Polio Eradication by 2018: A Pipe Dream
The organized effort to eradicate polio from the world began in 1988 as part of The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The program was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rotary International, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO), working in partnership and primarily using the live…
Homeostasis is Life’s Balancing Act
The very first thing I did with my brand new Christmas knives was to cut the tip of my finger off… not enough to maim me permanently but enough to slightly change the shape of said finger. I watched in horrified fascination while copious amounts of blood ran down my hand and family members rushed up with towels and silently worried about whether there would still…
The Salk Polio Vaccine “Tragedy”
History is a powerful thing. If you accurately tell the story of an event that occurred, you get one picture, one understanding of it. Leave one tiny little detail out, however, and the whole picture changes. You can get thousands of details right, but get one wrong, or simply omit telling…
Doctors Just Not Pushy Enough On HPV Vaccine
I was driving to work the other day listening to the radio. I happened to tune into the program Here & Now on National Public Radio (NPR). The host, Robin Young, was interviewing Allison Kempe, MD of the University of Colorado about a recent study led by Dr. Kempe regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. As part of the study, Dr. Kempe and her team surveyed 582 pediatricians and family physicians in the United States on their views about the vaccine. The survey found that more than a third of the doctors did not strongly…
A Wider Angle on Vaccines and Immunity
My husband and I indulged in a little prenatal uber-parenting when I was pregnant with our first child, and we interviewed several pediatricians known for being more sensible or holistic to see if we could find a good fit. One of the many questions we asked each doctor was about how they approached vaccination. The last physician responded by saying, “Well, there are…
The Toxic Logic of Water and Applesauce
Helmut R. R. Wakeham, PhD (chemistry) was chief scientist and director of research and development at Philip Morris tobacco company in the 1970s. In 1976, he was interviewed on television by British journalist Peter Taylor of the BBC and asked about the dangers of cigarette smoking, specifically about the harmfulness of the ingredients in cigarettes. In that particular exchange, Dr. Wakeham stated, “None of the things that have been found in tobacco smoke are in concentrations which can be considered harmful.”