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Dachel Media Update: California And Medical Freedom

Online newsBy Anne Dachel OurKids ad 2013

Read Anne's commentary and view the links after the jump.   The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and OurKidsASD, an online supplement retailer for patients with special needs.

All over California, stories have been published about the exemption bill today.  It's easy to see whose side the media is on.  There is absolutely no acknowledgement that vaccines carry risks.

Here are examples

Lawmakers push legislation ending personal belief exemptions in ... San Francisco Chronicle

Although opt-outs have decreased in the last year, California State Senators Richard Pan (D) and Ben Allen (D) are attempting to remove them altogether in a new bill, which would fully remove personal belief exemptions from the existing law. Students can still opt out for medical reasons.

California senators need shot of courage, see anti-vaxxers' scare ...Sacramento Bee

The anti-vaxxers are loud as they rally at the Capitol this morning. They will be shouting slogans, waving signs, and cheering for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., their celebrity spokesman, as he warns of the supposed dangers of requiring schoolchildren to get vaccines.

The Senate Health Committee should ignore the noise and pass SB 277, which would get rid of California’s overly lax personal belief exemption for parents who don’t want their kids to be vaccinated. Had it not been for teeming pockets of vaccine resisters in California, the Disneyland measles epidemic wouldn’t have spread throughout North America and sickened nearly 150 people earlier this year.

Read more here:


Vaccine "personal exemptions" get shot down in Berkeley Salon

California starts to get tough on anti-vax exceptions

Watch out, anti-vaxxers. Because if Berkeley can take a stand, the rest of California might just follow suit. And then who knows? We might actually wind up wiping out measles. Again.

On Wednesday, California Senate Bill 277 - a controversial proposal to do away with "personal beliefs" vaccine exemptions and require school districts to notify parents of school immunization rates - makes its way to the state capitol, where its merits will be weighed by a nine-member Senate Health Committee. But in Berkeley Tuesday night, the City Council voted 7-1 to approve the bill, and notified Sacramento of the city's support for it.

Berkeley Votes to Support Controversial Vaccine Exemption Bill NBC Bay Area (Video)

Berkeley council members voted 7-1 in favor of the bill and will send a letter to Sacramento informing lawmakers of the city's stance.

An overwhelming number of people who attended Tuesday's council meeting are against banning vaccination exemptions, while a small number of people spoke in favor of mandatory vaccinations with the only exemption being for medical reasons.

California Vaccine Requirement Bill Gets First Public Debate CBS Los Angeles

If passed, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only other states with such strict vaccine rules. . . .

Opponents include Robert Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who has said he supports using vaccines and had all six of his children vaccinated, but believes the pharmaceutical industry profits immensely when governments make vaccines mandatory.

Showdown Begins Over Bill To Eliminate Vaccine Exemptions Los Angeles Times

Video quotes RFK, Jr.

California's Anti-Vaccine Movement: Politics, Wealth, and Paranoia Slate Magazine

Unfortunately, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is coming to town.

However, anti-vaxxers turn out in droves. They are few in number-representing less than single-digit percentage points of most states' populations-but extremely passionate. Their tendency to cluster means they remain a significant risk for supporting outbreaks of disease. They are organized by well-funded groups financed by family foundations. They still gather at rallies and fundraisers featuring disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield, whose claim that vaccines cause autism was later found to be a complete fraud. Their voices are amplified by notorious anti-vax celebrity cranks such as RobertF.KennedyJr.

As a result of this disparity in activism, anti-vaxxers have been successful in defeating pro­-public health legislation that would eliminate some exemptions in a number of states, including Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and most recently, North Carolina. Bills in Texas, New Jersey, and California are still being hotly contested. Well-organized vaccination opponents flood legislators with a near-constant stream of materials of dubious scientific or legal validity. And, of course, Kennedy participates, traveling around to states in contention, promoting a conspiracy-theory documentary called Trace Amounts. This documentary focuses on the manufactured controversy surrounding thimerosal, an ethylmercury-based preservative that was removed from the vast majority of childhood vaccines in 2001. (Autism rates did not decline.) . . .

