Saturday, April 11, 2015 12:50:12 AM
California Vaccine Bill Sparks Acidic Debate, Nazi Links
MIAMI, FL - JANUARY 28: In this photo illustration, a bottle containing a measles vaccine is seen at the Miami Children's Hospital on January 28, 2015 in Miami, Florida. A recent outbreak of measles has some doctors encouraging vaccination as the best way to prevent measles and its spread.
(Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By JUDY LIN
Posted: 04/10/2015 6:26 pm EDT Updated: 2 hours ago
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California bill that would sharply limit vaccination waivers after a measles outbreak at Disneyland has generated such an acidic debate that the proposal's author was under added security this week.
Authorities wouldn't specify the extra protections around state Sen. Richard Pan on Friday, but the level of anger over the measure has been clear.
Opponents have flooded the Capitol to stand up for parental rights, and images that compare Pan to Adolf Hitler have circulated online.
"Unfortunately, there is a sub-segment of the group that seems to want to engage in vitriol and intimidation and bullying in order to get their way," said Pan, a Democratic pediatrician from Sacramento.
Sen. Carol Liu, chair of the Education Committee, which will hear the bill next week, said through a spokesman that the proposal has generated more calls to her office than any other this year, including measures on immigration, doctor-assisted suicide and police shootings.
"It literally started the first day it was in the news, and it never stopped," said Robert Oaks, Liu's spokesman.
Pan said he introduced the measure, Senate Bill 277, to limit inoculation waivers after a measles outbreak in December that started at Disneyland and sickened more than 100 people across the U.S. and in Mexico.
It would prevent parents from sending unvaccinated kids to school using waivers for religious or personal beliefs. Exemptions originally would have been available only for children with health problems, but they were recently expanded to include homeschoolers.
The plan is early in the legislative process, but it has high-level support. Senate Leader Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, has signed on as a co-author. If it becomes law, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with such strict vaccine requirements.
Critics, however, have turned out in force. Before the bill's first legislative hearing this week, hundreds of opponents attended a rally that featured an appearance from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has said the number of children injured by vaccines amounts to "a holocaust." During the hearing, an opponent threated to ask God to curse legislative supporters.
Vaccination foes have focused on potential risk factors, saying shots could be tainted or otherwise dangerous. They characterized the bill as an outrageous government overreach. They also worry about the drugs' links to autism and other developmental diseases, even as the medical community says such claims have been scientifically disproved.
Similar plans have been proposed and have failed in other states, including Washington and Oregon, where lawmakers received similar pushback.
"Some of it got pretty ugly," said Paige Spence, aide to Oregon Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward. "And I did my best to shield her from seeing any of it."
Many opponents have taken a more civil tone.
Brian Stenzler, president of the California Chiropractic Association, has testified against the bill and condemned the threats against lawmakers as unacceptable. But even though opposition leaders are focused the merits of the legislation, there are some things they can't control, he said.
"It's kind of like a mother bear," he said. "You come near a cub, that mother will do anything they have to do."
"Right now," he added, "these parents are running on pure emotion and pure adrenaline."
Associated Press writers Sheila V Kumar in Salem, Oregon, and Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, contributed to this report.
© 2015 Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/california-vaccine-bill-nazi_n_7044056.html [with comments]
---
in addition to (linked in) the post to which this is a reply and preceding and (other) following, see also (linked in):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=110576255 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=111287306 and preceding (and any future following)
MIAMI, FL - JANUARY 28: In this photo illustration, a bottle containing a measles vaccine is seen at the Miami Children's Hospital on January 28, 2015 in Miami, Florida. A recent outbreak of measles has some doctors encouraging vaccination as the best way to prevent measles and its spread.
(Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By JUDY LIN
Posted: 04/10/2015 6:26 pm EDT Updated: 2 hours ago
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California bill that would sharply limit vaccination waivers after a measles outbreak at Disneyland has generated such an acidic debate that the proposal's author was under added security this week.
Authorities wouldn't specify the extra protections around state Sen. Richard Pan on Friday, but the level of anger over the measure has been clear.
Opponents have flooded the Capitol to stand up for parental rights, and images that compare Pan to Adolf Hitler have circulated online.
"Unfortunately, there is a sub-segment of the group that seems to want to engage in vitriol and intimidation and bullying in order to get their way," said Pan, a Democratic pediatrician from Sacramento.
Sen. Carol Liu, chair of the Education Committee, which will hear the bill next week, said through a spokesman that the proposal has generated more calls to her office than any other this year, including measures on immigration, doctor-assisted suicide and police shootings.
"It literally started the first day it was in the news, and it never stopped," said Robert Oaks, Liu's spokesman.
Pan said he introduced the measure, Senate Bill 277, to limit inoculation waivers after a measles outbreak in December that started at Disneyland and sickened more than 100 people across the U.S. and in Mexico.
It would prevent parents from sending unvaccinated kids to school using waivers for religious or personal beliefs. Exemptions originally would have been available only for children with health problems, but they were recently expanded to include homeschoolers.
The plan is early in the legislative process, but it has high-level support. Senate Leader Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, has signed on as a co-author. If it becomes law, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with such strict vaccine requirements.
Critics, however, have turned out in force. Before the bill's first legislative hearing this week, hundreds of opponents attended a rally that featured an appearance from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has said the number of children injured by vaccines amounts to "a holocaust." During the hearing, an opponent threated to ask God to curse legislative supporters.
Vaccination foes have focused on potential risk factors, saying shots could be tainted or otherwise dangerous. They characterized the bill as an outrageous government overreach. They also worry about the drugs' links to autism and other developmental diseases, even as the medical community says such claims have been scientifically disproved.
Similar plans have been proposed and have failed in other states, including Washington and Oregon, where lawmakers received similar pushback.
"Some of it got pretty ugly," said Paige Spence, aide to Oregon Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward. "And I did my best to shield her from seeing any of it."
Many opponents have taken a more civil tone.
Brian Stenzler, president of the California Chiropractic Association, has testified against the bill and condemned the threats against lawmakers as unacceptable. But even though opposition leaders are focused the merits of the legislation, there are some things they can't control, he said.
"It's kind of like a mother bear," he said. "You come near a cub, that mother will do anything they have to do."
"Right now," he added, "these parents are running on pure emotion and pure adrenaline."
Associated Press writers Sheila V Kumar in Salem, Oregon, and Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, contributed to this report.
© 2015 Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/california-vaccine-bill-nazi_n_7044056.html [with comments]
---
in addition to (linked in) the post to which this is a reply and preceding and (other) following, see also (linked in):
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=110576255 and preceding and following
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=111287306 and preceding (and any future following)
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
