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July 3, 2018
The Honourable Adrian Dix, Minister of Health
Government of British Columbia
Room 337 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Re: Formal complaint –Provincial Health Officer (PHO)
Dear Health Minister Dix
I am writing in response to recent statements made by BC’s Provincial Health Officer – Dr. Bonnie Henry. The recent comments of the Provincial Health Officer provide disconcerting evidence that Dr. Henry is not fulfilling the responsibilities of the Provincial Health Officer (PHO) as outlined in the Public Health Act.
PHO Mandate
It is my understanding that the responsibilities of the Provincial Health Officer include the following:
It is my contention the Public Health Officer is failing to meet these responsibilities.
1. Fails to provide independent advice to the Ministers and public officials on public health issues.
Dr. Henry’s advice on health issues does not appear to be independent as is required under her mandate. Dr. Henry’s health advice reflects a clear bias for allopathic pharmaceutical treatments exclusively, while being aggressively dismissive of traditional and natural approaches to healing and disease prevention.
Dr. Henry is either wittingly or unwittingly complicit in an ongoing and deliberate campaign to discredit natural methods of treatment. In recent weeks Dr. Henry has been featured in a number of CBC posts attempting to discredit and discourage the use of natural methods of treatment. A brief summary is listed below. A full listing is attached.
Provincial health officer has ‘grave concerns’ about naturopath’s claims in blog post – CBC News · Apr 16, 2018
Homeopathy for autism ‘certainly not based on science,’ B.C. health official says · CBC News · May 25, 2018
Top doctor calls for sanctions against chiropractor for anti-vaccine video · CBC News · Posted: May 03, 2018
Dr. Henry is reported to have made statements such as:
Henry said she had “grave concerns” about those claims and was not aware of any scientific evidence to support them (homeopathy).
“It’s hard for me to believe as a physician that anything that was made from a very serious lethal infection … would have any therapeutic benefit,” she said.
“I also have concerns that this would be used for treating what sounds very much like a behavioural issue in a young child.”
“I have concerns that parents may want this type of treatment for their children, and delay accessing real treatments that may help them for some very severe conditions,” she said.
B.C.’s top doctor says there are “huge potential harms” connected to a homeopathic treatment based on the unfounded claim that vaccines cause most cases of autism.
“It’s (homeopathy) certainly not based on science. It’s based on a belief system,” Henry said
Lack of Knowledge of Homeopathy
As BC’s Public Health Officer, Dr. Henry displays a profound lack of knowledge regarding the practice of homeopathy, a system of natural healthcare used worldwide for more than 200 years. Homeopathy is recognized by the World Health Organization as the second largest system of medicine in the world. It is estimated that 500 million people use homeopathy every day, and that 1 in 12 use homeopathy worldwide.
There is no indication that Dr. Henry is knowledgeable or qualified to provide a professional opinion on the safety or effectiveness of homeopathy. Yet, Dr. Henry uses her position to malign and discredit the practice of homeopathy and is actively targeting practitioners without proper information or justification. Dr. Henry demonstrates a clear bias for allopathic medicine and a lack of knowledge regarding the healing benefits that these non-toxic therapies offer.
More specifically, Dr. Henry’s statement that it is “hard for her to believe as a physician that anything that was made from a very serious infection … would have any therapeutic benefit,” is rather alarming given her faith in vaccines, many of which are manufactured from potentially serious infections, including the rabies vaccine.
2. Failure to monitor the health of the population of British Columbia and advise, in an independent manner, the ministers and public officials on public health issues and on the need for public health related legislation, policies and practices.
Dr. Henry is failing in her responsibility to monitor the health of the population of British Columbia and advise on public health related legislation, policies and practices. The fact is we are experiencing an epidemic of chronic childhood illness in British Columbia today. There is a sudden and dramatic increase in autism, asthma, learning disabilities, ADHD and other neurological and immunological system disorders in our children.
