About a week ago, I wrote about something that really irritates me, namely that most despicable of antivaccine claims, which is that shaken baby syndrome is somehow a misdiagnosis for vaccine injury. It is a claim that, as far as I can recall, began when, for reasons that have continued to elude me more than a decade later, the antivaccine movement glommed onto the case of Alan Yurko, a man convicted of shaking his girlfriend’s baby to death, and tried to get him freed based on the claim that the baby had really died from encephalitis caused by vaccine injury. The claim was so ridiculous as to make one wonder why anyone would take it the least bit seriously, but some antivaccinationists hate vaccines so much that no contortion of the truth is too twisted. It’s an idea that appears to have originated with Australian antivaccinationist Veira Scheibner in the late 1990s.
To recap briefly, last week, I learned about another such case, which appeared on various antivaccine and “alternative health” websites, about “Baby A” (no names were given for the baby or her parents). This was a five month old baby who was vaccinated in September 2012 and died 22 days after receiving eight vaccinations (actually four vaccinations, as one of them was pentavalent. When the baby girl was admitted to the hospital, she was diagnosed with “bleeding on the brain” and multiple long bone fractures. The parents were then apparently arrested for child abuse and murder. An antivaccine “journalist” by the name of Christine England tried to represent this case as a grave injustice, with the brain injury likely due to vaccine injury. But what about the long bone fractures? On this, England is noticeably silent, mentioning only that “her mother explained that after her ordeal, Baby A was irritable, upset and had difficulty in settling. That the following day, she was unable to move her legs, which remained hard and swollen around the injection site for several days.” She also mentioned that her parents thought the nurse had administered the vaccines roughly, as though that would be likely to cause such a reaction.
One thing about this story that I mentioned at the time is that I doubted its authenticity. I couldn’t find any corroborating evidence that such an event ever happened. Every permutation of every search I could think of involving shaken baby syndrome, vaccines, and South Africa (where the incident happened) pulled up either nothing or verbatim versions of Christine England’s story published far and wide across the antivaccine crankosphere. Maybe the story wasn’t a big enough deal to make the news in South Africa, or maybe the story was one of those Internet phantoms that are almost impossible to verify or refute. I was stymied and was about to call BS on this story. Then I found this interview at a show called Fairdinkum Radio. There’s also a GoFundMe campaign designed to raise money for Baby A’s parents, and a Facebook page, Baby A’s Parents.
I listened to the interview, hoping to learn something new, but I didn’t. Not really, anyway. The interviewer started the interview by asking multiple questions designed to put the parents in the most sympathetic light possible. Christina England was included in the interview as well for tactical air support. When it came to the part about Baby A’s stay in the hospital and the parents describing how the doctors and medical staff didn’t treat them sympathetically. (Of course, the doctors had a hard time treating the parents sympathetically; they strongly suspected them of having shaken the baby.) The parents apparently “did some research” into vaccines and shaken baby syndrome, and, of course, they rapidly located the copious crank literature linking the two.
One thing that stood out to me is that the story seems to be different depending on the source. For instance, in England’s story, Baby A had “multiple fractures of the long bones.” In this interview, the only fracture that is mentioned is a broken leg. It is mentioned in England’s story that “that the pediatrician requested a biopsy to test the collagen for brittle bone disease,” and on the Facebook page we find this post by Baby A’s parents:
We are receiving so much of help from people and I would like to share something with you from a professional who contacted us yesterday
“… the pediatrician requested a biopsy to test the collagen for brittle bone disease”… For me this is a dead give away that pediatricians know all about the acute scorbut that vaccines are causing. The mechanism is that vitamin C is needed to neutralize the effect of the toxins in vaccines. Vitamin C is the major and essential substance for the creation of collagen, the building block of bones and blood vessels. These will break down as soon as the body starts taking out the vitamin C out of its own collagen…
The resulting hemorrhaging and broken bones look a lot like the results of child abuse. However, checking the baby’s blood and serum levels of histamine and vitamin C will show which is the correct conclusion.
Worldwide Western medicine and Big Pharma have committed to never ever allow that vaccines get linked to the major damage that in reality they are causing.
So we can come up with evidence of the disastrous causal links till we are blue in the face…
The answer is for parents to wake up to the fact that vaccinators are murderers. They massively need to learn to say NO to vaccines!
This is classic vaccine-shaken baby pseudoscience and quackery straight from another “luminary” of this particularly vile segment of the antivaccine movement, Harold Buttram. The use of this particular antivaccine canard by Baby A’s parents makes me think that they’ve been reading Medical Hypotheses.
