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"Thing is, these parents that think they know what’s best for their children are not trained medical professionals nor have even a slight knowledge about medicine."

You sound like someone who respects scientific method, so you should have no objection to providing me with the supporting data for this claim, right? You've carried out a study of the non-immunizing population, right? Let's see your data then.

And after you've done that, perhaps you can tell me why only those with a medical background are qualified to make decisions about their family's medical care. I'd be fascinated to hear how you reached that conclusion.

Here are some folks who had just the "medical background" you think is necessary to decide what treatment others will receive. I don't know whether you have to subscribe to get the full article to display, but this is a famous example of how far wrong the "experts" can go. And there are many more.

Thing is, these parents that think they know what’s best for their children are not trained medical professionals nor have even a slight knowledge about medicine.

I'm not the biggest fan of George Carlin, but he had a funny bit about the immune system:

When i was young, living in the 1940's, we swam in the Hudson River. And it was loaded with raw sewage. That's right, we swam in raw sewage. You know, to cool off. And back then the big fear was polio. Thousands of kids every year were dying of polio. But you know what, in my neighborhood, nobody ever got polio. No one. Ever. You know why? BECAUSE WE SWAM IN RAW SEWAGE. It strengthened our immune system. The polio never had a chance. We were tempered in raw s***.

Granted , that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I've seen the lengths parents go to these days to keep their kids clean - wiping off high chairs with antibacterial wipes, bringing their own silverware, etc., and it really makes me wonder what we are doing to these kids....if their immune systems aren't getting a work out when they are kids, I just can't imagine that it's a good thing further down the road for them.

We have a neighbor who homeschools, and she cited as one of the main reasons, not exposing her kids to illness. I can think of a lot of reasons to homeschool, but that would not be one of them. I cannot imagine what the immune system of a kid who's rarely exposed to anything would be like. Any FReeper Doctors care to discuss it?