Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
JENNINE PERKINSON
Advertising Director
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Two truths and a lie
TOPIC: Vaccinations
Strangely, some of the most celebrated achievements of the 20th century
have become some of the most derided and suspect ones of the 21st.
The exponential growth of life expectancy in the last 100 years is due
mostly to advances in sanitation and medicine, among the most important
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humanity. Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk’s polio vaccines in 1950s were
possibly the most celebrated but smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid, cholera,
plague, measles and mumps were all combated by vaccines with remarkable
success.
But we are now in a new era where trust in science, government and
media are at an all-time low. The prevalence of rumor and conjecture on the
Internet and a lack of good quality science journalism has allowed a lot of
misinformation about vaccines to fester. More than 70 people are already
infected with the highly contagious and potentially fatal disease measles
after a recent outbreak at Disneyland — the largest such outbreak in the U.S.
in years.
So what’s the deal with vaccines? Let’s get a shot of facts into the
bloodstream in this week’s Two Truths and a Lie.
TRUTH: Vaccines have done a lot of good.
There’s no need to make long-winded arguments here because the
numbers speak for themselves.
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number of people who contracted certain diseases before a vaccine was
discovered and then after. Many of those who died from these common and
painful diseases were infants and children.
The average number of people who contracted small pox annually in the
century was roughly 29,005. In 2010 there were 0 cases. Smallpox has been
totally eradicated from the Earth — the only human disease to have been
totally wiped out — thanks to a vaccine dating back to 1796.
Diphtheria: 21,053 contracted cases per year pre-vaccine. In 2010: 0.
Pertussis: 200,752 cases per year. In 2010: 21,291.
Tetanus: 580 cases per year. In 2010: 8
Polio: 16,316 cases per year. In 2010: 0
Measles: 530,217 cases per year. In 2010: 61
Mumps: 162,344 cases per year. In 2010: 2,528
Rubella: 47,745 cases per year. In 2010: 6.
Since the pre-vaccine era, deaths from Hepatitis A are down 91 percent,
Hepatitis B are down 83 percent, rotavirus is down 88 percent and varicella
is down 89 percent.
OTHER VIEWS
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TRUTH: The study that linked vaccines to autism has since been
totally discredited.
Much of the backlash to vaccines is fueled by mother’s groups who cite a
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later stripped of his medical license. In 2010, the British medical journal that
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basic research ethics rules and showed a “callous disregard” for the suffering
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research was paid for by lawyers seeking to sue vaccine makers. A year
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could succeed only if the M.M.R. vaccine was discredited.
Recent research provides evidence that autism develops in utero, well
before a baby receives vaccinations, although the root causes of the disorder
remain undiscovered.
Simply, vaccines do not cause autism, do not poison children, are not a
money-making scheme and are not a way for the government to control our
minds.
LIE: Vaccines do more harm than good and are no longer necessary.
If you get medical advice from celebrities, former Playboy playmates
or the dampest, darkest corners of the Internet you might be under the
impression that vaccines are harmful and should be avoided.
With the information you have in front of you right now you should
declare that a lie.
Just check out those numbers above. Adding in other diseases, vaccines
have been estimated to have saved about 9 million lives per year over at
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According to publichealth.org, “there has never been a single credible
study linking vaccines to long term health conditions.” There has also
never been a modern example of a vaccine infecting a child with the
disease it is trying to prevent.
Yet we still need to vaccinate our children even though infection
rates are so low in the United States. If too many people don’t vaccinate
themselves or their children, “herd immunity” is punctured and dangerous
infectious viruses like measles can begin to spread anew.
We’ve eradicated smallpox and nearly eradicated polio, but there is
still lots of work to do to rid the world of measles and pertussis. Until
then, it’s much safer for you, your children and the rest of the world is be
vaccinated against some of the world’s most dangerous diseases.