Prior to 1980 the rate of autism was less than 1 in 10,000. Today, autism affects more than 1 in 68 children (age 5 – 17) in BC, and at the current rate of growth autism is projected to affect 1 in 2 children by 2030. The impact of autism on BC will be catastrophic.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder-children-youth-canada-2018.html
Thirty years ago autism, asthma, attention deficit disorder, learning disabilities, life threatening allergies and juvenile diabetes were virtually non-existent. According to a 2010 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, chronic illnesses in children doubled from 1994 to 2006 and now affects more than 1 out of 4 children in the United States. Canadian numbers are likely similar and may be even higher today.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/185391
I am not aware of any acknowledgement from Dr. Henry that we are in the midst of a major health crisis, nor any advice on how legislators, public health ministers and the public ought to address this serious and growing epidemic.
Denial of Impact of Vaccinations on Health
Dr. Henry dogmatically denies the impact of vaccine ingredients on health. However, the fact is the significant increase in neurological and immunological disorders has occurred at the same time as the number of vaccines administered to BC children has increased 300%. In 1983, BC children received 23 doses of 7 vaccines. Today, BC children receive up to 70 doses of 17 vaccines. Rather than offer concern and advice, Dr. Henry is reported to have described the link between autism and vaccines as “completely erroneous, based largely on studies that have been debunked”.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Dr. Henry is either unaware or chooses to ignore extensive published scientific evidence which shows that vaccines have great potential for causing brain and immune system injury that may be linked to this epidemic of chronic illnesses like ASD, asthma, allergies, seizures, and learning disabilities.
The scientific community has known for more than fifteen years that when a person is vaccinated the brain’s own specialized immune cells, the microglia, become activated. Multiple vaccinations spaced close together over-stimulate the microglia, causing them to release a variety of toxic elements — cytokines, chemokines, excitotoxins, proteases, complement and free radicals that damage brain cells and their synaptic connections.
Dr. Henry also appears to be unaware of the work of world renowned researchers Dr. Romain K. Gherardi, Dr. Chris Exley, or BC’s own Dr. Chris Shaw who all support the contention that aluminum adjuvants in vaccines may have a role in the etiology of autism spectrum disorder. This contention is based upon the significant and burgeoning body of peer-reviewed scientific evidence, which indicates there is a definite link between Autism Spectrum Disorders, Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and exposure to aluminum adjuvants in vaccines.
The aluminium content of brain tissues from 5 donors who died with a diagnosis of ASD
was found to be extraordinarily high, some of the highest values yet measured in human brain tissue.
~ Professor Christopher Exley
The fact is aluminum is used as an adjuvant in most vaccines today. 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
Surely Dr. Henry is aware that children (and fetuses) are at great risk from aluminum adjuvants because of the combination of rapid brain growth, an incomplete blood-brain barrier, and limited ability to eliminate toxins. With the 2018 BC vaccination schedule, high quantities of aluminum are injected into an infant’s fragile microenvironment during these highly sensitive early years of brain formation. In BC, an infant receives more than 7,210 micrograms of aluminum in the first year alone.
Some vaccines still contain mercury. Vaccine producers use mercury (thimerosal) in the manufacture of vaccines and as a preservative in the influenza vaccine and other 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. Additionally, 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.
There are now more than 146 independent studies that show a relationship between vaccines and autism. https://www.scribd.com/doc/220807175/146-Research-Papers-Supporting-the-Vaccine-Autism-Link
While there is the likelihood of a genetic pre-disposition in some children, clearly an environmental insult is indicated due to the sudden and rapid increase in neurological and immunological disorders. A genetic condition does not change this rapidly. What is evident is that we are poisoning a subset of our children and that we can’t stop the poisoning if we are unwilling to admit this fact and take efforts to remove the environmental insult. This mass poisoning is not unlike historical poisonings caused by the common use of lead, arsenic and DDT in pest control.
It is dishonest and irresponsible of Dr. Henry to claim that evidence of a vaccine-autism link has been “debunked”. Anyone making this claim is either being intentionally dishonest or is uninformed and ought not to be providing their opinion on this critical topic.