Near the end of the interview with the parents, there is a prolonged exchange about the police supposedly telling the parents that the media want to hear the parents’ side of the story two or three days after Baby A’s death and then not contacting them for four months, at which point they were arrested for murder, abuse, and negligence. An autopsy is mentioned, but the results of that autopsy are not. The parents claim they were denied legal aid after they were arrested and that they had a lot of difficulty getting in contact with a lawyer. Naturally, there is also an element of conspiracy-mongering, with a claim that there are medical reports and X-rays missing. Overall, the whole story sounds rather strange and inconsistent. It also seems hard to believe that a story like this wouldn’t make the news in South Africa. Perhaps it was in one of the other languages common in South Africa, like Dutch or Afrikaans.
The final segment involves Christina England, who was apparently brought in to tell the audience that these sorts of stories of parents accused of shaken baby syndrome whose babies really suffered from “vaccine injury” misdiagnosed as shaken baby syndrome. The whole thing stinks to high heaven. Indeed, it’s starting to remind me of the Alan Yurko case, in which there was a coordinated campaign to blame his girlfriend’s baby’s death on vaccines rather than shaken baby syndrome called the Free Yurko campaign. What we appear to be seeing here is a birth of a “Free Baby A’s Parents” campaign modeled on the Free Yurko campaign of more than a decade ago.
Same as it ever was. Just as despicable as it ever was.
ADDENDUM: There is another interview. I haven’t listened to it yet. Maybe today while I’m working if I have time.
37 replies on “Here we go again: The vile tactic of blaming shaken baby syndrome on vaccines, part 2”
So, vaccines cause scurvy now? Rapid onset scurvy even.
Are brittle bones even symptom of scurvy?
Wikipedia says no.
This is despicable.
Isn’t Christina England the same woman who reported on that “incident” in Chad, where there was no other other media confirmation of her “theory” of a bad batch of vaccines, except for a reprint in an Islamist Paper in Somalia?
I was able to obtain the autopsy report on a toddler I’d care for who had died from child abuse (even though the case has not yet gone to trial). Maybe someone in South Africa could request the autopsy report for this infant.
I think it is this story from last year.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2012/10/25/probe-into-little-alaia-s-death.
Christina England was included in the interview as well for tactical air support.
Also “Chris Savage retired Police Officer”.
Christopher Savage’s special expertise on South African jurisprudence, and on vaccines, is that he is a Queensland constabulary drop-out.
Since failing the police he has realised that they are part of the Conspiracy to Protect Big Vaccine, and that all around the world police forces are framing parents with trumped-up charges of infanticide.
Pris, no broken bones are not a symptom of scurvy. Before you could get collagen breakdown that severe, you’re already dead of absolutely unmistakable scurvy symptoms. This child did not have scurvy.
Meanwhile, I find it interesting that they attack the pediatrician for requesting a biopsy to test for brittle bone disease. Testing for osteogenesis imperfecta (which is a *genetic* condition) means the pediatricians were actually giving them the benefit of the doubt. There have been tragic cases of parents accused of child abuse when the child had undiagnosed osteogenesis imperfecta, sometimes because the bone breaking continues after the child is placed into foster care. But osteogensis imperfecta is very rare — and, notably, it cannot explain the characteristic brain and retina injuries associated with shaken baby syndrome. It shows good faith in the parents that the pediatrician tested for that. But since they were arrested anyway, I think it very likely that it was negative.
And osteogenesis imperfecta has nothing to do with vitamin C deficiency. The parents didn’t even bother to find out what it was the ped was testing for. They’re clearly more interested in saving their butts than in understanding what happened to their child, and that to me is rather telling.
Herr Doktor,
I’m sure the customers of Weinberg’s Organic Meats in Maple, Ontario would be horrified and disgusted to discover their butcher condones and supports child murder.
The butcher also provides links to Natural News (doesn’t Mikey hate meat eaters?), InfoWars, Renegade Health and Vactruth.com.
Oh, but you know the real problem, don’t you? When the test comes back negative, which it undoubtedly will, they will not be able to hide behind vague claims of vaccine injury.
“NO, the child did NOT have a bone disease” completely ends the story.
And that, of course, is why the dr did it. Because he wanted to nail the bastards.
I won’t believe it until it happens to a Chicken McNugget. Modern civilization’s canaries in the coal mine, they are.
@ Woo Fighter:
I don’t think that MIkey is a vegan or vegetarian:
he raises free range, natural, hormone free, antibiotic free, Morgellon free chickens** for meat and eggs and advocates for raw milk and raw foodism ( GMO free fruits, vegetables)
** he used chicken flesh to hone his emergency stitching skills in preparation for the days when all h3ll breaks loose and we’ll need to become our own surgeons etc..
