the meeting with Luciana Berger, MP, Shadow Minister for Health we held a pre-meeting with other political representatives.  During the discussions we were advised that our daughters are what are known widely as ‘vaccine collateral damage’ i.e. unintended casualties.  We were grateful for this open and honest comment which is certainly not typical of the Department of Health and National Health Service because most of the families have been told many times, and in writing, that this vaccine is safe and the many side-effects reported are not attributable to the vaccine. In fact many families are blamed for causing the unexpected and inexplicable illnesses and investigated for Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII, previously known as Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy). Not content with turning the blame on parents many NHS health professionals have told blatant lies to FII investigators which can be proven by their own material evidence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

We were also advised to sum up our expectations in a maximum of just two points for maximum effect, rather than a long list.

  • Point 1: The DoH and NHS must share the truth and facts related to the HPV vaccine and investigate the unexplained illnesses rather than blame the parents. These investigations should be coordinated at national level. We have many examples of statements in writing from Health Directors and Consultants that this vaccine is safe and not the cause of the adverse reactions, yet the number of Yellow Card reports to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is 10 – 100 times more than for the other common vaccines. Statistics obtained from the MHRA under the FOIA were presented to Ms Berger. In 5 years the number of reported reactions to HPV vaccine is 16,726 of which 2,661 are considered serious, including four deaths.  Parents also highlighted that they had been discouraged from raising Yellow Cards.
  • Point 2: Collateral damage arises in different quantities – it can be small or large and those agencies involved in collateral damage usually at least take preventive action to reduce and minimise it. Given the data reported to the MHRA it is evident that the quantity of reactions reported by Yellow Card are significantly more than for any other vaccine and therefore the use of this vaccine must be stopped until it can be proven to be ‘reasonably’ safe. It must be remembered that this vaccine is expected to reduce incidence of cervical cancer but so far there is no evidence that it will and, since it is accepted that it is not effective against over 15 types of HPV which can cause cervical cancer, the Smear Test will always have to be in place, irrespective of immunisation. This test is safe, extremely efficient and cost effective.

Carol Green, mother of injured young woman Katie: 

For the Minister to consider that a consultation by the NHS and government should be a top priority in order to review guidelines when a child presents at hospital or GP surgery with a possible adverse reaction to a vaccination.  If this was to become a reality, rather than being dismissive, there would be a set of clear procedures for physicians and doctors to follow to establish whether the vaccine was the likely cause or not.  Then appropriate treatment and support (both emotional and financial) can be given to the children and their families so that they would not have to endure what so many families have gone through since the HPV vaccination programme was introduced in the UK in 2008.

As the HPV programme had been promoted and underwritten by the government, they are responsible for ensuring these children receive adequate recognition and compensation if the vaccine is considered to be the cause of their injuries.

John Ramagge: 

John pointed out to the Minister that his MP, Crispin Blunt had introduced his daughter’s case to parliament in May 2009 and at that time Labour was in government.  This had followed the Minister’s claim that as she was not in government at the present time, there was little that she could do.  In 2009, the very questions and points raised by Crispin were belittled by Dawn Primarolo but John wished to make the Minister realise that although she is in shadow government at the moment, as a politician she and her colleagues need to take this matter seriously.  These are real people in real situations and it does not matter whether it is a Conservative or Labour government, as politicians you are elected to speak on our behalf and work on our behalf at all times.

All that families ask is to be respected, to be listened to and, most importantly, to be believed.

As one politician recently said, ‘There are only so many times you can say that this is a coincidence’.  He is right.

We do hope now that similar meetings for families with injured girls can be arranged with Jane Ellison, Minister for Public Health.  This would give the families the opportunity to share their experiences also with the Government Health Team.  The Shadow Health Team treated our families with great courtesy and with compassion and it would be excellent if both Health Teams could discuss this issue amongst themselves as this is a national issue and one to be taken seriously.

 Article in it’s entirety, compliments of SaneVax.org