News! The Rabies Challenge Fund
It was approximately eight years ago that I started to hear the buzz. More and more pet owners were becoming convinced that vaccines were making their pets sick. Over the years I have heard countless stories from dog and cat owners who attributed all sorts ailments to adverse reactions from vaccines. Among the most common reported were tumors, cancers, seizures and even aggression. Little by little the buzz that began as a controversy, gathered medical data to prove what pet owners "knew" with their hearts.
I clearly remember a Vet Tech friend telling me nearly 8 years ago about research that showed current vaccines protected our pets years longer than we were vaccinating them for. A more recent study by Dr Ron Schultz shows that serologically, dogs have rabies antibody titer counts at levels Known to Confer Immunity 7 years after vaccination. Just as clearly I remember asking her, "why then are we putting so many unnecessary toxins into our dogs bodies"?
Her reply, "Nancy-get real! Just who do you think would fund the vaccine research that would cost millions of dollars, only to prove something that will make no money? Not the drug companies that is for sure."
"I see your point" I said.
Now here it is 8 years later, and I have just received The Rabies Challange Fund Press Release from Kris Christine of Alna of Maine. Her name is familiar to many because she has been featured in the press frequently regarding her very personal rabies campaign. Her yellow Lab Meadow, who is featured in the above poster, developed cancer at the site of his rabies vaccine within 3 months of getting a rabies shot. Thousands of dollars later, Meadow has recovered, but he one of the lucky ones. Kris is also a proponent of Consumer Information Sheets and is working hard to have the information sheets available to us so we can read the pros and cons and medical risks associated with all pet vaccines.
Kris has been collecting data on her own, and we all have her to thank for her hard work and for having Maine's outdated rabies law amended from every two years, to every three. But she hasn't stopped there.
What started as a buzz has turned into a roar.
Together with Veterinarian Dr Jean Dodds of California, Kris is now spearheading our countries first long term rabies vaccine study and it will be funded by you!
For some time there has been speculation that the adjuvants used in the rabies vaccine may be at fault for the adverse reactions some dogs incur. It has also been speculated that the actual rabies vaccine lasts far beyond the 3 years currently required by law.
Pet owners please help fund the study that will tell us all for certain one way or another if we have been unwittingly poisoning
our pets.
It is a positive step in the right direction and I personally commend the four women who have made this study a reality.
When I read the following press release it all seemed so simple and obvious, but it has been a long time coming for someone to actually do something!
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Date: September 19, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
The Rabies Challenge Fund
World-renown vaccine research scientist and practicing veterinarian, Dr. W. Jean Dodds of California, and pet vaccine disclosure advocate, Kris L. Christine of Maine, have established The Rabies Challenge Fund to raise money to fund a 7 year rabies vaccine challenge study in the United States.
In addition to the challenge study, the fund will finance a study of the adjuvants used in veterinary rabies vaccines and establish a rabies vaccine adverse reaction reporting system.
Rabies vaccination is the one immunization required by law across the country for domestic dogs and cats. Researchers believe this vaccine causes the most and worst adverse reactions in animals. The Rabies Challenge Fund has been founded to improve the safety of rabies vaccines and to determine, by challenge, if they confer immunity for 5, 6, or 7 years.
The Rabies Challenge Fund’s first official sponsors are Deb Odom (Florida) and Dawn Turner (Arizona), who have committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their pet vaccine informed consent posters and informational flyers.
Donations can be sent to THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND, c/o Hemopet, 11330 Markon Drive, Garden Grove, CA 92841.
Rabies Challenge Fund poster (above) designed by fund sponsor Deb Odom is accessible at: http://www.zbirdbrain.com/PetAdvocatesTownHallCisSupport.htm
For more information please see Denise Flaim's article in Newsday. Fetch it here.
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