Posted on 07/03/2004 1:39:28 PM PDT by FairOpinion
An outbreak of polio has hit children in the Nigerian state of Kano. Kano is one of the muslim states that had boycotted the use of the polio vaccine. Many muslim states in Nigeria banned the polio vaccine because those in charge said the Americans were using the vaccines to make their population infertile. Many of them said the vaccine would also be used to spread AIDS in the region. Despite appeals from neighbouring countries to vaccinate its population, the conspiracy theorists in Nigeria got their way.
Now, as expected, polio is beginning to spread among children in the region. Now the local authorities are appealing for urgent assistance.
The World Health Organisation has sent a team to the area. The team has confirmed that the outbreak is polio.
It was only during the month of May this year that officials in Kano decided to resume vaccinations because the new batch came from Indonesia, a muslim country. Unfortunately, this massive delay is going to be paid for by scores of children, who could end up being crippled for life (as well as dying).
Polio is very rare in the world today. Vaccinations, which are done worldwide, have managed to nearly eradicate the disease. If the ‘wise’ men of those regions of Nigeria had decided to see sense a long time ago, polio would most probably not exist in Nigeria today. Why didn’t they ask for batches from muslim countries a year ago? Why did they wait so long? Everyone, the WHO, their neighbours, even their own population was begging them to see sense.
First there was Yellow Fever vaccine! The there was DDT which eradicated small pox, penicillin and the sulfa drugs.
Let's not forget the "Green Revolution" and Neal Armstrong's message from the moon. Oh yeah! we are such a horrible society. We fought three major wars in the 20th Century to bring freedom and individual rights to mankind which, BTW ended the Colonial Era, (a fact that France has never forgiven us!). We founded the League of Nations, (which failed), and the United Nations, (which failed).
Yup! There's nothing positive from all our efforts!
To quote one of our prescient Senator's from the pages of Rolling Stone: "Fk'em"
Sad.
Especially in that it was Persian and Arab Muslims that made the greatest strides in science and medicine in the early Middle Ages (on the other hand, they had plenty to build on from Greek, Syrian, and Coptic Christians, and Hindus from India) but at least they were willing to take knowledge from other cultures and improve on it.
Probably some of the Muslims in Mali and Songhai in West Africa during the later Middle Ages were aware of the discoveries of scientists like al-Razi and al-Hayyan.
Just more evidence that a lot of what is so scr*wed up about Islam today is a result of a decayed and degenerated culture.
Medieval Islam , at least among the educated classes in the great cities like Baghdad, Bukhara, Cordoba, and Palermo, was a cosmopolitan and relatively secular society, at least for its time,if not necessarily as innovative as it is given credit for (but at least willing to take advantage of and improve on innovations and discoveries from other cultures.)
So much of today's Islam has become insular and pathologically hostile to progress, particularly innovations and values from other cultures.
A young Muslim lady from Canada (I believe her name is Irshad Manji) wrote a good book about this called The Trouble with Islam. Hope to get around to reading it sometime soon.
Damnation to the lot. Hard on the kids but the perps were once kids.
There have been several people here who have condemned vaccines for non-existent reasons. And, there was a newspaper article posted here a while back about some ex-hippie spawn that refused to vaccinate their kids -- and most who posted to it supported them. In addition, more and more people (not just ex-hippies or their spawn) in the US are refusing to vaccinate their kids. How are we (as a country) that different from these nutcases?
People are exercising their right to control their children's healthcare. Parents control their children not doctors. Why are you equating concerned parents with ignorant radical islamic governments?
I read that the vaccine was analyzed and found to contain all sorts of interesting add ons, estrogen being one, human growth hormone another. Women of child bearing age in the Phillipines were given "tetanus" shots, and five boosters. WHO is running WHO and why?
I am afraid I do not see the difference between people refusing to vaccinate their kids -- whether or not they are in Africa or the US. The parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids in the US are just hoping that most will not follow their lead. That way there will be no outbreak of disease. If the majority decide to follow suit, there will be outbreaks here too.
I respectfull disagree.
The United States never joined the League.
What do you disagree with? Where I said that if enough people in the US with hold vaccinations from their individual kids, that there will be epidemics here too? If that ever happens, where will the fault lay?
Those who with hold vaccinations (or other medical care -- I read of a family who refused to allow their son to take insulin after he became diabetic and he died) are being selfish and surrendering to an unknown and unreasoning fear of something they don't understand.
The League of Nations was the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson. The treaty for the League was defeated by isolationist Republicans of that era. The League failed in great part because the European colonial powers saw it as a mechanism for parceling out the world for their own economic gain. We're talking about England, France, Italy, the Netherlands for the most part. In 1932 the League failed because The Japanese wanted their cut. They had fought on the Allied side and felt that their ambitions in China, Korea and the Indonesian island chain weren't being supported by the League. Indeed the Japanese Ambassador used poker terminology to describe the Japanese displeasure. He said that the Western Powers had invited the Japanese to sit down at the poker table and then had changed the rules! Our foreign policy during the interregnum from WWI to WWII sucked.
"The there was DDT which eradicated small pox"
No. DDT eradicated mosquito breeding grounds, and by transitivity, malaria.
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