#1) Â That book is YOUR property. Â Tell your pediatrician he needs to return it or refund your money. Â He did not have your permission to keep it, no matter what he thinks of it. Â
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He is not treating you like an adult. (I would fire him at this point.)
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#2) Â As much as I criticize vaccines, I don't believe that polio was eradicated before the vaccine was ever introduced.
Like all viruses, it went through active phases, and less active phases, as people's immune systems dealt with it, and as things like sanitation improved. Â However, it wasn't eradicated. Â It was on a definite downturn, no thanks to the vaccine.
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However, I believe (and I may be wrong) that the vaccine prevented it from coming back. And that, to me, is important. Â
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That said, there was definitely a human cost (in terms of severe reaction) involved that the pharmaceutica companies covered up, and continue to cover up, to the point where most doctors are utterly unaware of any problems. Â For example, most cases of polio in Africa involve vaccine-induced polio, not wild polio. Â Why? Â Because the vaccine companies are sending out the less expensive oral polio instead of the newer inactivated version (which really isn't that new any more, it's been out for what, 16 years??).
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The polio may be the only vaccine at this point that I believe might be necessary. Â But I'd like to know more--like why most people who got it had a mild virus, but a small minority had paralysis and/or death. Â Why aren't researchers looking at what made the difference instead of assuming that everyone needs to avoid the virus? Â What if it's something as simple as genetic predisposition combined with, say, a vitamin deficiency?
It's really the same question with vaccines and severe reactions to vaccines (whether or not you believe autism is one of those reactions, there are plenty of other severe, life-threatening reactions). Â Why aren't the researchers looking at WHY a subset of people react to the vaccines? What if it's something as simple as genetic predisposition combined with, say, a vitamin deficiency?
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And that's one more rant I have against science in general--they keep looking for One Magic Bullet, when in reality, it's a Firing Squad.
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So one at a time, they eliminate each bullet ("Nope, this one didn't cause death!") without realizing that the effect of each bullet COMBINED caused the death. Â