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In reply to the discussion: (Thimerosal ban) Vaccine Rule Is Said to Hurt Health Efforts [View all]Orrex
(63,191 posts)I can't provide a link while I'm at work, but here's the gist:
Plumpynut, a mixture of peanut butter and baby formula, is a powerful tool for combatting hunger and malnutrition. During a discussion of the remarkable benefits of this mixture, an American reporter actually asked "what about children with peanut allergies?"
The question is absurd almost to the point of being offensive, or it would be if such fears were permitted to trump reason. The reporter was asking, in essence, "is it okay to save thousands and thousands of children from death by starvation if it means that a small number of children might suffer a reaction to peanuts?" It reveals an utter failure to understand basic statistics as well as an inability to beform basic risk assessment.
We risk running into a far more absurd situation here: even if the worst-case fears about thimerosal are true, only an infinitessimal percentage of children would be at risk in a massive vaccination program. Are we to sacrifice millions--who surely will die of measles, mumps, polio, pertussus, etc.--to spare a few dozen from the possible risk of some degree of mental impairment?