Plumbum
So... people are wondering whether they should innoculate their children against horrible diseases because they're afraid that these innoculations are the reason for the rise in autism.
Not anything else, surely no. Innoculations. That's the problem. Got to be.
Oh wait, has your child been chewing on a toy made in China over the last 20 years? Because lead poisoning can of course cause brain problems as well.
It's funny. I sort of knew that America was the new Rome. I just didn't figure we'd share the same exact cause for our downfall.
Not anything else, surely no. Innoculations. That's the problem. Got to be.
Oh wait, has your child been chewing on a toy made in China over the last 20 years? Because lead poisoning can of course cause brain problems as well.
It's funny. I sort of knew that America was the new Rome. I just didn't figure we'd share the same exact cause for our downfall.
posted by Monstro D. Whale | 11:50 AM
3 Comments:
I don't know... You can't fault someone for taking an active interest in the welfare of their children. In many ways, it's better for kids to be non-vaccinated for a reason (assuming such reason is based in rationality) than for them to be vaccinated simply by default. I've read a lot of the pros and cons & can relate to those against it. I mean, look at DDT. It stops malaria, but at what cost? I'm not making an assertion either way here, but I wonder if you're overlooking the intentions of the parents.
I think that the problem here is the assumption that this stuff is caused by inoculations. I mean, aren't there like a million reasons that a developing child could suffer a developmental disorder like autism.
The lead is a real tip off for me. As the parent of a toddler, I see about 3 toys recalled every month. Do I assume that that's because as soon as China shipped this stuff over someone caught on? Chances are there have been lead painted toys on the market for decades and only recently has someone thought to check them out. All those kids chewing on lead painted toys suggests to me a pretty good reason why there would be a climb in autism rates.
Now that was the point of my blog post. But I'd like to address your point...
As for the rights of parents to not innoculate their children...if there's an outbreak of innoculation resistant smallpox because somebody didn't feel they should take the "default" option, I would certainly hold those people accountable for whatever epidemic they might cause. I think people haven't seen a plague and have become complascent about what mother nature and her diseases can do to a closely packed human population.
I don't mean to disagree with you too harshly, but I just don't personally believe that everyone should have any kind of freedom they want (you are a stronger believer in personal liberty than I am). Hell, I teach. I am too often faced off against students whose parents didn't feel that their learning to read was important. So my stance is that some people just are not up to important decisions. When those decisions threaten others, I don't personally think we should leave it up to whims.
Tuberculosis is on the rise again for this very reason. In some countries, their innoculation program was poorly administered or did not have sufficient financial backing. As a result, a resistant strain of TB has arrived and is spreading throughout the world. It will no doubt reach the US in no time, if it hasn't already. So, if people have the freedom to choose to ignore an innoculation, they thereby not only offset any good done by a global innoculation attempt, they contribute to the creation of a stronger virus/bacterium.
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