The science is clear. Vaccines are safe, effective, and not in any way linked to autism. There is no scientific debate. However, there is a political debate, and it's increasingly fierce. Potential 2016 presidential candidates such a Chris Christie and Hillary Clinton have stepped into the fray. And California pro-vaccine parents have been hammering home a message: The majority who vaccinate must realize that they need to stand up, call their representatives, and be heard.

AM Alert: California vaccine bill gets first test Sacramento Bee

Better arrive early if you want a seat at the much-anticipated hearing for Senate Bill 277, which would nix the exemption some parents use to avoid vaccinating their kids.

Since lawmakers proposed the bill against a backdrop of resurgent diseases like measles, the range of reaction has been loud and vigorous. Health officials, lawmakers and parents warn that non-vaccinators are endangering public health by skipping shots. Vaccine skeptics reject the scientific consensus on vaccines and rail against the government dictating wh at they do with their kids' bodies.

Today comes the first hurdle: a hearing before the Senate Health Committee. Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, a pediatrician who is carrying SB 277, sits on the committee along with three other co-authors. So the bill's prospects look good. But you can count on some powerful, impassioned testimony from people on both sides of this one. A pre-hearing rally by opponents on the west steps will feature Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Despite the prejudice on the part of the media, parents are opposing this legislation. Hundreds are rallying in Sacramento.  Meanwhile, it's  April, the month where we celebrate having an autism rate of one in 68 that no health official can explain.

Lee Silsby logo 09 The Dachel Media Update is sponsored by Lee Silsby Compounding Pharmacy and OurKidsASD.  Lee Silsby is one of the most respected compounding pharmacies in the country and is committed to serving the needs of the Autism community. OurkidsASD is an online retailer for nutritional supplements for patients with special needs. OurkidsASD carries thousands of products from more than 60 brands and offers free ground shipping on all orders.

Anne Dachel Book CoverAnne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism and author of  The Big Autism Cover-Up: How and Why the Media Is Lying to the American Public, which is on sale now from Skyhorse Publishing.



POWERFUL speech by Laura Hayes:


If legislators are not willing to even listen to the people about vaccine safety concerns and corruption of CDC/AAP then why should California citizens pay tax into the public school system if they must drop out due to concern for their child's safety? California will become the intellectual weakling of America because if we lived there I would pull my child from the system. My child is only partially vaccinated and very, very smart.


California; please keep fighting. Praying for you guys here. And lets remember who votes for and against. I'm guessing there are a lot more folks wanting medical freedom than the official estimates suggest. And that may end up to be a big voting block.
Is there a list of people who need letters prior to the upcoming meeting next Wednesday?

Georg Elser




The large number of people who showed up for the Bill hearing alone should send them a clear message. This is not going to go well for California or Dems in general. I believe some are right when they say parents will home school, possibly drop to one income or move.


Regardless of the outcome one thing is for sure - the next California senatorial election is going to have a record turnout. People will never forget this.

cia parker

Everyone is supposed to wear red to the hearings. How about WE wear red next Wednesday and the Wednesday after that, the days of the next two hearings? Talk to everyone we see about the reasons. Solidarity with District 12 (California!)

cia parker

Everyone should read the columns and the comments on Dr. Bob's Facebook page. It looks like the link to the page with the transcript of the testimony at the Senate hearing yesterday was deliberately tampered with (to keep the public from finding out how all that moving testimony on the vaccine injuries of the witnesses' children was thrown overboard by the bought legislators still hanging on to memories of a childhood playmate who got polio, rather than getting with the picture NOW!)

