Is your child just a human guinea pig? (From Worcester News)

Is your child just a human guinea pig?

9:27am Wednesday 1st August 2007 in

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CHILDREN given vaccines are being used as guinea pigs by the Government, claims a doctor.

Parents naturally want to make sure their children are vaccinated against illness, but a new book begs the question whether it is worth the risk at all.

Dr Richard Halvorsen, a GP who spent five years researching the topic, claims the Government has misled the public in The Truth About Vaccines.

He claims UK children are being used as "guinea pigs" and given unnecessary jabs for illnesses such as mumps, and an ineffective vaccine for whooping cough.

Worcestershire Primary Care Trust has derided the findings of the book but it has earned the cautious backing of experts in Worcester, including Debbie Ryding - founder of the Desumo Clinic which provides single measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations.

Mother-of-seven Mrs Ryding founded the private clinic in St John's, Worcester, after her son Michael, now aged eight, developed eating and behavioural problems which she attributes to the combined vaccinations he was given against whooping cough, tetanus and diphtheria as an eight- week-old baby. Mrs Ryding said she was in broad agreement with the remarks made by the doctor - although thought the timing of the publication was bad.

Dr Andrew Wakefield is now fighting to save his career after he challenged the safety of the MMR vaccine because of fears over a possible link to autism.

But the Government maintains that vaccines are essential and save millions of lives.

Mrs Ryding, aged 48, said: "Certainly we know with mumps vaccines it seems to be more effective when the child is older.

"We have come to that conclusion by running our own blood testing. We also know that the MMR jab did not have long testing - it was a matter of weeks and not as long as the Government is telling us. We also know that 18 months ago there was an article in one of the medical magazines where the Government itself had raised questions over the effectiveness of the mumps vaccine."

Dr Halvorsen said in his book that vaccine programmes were not the "magic bullet" cure that they are claimed to be.

He added: "A cocktail of vaccines could be causing some serious health problems, with hundreds, if not thousands, of children adversely affected every year."

Dr Halvorsen says a child is supposed to have 25 vaccines by the time they are 15 months old and that by bundling vaccinations together it is impossible to analyse the effectiveness of each independently.

Administering them at once also means it is difficult to see which side effects come from which vaccination, he said.

He added: "There remains uncertainty whether the growing number of childhood vaccinations is contributing to the rising numbers of children affected by asthma, diabetes and other immune related disorders."

Father-of-two Dr Halvorsen began his investigation after getting a request to write an article on the MMR vaccination and had no fixed opinion on vaccines, giving them routinely to his patients.

He said: "Yet when I researched and tried to get the Government's side of the story on MMR, instead of being reassured, which I expected, I was dismayed to find that evidence showing it was safe was simply not there. It had been introduced with virtually no safety controls at all."

He believes vaccine risks are not properly assessed because, unlike drugs, vaccines generally do not undergo long-term safety trials.

He said: "I've heard stories of parents trying to decide whether to vaccinate their children being patronised and bullied and even told it was the equivalent of abusing their child if they didn't opt for a vaccine."

Despite this he says he is not "anti-vaccination" but that some are not as effective as they should be. But the book was slammed by Dr Richard Harling, joint director of public health for Worcestershire.

He said: "This is the latest in a long line of unfounded scares about vaccines as a whole and the MMR vaccine in particular. Vaccination has achieved huge gains in health, leading to huge reductions and even eradication of once feared diseases.

"The safety of vaccines is monitored constantly through surveillance schemes. Serious adverse effects are extremely rare.

"All of the proper scientific studies that have been completed have demonstrated no link between MMR and autism.

"MMR is used across the world and has lead to huge reductions in measles, mumps and rubella. Very few countries use single vaccines but those that do still suffer significant problems with these diseases. Spacing vaccines out means leaving children vulnerable for longer."

Dr Harling said he would advise parents to protect their children by having all of the routine vaccinations including MMR and to talk to their GP or health visitor if they are worried. He added: "Health service staff do not bully parents into vaccinating, they explain the benefits and side effects and allow them to make an informed choice."

VACCINATIONS: WHAT DR HALVORSEN SAYS:

These are the views of Dr Halvorsen, expressed in his controversial new book.

MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) - The MMR jab should be withdrawn until adequate long-term safety studies on sufficient numbers of children can demonstrate its safety.

MEASLES - Measles vaccine can cause permanent brain damage and SSPE (the rare but fatal brain disease). On balance the risks of the disease remain greater than those associated with the vaccine, especially in vulnerable children with chronic illnesses.

MUMPS - This vaccination is unnecessary and the MMR vaccine is making the disease worse. It is a mild disease that rarely kills, most people get a slight swelling of the facial and neck glands and are then immune for life.

RUBELLA - Not recommended for children, and it would be more effective to screen teenage girls to check if they've acquired immunity and vaccinate only those who don't have it.

HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) - Some women in trials of the vaccine developed potential auto-immune disorders - mainly arthritis-related. This vaccine looks promising but it is too early to introduce it on a national scale.

ALUMINIUM (present in most childhood vaccinations) - You can lessen the amount of toxic aluminium your baby receives by spreading out the vaccines over a period of time. It's highly toxic, is known to cause brain damage and has been implicated in behavioural problems in children. He advises spreading out the length of time between the Pediacel (5-in-1), meningitis C and pneumococcal vaccines, all of which contain aluminium.