Ville Magazine l Insider Access for City Lifestyle May/Jun 2016 / Health & Fitness Issue | Page 36

HEALTH CHECK

Seeking Immunity
Written by: Dr. Scott Mindel

Throughout history, we have been exposed to misleading and broken statements from agencies that were created with
the intent to protect us. Less than fifty years ago, tobacco companies were promoting that cigarettes were not addictive or
hazardous to your health. In fact, there were advertising campaigns featuring “nine out of ten doctors” recommend their
brand. After 30 years of asbestos manufacturers putting their material throughout our public buildings and schools, it was
proven that asbestos causes cancer even though company insiders have known this for years.
In the 1980’s, most studies showed the rate of autism in children to be 1 in 10,000. The latest studies conducted by the CDC
(2014) show that 1 in 68 children have autism. There are many possible reasons and many unanswered questions as to why
and how this alarming accelerating rate is happening. Sixty percent of parents of children with autism blame vaccines, and
thousands of stories are told that all sound very similar. A normal, healthy, developing child goes to get vaccinated. Soon
after, the child breaks out in a high fever, may have seizures, then can no
longer walk or talk. The child is later diagnosed with autism.
This past March, a documentary, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,
was pulled from the Tribeca film festival. The
documentary reveals how the CDC (Center for Disease
Control) has withheld information about studies
about MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine)
and its link to autism. Actor Robert De Niro, the
festival’s co-founder, supported its screening at first,
but then retracted stating, “The Festival doesn’t seek
to avoid or shy away from controversy.
However, we have concerns with
certain things in this film that we feel
prevent us from presenting it in the
Festival program.”
Yet TFF had months to study the
documentary and accepted it very early on. However, once TFF’s
lineup was made public, it being drawing negative attention. Philippe Diaz, chairman of Cinema Libre and distributor of
the film, believes the festival’s sponsors were unhappy. The Sloan Foundation is one of the largest and first sponsors of
the festival where Dr. Peter Kim, former president of Merck’s Research Laboratories, sits on the board. Merck’s Research
Laboratories is the company that holds the MMR vaccine patent and monopoly in the U.S. TFF’s decision caused mass media
attention leaving more of a growing demand for the need for further research.
In 1998, British gastroenterologist, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, investigated the MMR vaccine after hearing parents’ stories about
their children suddenly being diagnosed with developmental disorders after being vaccinated. His research of the MMR
vaccine explained its link to bowel disease and autism. At the time he wasn’t an anti-vaccine doctor. Instead, he believed that
vaccines were safe. His studies (and those of many other researchers) explained that there were problems with the threecombo vaccine of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).
Soon after he was accused of fraud, but it was retracted as other researchers were unable to reproduce Wakefield’s findings.
Dr. Wakefield and one of the co-authors of the study, Prof. John Walker-Smith had their medical licenses revoked by the
United Kingdom’s General Medical Council regulatory board. Yet, he advised to vaccinate for these three diseases with single
vaccines, rather than the combo.
36 l VILLE l HEALTH & FITNESS ISSUE