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OPINION PIECE FOR THE IDAHO STATESMAN
Leslie Mannokian, Writer/Producer, “The Greater Good”
Do you rely on our local and national newspapers and media for accurate and honest reporting on the issues that
affect all Idahoans? If so, you might want to consider the fact that our newspapers are not reporting on some issues, issues
of grave concern to many Idahoans.
Have you read about the CDC whistleblower—a senior scientist from CDC who issued a statement that he and his
co-authors (other senior figures at CDC) deliberately omitted data to conceal the link they found between the MMR
(measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism? 1
Have you read that two former Merck scientists have blown the whistle and are suing vaccine-giant Merck in federal
court for fraudulently altering data to make it seem that the mumps portion of their MMR vaccine worked in 95 percent
of recipients in order to retain their license from FDA when they knew it did not? 2
Have you read that the National Vaccination Compensation Program has compensated eighty-three cases of ac-
knowledged vaccine-induced brain damage, which include autism, but federal health officials still claim vaccines don’t
cause autism? 3
If you haven’t read about these cases in our newspapers or seen coverage of these stories in other media, perhaps
that is because the pharmaceutical industry is the largest advertiser today, spending billions every year, and these media
outlets don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. Or perhaps those running these media outlets are afraid of the truth.
Either way, we want to share with you the opinion piece we submitted to the Idaho Statesman. This piece is largely
the same as an opinion piece we sent to the Idaho Mountain Express in response to inaccurate and misleading opinion
pieces run by both newspapers. Unfortunately, neither of our opinion pieces was published.
We were very disappointed at this seeming censorship, in particular because our opinion pieces were supported by
over thirty citations from published, peer-reviewed scientific literature. The Idaho Statesmen stated that they were afraid
the opinion piece might frighten parents. We would say that parents are already frightened because they do not feel they
are being told the truth by federal health agencies or the media and our experience would suggest that is true.
Following is our fully referenced opinion piece:
The Idaho Statesman’s opinion piece on vaccines stopped short of advocating mandatory vaccines but stated that
parents should not “expect to take advantage of a public education if you are unwilling to participate in sound public
health precautions.” Given that most parents do not have the resources to home-school, this amounts to a call for forced
vaccination.
The assumption that "sound public health advice" is absolute is quite worrying. After all, one-size-fits-all is never
appropriate with any pharmaceutical product—but public health officials say this is the case with vaccines. Nor is sci-
ence infallible. Indeed for decades federal health officials have advised reducing dietary saturated fat and emphasizing
carbohydrates, but recent science has proven how dangerous that advice can be. What is sound advice today may not
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be so sound tomorrow. Add to this the fact that properly prescribed FDA approved drugs kill over one hundred thousand
Americans every year and that drug companies have paid thirty billion dollars in fines for repeated fraud, and it’s no
wonder why some folks question “sound public health advice” and want to decide for themselves what is best for their
own families. 5,6
Though it is commonly believed that vaccines are safe for all but a very few, abundant science proves this assertion
false. In producing and screening our award-winning documentary on vaccines, “The Greater Good,” we met dozens of
scientists who had published studies concerning adverse vaccine reactions, interviewed dozens of doctors who expressed
reservations about vaccine safety, and met thousands of families whose children were injured or died after vaccination.
All too often scientists and doctors who acknowledge vaccine risks are demonized and marginalized with the threat
of losing their medical licenses. And caring, educated parents who research vaccine safety for themselves, often after
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having a child suffer vaccine injury, are dismissed as ill-informed, anti-vaccine crazies, but nothing could be further from
the truth.
Opinion polls show that vaccine safety is of concern to most American parents and that those who question vaccine
safety are mostly highly educated, affluent folks. 8,9,10
It is often stated that vaccines are irrefutably safe. Why, then, does U.S. law recognize vaccines can injure and kill?
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Why has the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) paid out over three billion dollars to victims? Why do many
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receive gag orders? Why does VICP list death, anaphylaxis, brain damage and related seizures, and mental impairment as
compensable vaccine injuries? Why has the Supreme Court determined that vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe?” Why
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are vaccine makers shielded from liability for vaccines? 15,16 Why does government maintain the Vaccine Averse Events
Reporting System to track vaccine injuries? Why do Glaxo-SmithKline’s internal documents show children develop
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