Oink, Oink!
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there has been something akin to mass hysteria going on in regards to the swine flu virus and its corresponding vaccine. People are afraid of dying, and they want their vaccine RIGHT NOW, gorramit.
Today, Dr. Mercola posted “A Review of Four Approved Swine Flu Vaccines’ Ingredients” on his website. I urge you all to read and to educate yourselves.
While I think it’s good that people do research, this guy seems a little shady hon…he sells tanning beds on his Web site. I’m just saying.
Beck-Though I haven’t seen the beds myself, my guess would be that Dr. Mercola offers them because Vitamin D is so important to the immune system. Yes, you can take D supplements (my family does), but the sun (or tanning beds) help the body produce Vitamin D naturally.
Honestly-he’s not shady at all.
All the swine flu hype is a little over the top in my opinion. While, yes, your body has no natural immunigens to this flu strain, the flu itself is a pretty mild and most people are over it in less than a week. In fact I think you’re just as, if not more likely, to die from the seasonal flu as you are H1N1. And yet there’s never such a “hysteria” about the normal flu. Since this is new and different and has been considered a pandemic by the WHO, people feel like its thus inherently worse.
The “doctor” doesn’t even list his credentials. 36,000 people die every year from seasonal flu, Tim. You’re correct. I got the vaccine at my local health department. I only have some side affect like loss of feeling in one of my fingers and a pink curly tail growing from my behind. Mercury and aluminum are naturally occurring elements. Atjralljdb uensn.
Candice-Have you bothered to even skim Dr. Mercola’s website?
Hello, credentials! http://www.mercola.com/forms/background.htm#education
Also-great comment Tim. Thanks for reading and joining in the discussion.
Oops. Now I see. His bald head staring at me like an alien distracted me….or was it the tanning beds?
Candice, do you have anything that isn’t inflammatory to add to the conversation?
Besides the cost, can you tell me what the difference is between a doctor recommending/selling Vitamin D supplements verses a tanning bed? Perhaps you don’t understand the significance that Vitamin D has on one’s immune system.
Jill, the thing I find disturbing about this doctor is that when I Googled him it says that the FDA twice had to have him remove claims from his Web site stating that he had products that could “virtually eliminate” your risk of getting cancer. They also cited him in 2006 for mislabeling his products. That is very troubling to me. All I am saying is that this guy doesn’t seem very reliable to me. I think that it is important to research topics like this, but I don’t know that I trust this guy or his Web site. Also, in regards to the tanning bed, I find it weird that ANY doctor would sell a tanning bed especially after the FDA study released earlier this year that basically says that tanning beds raise the risk of skin cancer significantly. That’s all I am saying. I am sure that he might have some valid claims, but the stuff I found is troubling.
haha. Yeah. Why don’t you say that Beck has inflammatory remarks??? If you can speak your mind, then why can’t we?
I don’t know much about the physiology or metabolism of drugs or their formulations and I don’t feel like I can contribute a much to this debate other than perhaps this. Just because something is naturally occurring doesn’t make it safe; uranium, arsenic and mercury are all naturally occurring elements and are all extremely toxic when ingested. Even elements that are beneficial to human metabolism such as iron, copper and cobalt are toxic when ingested in quantities greater than be body can use or process.
Similarly because something is man made does not make it inherently unsafe. We are fully immersed in a world that almost everything we interact with has been made, processed or affected by humans in one way or another; be it the drugs and vitamins that we use to keep ourselves healthy, to the water we drink, to the food we eat. That doesn’t mean we need to be complacent about it or shouldn’t think critically about what we’re doing to ourselves and the environment. But we shouldn’t default to paranoia or cynicism about things that aren’t organic, as there is plenty of green washing, vagueness, misdirection and the like in the organic bandwagon.
Having said ALL that, my point is doing your research about certain things is important because companies are very seldom going to tell you everything you want/need to know. But equally important, is determining whether what you discover is based on fact or motivated by another agenda. You can find something on the internet to justify whatever you want to believe and discerning what’s honest and what’s not is perhaps the sign of a good inquiry as much as finding it in the first place.
Bah why can’t I edit/delete my comments!? Booo.
