More people than ever are using alternative medicine. But, as expert Dr Paul Offit explains, these untested therapies are ineffective, expensive and even deadly. Now that homeopathic remedies are offered on the Nhs, it's clear that various therapies once considered alternative or complementary, have become mainstream - prescribed to burn fat, shrink prostates, alleviate colds, reduce stress, eliminate pain and prevent cancer. At the same time, uptake of effective vaccines such as Mmr has fallen - a disturbing trend which, in the case of the Mmr, has lead to a sharp rise in the number of measles cases. In 'Killing Us Softly' Paul Offit reveals, alternative medicine - an unregulated industry under no obligation to prove its claims or admit its risks - can actually be very harmful. In 'Killing Us Softly' he exposes how: * Homeopathic asthma preparations and bogus cancer cures have replaced life-saving medicines. * Acupuncture needles have pierced hearts, lungs, and livers and transmitted viruses, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and Hiv. * Chiropractic manipulations have torn arteries. * Megavitamins increase the risk of cancer and heart disease-a fact well known to scientists but virtually unknown to the public. Using real-life case histories to back his argument, Dr Offit shows us why any medical treatment - alternative or conventional - must be properly evaluated. 'There's no such thing as alternative medicine. There's only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't.'

Killing Us Softly

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Offit, Paul A.

Diseases & Physical Ailments

Fourth Estate Ltd.

Here is a straightforward presentation of the facts surrounding the controversial topic of vaccines, a book that confused and worried parents can turn to for answers and reassurance. Most parents have questions about vaccines that doctors are too busy to answer, and too many parents, as a result, are not having their child vaccinated at all, thus putting them at risk. 
This timely book answers such questions as: <ul>
<li>Aren't most of these diseases eliminated anyway?</li> <li>Should my child have the new chicken pox vaccine?</li> <li>Could my baby get a bad batch of the vaccine and end up getting infected?</li> </ul> Comprehensive information on the history of vaccines, the diseases that can be controlled through vaccination, and the risks and benefits associated with each vaccine will help parents decide whether or not to have their children vaccinated and which vaccines to approve. With this essential resource, parents can make the right decisions for their childrens' health and safety. New! In September 2000, Paul is launching a vaccine education page on the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website. Check it out!

Vaccines: What Every Parent Should Know

Parenting & Relationships

Bell, Louis M.

Parenting

wiley

Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far

Alternative Medicine

Harper

Vaccines have saved more lives than any other single medical advance. Yet today only four companies make vaccines, and there is a growing crisis in vaccine availability. Why has this happened? This remarkable book recounts for the first time a devastating episode in 1955 at Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California, thathas led many pharmaceutical companies to abandon vaccine manufacture.Drawing on interviews with public health officials, pharmaceutical company executives, attorneys, Cutter employees, and victims of the vaccine, as well as on previously unavailable archives, Dr. Paul Offit offers a full account of the Cutter disaster. He describes the nation’s relief when the polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk in 1955, the production of the vaccine at industrial facilities such as the one operated by Cutter, and the tragedy that occurred when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus: 70,000 became ill, 200 were permanently paralyzed, and 10 died. Dr. Offit also explores how, as a consequence of the tragedy, one jury’s verdict set in motion events that eventually suppressed the production of vaccines already licensed and deterred the development of new vaccines that hold the promise of preventing other fatal diseases.

The Cutter Incident: How America s First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis

Yale University Press

Vaccines have saved more lives than any other single medical advance. Yet today only four companies make vaccines, and there is a growing crisis in vaccine availability. Why has this happened? This remarkable book recounts for the first time a devastating episode in 1955 at Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California, thathas led many pharmaceutical companies to abandon vaccine manufacture.
Drawing on interviews with public health officials, pharmaceutical company executives, attorneys, Cutter employees, and victims of the vaccine, as well as on previously unavailable archives, Dr. Paul Offit offers a full account of the Cutter disaster. He describes the nation’s relief when the polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk in 1955, the production of the vaccine at industrial facilities such as the one operated by Cutter, and the tragedy that occurred when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus: 70,000 became ill, 200 were permanently paralyzed, and 10 died. Dr. Offit also explores how, as a consequence of the tragedy, one jury’s verdict set in motion events that eventually suppressed the production of vaccines already licensed and deterred the development of new vaccines that hold the promise of preventing other fatal diseases.

The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis

History

Americas

Plotkin's Vaccines,E-Book

Medical Books

Plotkin, Stanley A.

Orenstein, Walter A.

Edwards, Kathryn M.

Medicine

Elsevier

Discusses the damages caused by the anti-vaccine movement and argues the necessity of vaccinations for children to prevent such diseases as measles, mumps, and whooping cough.

Deadly Choices (UK edition): How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All

Science & Math

History & Philosophy

Basic Books

In 2010, California suffered the largest and deadliest outbreak of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, in more than fifty years. This tragedy was avoidable. An effective vaccine has been available since the 1940s. In recent years other diseases, like measles and mumps, have also made a comeback. The reason for these epidemics can be traced to a group whose vocal proponents insist, despite evidence to the contrary, that vaccines are poison. As a consequence, parents and caretakers are rejecting vaccines for themselves and their families.In Deadly Choices, infectious-disease expert Paul Offit takes a look behind the curtain of the anti-vaccine movement. What he finds is a reminder of the power of scientific knowledge, and the harm we risk if we ignore it.

Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All

Get the straight facts about vaccines and make informed choices Do you wonder whether vaccines are safe and whether they are all really necessary? This completely revised and updated edition of the classic Vaccines: What You Should Know helps you sort through the latest information about vaccines in order to determine what is right for your family. Coauthored by Paul Offit, a member of the CDC advisory committee that determines which vaccines are recommended for use in the United States, this guide tells you what vaccines are made of and clearly explains how they are made, how they work, and the risks associated with them. This updated edition includes recommendations for the smallpox vaccine, the latest information on vaccines for travelers, and the latest on the progress of combination vaccines. Expanded information on vaccine safety includes discussion of vaccines and autism, mercury in vaccines, and the ability of children to tolerate numerous vaccines at once.

Vaccines: What You Should Know, Third Edition

Vaccinations

This classic resource examines every aspect of vaccination - from development to use in reducing disease. Completely revised and updated, it provides authoritative information on vaccine production, available preparations, efficacy, and safety...recommendations for vaccine use, with rationales...data on the impact of vaccination programs on morbidity and mortality...and more.
<ul>
<li>Provides a complete understanding of each disease, including clinical characteristics, microbiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, as well an epidemiology and public health issues.</li>
<li>Discusses the proper use of immune globulins and antitoxins.</li>
<li>Examines vaccine stability, immunogenicity, efficacy, duration of immunity, adverse events, indications, contraindications, precautions, administration with other vaccines, and disease control strategies.</li>
<li>Illustrates concepts and objective data with over 605 tables and figures.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Covers the latest in smallpox, anthrax, poliomyelitis, hepatitis, and more.</li>
<li>Analyses the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness of vaccines.</li>
<li>Features the latest in vaccine research.</li>
</ul>
 With 105 additional contributing experts.

Vaccines

Saunders

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