But writer Stephanie Messenger isn't buying it.
An anti-vaccination campaigner, she is the author of an absolutely ridiculous childrens' book called Melanie's Marvellous Measles, which promotes the supposed 'health benefits' associated with contracting the disease.
At one point in the story, one of the characters, Tina, is reassured by her mother that the disease is beneficial for children, as it makes the body stronger and 'more mature' for the future. Sickeningly, Tina's mother then recommends that they go and visit Melanie so that she, too can catch the disease and that if it gets too annoying, carrot juice and melons will help.
Naturally, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) is totally against this book and doctors have called for it to be pulled off the shelves. Dr. Steve Hambleton, president of the AMA called Messenger and anyone else who approves of this tripe a bunch of 'crazies' who ought to hang their heads down in shame. He goes on to explain that Measles is fatal to children as a result of the encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and pneumonia associated with the disease.
Dr. Hambleton concedes that there can be some minor side-effects to the measles vaccine, but that it is still far better to get the vaccine than to forgo it and is still a mandatory part of a child's health.
While I am 100% against Ms. Messenger's story and think that she is an irresponsible nutcase for having the audacity to print such nonsence (that is also aimed at children to boot), I did feel compelled to do a bit of web-based research just to find out what could have possibly driven her to write this story and become such a staunch anti-vaccine campaigner. Unlike some campaigners such as movie star Jim Carrey, she seems to be against ALL vaccines whereas people like Mr. Carrey still see the importance of vaccinations against rubella, measles, mumps, whooping cough and other fatal diseases.
So I typed her name up on google and sure enough, there was a link commenting on different anti-vaccination posts she made on different forums across the internet, as well as the contents of a book that she co-authored called Vaccination Roulette (link is right here http://www.dilutedthinking.com/hln_story.php). Her crusade began when one of her children died due to a medical condition and she placed the blame on vaccination. She has since claimed that her unvaccinated children are 'alive and well' whereas her vaccinated child is not.
Unfortunately, according to the link, Ms. Messenger only arrived at this conclusion thanks to reading about the 'adverse' effects of the 'triple antigen vaccine' and watching an episode of The Phil Donaghue show back in the day in which Dr. Robert Mendelsohn (an American doctor who, strangely, criticised everything about his chosen field) appeared as a guest to speak out against vaccination.
Not only that, but she writes in her Vaccination Roulette book that her child was suspected of having a condition called Alexander Disease, which, apparently, is a genetic disease that was possibly passed to him by his father's genes. That guy, by the way, is Ms. Messenger's ex. Her other children are not from him. I guess that explains why they haven't inherited that condition.
Ms. Messenger definitely has the right to her own opinion and I guess good on her for sticking to her guns, but I wonder if she realises that a vast majority of the country believes she is crazy and that her book is the height of irresponsibility. It has medically been proven that measles is a highly-infectious and potentially deadly disease, particularly to children, yet her response to this is to come up with a childrens' book praising the supposed 'benefits' of the disease. Sorry, Ms. Messenger, but the people who labelled you 'crazy' seem to have the upper hand here.
Ok, blog's over, I'll sit back and wait for someone to come up with a book on the benefits of eating rat poison now.
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