I swear i didn’t make that up.
Denice,
I should have been more specific. He eschews all manner of red meat. Poultry and fish are OK but I’ve definitely read some of his writing where he spouts off that beef, pork , lamb, etc. are meats from the devil.
beef, pork , lamb, etc. are meats from the devil.Which is why, of course, you eat it with a fork and cook it over open flame.
The devil’s a barbecue fan. Might have guessed.
MO’B: you are today’s winner of the internetz!
Here’s an interesting tidbit about Christine England, the purported journalist who broke this story — turns out she was accused of Munchausen by Proxy in 1999, before being cleared of the charges, according to her bio at http: // vaccinedangers[dot]com[dot]au/2012/04/schoolgirl-suffers-adverse-reaction-after-four-vaccines-at-school-without-parental-consent/
That seems like a fact that may be relevant to her reporting about Shaken Baby Syndrome.
There are a lot of these cases.
Many have been seen courtesy of our old friend “not a pathologist” Mohammed Al-Bayati.
Yes, him of Christine Maggiore and Eliza-Jane Scovill fame, he who thinks HIV doesn’t kill people from AIDS.
Unfortunately, people pay him thousands of dollars for his inept pseudoscience concoctions that blame infant homicides on reactions to vaccines.
http://www.toxi-health.com/adversereactionstovaccines.html
It’s an idea that appears to have originated with Australian antivaccinationist Veira Scheibner in the late 1990s
England’s collaborator Savage is Australian, and regards Scheibner with a reverence bordering on idolatry.
From their conversation:
In his active fantasy life, Scheibner’s book has taken on a similar status to the Bible in old behind-the-Iron-Curtain days; apparently it has such totemistic value that the Conspiracy can plant a copy on someone, and its presence will be sufficient evidence for the Corrupt Legal System to convict.
It is not clear from his interview why Savage had to leave the Queensland police. He makes noises about being incapacitated by the after-effects of a Hep B vaccination. Given their reputation, he might have joined up under the impression that the only work involved beating up Aborigines, and left when he discovered that the duties were more demanding than that.
As a pediatric resident, almost every infant/toddler who was admitted for suspected non-accidental trauma (SNAT) had to e worked up for osteogenesis imperfecta. Although it was extremely rare, in a court of law you could be certain the defense for the accused abuser(s) would use this possibility as a cause for reasonable doubt as to why there were all these fractures (which always hacked me off, because if had that type of OI, you were typically born with fractures and your diagnosis was made as a newborn before you left the hospital). Another workup you would often have to do would be for coagulation disorders, such as hemophilia (again, very uncommon), especially for SNAT admissions with lots of bruising.
From the Baby-A FB page:
We are receiving so much of help from people and I would like to share something with you from a professional who contacted us yesterday
“… the pediatrician requested a biopsy to test the collagen for brittle bone disease”… For me this is a dead give away that pediatricians know all about the acute scorbut that vaccines are causing…”
The Health Professional in question is one Désirée Röver, Medical Research Journalist, who wrote the same words on a VacTruth thread some 17 days ago. She is writing from the Netherlands, but may be Canadian, hence the term “scorbut”.
And osteogenesis imperfecta has nothing to do with vitamin C deficiency.
There are two schools of thought amongst the infanticide apologists. Any vaccine is toxic, and therefore the body’s reserves of Vitamin C are depleted in the process of neutralising the toxicity, and therefore instant scurvy a.k.a. Barlow’s Disease. Therefore OI, and broken bones. This is Röver and Scheibner’s theory.
OR the vaccine destroys the body’s reserves of Vitamin D (I am not so clear on the mechanism here), and therefore instant rickets. Therefore OI, and broken bones. This seems to be Buttram’s preference.
The idea of child abuse can be hard to accept, especially if you’re prone to embracing cockamamie theories.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2401922/Baby-Rahul-This-child-claimed-spontaneously-combusted-times.html
Further startling news from Christina England:
Crikey!
suspected non-accidental trauma (SNAT)
That has to be one of the most chilling phrases I’ve ever seen.
HDB – I have only made it through two paragraphs and already I’m buwhaaa-ing.
… wait, last week? Buwhaaaa?? Wow, Woodward and Bernstein look like real sluggards now; they were only dealing with a conspiracy operating within a single nation and it took them much longer than a couple of weeks from the time they suspected something fishy to the time that they were ready to publish.
This will be a wonderful link to point to when people cite England as if her claims were meaningful.
Isn’t Christina England the same woman who reported on that “incident” in Chad, where there was no other other media confirmation of her “theory” of a bad batch of vaccines, except for a reprint in an Islamist Paper in Somalia?
