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AVN Newsletter  April 8, 2012  

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In this issue
AVN Website Relaunched
Vaccination News
HCCC Update
E-Newsletter Survey
Join our discussion List
Advertising with the AVN

AVN Website relaunched!  

 

AVN Website  

It is with great pleasure and some pride that I am able to announce that the AVN's new website has finally launched! There is still much to do including adding our logo etc. I think websites must be like houses - never actually completed but they get more comfortable the longer you get to 'live in' them!

 

At this point, less than 1/3 of the vaccination pages have any content and the links are quite bare, but we're working on it.  

 

If you can think of links to websites - anywhere in the world that should be listed, please go to the appropriate links page and put the suggestions in the comments section.

 

Our poor blog has been a neglected 'middle child' whilst the work on the website has progressed, but I hope to get back to writing articles for that shortly.

 

In the meantime, if you are a frustrated writer, researcher, journalist etc who has 5-6 hours per month free to help out with a very exciting new project being started up by the AVN, please contact me ASAP as we have something absolutely fantastic on the back-burner and would love to move it forward.

 

Please let me know what you think about the website in the comments fields or by emailing me directly - I would love to get your input.

 

Until next time - Happy Easter and Passover (whichever one you celebrate!).

 

Meryl 

Vaccination News 
scary needle 
 
There has been so much happening in the world of vaccination over these last few weeks, it's hard to know where to start! Below is a compilation of some of the top stories on this subject. Remember, you can share this e-newsletter either by forwarding it in your email program or by clicking the share link below.

 

   

The Autism incidence now stands at 1 child in 88 - 1 boy in 54 according to the latest information from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

  

In the State of Utah, that figure tops out at 1 child in 32! And these numbers are calculated on children who were born in the year 2000. Since the rate of autism is increasing at a staggering 12 percent each year, that could mean that today, 1 child in 20 is autistic!

  

This is an international emergency. Even at the 1 in 88 figure which we know to be conservative, autism affects more children than diabetes, AIDS, cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and Downs syndrome combined, yet there is no sense of panic from the government or the medical community. It seems that the only people who are scared of this enormous increase in sick children are the parents of these kids, the natural health practitioners who are at the coalface in helping these families and the few brave souls in the medical community who haven't been cowed by the mainstream attack on doctors who are honest enough link vaccines with autism.

 

Below is a recent interview with Rebecca Estepp of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA) on the American Fox News where it was revealed that the only thing these autistic children around the world have in common - since they aren't drinking the same water, eating the same food or breathing the same air - is the vaccines they have all been given. A sobering subject and one which should be better covered by the Australian media since our rate of autism is similar to that in the US.

 

Estepp on Today Show  

More medical insanity - treating pregnant women to prevent obesity and diabetes in their offspring! 

 

As reported in the Daily Mail and elsewhere, a new trial is being run, giving pregnant women who are considered to be obese, the drug Metformin, which is a diabetes treatment.

 

This trial is to determine whether treating the pregnant mother will prevent diabetes in their unborn children and if the study is successful (it is being funded by the drug manufacturer so there is little doubt that the outcome will be positive for the drug), the aim is to treat all pregnant women in the next 5 years.

 

Of course, since adult-onset diabetes is easily treated and prevented by diet and lifestyle choices and insulin-dependent diabetes is autoimmune in nature, one has to wonder who will actually benefit from these measures - apart from the pharmaceutical company and the medical community, of course.

 

Independent journalist, Christina England, has also written an excellent overview of this new study, Fetuses bombarded with powerful drugs to prevent 'vaccine induced' obesity

 

Is the Hep B vaccine bad for children's livers? 

 

The Hepatitis B vaccine program for newborns, infants and toddlers has always been controversial. Hep B is a blood-borne disease that is not transmitted by casual contact but instead, is passed on through unprotected sex and blood through (for example) sharing of needles by drug addicts. Infants and young children are not at risk of Hep B infection unless one of their parents is infected, but the government 'sold' us this vaccine by stating that the Hep B virus can cause serious liver damage and could, many years down the track, lead to liver cancer.

 

Well, recent research has shown that the Hep B vaccine itself can cause liver damage via the toxic adjuvant used, aluminium hydroxide - an additive that is contained in many vaccines.

