Guest guest Posted November 8, 2004 Report Share Posted November 8, 2004 I received this from a friend- I hope it is ok to pass on to this list. I think " news " pieces like the one on 60min are damaging and this particular one was rather irresponsibly done. Marisa Domestic Engineer and Mother of 2 God put Adam and Eve in a Garden NOT a Pharmacy! > For those who saw the 60 Minutes edition on vaccines a few weeks ago: > > > Dear Friends of NVIC: > > I have attached a copy of the letter we sent to Sixty Minutes following > the > segment on October 20, 2004. While this has been a very difficult time > for NVIC, we have been lifted up by your steadfast support and words of > encouragement. > > This is truly a battle of David and Goliath proportions. Even though the > other side is so well funded and has the support of a solid > infrastructure, > we will not stop telling the truth about what we know. > > Please continue to support our efforts on behalf of parents and children. > > Best regards, > Kathi > > Kathi Williams > National Vaccine Information Center > 421 Church St., Suite E > Vienna, Va 22180 > 703-938-DPT3 > www.NVIC.org > ---- > October 26, 2004 > > Michael Rosenbaum, Producer > Elliot Kirschner, Producer > 60 Minutes (Wed) > 524 West 57th St. > New York, NY 10019 > > Dear Michael and Elliot: > > The sadness I felt after watching the segment you asked me to participate > in (Oct. 20- Saying No To Vaccination) was not just about how you made me > and the three mothers I referred to you look, it was shame for having > believed that you were being honest with me. It was humiliation for having > allowed myself to be deceived into dragging three mothers, who trusted me, > into the most inaccurate and biased broadcast presentation that I have > participated in during the past 22 years of work to prevent vaccine > injuries and deaths through public education. It was a shock when I > realized that, by my participation, I had been used to give you a vehicle > to launch a gratuitous and inaccurate personal attack on Andrew Wakefield, > M.D., while you failed to inform your viewers that the main spokesperson > in > your piece, Paul Offit, M.D., is a childhood vaccine patent holder and > paid > consultant for Merck, one of the largest childhood vaccine manufacturers. > > From the first discussion we had on the phone to the last discussion the > three of us had while standing in the lobby of the CBS office the second > time I had flown to New York to be interviewed, you promised me that you > would accurately and fairly portray both sides of the vaccine safety > debate. Elliot, we spoke at length in phone conversations leading up to my > persuading the Moms in New York to invite you and Dan Rather into one of > their homes, about how 60 Minutes was going to take a " different " approach > to the vaccine safety debate. We talked about examining it in the social > context of health care consumers questioning vaccines, just as they are > questioning the current medical model in search of alternative and > complimentary ways of preventing disease and maintaining health. That is > why I referred you to mothers who whose health care providers were > involved > in an holistic approach to maintaining wellness. > > However, even if you had not misled me into thinking this was going to be > your approach, it was unfair to tell me you " did not want a piece that > talked about the scientific studies " and ask me several times not to talk > about " the scientific studies " on camera when your piece was all about how > parents should " trust the experts " and " the scientific studies. " This was > particularly unfair when the main thrust of my argument (which you both > chose not to use) was that the crisis of trust currently existing between > parents and doctors centers on the fact that what government health > officials and doctors are telling parents is true about vaccine safety in > their " studies " is in direct conflict with what parents are experiencing > in > their own homes after their children are vaccinated and they watch them > regress physically, mentally and emotionally into chronic illness and > disability. > > I made that point several times in our filmed interview, including > explaining why we want federal officials to open up their closed vaccine > risk databases to independent scientific analysis. But you did not include > any of this and instead chose to imply I was either ignorant or lying when > I said the appropriate studies had not been done by government health > agencies and industry to answer the outstanding questions about vaccine > safety. > > I also made the point, several times in our filmed interview, that the > National Vaccine Information Center takes an informed consent position. We > defend the right of parents and all citizens to be fully informed about > the > risks and complications of diseases and the risks and complications of > vaccines and be allowed to make an informed, voluntary decision. This is > in > the tradition of the right to informed consent to medical treatment, which > is the centerpiece of the ethical practice of modern medicine. We fully > support a parent's decision to use all government recommended vaccines for > his or her child. We worked for 14 years to persuade the FDA and CDC to > license and make available a purified, less reactive DTaP vaccine for > parents who want their children to be vaccinated for those three diseases. > At the same time, we fully support a parent's decision to selectively > vaccinate using an individualized schedule or the decision not to > vaccinate. That puts us in the pro-informed consent or anti-forced > vaccination position not in an anti-vaccine stance but you failed to make > that distinction. > > At the end of the segment, your correspondent, Dan Rather, inaccurately > implies that today states require few vaccines and only recently began > giving exemptions. He says " You may remember the days when all children > had to be vaccinated before they entered school. While all states still > require some vaccinations for school age children, many now give > exemptions > to parents who don't want their children immunized. " If