PDF of letter below can be viewed here.
April 24, 2017
To the Attention of: Edmonton Catholic Schools – Board of Trustees
Re: Advocating to Make Vaccines Mandatory
Dear Board of Trustees
I am writing in response to the recent effort by the Catholic Schools Board of Trustees of Edmonton to advocate for mandatory vaccinations in Alberta. While I trust these efforts are well intended, they are seriously misguided for a number of reasons.
1. Violation of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Currently all vaccines in Canada are voluntary. It is imperative they remain voluntary as vaccination is an invasive medical treatment with known unintended adverse effects including permanent disability and death. In Canada we uphold the medical ethic that “where there is risk, there must be choice”.
Any effort to make vaccinations mandatory in Canada would be a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter protects us from government actions that violate our rights and freedoms including the freedom of conscience and religion and the legal right to security of the person. Mandating vaccines is a clear and serious violation of these rights and freedoms.
Mandating vaccines would also violate the medical ethic of informed consent, the Nuremberg Code, and the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights – Article 6 – Consent, to which Canada is a signatory.
“Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information. The consent should, where appropriate, be expressed and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without disadvantage or prejudice.”
2. Lack of Long Term Safety
The more important issue with regard to vaccination is the lack of evidence of the safety of the current vaccine program. The recommended vaccine schedule has never been proven to be safe in large, long-term clinical trials. While vaccines are licensed individually, their safety is not proven in the real world way in which vaccines are given – multiple vaccines at once.
We are currently experiencing an epidemic in our communities and it is not measles, mumps, or chicken pox. It is autism, learning disabilities, ADHD, and other neurological and immunological system disorders. Autism now affects 1 in 45 children and is projected to affect 1 in 2 children by 2030. The impact of autism on society is catastrophic.
The Edmonton school trustees ought to be more aware than most of the alarming number of children with serious and chronic neurological and immunological health conditions. Thirty years ago the amount of autism, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, life threatening allergies, and juvenile diabetes was virtually non-existent. Today every classroom has children with chronic and serious health conditions, and the incidence of these health conditions is growing at an alarming rate. This significant increase in neurological and immunological conditions has occurred at the same time the number of vaccines administered to our children has more than doubled.
3. Vaccines Contain Neurotoxins
Vaccines contain known neurotoxins. Vaccine producers use mercury (thimerosal) in the manufacture of some vaccines, and as a preservative in multi-dose vials. Mercury is the most toxic substance known that is not radioactive. There is no evidence injected mercury is safe in any amount.
Aluminum is used in vaccines as an adjuvant. The neurotoxicity of aluminum is well documented, affecting memory, cognition, psychomotor control, and damage to the brain when the aluminum passes through the blood brain barrier. The amount of aluminum used in vaccines regularly exceeds the maximum amount permitted by the FDA. The science of aluminum adjuvant neurotoxicity is well described here: http://vaccinepapers.org/
Mercury and aluminum work synergistically such that their impact is significantly greater when given close together. Both of these neurotoxins are known to cause permanent neurological damage in children and adults.
4. Vaccine – Autism Relationship
While the Center for Disease Control issues statements in an attempt to reassure health consumers there is no relationship between vaccines and autism, the scientific evidence of a relationship is compelling and disturbing. The Edmonton Catholic Schools Board of Trustees may not be aware of the following:
- A report in the Pace Environmental Law Review Journal reviewed 83 cases of vaccine-induced brain injury that resulted in an autism diagnosis, which were compensated by the U.S. Federal Vaccine Injury Compensation system http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol28/iss2/6
- There are now more than 128 independent studies that show a relationship between vaccines and autism. https://www.scribd.com/doc/220807175/128-Research-Papers-Supporting-the-Vaccine-Autism-Link
- William Thompson, a Senior Scientist with the Vaccine Safety Division of the CDC, and the lead statistician and co-author of the 2004 CDC study that is used by vaccine proponents to deny a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, took whistleblower status in 2014 to reveal CDC scientists colluded to commit scientific fraud in order to obscure the link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Dr. Thompson claims the federal agency ordered him and his colleagues to destroy study findings that confirmed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.This alarming disclosure is the basis of the 2016 documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe. The media, to its discredit, has actively tried to censor this film, refused to inform the public of this significant disclosure, and has failed to advocate for a full investigation of Thompson’s claims.