 

Aluminium is a known neuro-toxin and has been linked with a raft of autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, chronic arthritis, optic neuritis and Alzhiemer's disease.

 

So instead of preventing liver damage and disease, this 'preventative' may actually be one of the causes.   

 

 US Government (privately) admits vaccines cause serious reactions 

 

Institute of Medicine We are always being told that temporal relationships between vaccines and adverse effects don't equal causal relationships. So when parents see their perfectly healthy children become sick or die after shots - and it happens time and time again - it's simply a coincidence.

 

Yet the Institute of Medicine in the US has just released a new document which you can download for free (and I highly urge you to do so) called Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality, where they clearly state that many of the reactions which we were previously told were coincidental are, in fact, causally related.  

 

Strangely, this report and its conclusions haven't been reported anywhere in the media that I've seen.   

 

 

 

 

On the 24th of February, the AVN won its case in the NSW Supreme Court against the HCCC. The judgement stated that the HCCC's decision to both investigate our organisation and to issue a warning against us was Ultra Vires (illegal or outside of their powers). In her decision, Justice Adamson stated that she:

Declare[s] that by reason of the circumstance that neither the McLeod complaint nor the McCaffery complaint was a complaint under the Health Care Complaints Act 1993, the HCCC's investigation into these complaints, the recommendation contained in the Investigation Report and the Public Warning issued by the HCCC in respect of the plaintiff were not within the jurisdiction of the HCCC.

In other words, what we had said from the very beginning - that the complaints were not valid complaints under the HCC Act and the warning issued as a result of that investigation were not valid because the complaints were not valid. We said it from the very beginning, we had advice from several barristers to that effect and it turned out in the end that we were right at a huge cost to both the AVN and the State of NSW.

The HCCC has decided not to appeal this decision which was a huge relief and we have been awarded costs as well so sometime in the next few weeks, we will be reimbursed for the expenses we incurred during this case which were considerable. We will not be reimbursed for any of the expenses we incurred for our case against the Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing (OLGR) which is a shame, but hopefully, we will soon have our authority to fundraise reinstated since the OLGR have verified that the HCCC's warning was the sole basis of that revocation. Now that the warning is no more (the HCCC removed it from their website the same day the decision was handed down), we should be granted a charity authority again.

This means that members of the general public will again be able to join the AVN and donate to us. Once our authority has been granted, all current subscribers will be upgraded to members and the website will be adjusted to ensure you get a 10% discount on your purchases. 

 

Fundraiser was successful! 

 

A few weeks ago, we asked for donations from our membership in order to tide us over during this period because our funds were running VERY low indeed! We achieved our fundraising goal within less than 48 hours which was extraordinary!

The AVN management committee would like to thank everyone who donated for your support. There has never been a time when we have asked for help that you have not come through for us with flying colours!

Mystery payments 

Several payments have hit our bank account with no identification - one of them is for a professional membership and all it says is Professional membership!

If you have made a payment to us for either a donation, a membership renewal or a subscription and you have NOT received a receipt, please contact me by email at meryl@avn.org.au so I can double-check our records.

It's not too late to give and certainly not too late to renew or subscribe! 

Even though we reached our goal, that doesn't mean that your support won't be gratefully accepted at this time. So if you meant to donate, renew or subscribe but forgot about it, now is a great time to remember! :-)

Don't forget that you are able to set up automatic transfers from your account to ours if you would like to provide ongoing donations to the AVN. Please use the account details below and be sure to leave your name as identification:

AVN Gift Fund account
Westpac  Bank
BSB - 032591
Account number - 196282

If your membership or subscription is about to expire, please renew it now - we would be so grateful!

 

If you are not yet a subscriber to our magazine, Living Wisdom, please subscribe now.

 

Subscriptions start from as low as $50 for the digital edition and all subscriptions will help to keep the AVN going and
make us stronger so we can support you better.Donations

 

If you are currently a financial member and are able to give us a donation - no matter how small - we would be very, very grateful! 

 

Please click here to see our range of subscription and membership options (don't forget if you are not already a current member, choose any of the subscription options.

And click here to donate  - but only if you are a current financial member of the AVN.

 

Thank you so much!

 

Meryl
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E-Newsletter survey closes tomorrow at noon!
Firstly, I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated in our survey about your satisfaction with the information, frequency and design of this e-newsletter. As I said when the survey announcement was sent out, the AVN has been producing a regular electronic newsletter for well over a decade and in all that time, we have never asked what you thought of it. A huge omission!