you had done your > research, you would have understood that all states have always required > children to be vaccinated since the turn of the 20th century when one or > two doses of smallpox vaccine was required. For many years, the > overwhelming majority of states have had exemptions to vaccination for > medical, religious and, in about one-third of the states, for > philosophical > or conscientious belief reasons. The truth is that, today, all states > require many vaccines - most require at least 31 doses of 10 vaccines for > school entry. The CDC recommends 37 doses of 12 vaccines for " universal > use " by all children and the remainder of these are in the process of > being > mandated. > > Following questioning me on film, your correspondent, Dan Rather, stated > to me that he admired my " passion " and my ability to " articulate " my > position but that he had a " bias " toward " the doctors and the science. " > > When I reminded him that we maintain that the " the science " is inadequate > quantitatively and qualitatively, he admitted that several of my points > made sense, including the fact that " we might be using too many vaccines " > and that the " government database on vaccine risks should be open for > everyone to see. " I am left to wonder if his " bias " toward unquestioning > belief in the infallibility of doctors like Paul Offit either got in his > way or your way in the editing room. > > I have debated physicians three times live on the " Today Show " as well as > on other television shows and discussed both the science and the ethics of > mandatory vaccination. I would have gone head to head with any doctor and > talked about the scientific studies, including those concerning pertussis > and pertussis vaccine, which was the subject of the first major book to > critique the mass vaccination system, DPT: A Shot in the Dark (1985, > Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), which I co-authored. That book was used as a > reference by the Institute of Medicine in 1991 in its report on the > adverse > effects of pertussis and rubella vaccines. I will talk about the > scientific > studies anywhere with anyone but you requested that I not talk about them > because you obviously wanted to deceive me about what you really intended > to do. > > You opened with a mother talking about the dangers of whooping cough, > which was entirely appropriate because it is important to discuss risks of > diseases if you are also going to discuss risks of vaccines. But you did > not discuss vaccine risks except to categorically dismiss their > significance. You did not include a mother talking about what happened > when > her child suffered a vaccine reaction. On camera I talked about what > happened to my child after vaccination. I talked about what happened to > other children after vaccination. I gave you a computer CD with several > hundred pages of descriptions of vaccine reactions reported by ordinary > citizens across this country in an on-line petition calling on the CDC to > open up their vaccine risk databases. But none of that was included. > > You totally ignored the entire point of why there is a crisis of trust > among educated parents when it comes to " trusting the experts " and their > " scientific studies " because you were afraid to address the real issue: > too > many educated parents' children are regressing after vaccination and being > left with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism and other brain and immune > system disorders that are preventing them from leading healthy, normal > lives. And these educated parents are too educated to buy the line that it > was " just a coincidence " that it all happened after their children were > given multiple vaccines on the same day. Then these educated parents use > their education to analyze the methodologically flawed vaccine safety > studies, many of which are conducted by doctors paid by drug companies > making and selling vaccines. And then they realize they have been > deceived. > > Just like parents were deceived by doctors and pubic health officials > about the safety of anti-depressants for children. > > Just like you deceived me. > > Then they don't trust the experts anymore. Then they demand the right to > say no to vaccination. Because they would rather take their chances with a > disease than allow one more doctor to put a loaded syringe into their > child > and pull the trigger. > > It is really quite simple. > > Michael, you know exactly what you are doing from choosing the color of > the backdrops, camera angles and lighting for each interview to the > background research you conduct on each person you consider for > interviewing and the edits you make. Elliot, you are young. The next time > you think about setting up someone who trusts you in order to advance your > career, you should remember this: in the end you will reap what you sow in > this life. Always. > > Very truly, > > Barbara Loe Fisher > > cc: Dan Rather, Correspondent > Andrew Heyward, News Division Chief > Les Moonves, President > > ----------------------- > Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath > Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK > $$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account > vaccineinfo voicemail US 530-740-0561 > (go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail > Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm > Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - > http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm > Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm > ANY INFO OBTAINED HERE NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS MEDICAL > OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION TO VACCINATE IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE. > > ****** > " Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. > Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy > knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy > information > and religions destroy spirituality " ....Michael Ellner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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