Ban vaccines

I will argue that vaccines should be banned on the grounds of animal suffering, alternatives to vaccines, and that there is sufficient doubt vaccines' safety and effectiveness. I. Scientifically proving animal's sentience and ability to suffer. II. Proving animal suffering in relation to vaccines III. Showing how purchasing vaccines fuels the vaccine industry IV. Alternatives to vaccines V. Doubts about vaccines safety VI. Doubts about vaccines effectiveness VII. Sources I. Scientifically proving animal's sentience and ability to suffer Suffer " : to experience pain, illness, or injury : to experience something unpleasant (such as defeat, loss, or damage) : to become worse because of being badly affected by something " merriam-webster.com [1] "After 2,500 Studies, It's Time to Declare Animal Sentience Proven (Op-Ed)" Marc Bekoff livescience.com [2] "Domestic chickens display signs of empathy, the ability to 'feel another's pain' that is at the heart of compassion, a study has found. " telegraph.co.uk [3] "But it turns out that mother hens are such attentive, caring parents that they "feel" their chicks" pain. In experiments, female chickens showed clear signs of anxiety and upset when their young were in distress." David Derbyshire for MailOnline [4] "Q: Can chickens and turkeys feel pain? A: Absolutely. It is indisputable that poultry are capable of feeling pain. All poultry species are sentient vertebrates and all the available evidence shows that they have a very similar range of feelings as mammalian species. Poultry can suffer by feeling pain, fear and stress. " upc-online.org [5] At this point there should be no doubt that animals have the capacity to suffer. II. Proving animal suffering in relation to vaccines ""The egg-based production process begins with CDC or another Influenza Collaborating Center providing private sector manufacturers with vaccine viruses grown in eggs per current FDA regulatory requirements. These vaccine viruses are then injected into fertilized hen"s eggs and incubated for several days to allow the viruses to replicate." CDC [6] For a fertilized egg to exist, a hen and rooster must exist at some point. "The discovery and development of new medicines, vaccines and medical devices for people and animals is a long and complex process with a number of stages, many of which involve animal experiments. National and international regulations currently require that new medicines are tested on animals before being licensed for use. Around 5 million animals including mice, rats, fish, chickens, rabbits, dogs and primates are used across the EU for this purpose each year." rspca.org.uk [7] "What animals experience The degree of suffering, which may include both physical pain and psychological distress, depends on the nature of the experiment. Generally, animals are 'given' a disease or condition then experiments are done to investigate: " rspca.org.uk [7] "Animals are sometimes used in the testing of drugs, vaccines and other biologics, and medical devices, mainly to determine the safety of the medical product." fda.gov [8] "How many animals are killed in animal testing in the US? Around 10 million a year." numberof.net [9] "Hens used for egg production come from hatcheries, where male chicks (none of which can lay eggs) are killed immediately after hatching. Each year, hundreds of millions of these vulnerable beings are suffocated or ground up alive to produce fertilizer or feed." Humanemyth.org [10] "Vaccine testing in particular consumes an estimated 2.5 million animals every year because vaccines are often produced by weakening, inactivating, or detoxifying a virulent microorganism or toxin. Each batch of the finished product is then tested on animals, causing them pain, suffering, and death." [11] At this point it should be absolutely clear that vaccine testing and production is related to the suffering of animals. III. Showing how purchasing vaccines fuels the vaccine industry This is pure economics. If there was no demand, supply would swiftly drop. Vaccine research and animal testing would quickly come to a halt. That being said, if everyone stopped buying vaccines the animal suffering from vaccines would be halted. IV. Alternatives to vaccines Humans as a species have endured for a long time without vaccines. Just as we have manged to survive without many technological advances. Cell phones, DvD players, etc. This begs the question, how important are vaccines? Well I'm sure Con will come up with x number of people dying according to this and that authority. Yet, can we really be sure those people would have died? Vaccines have caused us to become complacent. There is alternatives that involve less suffering to animals. Why resort to causing cruelty to another sentient being when you haven't first exhausted the alternatives? "Nicotine, which is one of the main constituents of cigarette smoke, suppresses the immune system" Nat Rev Immunol. 2002 May;2(5):372-7. [12] "Moreover, a close link between specific immune activation and atherosclerosis has been well established, suggesting that fat can directly trigger immune responses. This review discusses the role of fat as "a matter of disturbance for the immune system" with a focus on hepatic steatosis." "All these factors indicate that obesity exerts negative effects upon the immune system." Nutr Hosp. 2004 Nov-Dec;19(6):319-24. [13] "Obesity is increasingly being recognized as a risk factor for a number of benign and malignant gastrointestinal conditions. However, literature on the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms is sparse and ambiguous. There is compelling evidence that both overnutrition and undernutrition negatively interfere with the immune system" World J Gastroenterol. 2010 Oct 14; 16(38): 4762"4772. Published online 2010 Oct 14. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i38.4762 [14] It is clear to me that one can bolster his/her immune system by simply not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight. V. Doubts about vaccines safety There has been plenty of doubts about vaccines' safety. "Severe Problems More serious problems have been reported by about 1 person in 100, within 6 months of vaccination. These problems included: blood in the urine or stool pneumonia inflammation of the stomach or intestines " [15] "Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism" [16] VI. Doubts about vaccines effectiveness Akhenaten has made a very thoughtful case against the germ theory and vaccines "Germ theory advocates never state what the real cause of a disease is. This is a common omission of germ theory advocates. Germs don't appear unless there is a cause for them to appear." [17] http://www.merriam-webster.com... http://www.livescience.com... http://www.telegraph.co.uk... http://www.dailymail.co.uk... http://www.upc-online.org... http://www.cdc.gov... http://www.rspca.org.uk... http://www.fda.gov... http://www.numberof.net... http://humanemyth.org... http://www.peta.org... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... http://www.cdc.gov... http://www.huffingtonpost.com... http://www.debate.org...