If you haven't yet responded, you have until 12 PM tomorrow (AEST) so please put your 2 cents in by clicking  the following link - Enewsletter Survey.

So far, we have had over 450 responses which is phenomenal, and I just wanted to give you a brief rundown on what you've contributed so far - it's all incredibly interesting and gratifying too!

A huge 56% of you always read the newsletter, while 31 percent read it frequently. Most responders - 49.1% want the news delivered monthly (we were sending it out ever 2-3 weeks but I know how busy life can get so we will cut this back to every 4 weeks) with 27% saying it should come out ever 2 weeks and 15.7% saying weekly.

A very impressive 55.7% read more than three-quarters of the newsletter contents with 24% reading half to three-quarters and 61 percent are very satisfied with the current e-newsletter with a further 27% being somewhat satisfied.

When it comes to the length, 47% said it was good now while 48% said the design was great and 56% loved the content. 50% were happy with both the images and the colour and 47% liked the layout.

I personally found it very satisfying that 68% of you found the content to be relevant with a further 23% saying it was somewhat relevant.

The feature story was the most important while the online health news and videos were ranked next in importance followed closely by the action alerts.

You really didn't care which day of the week or what time of day the newsletter came out which is good to know. You just read it at your own convenience

49% of those who replied to the survey are financial members of the AVN whilst 41% are not. 56% of you subscribe to our fabulous Facebook page (not quite so fabulous since the introduction of the timeline at the beginning of April - show of hands - how many of you out there HATE the timeline?); only 18.5% subscribe to our blog; 7.8% follow us on Twitter, 11.1% belong to our email discussion list, and 4.8% are members of our Vaccination - Respectful Debate list.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile exercise for us to know exactly what you like about this newsletter and what can be improved. I am working my way through your comments and following up where a follow up is needed so thanks once again - it has been great to hear from you all!

Meryl

 
Join our discussion list
 
A great place to talk about the issue of vaccination!  
Subscribe to AVN

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The AVN has had a wonderful email discussion list on yahoo groups since the late 1990s. We purged the list some time ago due to some problems with abusive messages from members of the Australian Skeptics and Stop the AVN. We would now like to invite you to rejoin (or join for the first time if you have never been a member) by entering your email address in the form above.

Messages are automatically sent to all subscribers and any issue touching on vaccination or child / adult health is welcome. There are medical professionals, natural healthcare practitioners and many, many parents on this list so bring your thoughts, your questions and your support to this venue and please share this information with your friends and family.

All new subscribers will be asked to answer a few short questions prior to being approved for this list as a way of discouraging those who are anti-choice from being involved but remember that it is impossible to be 100% sure that people who subscribe to this list will be supportive of your right to choose. Those who oppose freedom of vaccine choice will be banned.
 
 

Advertising 
For the last 2 years, I have been turning potential advertisers away. Our advertisers were being targeted by both the Australian Skeptics and their splinter group, Stop the AVN and I did not feel that it was right to put businesses that support freedom in that position so I made the difficult decision to stop taking advertising on our website, in our magazine and in this enewsletter.

 
Lately however, those who have contacted me have said that they were prepared to get the nasty emails from these organisations. After all, they know where the delete key on the keyboard is! Several people have been insisting that they want to advertise and, seeing as they know in advance what will happen, they are happy to support the AVN and informed choice in Australia. 
 
If you are one of those brave souls, I have just put together a range of very, very economical advertising packages that I hope will be super-appealing to you! 
 
The prices below are for individual ads (either one issue for the magazine or one month for the e-newsletter and website). There are 10% discounts off of these prices for booking 2-4 issues/months and 15% discounts for 5-6 issue/months. I hope you will agree that this is a great value. Especially since our market is so targeted and our website gets so many hits and this e-newsletter goes out to over 8,000 people. 
 
