Zika Scaremongering: No Lessons Learned From The Thalidomide Scandal

Overview

Zika Scaremongering: No Lessons Learned From The Thalidomide Scandal 

From:
Angelika Mueller, Founder and Speaker of  "Eltern fuer Impfaufklaerung" EFI, www.efi-online.de
Hans U. P. Tolzin, Medical Journalist and publisher of the magazine impf-report
(Translation: Inez Maria Pandit, MD)

These days media panic mongers are circulating information and scare stories about the Zika virus which was unknown until recently. Apparently it is held responsible for cases of so called microcephaly (a malformation of the skull) associated with severe mental retardation in over 4000 newborn babies in Brazil.

Yet the evidence for a viral cause is poor. On the contrary there is indeed clear indication that vaccinating pregnant women with BOOSTRIX which was started not long ago in Brazil was the real cause of the epidemic. Due to the imminent danger of the WHO declaring an international state of health emergency which could divert attention from the true causes and at the same time - as recently in the case of Ebola - pump billions of taxpayers' money in useless drug and vaccine research we have summarized the most important circumstantial evidence in this first position statement.

(Feb. 1st, 2016) The Zika virus is believed to be transmitted like the yellow fever virus by the so called yellow fever mosquito. If this were the case the areas of disease outbreaks should overlap more or less. The opposite is true: While the microcephaly cases are concentrated mainly in the Brazilian Northeast Region yellow fever is found primarily in nearly all other regions.

A further argument against Zika being the causative agent is the fact that until now there are no findings of the Zika virus and its relatives (Dengue,yellow fever,West Nile) - known for 70 yearshaving anything to do with the birth defects described.

What is more is that even the CDC, the US department of epidemics control, always in the forefront of spreading global virus panic are conceding on their home page that only one in five infected individuals will actually fall ill. In addition the symptoms usually would be mild, only lasting a few days and very rarely require hospitalization.

On certain islands of Micronesia nearly three quarters of the population are infected without any hospitalization having occurred. The conclusion is that even if the virus were to play a causative role other factors ought to be present to result in serious illness or even harm. However, no reference to this was made on the CDC's homepage.

The Robert-Koch-Institut ( RKI ), the German department of epidemics control, also entertains the idea of other possible causes, for example medications (Epidemiological Bulletin 2/2016).

The Brazilian microcephaly epidemic began in May 2015. In October 2014 the Brazilian department of health announced the inclusion of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccination ( Tdap ) in the immunization schedule for pregnant women.The vaccine called BOOSTRIX developed by the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is manufactured in Brazil under licence.

It remains unknown whether vaccinating pregnant women will have an impact on fetal development. The German fact sheet of 2014 states: “There are no prospective clinical study data of human subjects in regard to the administration of BOOSTRIX to pregnant women available yet. Therefore BOOSTRIX should be given in pregnancy only if absolutely necessary with the potential benefit outweighing the possible risks to the fetus.”

Very similar comments can be found in the German fact sheet of 2003, in the current US version of 2005, in the Canadian fact sheet of 2013 and – Note! - in addition in the Australian version of August 2015! How come the Brazilian department of health is ready to expose pregnant women to an unknown risk?

We did some research and found out that the US licensing authority FDA yielded to the drug manufacturer's application in 2012 altering the pregnancy risk category from C to category B. Category C implies that experiments on pregnant animals were suggestive of risks while category B stands for a lower risk to the fetus after experiments failed to show any results.

The FDA document does not mention more recent studies or data which would render the existing classification obsolete. Searching PubMed, the worldwide leading online data base was not of much help either.

A possible explanation ( for the fetal malformations )could be the unintended TH1 stimulation. The TH1 axis of the immune system in pregnancy normally is downregulated automatically in order to prevent tissue rejection, i.e. spontaneous abortion of the fetus ( half of fetal DNA is of paternal origin ). Artificial stimulation of the TH1 pathway in pregnancy can cause fatal health problems.

Since 2003 at the latest it is known that the pertussis toxin, also a component of BOOSTRIX, is capable of stimulating TH1. Furthermore, aluminium hydroxide as a booster for the TH2 axis to produce antibodies can boost the action of TH1 stimulating agents as well.

In actual fact BOOSTRIX is likely to be the prime suspect being responsible for malformations in thousands of newborns in Brazil. Waiting for the health authorities to launch an investigation and react accordingly is bound to be futile. On the contrary all parties involved are trying to divert attention from the possibility of medications being the cause by focusing on the Zika virus theory. We are dealing with a phenomenon here very similar to Ebola in the recent past.

The CDC who really should know better is intentionally fueling the debate about Zika by announcing that the virus had been detected in the tissues of some of the victims. And public announcements by the CDC very nearly are regarded as law in the world of virologists. The German Bernhard-Nocht-Institut, having played an inglorious part in the Ebola scare, stated: No specifics are known but the correlation is supposedly strong.

Only recently, by the way, a clinical Tdap vaccine trial had been conducted with 250 pregnant and 150 non-pregnant women as test subjects. The study was sponsored by the CDC and the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation. Searching PubMed we have not found any indication that clinical trials involving vaccinated pregnant women included a health assessment of their newborn babies. A fatal lapse as we can see now.

The manufacturer is obviously very keen on expanding the market for the vaccine in one go. In Germany, too,vaccinations for pregnant women are on the brink of being implemented. Just recently the gynaecologist Dr Helmut Jaeger and the paediatrician Dr Christoph Dembowski wrote a rousing open letter to STIKO (Staendige Impfkommission - Advisory panel on vaccinations in Germany).

Once again it becomes clear that we are dealing with a fatal subordination of health authorities and medical experts to the interests of a powerful pharmaceutical industry. Reforms are called for to end this state of dependency. Otherwise some of the science fiction fantasies where the world and humanity are owned by corporations might become reality at last.

We keep going and continue our research. Updates will be published in the next issue of the journal impf-report ( vaccination report ) and should the occasion arise updates will be announced at the 11.
Stuttgarter Impfsymposium (11. Vaccination Symposium in Stuttgart) on 9. - 10. April 2016.

We appreciate pertinent information and comments under redaktion@impf-report.de. We certainly keep data confidential upon request.

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