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(story by Mac)

A few months ago, a Dr. Abdul Majid Katme, head of the Islamic Medical Association in the UK, was telling Muslims that it is “against Islam” to have their children vaccinated. According to Dr. Katme, many vaccines contain “haram” or “parts” of animals that are not slaughtered ritualistically. Dr. Katme’s “parts”, in actuality, are either pieces of cells or even proteins removed from cells, and then incubated in a lab. And he also complained that vaccines contain alcohol, which Muslims who adhere strictly to Islam do not consume. This man is a psychiatrist who has worked for 15 years with Britain’s National Health Service, yet his writings suggest someone with not the most basic grasp of immunology or vaccine science.

Dr. Katme argues that inoculation is worthless in Muslim children, because mothers adhering to Islamic Law nurse them until age 2. They thus acquire “natural immunity” either from their mothers or from actually catching the diseases. The truth is that breast-feeding passes along a limited immunity, most valuable for a very young infant during the first weeks of life, and generally the protection lasts only for the time the child nurses. This is not lifelong protection from the disease. Also, any immunity passed in breast-milk, in addition to being short-term, covers only a few of the dangerous diseases for which vaccines exist.

As far as “natural immunity” acquired from exposure and actual illness, before children were commonly vaccinated, these diseases - measles, diphtheria, meningitis, whooping cough, polio – left parents with blood running cold through their veins. Many a child was left mentally or physically disabled after a bout even with a common childhood illness . . . or far too often, dead. Many modern physicians suggest that those parents who nowadays argue that vaccination isn’t necessary, are living in a sort of “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. But back when people saw children frequently suffer permanent disability or death due to illness, they welcomed the chance to stop these diseases, even with vaccinations that carried a very small risk of other health-related issues. The trouble is, in an age when mass internet information - some of it erroneous - has made everyone an armchair medical expert, many Western parents hold some misguided ideas about the value of immunizing their children.

Continued at ASKEW: http://askew.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/2/12/2731875.html