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Childhood Vaccines May Reduce the Risk of Cancer, Study Says
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Babies, Health
Study shows the hepatitis B vaccine may reduce the risk of kids getting one form of leukemia. Credit: Getty
Childhood vaccines actually prevent (wait for it, wait for it) childhood diseases.
Wow. Who woulda thunk it?
Certainly not the vaccines-cause-autism crowd. Then again, does anyone other than Jenny McCarthy still buy that theory?
Real scientists think vaccines are pretty darn wonderful. And they may be even more wonderful than originally thought.
Reuters reports the vaccine for hepatitis B may actually reduce the risk of kids getting cancer, particularly one form of leukemia.
A study published in The Journal of Pediatrics shows that kids born in countries where most children get vaccinated for hepatitis B reduced their odds of getting cancer by about 20 percent. That's compared with countries where fewer kids are vaccinated.
Countries where kids are regularly vaccinated against hepatitis B and polio have a 30 to 40 percent less chance of getting lymphoblastic leukemia, the study shows.
All this is based on actual scientific investigation and statistical analysis, not "my son got vaccinated and now he won't shut up about trains."
Still, scientists aren't breaking out the champagne bottles just yet. They realize they haven't found a way to beat cancer.
"We don't think it's the end-all, be-all," Dr. Michael Scheurer, one of the study's authors from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, tells Reuters.
The news service reports one reason the vaccines might cut down the cancer rate is the theory that common infections weaken children's immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to cancer.
Vaccines reduce the risk of more common infections and, by extension, lessen the risk of cancer.
That's one theory, anyway.
Scientists tell Reuters they're not prepared to make any sweeping generalizations regarding vaccines. Well, maybe one: Andrew Wakefield is a doo-doo head.
He's the British doctor who found himself banned from practicing medicine last year. An investigation by the prominent British Medical Journal concluded his 10-year crusade to link vaccines to autism was an elaborate hoax based on false evidence.
Now that Wakefield has been discredited, Scheurer tells Reuters, maybe "people can take a step back and really look at the benefit that vaccines provide, not just for the infectious diseases that they were intended to prevent. Now, there appears to be some other added benefit."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
2-03-2011 @ 3:11PM
Maggy said...Since Pediatrics published a paper that said mercury acually has a protective affect on infants brain development it doesn't surprise me one bit that they would publish a paper that says injecting infants with know carcinogens (formaldehyde, squalene to name just few vaccine ingrediants) protects against cancer.
One other thing, Denmark and Sweden don't use the Hepatitis B vaccine for infants. Why are their infant cancer rates much lower than ours?
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2-04-2011 @ 4:59AM
sarahrichard4 said...Major brands always give out their popular brand samples (in a way to promote the products) best place on the internet is "123 Get Samples" find them & enjoy your samples
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2-04-2011 @ 11:58AM
Jerry said...The same journal, Pediatrics, also published a paper in 2004 that said injecting infants with mercury seems to provide a "protective affect" for their brains. Makes perfect sense that injecting infants with carcinogins (formaldehyde, squalene to name a few) protects them from cancer.
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2-08-2011 @ 1:16AM
luva79 said...Do you have ANY IDEA how much evidence you just ignored to try and sell a product highly connected to 1 in 100 childhood cases of autism. REAL scientists are actually the parents who take the time to OBSERVE the changes in their child post injection and when their child starts gazing into outer space you want us to believe it isn't the crapload of toxins that just attacked their brain & gut?! You (whoever you are) are either paid by drug companies to blog or you are a very brainwashed simple minded individual.
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