This is what's going down to prepare for the hearing before the Education committee, from a comment on the page:
"V. L. T. Action plan, pls read: For parents in this group: I just had a meeting with a high up Democrat who gave me some strategy points for stopping this Bill in Education.
Schools get paid for attendance. They will lose lots of funding. This needs to happen starting today as if this builds steam BEFORE the vote next week that is sending a very big message to the schools. This could be a major storm for them and bring the entire system into upset. That is what we need. If it's coming from the schools to the Committee it's another avenue to stop it. As we saw yesterday it became about people vs. institutions. Very few Pro SB277 but the ones there were from organizations, boards, etc. So getting the schools very worried is a strategy that creates much disruption in the system.
Schools | Districts -- Steps to Take BEFORE the vote on Wednesday April 15, 2015
1. Write your school, school district, and Board of Education
2. Call all the same people
3. Subject line: Notification -- Removing (name) from School if SB277 passes
4. One page letter from parent - very thoughtful - not emotional or frantic - to explain that in opposition to SB277 they will be taking their child|children out of school. This letter serves to alert you so that you are prepared that my child will not be attending ….. school if this passes. Explain that this is not a positive bill for your child|children - tell them why - and that you will be pulling them from school. No threats, no homeschool issues, just tell them you are pulling your child. Short and sweet with key points will get the job done.
5. Parents who write letters -- please call and send to 5 other parents in your child's school who would also send a letter to the School."

cia parker

Good update from Dr. Bob:


It definitely was fixed from the beginning. They saw what happened in the other states and were ready. They knew people would show up and that all they had to do was sit there and endure the parade while keeping the parade quiet. Homeschooling should never have been a main argument. ALL the children should have been. Not that it would have mattered. California has the big bought universities, hospitals and insurance industry.

While the legislators all professed to "believe" in the science, when they gave their reasons for supporting the bill, their ridiculous shallow reasoning was based on their own anecdotal memories - children they knew who got polio or mumps or their own children who they had to vaccinate. Public law based on anecdotes, emotional bias, and corrupt agencies. Zero, absolutely zero, science and understanding of how the bill would play out in practical terms. No knowledge, no wisdom, just bought.


Many good points. You made me realize what a joke California is with Proposition 65 on one hand and forced vaccination of toxins into pregnant women and children on the other. What a farce.


..."The most frightening aspect of this supposed democratic process is that those in positions of power are completely uninformed and unable to adequately even begin to assess the bill. They are naive to every aspect of the issue..."

I had to quit viewing after awhile as well. It was heartbreaking to view those folks all waiting patiently in line, just for the sake of giving their name and whether or not they opposed the bill, only to cue in on Pan's face at various intervals in between and witness the rather smug look on his face.

My gut tells me Pan already KNEW at that point during the hearing that his bill was going to get a pass. It was already a done deal...the rest was nothing more than a dog and pony show. Call me a negative Nancy (it won't be the first time), but I call it the way I see it.

I'm left wondering just what the difference was for Californians versus what happened in Oregon, Washington and the others who were able to table their own bills. Was it simply the Dems versus Reps. make up? I tend not to think so, given the only two we had in opposition to our bill were from both sides of the camp.

Is it because California is the bigger prize? That they can't afford to lose this bill out here, given the agenda that's at play?

When my husband and I were discussing this hearing earlier today, he stated there are always things going on behind closed doors of which the public knows nothing about when it comes to political machinations. Money, he said, doesn't necessarily always play a part. It could simply be that one legislator has asked for a favor from another, with the requisite vote at hand being the trump card.

If it wasn't Pan being the big pharma presenter here, it would simply have been someone else big pharma lobbyists would have hand picked for the same job. Pan's just one of a number of shills who would have been more than willing to proceed with a hand out to get the job done.

I see this bill sailing through the other two committees before the final signature is applied. They've thrown a bone to the anti-vaxx crowd; homeschoolers get to keep their philosophical exemptions, but ONLY if they homeschool their kids.

I know from personal experience that many parents would really like to homeschool their children, but for various reasons it's just not a practical/feasible option for them. In our own situation, I homeschooled Ryan until it became painfully obvious I was not equipped to handle someone with Ryan's learning issues. I simply didn't have the expertise; I was able to teach him how to read and was able to help him in most areas of his school work until we realized he simply needed the sort of help I was not able to provide for him.

Socialization was a huge issue for us as well and in the end, putting our son back into the public school system, as much as we loathed it on certain levels, turned out to be the best option for him.

We live in a vastly 'go with the flow' community. MOST families in our area send their kids to public school or private school - they don't homeschool.

If there's a silver lining with any of this out here in California, the only thing I can think of at this time is that when more school disease outbreaks occur (and they most certainly will), they won't be able to blame it on the unvaccinated students.

