Letter from the publisher - issue contents

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Oct, 2003  by Jonathan Collin

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Alternative medicine is replete with controversial diagnoses and treatments --candidiasis and chelation are two among many. As debatable as candidiasis may be, it remains a verifiable diagnosis in vaginal moniliasis and infant thrush. Chelation may not be the treatment of choice among cardiologists, but it is the first, treatment for lead and toxic metal poisoning and exposure. Alternative medicine has created controversy in using diagnoses and treatments which have legitimate roles in conventional medicine. The same may not be true for other diagnostic and treatment modalities in alternative medicine. While public health has considered pediatric vaccination schedules a foundation for good health and preventive medicine, alternative medicine has questioned and suggested vaccinations as the hidden cause of childhood and adult illness. Some vaccine critics have challenged the validity of vaccinations as effective tools in prevention of infectious disease, including disputing the vaccination role in ending the polio epidemic. The controversy has polarized the alternative community into two camps: those condemning vaccinations as dangerous and largely invalid forms of preventive treatment versus those who tolerate the medical status quo--accepting pediatric vaccinations. Unlike the candidiasis and chelation controversy, many alternative practitioners find that they need to keep pro-vaccination opinions to themselves, wanting to avoid the castigations of alternative-minded advocates. If one could find one academic area which polarizes the alternative community and conventional medicine, the vaccination program would probably be at the top of the list. Chiropractors as a whole advise their patients to avoid vaccinations. Homeopathic physicians believe that vaccines introduce a destructive force into a child's constitutional vital force. And, as this issue of the Townsend Letter argues, practitioners treating autism believe that vaccinations play a major role in initiating the autistic process. There have been at least 2 studies in the British and American medical journals denying any relationship between vaccination and autism, published in 2002-2003. The alternative community reports just the opposite: there is a clear-cut relationship between vaccination and autism (but these reports are anecdotal and appear in alternative medical journals).

This is a special issue of the Townsend Letter reporting on the adverse effects and dangers of vaccination schedules and their implied role in causing the autistic process. We also report on the strategies used in reversing some of the damage caused by vaccines as well as alternative approaches for treating autism. In October the Autism Research Institute is sponsoring its 12th Defeat Autism Now! Conference in Portland, Oregon (Oct. 3-5: call 609-921-3717 or look up www.DANconference.com). The DAN! conference (available on tape www.instatapes.com) continues this debate and has taken the lead in examining alternatives for autism. We welcome contributions on this debate from the readership.

COPYRIGHT 2003 The Townsend Letter Group
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group