Why alternative medicine & choice

[Guest guest]

I am a big supporter of alternative medicine because I probably would

be dead without it. If I had not been living in a state (AZ) where

alternative medicine is very accepted and very available, I would not

have had this choice. Several years ago, not only was establishment

medicine not doing anything to help me, it was making me sicker! I

started reacting to various prescription drugs.

 

Having reacted to a number of prescription drugs is a big part of the

reason why I am so upset about this Homeland Security Bill that would

force everyone to have certain vaccinations while protecting the

vaccine makers from any lawsuits due to damage the vaccines do. This

is a recipe for disaster.

 

Another reason I'm so opposed to this provision is because I know the

history of how the government has treated military personnel with

Gulf War Syndrome (claiming their problems are all in their heads and

ignoring them) while at the same time continueing to force military

personnel to continue taking the anthrax vaccinations over the

objections of the personnel. These vaccinations not only are of

dubious safety, they are of dubious effectiveness. What we have is a

bunch of service personnel quite possibly made sick by vaccinations

that probably won't protect them from anthrax anyway. But a former

member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sits on the board of directors of

this company, and is making a lot of money off these vaccinations

that service personnel are forced to take.

 

There is a theme to this post, and that theme is that medical

decisions in the U.S. are being made based not on what actually is

effective and safe and helps people but on what will benefit the

pocketbooks of a few individuals and companies. A co-theme of this

post is that there are some individuals in charge making these

decisions who don't care a rat's behind about how their decicions

affect you, me, our loved ones, etc. as long as it enriches them.

Yes, there are people this callous and this conscienceless. They

dress up what they do in all kinds of noble-sounding rationales - to

improve people's health, to protect people against quacks, to

safeguard national security, etc. - but look at the results of what

they do. The walk does not match the talk to put it mildly.

 

As if the two reasons I have given - my own health problems plus

being aware of the effects of the forced anthrax vaccinations - are

not enough to explain why forcing people to have vaccinations and

taking away their choices are bad things, there is a third reason.

For over 10 years I did volunteer work in the field of patients

rights, specifically the abuse of psychiatric patients. It was an

eye-opener to put it mildly. Briefly, due to the push for

privatilization back during the 80s (under Reagan and the first Bush)

and the writing of CHAMPUS to favor psychiatric hospitalization over

cheaper, safer, and more effective forms of treatment, we had a

situation in this country where active duty military personnel,

military retirees, and the dependents of both groups were targeted

for hospitalization due to the generous CHAMPUS (insurance for

military) benefits. Well people were made sick and sick people made

sicker by the enormity of the abuse heaped on them. There were few

real attempts to get a diagnosis right or actually attempt to heal.

This was a big scam for funneling millions in taxpayer money into one

industry and a few individuals and facilities. Eventually a spread

about the problem appeared in the Army Times, the Air Force Times,

and the Navy Times (reporter Soroya Nelson), and the problem was

addressed by a Select Committee of Congress.

 

I see this same kind of cynical disregard for the health and well-

being of average Americans in the vaccinations provisions of the

Homeland Security Bill as I saw in the CHAMPUS regulations. And I

foresee the same results. People made sick and sicker so someone

else can bank a lot of money. And the health problems resulting from

the vaccines will not be cause for examining the safety of the

effectiveness of the vaccines but will be " explained " away by

claiming that the physical health problems the people expericnce are

due to the people not being able to handle stress and having

psychological problems.

 

I also will forward in a two-part article I wrote about what happened

at one of these for-profit psychiatric hospitals. I will forward in

a book review I did that also will shed more light on the lengths

some very greedy, very powermad individuals and companies will go to

in order to enrich themselves, and how little regard they have for

the health and well-being of their customers.

 

Victoria