The recent full-page ad in the East
Oregonian scolding Bill Hansell is a sad
example of the stubbornness and ignorance
of the fringe right. Jeff Kropf and the Capitol
Watch PAC basically condemned Sen.
Hansell for thoughtfully considering an issue
and then voting his conscience.
Alas, Tea Party minions have no place or
patience for reasoned thought, considerate
debate or honest disagreement. Either toe the
line, stick to the rigid ideology to the letter or
you are a traitor.
Kropf and his PAC represent the darkest
side of the GOP — the part that prides
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change, brags about “shutting down” the
government and grinding the legislative
process to a halt, gleefully passes laws to
help the rich get richer while making it
harder for the poor and minorities to vote,
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control over their own bodies and then can’t
help but vocalize some bizarre tripe about
rape for good measure.
I can’t believe this is the kind of mindless
o I suppose you heard about
about the health effects of vaping,
the latest e-cigarette study, the
according to a study published last
one that said that the vapors
year in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco
e-cigarette users inhale contain
Research.
multiple forms of formaldehyde. It was
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much in the news last week, after its
into this dynamic. It is, on the one
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hand, factually true that vaping at an
State University, published a peer-
extremely high voltage will cause
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formaldehyde-releasing agents to
Joe
in the prestigious New England
Nocera develop.
Journal of Medicine.
But this conclusion is highly
Comment
“Before You Vape: High Levels of
misleading. People don’t vape at a high
Formaldehyde Hidden in E-Cigs,” said
voltage because it causes a horrible
the headline at NBC.com. “Can You Guess
taste — “a burning taste that occurs from
What Cancer-Causing Agent Researchers
overheating the liquid,” wrote Konstantinos
Just Found in Electronic Cigarettes?” asked
Farsalinos, a Greek scientist and vaping
The Motley Fool. “E-Cigarettes Not Safer
expert, in an email to me. Farsalinos has done
Than Ordinary Cigarettes,” claimed the online human studies of vaping and discovered that
publication Tech Times. The New England
above a certain voltage — lower than the high
Journal of Medicine chimed in with a tweet
voltage test on the Portland State study —
of its own: “Chemical analysis of e-cigs’
people simply couldn’t inhale; the taste was
vapor show high levels of formaldehyde,” it
unbearable.
read. “Authors project higher cancer risk than
Indeed, the study actually conveys good
smoking.”
news. When used at normal
The study focused on a
voltage, vaping does not
device known as a premium
produce formaldehyde!
vaporizer that heats a
“Rather than scaring people
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about the dangers of vaping
nicotine. The heat causes
and alarming them to the
the liquid to turn into vapor,
‘fact’ that vaping raises
which the user inhales.
their cancer risk above that
Most of these devices also
of smoking, we should
allow the user to control the
instead be regulating the
voltage. These devices have
voltage and temperature
become increasingly popular
conditions of electronic
as a way to ingest nicotine without smoking.
cigarettes so that the problem of formaldehyde
In the study, the Portland State scientists
contamination is completely avoided,” wrote
ran the device at both a low voltage and a
Michael Siegel, a professor of public health at
high voltage. At the low voltage, they did not
Boston University, on his blog. But given the
detect formaldehyde. But at the high voltage,
way the Portland State authors characterized
they found some. Formaldehyde is, indeed, a
their research, it’s no surprise that headline
known carcinogen, which also exists, among
writers took away a different message.
hundreds of other toxic chemicals and dozens
When I spoke to David Peyton, one of
of cancer-causing agents, in combustible
the study’s authors, he insisted that the study
cigarettes. The authors concluded that
had been mischaracterized. All it was meant
someone who was a heavy user of a vaporizer to do, he said, was compare the levels of
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formaldehyde in e-cigarettes versus cigarettes.
likely to get cancer than a longtime smoker.
“It is exceedingly frustrating to me that we are
Or so they seemed to say.
being associated with saying that e-cigarettes
There is not much doubt that studies like
are more dangerous than cigarettes,” he added.
