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Title

CHILD CARE PAYMENTS BILL 1997

CHILD CARE PAYMENTS (CONSEQUENTIAL

AMENDMENTS AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS)

BILL 1997

In Committee

Database Senate Hansard

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HansardStart of Business

ORDER OF BUSINESS

CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATION

CHILD CARE PAYMENTS BILL 1997CHILD CARE PAYMENTS(CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS ANDTRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS) BILL1997

REMEMBRANCE DAY


Second ReadingIn Committee

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

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Senator NEAL

Senator CROWLEY

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Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

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Senator CROWLEY

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Senator HERRON

Tuesday, 11 November 1997Page: 8725

Senator BROWN(12.44 p.m.) While the minister is consulting his advisers, I just want to briefly take up thepoint about the intelli gent parent. I cannot accept what the minister says at all. The fact is that there is very muchcontradictory evidence and debate, even i n scientific and medical circles, about vaccination. As a generalpractitioner, in the past I have been in the position of having to help inform people about vaccination. When you doget to the little wrappers that come with the litt le bottles of vaccine and read the small print, the alarm bells s tartringing.

Without fear or favour, at this stageI will only do this oncewe ought to put the other side of t he story for theso-called intelligent adults, to use the minister's term. From the Australian Vaccination Network I have reports fromthree parents who came and saw me in recent times about what may be seen as the other side of the story. Iinform the commit tee, in brief, of the network's argument. They say:

Did you know that:

Vaccines contain many toxic ingredients including formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing substance. According tothe Poisons Information Centre

that is in Sydney

"There is no acceptable safe amount of formaldehyde if being injected i nto a living human body. It is a toxicsubstance and should be avoided at all costs."

Over the past century, death rates from childhood diseases had dropped by an estimated 90% BEFORE theintroduction of vaccines or antibiotics.

Vaccines are cultured on animal tissue and t herefore, contain many bacteria and viruses other than the oneswhich they are supposed to immunise against. For instance, the poli o vaccines was contaminated with 40 knownmonkey virusesone of which, SV-40, is thought to cause cancer and has also been l inked with the development ofAIDS.

Live virus vaccines such as polio, measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox are carried in the body for up to 90days after vaccination. This means that anyone who has been recently vaccinated cannot only contract the diseasethemselves but can transmit it to those they are in contact with. This happened in 1995 when a 22 year oldBrisbane mother contracted polio from her recently vaccinated baby.

The rubella and chicken pox vaccines are cultured on the cell lines of aborted foetuses.

Vaccines do not guarantee protection from disease. Of the 1,094 cases of whooping cough occurring SA in 1996,only 6% were not vaccinated (SA Health Commission) The Medical Journal of Australia (5/95) reported on a measlesoutbreak in Western Sydney in which 74% of the children were vaccinated against measles according to thei rparents.

The US government has paid out i n excess of $800 million US since 1986 for vaccine damages.

In a study conducted by Dr Michael Odent (Lancet, July 1994) asthma was shown to be 5 times more common inchildren who had been vaccinated against whooping cough. Two follow-up studies si nce that t ime have confirmedthese results.

In 1989, theAustralian Doctor Weeklysurveyed its readersdoctorsand found that 89% of them relied on drug

company salesmen for thei r information.

According to the i nformation sheet given out to American parents, the risk of s erious reactions from the whoopingcough vaccine are that one child in 350 may suffer from convulsions or shock/collapse, one child in 100 will have atemperature of 40C or higher and one child in 66 will have high-pitched screaming for 3 hours or moreall possiblesymptoms of brain injury.

Adverse reactions to vaccination are more common than we are t old. The AVN has collected over 300 reports ofserious adverse reactions from Australian families. Not one of these had ever been reported by the doctorsinvolved.

They go on to give three salient cases. I cannot account for those statist ics any more than the minister canaccount for his. We could get into an interminable debate. We do not need t o. All that needs to be said here is thatthere are very serious arguments for vaccination but there are also very serious arguments against vaccination.That is why it is not valid to say that an i ntelligent parent or a responsible person is going to have his or her childvaccinated. I would think that anybody who allowed a vaccination without looking at the evidence and agonisingover the contrary as well as the beneficial points i s not displaying the sort of intelligence that the minister talksabout.

It is a very difficult matter. It is as difficult for doctors. Let me reiterate that: it i s as diffi cult and complicated fordoctors as it is for parents and child rearers. There we have it. That comes back to Senator Lees's amendment andthe arguments put cogently by Senator Harradine.

