A pediatrician, an medical doctor specializing in autism, a science journalist, an attorney, a medical freedom advocate, and a parent of a vaccine-injured child are just some of the Oregonians heading to Washington, D.C. this week to lobby, speak, and rally for vaccine safety awareness, scientific integrity, and greater transparency in reporting on issues related to vaccines.
“My biggest concern is that children are being exposed to too many toxins,” says Paul Thomas, M.D., who is attending the rally from Portland, Oregon and the first name on a list of over 300 medical doctors and scientists calling on Donald Trump to form an independent vaccine safety commission.
“I give vaccines in my office every day. They are unquestionably one useful tool in the medical toolbox. But I also support parents who selectively vaccinate or choose not to vaccinate at all. This may not be a popular opinion but it is the truth: My best educated parents are the ones who modify the schedule or forego all vaccines. Their children also tend to be the healthiest.”
"It’s increasingly clear that our current schedule recommends too many vaccinations too soon,” Thomas says. "Not all babies can handle that toxic load. Vaccines, combined with other toxic exposures like infant Tylenol, seem to be causing brain damage and auto-immune disorders in some susceptible children.”
Medford, Oregon-based neuroscientist Diane Hennacy Powell, who now specializes in autism, is also heading to the Capitol to speak at the rally. “When doctors first started vaccinating children, the benefits clearly outweighed the risks. We are seeing more complications now, most of which could be prevented by taking into consideration factors such as gender, age, nutritional status, and exposures to neurotoxins,” Powell insists. “We need to redefine this debate in scientific and not political terms. Then we can vaccinate safely.”
Powell adds “We didn't understand the pathological process underlying vaccination risk until we learned that the brain has its own intrinsic immune system and lymphatic channels. The brain's immune cells, called microglia, play a vital role in sculpting the developing brain during learning.”
Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., an award-winning science journalist, book author, and Fulbright scholar, will be speaking at the National Press Club on March 31 at 9:00 a.m. and at the rally. Based in Ashland, Oregon, Margulis argues that the media and the government have an ethical obligation to look more closely at possible causes of autism, including prenatal exposure to ultrasound, acetaminophen use in infancy, and the cumulative exposure to endocrine-disrupting and brain-damaging ingredients in childhood vaccines.
“Autism is the biggest health disaster facing today’s children,” Margulis says. “It’s a national crisis.”
Robert Snee, an attorney based in Portland, is also flying across the country to meet with lawmakers about vaccine policy. Snee thinks “It is time for government supported censorship of vaccine risks to come to an end and people be provided all relevant information to allow them the opportunity to give true informed consent.”
Stacey Black is a medical freedom advocate from Eugene. A mom of one, Black is concerned about the current state of ethics at the CDC. "Their mission is being influenced and shaped by outside parties and special interests," asserts Black, citing a letter written by a group of 13 scientists at the CDC who call themselves CDC SPIDER (Scientists Preserving Integrity, Diligence and Ethics in Research). In the letter, the scientists write: “What concerns us most is that corruption is becoming the norm and not the rare exception."
“There is also a whistleblower at the CDC, a senior scientist named William Thompson, who has revealed to the public that the CDC omitted statistically significant vaccine safety data from their studies.”
“How can parents make the best choices for their families if they don't have accurate, reliable information?" asks Black. “Journalists need to investigate this further.”
Paula Bryant-Trerise , a working mother from Portland is also taking time off to go to the capitol to lobby for safer vaccines. Bryant-Trerise has a daughter who was injured by a vaccine. "I was once pro-vaccine, but now I am pro-informed consent." Bryant-Treise says. Bryant-Trerise supports the removal of thimerosal (a mercury-based preservative) from all vaccines and is urging the president to convene an independent Vaccine Safety Commission. "This is not about us against them,” Bryant-Trerise says. “Who wouldn't want safer vaccines?"
