If I were of a more entrepreneurial spirit, I would develop, patent and seek Health Canada approval for my own particular version of a childhood vaccination. I'd call it a "quadrivalent" inoculation, effective in preventing nearly all illnesses that infiltrate the body and spirit, and it would be available for sale by anyone who considers himself or herself a medical practitioner. Without divulging too many of the vaccine's secrets, I will say that it will be one part borage seeds, one part that special feeling in your heart, and administered by plucking your thumb against the inside of your cheek and making a popping sound with your mouth.
This vaccine, the name of which I'm still working on, would have roughly the same efficacy rate as the homeopathic vaccines that are currently approved for sale by Health Canada. These homeopathic vaccines, also known as "nosodes," are created by taking a small amount of infected material — saliva, blood, feces for example — and diluting it to the point wherein there is basically no active ingredient left. The vaccine is then administered to the patient — often in the form of a sugar pill — after which the individual is said to be protected from measles, mumps, meningitis, polio and more. The belief is that the nosodes will somehow catalyze an autoimmune response when and if the body ever encounters these viruses, and act by harnessing the power of make-believe and that aforementioned special feeling in all of our hearts.
Health Canada has approved for sale around 150 different types of nosodes, though they are not supposed to be marketed as replacements for conventional vaccines. In fact, packages of homeopathic vaccines must be labelled with a disclaimer saying the product is "not intended as an alternative to vaccination." That disclaimer is nevertheless ignored by plenty of homeopaths and naturopaths across Canada, as chronicled recently by The Globe and Mail; Little Mountain Homeopathy in Vancouver, for example, claims on its website that homeopathic vaccines are "are just as effective or even more effective than regular vaccines." There are decades worth of medical literature that would dispute that statement, but Little Mountain can keep selling its magic pills anyway, just as long as it keeps the disclaimer sticker on the label.
Health Canada's blind sanction of homeopathic vaccines has garnered renewed scrutiny of late, especially as new measles outbreaks continue to creep across North America. Following an initial outbreak in Disneyland in December, the United States has seen 141 confirmed cases of measles and Canada has seen 22 (at the time of writing), which are remarkable numbers for a disease that was officially eradicated in 2000 and 1998 in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.
Indeed, the resurgence of measles over the last number of years was pretty much entirely preventable, according to medical professionals, and was largely a result of lower immunization rates resulting from misinformed concerns about a supposed link between vaccinations and autism. That link was thoroughly discredited a number of years ago, but fears about the "dangers" of vaccination still persist. The availability of, and official Health Canada stamp of approval for, homeopathic vaccines only feeds the illusion that there is something inherently wrong with conventional, scientifically backed vaccines.
Medical professionals across Canada have asked Health Canada to revoke its approval for homeopathic vaccines. Nova Scotia's chief public health officer, for example, called them "dangerous" in an interview with CBC, and said that having them on the market is "helping people avoid immunization or giving them a reason not to be immunized." Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins put it a little more bluntly, saying, ""there's no such thing as a homeopathic or a naturopathic vaccine."
Health Canada wouldn't green light the sale of snake oil with the caveat that it only be sold under certain conditions. But that's what it's doing: selling snake oil. Sugar and imagination cannot prevent measles or polio or meningitis, though that is essentially what homeopathic vaccines claim to do. Health Canada should stop lending them its credibility.
National Post
Robyn Urback • rurback@nationalpost.com |
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