What a heartbreak this has been to witness this, but yet, I can't say I'm surprised. If truth be told, I wasn't, but I did hold out hope that this bill would be tabled. Even the efforts of the documentary and Kennedy weren't able to push this bill back.

I am appalled as to the utter lack of intelligence with these legislators re the science on this issue. There should be a rule/law wherein these legislators have to have a certain degree of information re the scientific literature BEFORE they are permitted to pass bills into law regarding any sort of medical procedure which will most certainly pose grave consequences for many individuals.

I salute all those that made it to Sacramento to voice their opposition. So many showed up and was amazing to see...

cia parker

Clarence Thomas was a good example of a liar in power, but I was also thinking of the O.J. Simpson jury (like the ignorant vaccine-crazy masses?) which found that there was no proof that he had murdered Nicole Brown Simpson, and that the DNA testing which showed that he had didn't mean anything because they didn't know what DNA was.

cia parker

I am against animal experimentation because it is cruel and morally wrong. But besides that, every species reacts differently to different stimuli. They realized decades ago that mouse experimentation was worthless because mice react to everything very differently from humans. Animal testing of vaccines or vaccine ingredients really wouldn't tell you much, if anything, of the effects on human children.
From Wendy Lydall's Raising a Vaccine-Free Child, p. 205: "Each batch of whooping cough vaccine is tested on mice for safety and effectiveness before it is released. This is done to make it appear that the vaccine is being scientifically produced. To test each batch for effectiveness, the mice are vaccinated, then three weeks later they have a challenge dose of the bacteria that cause whooping cough in humans injected into their brains. If more than a certain number of mice survive, that is taken to mean that the vaccine will prevent whooping cough in humans. To test each batch for safety, the vaccine is injected into the abdomens of young mice, and if the mice continue to gain weight, that is taken to mean that the vaccine will not cause brain damage in a human baby. The breed of mouse that is used determines whether 4% or 54% die from the same batch of vaccine. These methods of testing the vaccine obviously do not work because the vaccine does cause death and severe as well as mild brain damage in babies. The researchers do not ask the mice if they have a headache after vaccination, and they do not test the mice for dyslexia when they start school.
Neurological damage does not prevent growth in mammals. The fact that the mice continue to grow bigger does not mean that they have not suffered neurological damage. Human babies who are neurologically damaged by vaccines continue to grow bigger. They grow to adult size, but their brain remains damaged. If the motor section of their brain is damaged, they grow bigger but cannot look after themselves. If the intellectual segment is damaged, their bodies keep growing but their minds do not mature. I speak with parents of children in their twenties and thirties who have the mentality and behavior of toddlers. The vaccine companies and government agencies that coercively promote vaccination are not interested in hearing about the problems associated with controlling and managing adult-sized toddlers. When doing the mouse toxicity test, the researchers are careful to use a breed of mouse that has a low susceptibility to the toxic effects of vaccines, but when doing mass vaccination of humans, the industry is not careful to exclude vulnerable children."

califiornia--a govt of the pharma by the pharma and for the pharma

if anyone of those amazing moms and dads who testified they were from
Dr pans district run for his seat! Let's defeat him! You will get lots of support. I am a lifelong democrat but I will contribute to anyone dem or republics. who knows vaccines are harmful to many and is willing to take on that man .

Anita Donnelly--make drs liable for vax injury

Thanks to the person who posted to me. Good points.
You know what --this could be our --speaking of Anita --our Clarence thomas Anita hill moment. Regardless of who you believed, women were appalled to see absolutely no actual indication that anyone in power actually believed what anita hill said actually ever happened to any woman and even if it did how did it matter? . But the moment transformed the senate. Women came in and mysogynists got voted out. In our case, we just saw the legislature absolutely refuse to even respond to story after story. It was like they were hypnotized or blackmailed --cognitive dissonance? It was scary. Pod people senators .
My thought is this: we need to frame the issues ourselves and push counter bills that call out the true issues with friendly legislatures. California can ban toxins in vaccines for all ages, California can restore dr liability .California can require serious testing before allowing a vaccine. California can require testing of the cumulative effects of vaccines . California can require that all science and not epidemiology studies be considered. California made electric cars happen. Maybe we can force the kind of change that makes them whimper awau with their horrid mandates and scramble to withdraw that bill. I am blanking on the process that brings these types of amendments to the ballot.:. Though this year Californians were so stupid that they voted down increasing malpractice beyond 250,000 so am I dreaming?
We have to do something. Why are we the victims and the scientists and the ones who see clearly on the defensive. I was seriously appalled at the incredible lack of intelligence and intellectual curiosity shown by these legislators. But I was amazed and proud of the energy the determination and the passion of the hundreds of vaccine injured families that drove to the Capitol
To testify. This is not over folks. If a small band of determined citizens can change the world (Margaret mead) what about hundreds of thousands of families like us?