Lack of Evidence of Long Term Safety
The more important issue with regard to the vaccination of BC’s children is the lack of evidence of the long-term safety of the current vaccine schedule. The vaccine schedule recommended in British Columbia today 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 to a wide range of people with unidentified genetic risks and vulnerabilities.
The vaccine paradigm utilizes a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Vaccine dosage is not calibrated by age, weight, immune response, gender, genetics, medical or family history, or other variables used to discern safe levels of a medical intervention. In no other area of medicine are individual variables systematically ignored.
This mandatory one-size-fits-all approach to vaccination
is a de facto state-sanctioned selection of the genetically
and biologically vulnerable for sacrifice.
~ Barbara Loe Fisher
Currently, the practice of monitoring the safety and effectiveness of vaccines does not follow standard science based protocols. As a result there is a lack of solid scientific evidence of vaccine safety, effectiveness and necessity.
Lack of Scientific Evidence
The lack of evidence includes the following:
Lack of a Neutral Placebo
Vaccines are not studied against a neutral placebo. Most vaccine safety trials use control groups consisting of other vaccinated populations or placebos containing aluminum, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, and other vaccine ingredients. These are not true placebos. Vaccine safety trials that are conducted without a neutral placebo cannot determine if a product is safe. None of the vaccines on the current BC childhood vaccination schedule were tested against a neutral placebo.
The failure of the vaccine industry to use a neutral placebo undermines the integrity of health agency claims that vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective. Until true vaccinated vs. unvaccinated research is conducted any claims of vaccine safety and effectiveness is an assumption and not scientifically proven. Further, many pre-licensure trials do not include patient populations most at risk of serious adverse events. This is not responsible science. In fact, this is not science.
Vaccine safety “science” is not recognizable as science anymore.
~ James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D.
Vaccines given in the combination schedules recommended for our children and adolescents today have never been tested for safety, which makes the current practice a medical experiment. The medical practice of vaccination is an uncontrolled experiment upon our infants and children.
Mr. Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta is of the opinion – If they are science-based, step up and be science-based. If they’re not science-based, make that explicit and then society can have an interesting discussion about whether we should have these philosophies … as part of our health-care system.
Unfortunately, this standard of scientific oversight is not required with the practice of vaccination in British Columbia. I assert that it should be. Instead of exercising caution and recommending measures to ensure that our vaccine program is safe, effective and necessary, Dr. Henry is openly disparaging of anyone who expresses concern about the negative health impacts of vaccination or who offers suggestions on natural ways to boost immunity.
If Dr. Henry’s mandate is to offer advice regarding the need for public health related legislation, would it not be prudent for her office to call for caution with regard to the practice of vaccination and a moratorium on adding any further vaccines to the schedule until this undeniable vaccine safety issue is resolved? Dr. Henry appears to be ignoring the emerging scientific research. Instead her sole focus appears to be championing ever more vaccines and increasing vaccine compliance in BC. This is unacceptable. Dr. Henry ought to be strongly advocating for true vaccinated vs. unvaccinated studies to determine the impact of the current vaccination schedule on the health of our children.
3. Fails to recommend actions to improve health and wellness in BC
The most predominant action recommended by Dr. Henry is the avoidance of non-allopathic, non-pharmaceutical approaches to disease prevention together with efforts to increase compliance for vaccinations. Dr. Henry seems to confuse vaccine compliance as the indicator of good health rather than real indicators of health including the absence of chronic health conditions.
Dr. Henry does not seem aware that in November 2008 the WHO adopted The Beijing Declaration to promote the safe and effective use of traditional medicine (i.e. natural medicine and therapies). This includes taking key steps to integrate natural medicines and therapies into national healthcare systems. For member states to follow the declaration, they must:
The PHO does little to inform public health officials and the public about the use of natural therapies or to promote and respect natural medicine. If anything, the PHO has been actively discouraging and is disrespectful of natural therapies and their practitioners.
Dr. Henry does not independently explore and advise the public about the emerging studies that confirm that unvaccinated children enjoy better health and resistance to complications of disease, let alone recommend that these studies be implemented in our province.
