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Pastimes : Alternative Medicine/Health
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To: LLCF who wrote (97)8/10/2000 3:10:31 PM
From: LLCF  Read Replies (1) of 357
 
But I was moved by her anguish, her private suffering, and I
relived for a moment my own struggles since Connor's
diagnosis. The long nights of guilt I felt as a mother, constantly
wondering what I had done wrong to give him autism; the long
days of research to find a cure -- the doctors told me to put
him in an institution, but I wasn't going to leave him; the
countless doctor visits and tests Connor bravely endured
without understanding why he was hurting or receiving little
relief.

And finally -- unsurprisingly -- I was overwhelmed with rage. I
felt it building within me and it was like nothing I'd experienced
before. I knew very clearly at that moment that I had crossed
over to the other side, that I was convinced my son was a cash
cow for an industry that tested its products in production rather
than the lab, motivated by $2 billion per year in profits, no
different in its potential for corruption than any other industry.

There were no higher standards in medicine than in any other
business -- the rule of caveat emptor applied to vaccines as
surely as it applied to any other consumer product. I could not
trust the FDA and the CDC to protect me from pharmaceutical
companies that wanted to get their products to market with as
little testing as possible and to promote the repeated use of
their products in order to maintain their monopoly under the
guise of the public good.

I don't have a medical degree, but I have learned how to be a
thoughtful medical consumer. Connor's up for his mandated
boosters next year. I know now that he can have a simple
blood test of his antibody titers, which measures his antibodies
and confirms that he has the protection he needs against
disease. I had the blood test done and he's protected.

There's no medical exemption from these boosters in my state
for "sufficient protection based on antibody titers," so I'll have
to use a religious exemption instead. I've accepted that there is
no binding contract between me and the agencies and
companies that purport to protect my child. But my bond with
Connor remains, my responsibility as his mother expanding to
include advocacy -- even activism -- along with love.

salon.com | Aug. 2, 2000

DAK
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