The ignorant legislators treated the opposing public with oppressive disdain, as though they were royalty looking down upon peons. It was a disgusting revealing display.


Seems California is the main battle line being drawn by the pharma/gov't complex. It is simply the state they cannot afford to lose, and my guess is they will simply not allow the bill to exempt PBEs to fail.

The rhetoric quoted by Ms. Dachel in the Ca papers is revealing. Blaming the measles outbreak purportedly originating at Disneyland on unvaccinated people is simply not supported by any evidence. In fact, it seems to be a deliberate, calculated lie. Measles outbreaks among highly vaccinated populations occur primarily due to vaccine failure, per the Journal Vaccine 2012 editorial by Dr. Gregory Poland entitled "Re-emergence of Measles in Developed Countries."

Fact is- the newspaper and legislators are certainly aware that vaccine failure is the problem, as it is with pertussis. The rhetoric being put out there by the pharma/gov't complex is desperate and must score a victory in the trend setting state of Ca.

Blaming a small of minority of energized "anti vaxxers" for similar bill failures in MD, Oregon, and NC is also a lie. The bills failed in those states because an overwhelming majority of citizens voiced their opinions to their state legislators and the bills were, in the words of one staffer I spoke with, "absolutely creamed."

I suspect the same dynamic is in place in Ca. I have no doubt Pan's bill is getting creamed there as well. The difference is that the pharma/gov't complex is pulling out all the stops- lying, distortions, character assassination, fear mongering, pandering- to get the bill passed. If the PBE is passed in Ca, it will be the clearest example to date of how the democratic process is subverted by money with regards to this issue. It will also be rightfully viewed as an obvious, unconstitutional power grab, a fascistic overreach by state authorities in complicity with corporate interests.

Everyone who has a stake in this battle needs to spend hours a day on the phone calling Ca state legislators and telling them in plain English to kill this bill.

Georg Elser

It will NOT go thru . Californians are better than that .
PAN is another "vaccine illiterate" .

LONDON is rooting for another victory .
Come on California .

And if disaster befalls us , and we were to lose , well just maybe that would be the best thing to ever happen . Because then maybe a REAL visible FIGHT would begin , that the media couldnt CENSOR away .


Letter to DHHS from NYC oncologist Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez in this blog article:


"I am very troubled that the DHHS is now trying to implement forced vaccination schedules not only on children, but on adults. Most of these vaccinations as you must know have not been tested either for safety or efficacy. The most recent flu vaccine as I have read and believe to be the case was tested for neither safety nor efficacy but got passed through the FDA, perhaps because of drug company lobbying."

cia parker

I was wrong, if it goes through they say they'll write in an amendment to exempt homeschoolers. On Mothering moms are saying what Linda did, that they should refuse to pay property taxes to fund schools if their children are excluded. If it goes through, California will join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states which do not permit a religious exemption. It cannot possibly go through.

cia parker

They've been saying that even homeschoolers will have to get all the vaxes, that they're considered a private school. So now we'll see if we live in a democracy which respects human rights, or in a fascist kleptocracy. Will millions of Californians take this lying down?

Jeannette Bishop

The hearing had a feeling of deja vu, after having watched much of the hearing re AB2109. The physician who assured us his last bill was about education, in no way about denying the right of choice to parents, is now assuring us that physicians will give medical exemptions to those who will be harmed by vaccines while stating there is no science linking vaccines to asthma, autoimmunity, autism....(he was disappointed that Dr. Sears suggested many with concerning experiences will likely find this difficult).