Bingo. The saga came up in a RI thread back in January.
The story originally came from a dissident newspaper in Chad, attacking the meningitis vaccination program because (a) any evidence of competence from the government is undesirable, and (b) the “vaccines = Western colonial genocide” approach has worked so well elsewhere. England picked up the story, got a few details wrong and added a few more of her own invention. From there it cycled back into the African media, being reprinted as an independent corroboration.
Liz Ditz conducted some fact-checking:
http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2013/01/claim-40-children-in-chad-paralyzed-by-vaccines-is-probably-false-.html
Wow, just wow. This really drives home to me how little value or credit they give to those with autism. If she thinks this is what autistic people are like then she does not know them at all. To her they are subhumans.
Travis: You are so right. Docile, placid and disposable? Has she ever met an autistic person? That doesn’t at all describe my friend’s son, who has toy monkeys named One, Two, Three, Four and Five, and makes up these incredibly detailed stories about their adventures.
And if autism caused sterility, don’t you think someone would have noticed by now? Someone who recognizes that they are in fact real people who grow up and sometimes even have relationships? That one is so obviously disprovable it’s hilarious.
Lets say that this did cause a bone fracture. Over the course of three weeks, they didn’t notice anything wrong enough with their baby to take her back to a doctor?
Oh Herr Doktor Bimler, thank you for digging up the England Hypothesis.
We have action items!
#19 Good lord. Has this person ever met a single actual autistic person?
This doesn’t even remotely, remotely describe autism! Not even close! It’s not even in the same freaking ballpark!
Does she have *any idea* how deeply, deeply offensive this is?
#19 Good lord. Has this person ever met a single actual autistic person?
Ms England is a fabulist. It would make no difference if she had.
LizDitz @27:
thank you for digging up the England Hypothesis.
Not much digging was required, other than googling “Christina England conspiracy”.
We have action items!…
Oh, by the way, your support of the Natural Solutions Foundation is essential.
Yes indeed, having expounded the England Theory, Dr Rima Laibaw MD* launches into an appeal for funds.
* Married to Gen. Albert Stubblebine of staring-at-goats fame. Associated with Budd Hopkins, back in the days when alien-abduction therapy was still a growth industry.
Listening to Fairdinkum Radio? Orac you have been dumster diving.
There is no kookiness too kooky for Fairdinkum Radio, which is why Meryl Derey is a frequent guest. It is a bit like Natural News and Infowars rolled into one and put on the airways (well the interent really because it doesn’t broadcast).
Oh, by the way, your support of the Natural Solutions Foundation is essential.
Still on the topic of Christina England’s buddy Dr Rima Laibaw MD, I wasn’t around at the time when she and her Natural Solutions Foundation previously featured at RI for trying to cash in on an apocryphal story about Alt Med vs. Big Pharma.
Wfjag put it well:
This seems to fly in the face of Laibow’s “Great Culling” routine (which was supposed to be just around the corner 11 years ago) and general Illuminati depopulation agenda to eliminate the “useless eaters.”
The “hair lip” line was a nice touch, though.
@ Herr Doktor Bimler
Desirée Röver is Dutch and a pretty fanatic anti-vaccionist, who believes in all kinds of complots, including The Zion Protocols.
She also believes in chemtrails and that vaccinations are ment to depopulite the earth.
This lady is so far removed from reality it is hard to understand why she is still asked to give her view on vaccination-issues.
More commentary on the Alex Spourdalakis case:
https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2013/09/06/is-sharyl-attkisson-feeling-the-heat-over-her-irresponsible-reporting-of-the-alex-spourdalakis-case-pour-it-on/
There are two schools of thought amongst the infanticide apologists. Any vaccine is toxic, and therefore the body’s reserves of Vitamin C are depleted in the process of neutralising the toxicity, and therefore instant scurvy a.k.a. Barlow’s Disease. Therefore OI, and broken bones. This is Röver and Scheibner’s theory.
OR the vaccine destroys the body’s reserves of Vitamin D (I am not so clear on the mechanism here), and therefore instant rickets. Therefore OI, and broken bones. This seems to be Buttram’s preference.
A comment from Canalon on an earlier thread reminds me that I left out Innis’ theory to explain SBS, in which the particular micronutrient destroyed by vaccines is Vitamin K. No need to worry about the mechanism, because it leads inexorably to the same end-point of internal bleeding and broken bones.
Rather OT, but a US naval officer who recently got sacked for smuggling copious amounts of booze on board his ship is being defended in this week’s Navy Times by a supporter who points out (one assumes tongue in cheek) that no one on that vessel got scurvy.