There has to be an acceptance that parents and child rearers have an objection because they raise an objection.The very act of putting it in writing validates that. It is of s ome concern that there is going to be a forthcomingchallenge on this matter under the government's definition, which will whittle it down to a medical argument put

along the lines t hat the minister has just put. That will be very difficult if t he contrary arguments are not put at thesame time and it is confined simply to a medical argument, because conscience goes much deeper than that.

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Documents




Title

CHILD CARE PAYMENTS BILL 1997

CHILD CARE PAYMENTS (CONSEQUENTIAL

AMENDMENTS AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS)

BILL 1997

In Committee


Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document



ORDER OF BUSINESS

CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATION


REMEMBRANCE DAY


Second ReadingIn Committee

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Senator NEAL

Senator CROWLEY

Senator HERRON

Tuesday, 11 November 1997Page: 8731

Senator HERRON (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs)(1.19 p.m.) I cannot miss theopportunity of splitting Senator Brown and Senator Harradine. I am sure Senator Harradine would have no difficultywith cell lines t aken from spontaneously aborted foetuses in a philosophical sense, whereas Senator Brown has anobjection whether they are spontaneous or induced. So I think there is room for debate in this regard.

We are checking on both of those. I have seen where that document that was distributed came fromtheAustralian Vaccination Network. There are a number of items there that could be disputed. The only one inparticular is that one that Senator Harradine read out. There is nobody in the chamber who can answer that. Wehave sent someone to see if we can get an answer to it, but the person responsible is not available, so I will getback to the Senate with an answer to that as soon as possible.



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Documents




Title ADJOURNMENT

Child Immunisation


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ORDER OF BUSINESS

NATIVE TITLE AMENDMENT

BILL 1997

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

WITHOUT NOTICE

PETITIONS

NOTICES OF MOTION

ORDER OF BUSINESS

COMMITTEES

MIGRATION: LITHUANIA,

LATVIA AND ESTONIA

OAKAJEE PORT ANDINDUSTRIAL ESTATE

SENATE: PRAYERS

BANKING

GREENHOUSE GASES

DOCUMENTS

COMMITTEES

JUDICIARY AMENDMENT BILL

1997

COPYRIGHT AMENDMENT BILL

(No. 2) 1997

CIVIL AVIATION LEGISLATION

AMENDMENT BILL 1997

BILLS RETURNED FROM THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SUPERANNUATION

CONTRIBUTIONS AND

TERMINATION PAYMENTS

TAXES LEGISLATION

AMENDMENT BILL 1997

ASSENT TO LAWS

NATIVE TITLE AMENDMENT

BILL 1997

ADJOURNMENT

Child Immunisation

Senator HERRON

Cyber Democracy

Adjournment

DOCUMENTS

Thursday, 27 November 1997

Page: 9757

Senator HERRON (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs)(10.23 p.m.) Irise tonight because of press reports over the last week that there are currently outbreaks of

whooping cough and measles in Australia. I believe there is an urgency to assist parents to get

their children immunised, and this cannot be emphasised enough. The reason that I do so was

that last week in the Senate the Australian Vaccination Network circulated a false andmischievous document which has influenced people against immunisation.

Senators that have any doubts about the efficacy of immunisation are asked to review the

virtual elimination of Haemophlus Influenzae disease in immunised children since the

introduction of widespread Hib immunisation. This immunisation has prevented dozens ofchildren from suffering lifelong neurological disability. The Australian Vaccination Network

believes that factors other than immunisation are responsible for the fall in immunisation

preventable diseases in the Australian community. However, during the time that the Hib

immunisation has been available, community health standards have effectively been constant.

The only change has been the introduction of the immunisation.

The other observable fact is that, as the overall immunisation rate has fallen, there has been

an increase in the number of immunisation preventable diseases. I refer specifically to some of

the claims made in their leaflet. They state that vaccines contain many toxic ingredients,

including formaldehyde. It is an exaggeration and is misleading to say that vaccines contain

many toxic ingredients. Small amounts of additives are used in vaccines. For example,

formaldehyde is used to detoxify the tetanus toxin produced in the manufacture of tetanus

vaccine. The vaccine is then purified to remove any excess formaldehyde. The residual

formaldehyde is in very low concentration, far lower than the maximum allowed by the

standard specified in the British Pharmacopoeia, which is the standard adopted by Australia.