Those running the "public input" part really didn't want laypersons bringing in details that inform their position, particularly those that persuaded towards opposition of the bill, just an up or down expression. It's like they wanted a show of public participation, not anything substantial on video, before they were about to go through what I can't help feeling was a largely a predetermined outcome.

Why did they set up this bill for a rare three committee review? Are they planning to make a major sausage of rather meaningless and confusing compromises, keeping plenty of time in the process to get big industry "input," and maybe generating a fourth quarter rallying of support from anyone not really vaccine aware but concerned about children (of course), so this will feel like some big public victory whatever is passed and California will be held up as an example for the nation (and for all under-vaccinated adults) to follow?


I can't read through the citations--way too painful as I am a Californian. I have to wonder, though, what the editorial conversation must be like: Hmm OK let's be clear we're in this for the corporate profits and also to increase the autism, autoimmune, and asthma rate which while high could still go a little higher...clear... right let's push the forced vaccination agenda hard to counter the free spirits out there or whatever they are who think that they can cut our profits... Don't worry about research, science, or any minor thing like we want to lie or whatever it takes to pull this thing off and reap in the big and bigger bucks. Go for it guys!

Lori M.

Has the current vaccine schedule been tested on guinea pigs to see if some develop severe allergies, autistic like symptoms, seizures and/or die? Current schedule - 49 doses by age 6. 69 by age 18. At least, they could do the schedule to the first five years of life.

For Anita

Anita, that is what happens when legislators are bought by Pharma, and they no longer represent the people, but choose, instead, to represent industry.

The legislators who are bought don't care if children die from the forced vaccination policies they hope to enact. They don't care if children are injected with dirty, tumorigenic, contaminated vaccines from numerous different animal cell lines chock full of known and unknown adventitious agents, including bacteria, viruses and prions, against the will of the parents and the children. These bought legislators don't care even one teeny little bit. Pigs at the trough. Disgusting. May they all be voted out of office at the earliest possible opportunity.

for Anita

Is it true that 24 of the 26 Bill sponsors are Dems? Home schooling will increase if the Bill ultimately succeeds. That and revolt.


I had to stop watching before the end of the session, but I thought that the committee chairman was going to stop the bill because he didn't agree with the wording.

The most frightening aspect of this supposed democratic process is that those in positions of power are completely uninformed and unable to adequately even begin to assess the bill. They are naive to every aspect of the issue. Lois Wolk said as a mother and grandmother she would vote for the bill because she knew someone who died of mumps and someone who had polio. That was her reason. Completely blind to the testimony of Karen Kain, and an immunologist, and literally scores of others who came before her. The people were not given the courtesy of being allowed to issue even one comment. They were silenced and chastised for elaborating on the reasons for their opposition. The legislators kept saying that they believe in the science when it is apparent they don't know or understand the science. None questioned the agencies and organizations pushing the legislation. Most important - There is absolutely NO CHECKS AND BALANCES. It is the CHECKS AND BALANCES that is supposed to protect the people from abusive government. Another young legislator who supports the bill told how she vaccinates her own 2 and 4 year old and so she decided that what is good for her kids is good for everyone else. The adversarial, angry legislator who challenged those opposed to the bill to find language in the bill that would prevent medical exemptions couldn't be more obnoxious, clueless and disrespectful to her constituents.

Watching this was an eye opener. Our system of government does not work and can not work as long as there is widespread corruption and ignorance and arrogant idiots in positions of power.

Anita Donnelly

the bill just passed the committee. I cannot believe it. Person after person after person told stories of vaccine injury. It didn't matter. It simply didn't matter. We and our children are officially invisible. I am in shock.

cia parker

Linda sent this, it's the live vaccine debate from the California Senate, totally ludicrous, you just couldn't make this up.

Denise Anderstrom Douglass

As always, Anne: you are voluntarily subjecting yourself to horrendous, toxic rhetoric on a daily basis. It is like voluntarily wading in a septic tank, exposing yourself to bad stuff for truth, justice, and the American way. I salute you!

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