A return to the dark ages.

[InsaneApache]

A MUSLIM doctors’ leader has provoked an outcry by urging British Muslims not to vaccinate their children against diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella because it is “un-Islamic

Katme, a psychiatrist who has worked in the National Health Service for 15 years, wields influence as the head of one of only two national Islamic medical organisations as well as being a member of the Muslim Council of Britain.

He argued that leading “Islamically healthy lives” would be enough to ward off illnesses and diseases.

“You see, God created us perfect and with a very strong defence system. If you breast-feed your child for two years — as the Koran says — and you eat Koranic food like olives and black seed, and you do ablution each time you pray, then you will have a strong defence system,” he said.

Sadly this idiot means it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...570067,00.html

So there we have it. A 'headshrinker' with probably little to no knowledge of pharmacology is prepared to advise gullible parents to risk the health and lives of their children for the sake of a perceived religious conflict.

Will the madness end? Sadly it probably will, with the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of children. The man should be subject of an investigation by the BMA. Idiot.

[doc_bean]

Psychiatrists are fully qualified doctors here, I suppose it's the same with you guys ?

You'll always have some nutty doctors, the system will never be able to weed them out entirely. I hope not too many people take this guy seriously though.

[BigTex]

There have been christian sects doing this for decades. The alarmist title is a bit extreme.

Stupid, and very bad for the child. But it is their religion, let them do as they please.

[spmetla]

Yeah, there's a fair bit of people here in the US that believe that vaccinations interfere with God's plan. Nothing like shunning the advances that have allowed people to live longer than they have at any period in history.

[Kanamori]

Well, at least we have some volunteers if vaccines ever run low.

[Scurvy]

Yeah, there's a fair bit of people here in the US that believe that vaccinations interfere with God's plan. Nothing like shunning the advances that have allowed people to live longer than they have at any period in history.

surely vaccinations are part of God's plan?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

There have been christian sects doing this for decades. The alarmist title is a bit extreme.

Stupid, and very bad for the child. But it is their religion, let them do as they please.

I dissagree. Vaccination is not just about the individual but also about the general population. If enough individuals opt out you reach critical mass and then next thing you have an epidemic and all those babies too young to be vaccinated die.

[InsaneApache]

I dissagree. Vaccination is not just about the individual but also about the general population. If enough individuals opt out you reach critical mass and then next thing you have an epidemic pandemic and all those babies too young to be vaccinated die.

It might be even worse than you postulated.

[Vuk]

Yeah, there's a fair bit of people here in the US that believe that vaccinations interfere with God's plan. Nothing like shunning the advances that have allowed people to live longer than they have at any period in history.

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

He should be struck off. There really is no excuse for this sort of thing.

[Scurvy]

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

individual examples don't prove anything....

[InsaneApache]

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

As they say; Ignorance is bliss.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

The fact that smallpox has been completely eradicated pretty much blows this view out of the water.

How about polio? You fancy that back? Diptheria, maybe?

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

[KukriKhan]

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

You are 33, been through a school system, and never received a polio, measles, mumps, etc. vaccine? Where did you grow up, Tajikistan?

[Tribesman]

The fact that smallpox has been completely eradicated pretty much blows this view out of the water.

Oh come off it , its not like it killed half a billion people last century before vaccination got rid of it .

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy.

Travel much do you Vuk ?

[InsaneApache]

Travel much do you Vuk ?

[Kralizec]

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

Vaccinations are as much a protection for the whole of society as it is for an individual. If a significant part of the populace did as you do, chances of an epidemic increases greatly. As it is, you're freeriding on the vaccinations of others.

[Papewaio]

Oh, yeah...It's vaccinations that are allowing people to live longer *rolls eyes* yup, sure...

I have never gotten a vaccination in my life and am perfectly healthy. "Pandemic", please..

Since you are an individual you can not be a pandemic for starters.

Secondly your health is not confined to yourself, your immunity to diseases is helped by having a moat of healthy individuals who are immune them around you. Their defenses will stop the bugs before they get a chance to hop through their chain of contacts to get with you. Think of AIDS, if everyone has protected sex in a chain of sexual contacts but you chose to not use any, you have a very low chance of getting HIV, however if you have multiple unprotected sex and those you have sex with also have lots of unprotected sex then your chances are much higher. Same principle applies to the spread of other diseases and how vaccinations form protection for not only those who use them but to isolate islands of individuals from harm who also do not use vaccinations.

[Beren Son Of Barahi]

He argued that leading “Islamically healthy lives” would be enough to ward off illnesses and diseases.

“You see, God created us perfect and with a very strong defence system. If you breast-feed your child for two years — as the Koran says — and you eat Koranic food like olives and black seed, and you do ablution each time you pray, then you will have a strong defence system,” he said.

surly by now people are not that stupid...then again...maybe they are.

If you breast-feed your child for two years

really? i thought 3-6months would be the norm....?

[Marshal Murat]

I see a link to addicting game Virus coming up!

[Vladimir]

really? i thought 3-6months would be the norm....?

5 years used to be.

[InsaneApache]

Nice to see the thread degenerate into a female breast examination......as noble as that may be.....

[rory_20_uk]

As long as the shrink can do his job I've no problems with him practicing medicine - I've met far worse. If he airs those views at work he's on far more dangerous ground.

I would say that those who refuse vaccination should automatically loose rights to free treatment for the diseases should they strike. Part of choice is responsibility.

Breastfeeding is weeks to years.

[BDC]

I found a leaflet lying about how vaccines are evil, kill babies, etc. The whole lot. It was some crazy alternative-medicine thing, but worryingly the person doing it had a PhD, so fools in the audience might have thought she was a medic. I have no issues people killing themselves through stupidity, but anyone who is dumb enough to risk their children's lives deserves to be hit a few times. Seriously.

[Rameusb5]

Hey, the way I look at it, it's fine by me.

If the "doctor" is right, and thousands of parents believe them, then the children are safe.

If he's wrong, then thousands of children will die and we'll know that he was wrong. Perhaps the parents will then learn to ignore things like this and belive medical science.

In any case, it doesn't matter in the big picture. If the parents are willing to gamble their own children's lives, why should we be concerned?

[Kralizec]

If the parents are willing to gamble their own children's lives, why should we be concerned?

Are you serious?

[yesdachi]

If the parents are willing to gamble their own children's lives, why should we be concerned?

Why are we concerned if they abort them.

[Don Corleone]

There's actually a movement growing in popularity within the USA that's opposed to vaccines. It's not religious in nature, by any stretch. It stems from, of all things, the Internet. Basically, a bunch of housewives with way too much time on their hands started emailing/forums where they self-diagnose and have reached the conclusion that organized medicine at large is really a front for the pharmaceutical companies. If I remember correctly, vaccines are responsible for ADD, ADHD, the formerly rare but now ubiquitious autism. Personally, I believe if the parents spent a little more time paying attention to their kids, and a little less surfing the web for more information on how to take-down the global medical/pharmaceutical conspiracy, they might actually FIND the cure for the cognitive/behavioral syndromes that plague their offspring, but then what do I know.... I actually get my shots.

[BDC]

The main issue I see is not that the children of idiots occasionally die of measles, but that half these diseases are going to start coming back if a sizeable minority of the community isn't vaccinated. It's totally irresponsible.

[Papewaio]

I would say that those who refuse vaccination should automatically loose rights to free treatment for the diseases should they strike. Part of choice is responsibility.

Although I agree with you health is a social contract (healthy citizens for a healthy country).

Should this apply to smokers?

To sports people who have sports injuries?