General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can you put down your pitchfork long enough to discuss the root causes of the anti-vax problem? [View all]Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)1) I would say no shit, but allow me to reiterate, no shit, don't see how this applies though, look here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026171193
2) Again, no shit, yes graft and the revolving door needs to be closed, but this isn't an issue unique to the Pharmaceutical industry, look at the FCC and telecommunication regulation.
3) This is always a source for concern, and related to the above point in number 2, is a reason to call for independent clinical trials with full transparency before market penetration can occur.
4) Again, this is a call for more regulation of a private industry.
5) It would be nice if you had some verification for this incident that didn't involve some anti-vaccination websites, here's the source, by the way: http://www.samawomenshealth.org/downloads/Visit%20to%20Bhadrachalam%20-%20A%20Report%20Final.pdf
I would agree that the government of India ran a shoddy observational study here, but as for the vaccine itself, there's no connection to the deaths that occurred, and many of the symptoms they mentioned are common for all injections(soreness at point of injection), or could be age or development related. A significant fraction of the girls who were given the injection, ended up getting their first menstruation, but this was also a study of girls from the age of roughly 9 to 14, so this is to be expected.
6) Citation please, the biggest issue is being prescribed antibiotics when it isn't necessary, or patients not following through with their antibiotic regimen, which may lead to underusing the medication. Both of these issues contribute to bacteria evolving antibiotic resistance, but isn't an instance of "overmedicating" whatever that means.
7) Citation please, this just seems like so much fear mongering. We have too much pollution, mostly due to industry and energy production, but I know of no one, nowadays, outside of some Republican assholes, who claim it is safe.
8) The mercury in question is an excellent preservative and is perfectly safe, just because it has the metal mercury in it doesn't mean you will get the same reaction you do from elemental mercury. People consume vast quantities of sodium chloride daily, yet you don't see people exploding that often. Ignorance of chemistry by the public should NOT fuel health care policy.
9) This was a horrible, unethical experiment, rife with bad science, bad policy and outright racism.
10) I agree with this, anti-vaxers are arrogant, short sighted, and ignorant. We already knew this.
The problem is that there is no building trust here, the fallback will be some type of crazy conspiracy theory or another. People like to create their own narratives, and do not dismiss good old fashioned anti-intellectualism, which is as American as apple pie.