- Award-winning journalist, Sharyl Attkisson investigated the vaccine-autism link and compiled an extensive list of studies that show a vaccine-autism link. (What the News Isn’t Saying About Vaccine-Autism Studies – updated November 27, 2016). https://sharylattkisson.com/what-the-news-isnt-saying-about-vaccine-autism-studiesAttkisson concluded –“The body of evidence on both sides is open to interpretation. People have every right to disbelieve the studies on one side. But it is disingenuous to pretend they do not exist.”
- Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health, stated that the vaccine-autism link is not a “myth”. Dr. Healy disclosed that her colleagues at the Institute of Medicine did not wish to investigate the possible link between vaccines and autism because they feared the impact it would have on the vaccination program. This failure to fully investigate the vaccine-autism link is politics, not science.
There is an abundance of evidence that a vaccine-autism link exists. Asking for vaccines to be mandated without compelling and irrefutable evidence that vaccines are safe is unethical and immoral. There is no evidence that the total health outcomes of vaccinated children are better than unvaccinated children. The absence of this evidence is irresponsible and indicates vaccination is ideology rather than evidence-based medicine.
5. Misguided Concern About Measles
The impetus for this lobbying effort is explained as a result of the minor increase in incidences of measles. The trustees seem unaware that measles, while highly contagious and inconvenient, is a benign childhood illness in Canada. The mortality of measles in healthy children is virtually zero. During the ten-year period of 2004 – 2015 the CDC in the US reported there were no deaths attributed to measles, while VAERS reported 108 deaths linked to adverse reaction to the measles vaccine. A child is significantly more at risk of dying from the measles vaccine than dying due to contracting measles.
It is now recognized that childhood diseases such as measles, mumps, chicken pox, and influenza prime and develop an infant’s immune response. By precluding our infants and children from natural exposure to these infectious agents, an infant’s immune system fails to develop into a strong and robust system able to provide life long protection and good health. Measles infection is shown to contribute to the prevention of cancer and coronary heart disease.
6. Use of Aborted Fetal Tissue
The Edmonton Catholic School Trustees may not be aware that many live virus vaccines are cultured in aborted fetal tissue. https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/vaccineListOrigFormat.pdf The Catholic Church takes a strong stance on the morality of abortion. To mandate the injection of aborted fetal matter into children seems a serious contradiction of Catholic principles and values.
7. Mandating Undermines Self Determination
I myself am a product of the Catholic education system. I attended Catholic elementary, secondary, and post-secondary Catholic education. What I valued most about my Catholic education was the encouragement and training I was given to be a strong and independent thinker. I was taught that it is my human responsibility to think for myself and to take ownership of my God-given capacity to think and act.
To remove individual choice from the practice of injecting known toxins and foreign substances into one’s body and the bodies of our children and grandchildren is a violation of our rights as independent, free-thinking, and sovereign beings.
8. Vaccines Are Different Drugs
The vaccine industry and the media have a tendency to present vaccines as if they are one drug rather than a number of distinct and different drugs. Vaccines vary by safety, effectiveness, and necessity. They also vary by manufacturer, ingredients, and manufacturing process. Stating, “all vaccines are safe and effective” is like saying, “all prescription drugs are safe and effective”. Such statements are without merit. Vaccines need to be evaluated on a vaccine-by-vaccine basis to evaluate their safety, effectiveness, and necessity for each individual. A “one size fits all” paradigm is dangerous and ignores the uniqueness of each vaccine and patient.
Pre-requisites to a Mandatory Medical Intervention
Prior to any consideration of removing the right to choice pertaining to the medical practice of vaccination a number of pre-requisites or pre-conditions ought to be in place. These conditions include:
A. Mandatory Reporting of All Adverse Effects
Much of the data we have about the frequency of adverse effects of vaccinations comes from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in the United States, which received over 44,000 vaccine adverse reaction reports in 2015 alone. VAERS is “a passive reporting system” and it is estimated that only one to ten percent of actual vaccine injury incidences are reported. Canada does not have a requirement for mandatory reporting of vaccine injury, nor a publicly accessible vaccine injury database. This needs to change prior to any consideration of removing the right to choice.
B. Mandatory Training of Physicians
Currently physicians receive no formal training on how to diagnose or treat vaccine injury. How can citizens trust vaccine injury data when medical practitioners have not been trained to recognize vaccine injury? Is it ethical to subject our children to the risk of vaccine injury and then not be able to treat the injury? This needs to change prior to any consideration of removing the right to choice.