Tim–I wasn’t looking for anything inflammatory about this guy. When you type in “Dr. Joseph Mercola” the fourth link is about this guy having trouble with the FDA. While the FDA has not always been on the ball as far as health issues, when they send a guy two letters about false claims, that raises my red flag. There are also tons of other links about this doctor’s books and other products, all with good reviews from people who want to believe that his products can do what they say. I am loathe to believe in a doctor that at one point has a product that claims to eliminate the risk of cancer and then goes and sells a tanning bed, a product that has been proven to increase the risk of skin cancer. That’s really all I gotta say about this guy. I don’t find him trustworthy. I am sure that there is other research about these vaccines from more reliable sources. In MY opinion, he seems shady. That’s all.
My comments we’re directed at you, or anyone else here. I in fact was penning them when you responded and didn’t see you’re comment until afterwards. I was more directing a word of caution against merely finding evidence that supported your viewpoint and not pursuing the idea any further, something I think most of us are frequently guilty of.
Quickly, because I must run to the store:
Candice-Becky hasn’t said anything inflammatory. She has stated that she doesn’t find Dr. Mercola to be trustworthy because he sells tanning beds on his website and because he was told to remove certain claims from his products by the FDA. And while I don’t agree with her opinion, no where in her comments did she take a cheap shot at Dr. Mercola’s appearance or was she in the least bit inflammatory. If she was, I would have replied to her in the same way I replied to you.
Beck-I’ve only begun to skim the interwebz in reference to your issues with Dr. Mercola. I don’t have much to say about them (for now!) except that
1. the FDA rarely has the people’s best interest in mind. I’m sure you can think of one or two reasons why they would be pissed if someone was promoting natural, cheaper remedies/treatments over traditional, costly pharmaceuticals.
2. I do find this part of your comment: “…all with good reviews from people who want to believe that his products can do what they say,” to be a bit condescending (unless, of course, the reviews of his books and products used those words exactly). There is a huge community of people who don’t only “want to believe” in the power of organic and raw food and natural supplements and herbs, but who do believe in them because they’ve seen the results from these things, first hand.
And, I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I can get around to doing some more internet researching.
The intent of this post wasn’t to sing the accolades of Dr. Mercola, but rather to get people to stop and think about what they’re injecting into their bodies. Becky-I’m certain you can find (what you feel is) a “more reliable source” for the information on this (and other) vaccines. I think that if you put in the hours and hours and HOURS of researc that I did, you would come to the same conclusion that Dr. Mercola (and I!) did.
” I think that if you put in the hours and hours and HOURS of researc that I did, you would come to the same conclusion that Dr. Mercola (and I!) did.”
nah. I don’t think so.
I figured this would be interesting reads, if nothing else. There is certainly controversy about what is put in vaccines elsewhere on the internet. I picked wikipedia because I find it generally fairly accurate and also easy to actually research.
General H1N1 info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_H1N1_flu_outbreak
H1N1 Vaccine info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_vaccine
Adjuvent info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunologic_adjuvant
More Adjuvent info:
http://research.uiowa.edu/animal/?get=adjuvant
Squalene:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squalene
Thimerosal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thimerosal
Aluminum Hydroxide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_hydroxide
This is, by no means, exhaustive but it’s a start and I think a lot of the articles handle both sides and it’s certainly somewhere to start if you’re actually care to research it on your own.
I actually have done research on vaccines for my own personal reasons and I have had to do some for work. While I don’t know how many hours I’ve logged, I think that I have come to my own conclusion about vaccines. I can’t speak for everyone and nor do I claim to be an expert, but I don’t believe that I was being condescending when I said Dr. Mercola seems shady. I think anyone who professes to have “the” answer to all your health concerns is scary. Why do you think there are so many different diets and health fads and medical opinions? It’s because NO ONE has “the” answer. This is why I found the debate intriguing because this is just ONE opinion. I choose not to believe it.
Don’t know much about Dr. Mercola but I have read about him.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2116
He’s mentioned here, but the larger site is a good source for anyone interested in evidence-based medicine.
For what it’s worth, I have done significant research on H1N1, after which I was vaccinated for both seasonal and H1N1.
By the way, Happy Birthday!