Living Wisdom Magazine 
 
Living Wisdom 1/4 page ad-(both print and digital) - $300
Living Wisdom 1/2 page ad-(both print and digital) - $500
Living Wisdom full page ad-(both print and digital) - $800

AVN Home page (www.avn.org.au

Left or Right Hand Column (150w X 250h) - $150
Bottom Banner (800w X 100h) - $275.00

AVN Monthly e-newsletter 
(always issued at least once a month - possibly more - price covers all issues in one calendar month)

Left Hand Column (150w X 250h) - $100 
 Banner between articles (800w X 100h) - $225 
 
If you have any questions, please feel free to either email me at
or to call during business hours on 02 6687 1699. Otherwise, just place your order on the website, select the number of issue/months you want to book for and send through your ad. 

Design service is available at an extra cost. 

 

Yours in health,

Meryl 

 

 

 

P
New Books just in!  
  
Whilst we are limited on taking new memberships and donations, ANYONE can buy our books and DVDs and we have some fantastic new titles to offer our readers which are absolutely 'must reads'! Remember, your purchases and subscriptions help keep the AVN strong

Below are a few of the newest.
Eco Parenting Birth to Year 1
 A comprehensive guide for eco minded parents covering pregnancy through the first year.  Filled with practical tips and easy to access information, the book is an invaluable resource for parents. Written by Thanh Cherry, internationally acclaimed early childhood educator and co-authored by Jane Hanckel, the book covers sleep and settling, introducing solids, balancing work and family - all with sound eco-friendly advice.

58 pages - full colour


Price: $ 14.95


Eco-Parenting Green 

A comprehensive resource for parents wanting to raise healthier, happier children. This informative book provides the information that you need to help your children and your family live a healthy balanced life.  The book is a message of hope - that by taking responsibility for the environments we create for our children - we can help parents and families regain control of their own health and well being.

123 pages - full colour 


Price: $ 19.95

How to Have Well Adjusted Babies - Second Edition - by Jennifer Barham-Floreani 
The most unique collation of cutting edge information and knowledge on holistic parenting... all in one book!"

Well Adjusted Babies 

In this massive 701 page second-edition book, discover Dr jennifer's well-researched, easy-to-read informaton about...

  • Improving Fertility
  • Self-Care During Pregnancy
  • Addressing Your Physical/Emotional Needs
  • Techniques to Ease the Pain of Labour
  • How to Have a Safe, Natural Birth
  • Tips for Partners and Birth Teams
  • How to Plan for a Positive Caesarean
  • Post-Birth ABCs
  • Breastfeeding, Formulas and Colic
  • First Foods for Babies
  • Minimilising Harmful Toxins
  • Alternatives to Antibiotics
  • Strengthening Your Family's Health
  • How to Guide Your Child's Development
  • Wholesome Dietary Habits for the Family
  • And MUCH More...
Price: $ 49.95

Ticklish 
This book is for you if you...

  • Are keen to learn how being playful can enhance your child's potential.
  • Would like to help your child be the healthiest, happiest and cleverest version of themselves that they can possibly be.
  • Are eager to learn how to protect your child's health or re-strengthen their health for their changing world.
  • Want to truly enjoy your child in all their magnificence.
  • Know that parenting is the toughest but most rewarding and important work you will ever do in  your life!!
Price: $ 24.95

 - by Aviva Jill Romm, MD

Naturally Healthy Babies and Children Aviva's whole-child approach integrates herbal remedies, nutrition, hygiene, and alternative health techniques with supportive, informed parenting. From anemia to whooping cough, each entry includes herbal, dietary, and general recommendations, including tips on when to pursue professional medical care.Naturally Healthy Babies and Children is indispensible reading for families seeking safe, effective ways to practice healing techniques at home.
435 pages
Price: $ 24.95

 

Without Due CareMy husband, Don Mackay, died because of what was done to him in a major Sydney teaching hospital: a wrong and totally unnecessary operation; a lung mistakenly suctioned for 22 hours at 10 times the correct rate; a severe MRSA - golden staph infection inside his lungs; deadly pneumonia and sepsis which developed during the 36 days he spent there.The hundreds of errors and the numerous instances of lack of caring listed in this book are only those I witnessed or discovered during the 12 hours I was with Don each day for just over five nightmarish weeks. Common sense tells me many more must have occurred while I wasn't there. Certainly during the nights Don had tests, was being turned, had body care, had X-rays taken and experienced medical crises. Other events unknown to me also occurred. For my own sanity I believe it is best that I am not able to find out what else happened to him. What I do know will haunt our family for a long time. For me, it will be for the rest of my life.
 
Price: $ 29.95