There was another statement that `over the past century, death rates from childhood

diseases had dropped an estimated 90 per cent before the introduction of vaccines or

antibiotics'. The death rate from infectious diseases dropped with improved sanitation and

hygiene. However, these diseases are still highly infectious, and deaths and serious

consequences still occur. Our children can only be protected by being vaccinated.

The success of the program of vaccination against Hib is testimony for the need for a

vaccination program in modern Australia. This vaccine was introduced to the standard

childhood schedule in 1993, and since that time we have witnessed a 94 per cent reduction in

the number of Hib disease in children under five years of age. There was another extraordinaryclaim that:

Vaccines are cultured on animal tissue and therefore contain many bacteria and viruses

other than the ones they are supposed to immunise against. For instance, the polio vaccines

was (sic) contaminated with 40 known monkey virusesone of which, SV-40, is thought to

cause cancer and has also been linked with the development of AIDS.

Only viral vaccines are cultured in material derived from animal tissues. Bacterial vaccines

are manufactured in cultures free of animal cells. Careful screening and testing ensure that the

resulting vaccines are free from known contaminants, including bacteria and viruses.

The SV40 virus contaminated some batches of polio vaccine between 1955 and 1963, but

there has been no evidence of increased risk of mortality, especially cancer mortality, in

persons who have received this vaccine. Since 1963 all polio vaccines have been demonstrated

to be free of SV40 as well as other known possible contaminants. There is no scientific

evidence whatsoever linking AIDS to polio vaccines.

Another statement was that the rubella and chicken pox vaccines are cultured on cell lines of

aborted foetuses. Mr Acting Deputy President, you will recall Senator Harradine's concernabout this statement. The truth is that rubella and varicellachicken poxviruses vaccine is

grown on cell lines which originated in one aborted foetus over 30 years agoin fact, in 1961.

No foetal tissue has been used recently in the testing or the production of these vaccines.

Another statement made was that vaccines do not guarantee protection from disease. That

is true to an extentjust as no medical intervention guarantees 100 per cent successbut it

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does guarantee 95 per cent success. Vaccination is a highly effective method of providing

protection against certain diseases to both children and adults. Despite that less than 100 per

cent effectiveness, vaccination programs have ensured that smallpox has been eradicated from

the world solely due to vaccination, and poliomyelitis is expected to be eradicated within a few

years.

Another extraordinary statement was that the US government has paid out in excess of

$US800 million since 1986 for vaccine damage. When we checked, there was no data available

to verify the amount quoted. In fact, in Australia there has been only one known case where

that has been pursued in the last 15 years. The fact that compensation has been paid does not

prove that vaccines have been the cause of problems experienced. In the United States there

is in place a vaccine compensation scheme which allows easy access to parents who believethat their child experienced a significant vaccine adverse reaction, and Australia does not have

a similar vaccine compensation scheme.

Another statement says that in a study conducted by Dr Michael OdentLancet, July

1994asthma was shown to be five times more common in children who had been vaccinated

against whooping cough. It also said that two follow-up studies since that time have confirmedthese results. When we checked, we found that Dr Odent made this claim in a brief letter to

the Lancetin 1994. There was no peer review of his publication and no scrutiny of his claim

was possible. There appears to be no evidence whatsoever of the alleged follow-up studies, for

which no reference has been given.

I could go on. The whole document cannot be verified. It concerns me very much becausethere is a certain amount of truth in some of the statements, but the vast majority of these

statements are completely false and cannot be justified. I am doubly concerned because I see

that a recently published booklet is now on the bookstands. It was in the hands of one of my

parliamentary colleagues the other day. The poor chap believed that some of the material in

that was also verifiable.

I think it is important that Australian parents recognise the validity of the necessity for

immunisation. The rate of immunisation in this country has fallen to the lowest level since itwas introduced. We are now witnessing epidemics of a major nature, deaths and neurological

damage in our children because of the laxity of parents. We have introduced a stimulus for

immunisation in the Child Care Payments Bill 1997 , whereby parents need to give some

evidence that a child is immunised before it is admitted to child care. The reason for that is

that, with a high level of lack of immunisation, those children are at risk of infection. The

corollary is that, if there is a high level of immunisation, there will be protection for those

children who are not immunised. It has been estimated that fewer than two per cent,fortunately, of Australian patients have any sort of conscientious objection to immunisation.

Their children would be protected if the other 98 per cent were immunised because the disease

would be highly unlikely to spread within a child-care centre.

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