“That is a fact not in evidence.” Well, maybe.
this have an impact on the public perception
When I read him the tweet from the New
of e-cigarettes. Even though cigarettes result
England Journal of Medicine — “Authors
in 480,000 American deaths each year — and
even though it is the tobacco, not the nicotine, project higher cancer risk than smoking” — he
that kills them — many in the public health
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community treat e-cigarettes as every bit as
said. “I regret that. That is not my opinion.”
evil.
“There is a lot we don’t yet know about
Every dollop of news suggesting that
e-cigarettes,” said Peyton toward the end
vaping is bad for your health, much of which
of our conversation. He is right about that;
has been overblown, is irrationally embraced
e-cigarettes are still so new that they need to
by anti-tobacco activists. One result is that,
be studied carefully. And he and his co-authors
whereas 84 percent of current smokers
are planning further studies. Perhaps the next
thought e-cigarettes were safer than ordinary
time, they will produce something that doesn’t
cigarettes in 2010, that number had dropped to serve mainly as a scare tactic to keep smokers
65 percent by 2013.
away from e-cigarettes.
Worse, close to a third of the people who
Ŷ
had abandoned e-cigarettes and returned to
Joe Nocera is an Op-Ed columnist for The
smoking did so because they were worried
New York Times.
Conslusions
from the
Portland State
study are highly
misleading.
LETTERS POLICY
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
Tea Party attack ad shows
all that’s wrong with GOP
Is vaping worse than smoking?
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number.
The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
YOUR VIEWS
allegiance Umatilla County voters want
from their representatives. With the national
political scene poisoned by partisanship,
Oregon has shown, on occasion, that our best
hope for positively confronting our biggest
challenges is working together — and a
willingness to compromise.
Bill Hansell has shown he has the
fortitude and integrity to follow the examples
of admirable GOP leaders from Oregon’s
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who worked with those across the aisle for
the good of all citizens. Neither Sen. Hansell,
nor the rest of us, should be dissuaded by the
hissing and whining from the fringe.
Hal McCune
Pendleton
Right wing lies fuel culture
that doesn’t allow compromise
Many thanks to the East Oregonian
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wing idiots for their massive attack on
State Sen. Bill Hansell. What I appreciate
most about Hansell — as I did about his
predecessor, Sen. David Nelson — is that
he does take the pulse of his district, and
he does not hesitate to compromise with
Democrats if that compromise will help the
people of his district.
I grew up hearing, both in school
and at home, that politics was the art of
compromise. Without it, you generally get
nothing. But the idiot right wing, which
now pretty much dominates our national
House of Representatives, is all or nothing
at all; so they generally get the latter, if not
in the House then in the Senate or on the
President’s veto desk. But then they go home
and crow about how they maintained the
cause and did not waver in their positions,
and their constituents who share their
opinions cheer and vote for them again, in
great numbers.
We’ll never get rid of the right wing; we
have Fox News constantly stirring them up
with its lies (you know, Obama is a Muslim
Communist — not possible; the Affordable
Care Act contains a requirement for death
panels — no, just end-of-life counseling with
your physician; English people can’t even go
to Birmingham — wrong, and the Brits and
the French have really been ridiculing Fox
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pointing out how irrational the right-wing
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Maybe someday the Republican
Party will return to the days of Dwight
Eisenhower, of Gerald Ford, of Mark
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so long.
And did you read about the tweet that
one British citizen of Birmingham sent? He
said that they had had to change the name of
the city to simply Birming because Muslims
don’t eat ham.
Jack T. Sanders
Pendleton
Hansell needs to repent,
vote with U.S. Constitution
We can expect a politician to vote the
way Mr. Hansell did, but not a governing
statesman giving a Gideon spiel at Grace
Baptist Church. For we the people, your
voting record is very disappointing.
We the people pray you repent and rechart
your course with the faithful compass of the
U.S. Constitution to be the public servant
you pledged you would be.
Jack and Judi Beers
Adams