Standard Product Quality

So, you decided to buy an electric can opener for your kitchen. You see an ad for this new product promising an easy opening, where the edges of the can are rounded to prevent serious injury from the sharp edges traditional openers leave. A fast, clean and safe can opening experience without all the labor needed to open cans in the past! Awesome right? You then get a Consumer Report on this can opener that says...

• This model opens only 15%-25% of the cans on the market.


• Of the 15%-25% it only works with cans of a specific diameter.


• There is a possible, but rare, risk of electrocution and death.


• A possible, less rare, risk of permanent damage to your counter top.

Would you buy this product?
I am going to go out on a limb here and speak for most people... NO. You are going to be passing on this patented kitchen aid.

But do most people understand this applies to medicine as well?
In my experience, no. There is a one size fits all attitude and if you ask a question you are just displaying your ignorance. This model, that I used above, is actually based on factual data from the standard yearly flu vaccine. The information was obtained from the CDC's (Center for Disease Control) own website on the flu and separate vital statistics area.

When looking at the statistical evidence from the flu vaccine. The CDC's prediction for the 1992-3 flu season was off by 84%. This is also the same for the 1997-8 year as well. So we are at our "25%" or rather 16% of cans...

Then if you happen to be one of the 16% that actually has a flu strain covered by the vaccine that you received you have a 70% chance of immunity to it, and we have our special diameter...

Next we have side effects. The flu shot indicates that there is a risk of Guillain-Barré, this is listed separately from other side effects. Another side effect is anaphylaxis if you are allergic to anything in the vaccine. For anyone who does not know Guillain-Barré is is a neurological condition which can paralyze and/or kill you. So here we have our small chance of electrocution and death.

Lastly, there have been a number of studies which show those who have received 5 or more flu shots have a 15% increased risk of degenerative neurological disease, like Alzheimer's. This final issue is our permanent counter top damage... Sounds funny and stupid when we are talking about a can opener. Not so funny and not so stupid when talking about a flu shot.

Why the H1N1 hype?
I think that a lot of this has to do with the fact that billions of dollars, of our money, were spent to fatten the pharmaceutical wallet in the sky. How stupid does everyone in the Government look if they say... "Well we panicked, but we have all these vaccines now. Lets just bury them somewhere?" So to combat this they have to pretend that this is still some 12 Monkeys/Outbreak scenario where we should be afraid to go outside or breathe in public. The CDC is even recommending a shot to those who have already had the virus?

This is the ONLY area of science that is so blatantly biased. The only area I have come across which is allowed such liberties and lack of accountability. American's all over the country are saying they will not allow a doctor near their arm with the H1N1 vaccine, 65% of Americans are planning on refusing it. It shows that people are paying attention to what is really going on here, more than the medical community would like. So their response? Make it compulsory for adults and children. My only hope is that people will see this situation, understand how unsafe the whole thing is and start the question: "Wait, if this one is unsafe what about the 48 shots we require children under 6 to have?"

Even health care workers are up in arms about this. This is not some global response by millions of uneducated people who have suddenly become Christian Scientists. These are people who see that there is evidence out there that does not answer the questions they are asking. But this whole situation feels like some Orwellian fugue. I hear people saying things like:

• "People who are not vaccinated should be required to wear red id bands which clearly identify them."


• "People who do not get the shot should lose their jobs."


• "Unvaccinated health care workers should be sued if anyone around them gets sick."


• "Unvaccinated people who get sick should be quarantined and refused all medical care."


• "Parents should have their children removed from custody if they refuse the swine flu shot."

AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE:

• "Unvaccinated people put the rest of us at risk."

This one is my favorite because it is so commonly spouted by individual, doctor and government alike. I have written before that a vaccine's purpose is to expose you to a small dose of an illness which has been modified or killed so that your body will be immune to the illness if you encounter it naturally. So if you are vaccinated and you get sneezed on while you are on your way home from work using the subway - you are SAFE. What a stupid and ineffective device a vaccine would be if you got a shot and were at an increased risk for contracting the illness if someone around you got sick.

Problem is intelligent educated people are repeating this line over and over again. People that have degree's and even Ph.Ds. The two concepts are actually opposing arguments... opposite sides of a coin. You cannot have both, either a vaccine allows you to resist the disease or it makes you more susceptible to it: period. IF a flu shot will make you more susceptible to the flu why on earth would you take it?

Take the flu shot if you want to - by all means. Just get away from me and my family because we are not going to take it. Not until years of research, PROPER research is performed and we have recourse, medical and legal, if there is an injury. Because as it stands now you cannot get medical, financial or legal compensation if you are injured by a vaccine. The Patriot Act saw to that last loophole for manufacturer's.

You need to do the legwork for yourself when it comes to this. I have talked to Doctors and been intentionally or unintentionally misled. My son has a milk allergy and I recently found out the DTap vaccine is cultured in milk proteins, says so right on the insert. I spoke to my son's doctor about it and he stated that I was 100% incorrect. This confused me since I had just downloaded a copy from the Merck website before coming in. He also would not give me a copy of the insert and I had to ask several times for the Manufacturer, Lot and Exp details on the shot my son was getting. Course I had to sign his "liability form" in order to see him...

SO Get online, go to the manufacturer's website and get a copy of the insert for yourself. Read it. Go to the National Vaccine Information Center website, NVIC.org, and read the information and statistics about side effects, diseases and injury compensation. Do not rely on what people are telling you... go and find out for yourself. Use this as a source for more information... not your first and last stop