Immunity Health News

A new book set to be published later this month in Great Britain claims that the British government is misleading people about its infant vaccination program.

The book, The Truth About Vaccines, by Dr. Richard Halvorsen, claims that “there are unfounded claims about [vaccines'] safety and effectiveness and I believe [the vaccinations] may be doing potentially serious harm to hundreds if not thousands of children every year.”

As an example, Dr. Halvorsen says a brand of MMR was brought on the market even though the Government was aware of its dangers. It was withdrawn four years later after increasing reports of deaths and brain damage.

He says risks have not been properly assessed because, unlike drugs, vaccines in Britain do not have to undergo proper long-term safety trials.

Read the whole article for more information on the additives and possible dangers associated with infant vaccinations.

As if there weren’t enough things to keep pregnant mothers on edge, scientists have now discovered that women who contract respiratory infections during their second trimester have a 7 times greater likelihood of having a child with schizophrenia, as well as an increased risk of autism.

The good news, however, is that the scientists

found that it was the mother’s immune response that caused the problem, rather than the virus itself.

This means that they are

closer to a therapy to reverse the effects of viruses on fetuses.

Read the whole article.

Research published today in the journal Development shows a link between the immune system and the cells which produce milk during lactation. Until now, milk production was thought to be solely a response to steroid and peptide hormones.

The researchers, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), found that cytokines, which have a central role in immune response, are used in the breast to promote the production of milk producing cells. The finding has implications for understanding breast cancer as cells that respond incorrectly to cytokine signalling can grow out of control and become cancerous.

“The breast undergoes tremendous and amazing changes during and after pregnancy. The body generates milk producing cells using signalling mechanisms adopted from the immune system and once a child is weaned these cells die and the mammary gland returns to its pre-pregnant state. It is vital that we understand the processes involved as it is when these normal developmental events go wrong that we are at risk of cancer developing.”

Read the whole article.

A study last year out of the University of British Columbia shows that babies exposed to at least one antibiotic are twice as likely as those unexposed to develop asthma in childhood. It also concludes that for each additional course taken during the first year of life the overall chance of developing asthma increased by 16 per cent.

More about antibiotics in infants.

In a related study, children who grew up with dogs in the home were less likely to develop asthma, possibly because the increased number of microbes the dog brings in helps to prime the child’s immune system.

More about dogs and asthma.

Apparently babies in the womb fight their own immune battles independently of their mothers:

Scientists at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons studied the cord blood of newborns and found evidence that the infants had waged an independent immune response against a flu vaccine given to their mothers during the second and third trimesters.

Read more.

The new issue of Nature is reporting on fertility clinics cashing in on risky immune tests. The idea is to prescribe drugs that suppress the immune system in the hopes that the body won’t reject the pregnancy. Trouble is, there is little scientific evidence that those drugs will get them pregnant. All they’re sure to have is a depressed immune system.

To read the whole article, you’ll have to subscribe to Nature.