There are other areas where Dr. Henry is failing to take actions to improve the health and wellness of BC’s citizens. The PHO is failing to take action and offer advice on the growing evidence of the harm that is being done by the extensive use of glyphosate in our food production. Her office does little to protect our health, our soils and the waters of BC. Dr. Henry ought to recommend a ban of this probable carcinogen as many countries around the world have done. Dr. Henry also seems unaware of the peer-reviewed studies that show glyphosate binds with injected aluminum.
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/environmental-toxins/roundup-the-nontoxic-chemical-that-may-be-destroying-our-health
Her office does not advocate a nutrient-dense, clean whole foods diet that enhances natural immunity to disease and protect children from the complications of disease.
Childhood diseases are either mild or non-existent when parents practice the kind of good nutrition that we advocate. Diets rich in vitamins A and C can protect children against disease . . . and with side effects that are good, never harmful. Public health policy should be aimed at accurate information about nutrition.
~ Sally Fallon Morell, President, The Weston A. Price Foundation
4. Fails to deliver reports that are in the public interest and annual reports on the health of the population and government’s progress in achieving population health targets
Dr. Henry’s office fails to provide the government with the true picture of the forecasted expenditures by government to support individuals with autism spectrum disorders. According to a 2007 study, the estimated additional lifetime costs associated with autism is 4.2 million US (adjusted for 2017) per person. This includes the costs for health care, special education, child and adult care, respite services, supported employment, and lost productivity.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/570087
Dr. Henry ought to do the math for BC so the British Columbia government can understand and prepare for the catastrophic implications of the autism epidemic in BC.
It is therefore disconcerting that Dr. Henry would be so disparaging of exploring the potential of natural and inexpensive treatments of autism such as CEASE Therapy and homeopathy in general. In this time of catastrophic illness, especially in children, and the current failure of allopathic medicine to prevent or reverse chronic illness, one would hope that in her role as our health protector Dr. Henry would inform herself about natural approaches that are safe and effective and encourage their use and development.
Dr. Henry stated that she wants to be sure that members of the public are getting accurate information about health care. I too want to ensure that members of the public are getting accurate information about health care. The actions of the PHO fail to deliver on this goal. We deserve better from the Public Health Officer.
It is my wish that British Columbia have a Public Health Officer with enough integrity to admit what he/she doesn’t know, has the courage to address topics that are important even if they are unpopular, and a deep passion to ensure that our children are the healthiest in the world.
In order to rectify these failures and indiscretions by the PHO I call for the following actions:
I look forward to your considered response.
Sincerely,
Ted Kuntz, Parent of a Vaccine Injured Child
Vice President, Vaccine Choice Canada
Cc.
Premier John Horgan – premier@gov.bc.ca
West Annex Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
MLAs of BC
Dr. Bonnie Henry, PHO – bonnie.henry@gov.bc.ca
College of Naturopaths Physicians of BC – office@cnpbc.bc.ca
College of Chiropractors of BC
212-10451 Shellbridge Way
Richmond, BC V6X 2W8
Bethany Lindsay, CBC News – bethany.lindsay@cbc.ca
Health Action Network Society – naida@hans.org
Vaccine Choice Canada – info@vaccinechoicecanada.com
PHO in Media
B.C. health official voices ‘grave concerns’ after child given homeopathic remedy using rabid-dog saliva
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-health-official-voices-grave-concerns-after-child-given-homeopathic-remedy-using-rabid-dog-saliva-1.4622494
Homeopathy for autism ‘certainly not based on science,’ B.C. health official says
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/homeopathy-for-autism-certainly-not-based-on-science-b-c-health-official-says-1.4677128
Health Canada investigating use of unlicensed homeopathic remedy made from rabid dog saliva
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/health-canada-investigating-use-of-unlicensed-homeopathic-remedy-made-from-rabid-dog-saliva-1.4628761
Top doctor calls for sanctions against chiropractor for anti-vaccine video
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/top-doctor-calls-for-sanctions-against-chiropractor-for-anti-vaccine-video-1.4645508S
Globe and Mail April 28, 2018 quote: She (Henry) said vaccination schedules are too complex for parents to comprehend…