C. Mandatory Compensation for Vaccine Injury
Currently there is no national vaccine injury compensation program in Canada. Canada is the only G7 Nation without a vaccine injury compensation plan. Is it morally acceptable to force families to expose their children to the risk of vaccine injury or death and then fail to compensate families when injury or death occurs? This needs to change prior to any consideration of removing the right to choice.
D. Evidence of Long-term Vaccine Safety
Currently there are no long-term clinical trials that demonstrate vaccine safety. No safety trials exist that determine the safety of giving multiple vaccinations at once. No large safety trials exist that use an unvaccinated population as the control group. Combined vaccines have not been tested for carcinogenicity, toxicity, genotoxicity, mutagenicity, or for long-term adverse reactions. Mandatory vaccination should not be considered until the safety of the current vaccination schedule is known.
E. Hold Vaccine Manufacturers Liable
The vaccine industry is not legally liable for the safety of their products. This industry was granted legal immunity by an act of US Congress in 1986. The vaccine industry is the only industry, other than the nuclear industry, that is not legally responsible for the safety of their products.
This freedom of liability includes the vaccine manufacturers, as well as government agents, and those who administer vaccines including Doctors and Nurses. As a consequence there is no legal or financial incentive for vaccine manufacturers to make safer products, even when there is evidence that vaccines can be made safer. No one in the medical industry takes responsibility for the harm caused by vaccines. This is unethical and immoral. Vaccines manufacturers must be legally liable for the safety of their products prior to any consideration of removing the right to choice.
F. Oversight by An Independent Body
The Center for Disease Control is a seriously conflicted agency and cannot be trusted to monitor vaccine safety and effectiveness. The CDC is charged with a dual responsibility – to monitor vaccine safety and to promote vaccines. The CDC is a part of the industry they regulate. The CDC is a private, for-profit corporation that holds patents on over 50 vaccines and sells more than $4.5 billion worth of vaccines each year. Federal conflict of interest rules don’t apply to the CDC.
A judicial body needs to be established to provide independent evaluation of product safety claims, as well as evaluate the justification for imposing medical treatments upon unwilling citizens. This body ought to be independent of both industry and government influence and have the investigative powers of the judiciary.
G. Mandatory Reporting of All Research Trials
Currently the pharmaceutical industry is able to withhold evidence of research trials and outcomes that produce unfavorable results. Research trials can be, and are withheld from public and governmental scrutiny. How can we make informed decisions of benefit/risk when important research data is being withheld? There ought to be mandatory reporting of all research trials and outcomes prior to any consideration of removing the right to choice.
H. Mandatory Quarantine of Individuals Receiving Live Viruses
Vaccines containing live viruses have the ability to infect the general population up to six weeks following vaccination due to viral shedding. If we are genuinely serious about stopping the transmission of viruses, individuals vaccinated with live/attenuated viruses including chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, intranasal influenza, and shingles must be quarantined following vaccination.
Catholic Church as Advocates
It is my wish that rather than advocate for the erosion of our rights and freedoms, the Catholic education system be a refuge for the increasing persecution of those families wishing to vaccinate selectively, delay, or avoid vaccines entirely. It would also be my wish the Catholic Church become a strong advocate for protecting our sovereignty, our freedom of conscience and religion, and our legal right to security of the person.
It is my hope the Edmonton Catholic Schools Board of Trustees will re-consider their decision of advocating for the erosion of choice pertaining to vaccinations, and instead be advocates for truth, freedom, and democracy in Alberta.
I do this work in honour of my son.
Sincerely,
Ted Kuntz
Parent of a Vaccine Injured Child
Vice President, Vaccine Choice Canada
CC:
Global News Edmonton
ViewerContactEdmonton@globalnews.ca
Caley Ramsay Online Journalist – Global News
Sarah Kraus Reporter – Global News
Laura Thiebert, Chair
laura.thibert@ecsd.net
Marilyn Bergstra, Vice President,
marilyn.bergstra@ecsd.net
Patricia Grell
patricia.grell@ecsd.net
Larry Kowalczyk
larry.kowalczyk@ecsd.net
Cynthia Olsen
cynthia.olsen@ecsd.net
Debbie Engel
debbie.engel@ecsd.net
John Acheson
john.acheson@ecsd.net
