“Safe and effective” is a marketing slogan. It is not science or scientifically proven. Science is a means of improving our knowledge and understanding of the universe based on the collection of observation-based evidence. But what happens when science no longer changes or adjusts to account for actual observations and data? What happens if we are no longer allowed to question the science or examine the data? Consider how far science has come over the past few hundred years alone with this anonymous quote:
“Remember that one time when physicians didn’t believe in washing their hands before childbirth and infected & killed their patients, the time they thought it was a good idea to treat hemorrhoids with hot irons or treat mental illness by removing a portion of the brain, when they gave x-rays to pregnant women and disfigured babies by giving women with morning sickness thalidomide, when they said Karo Syrup and milk powder were superior to breast milk, treated arthritis with arsenic, promoted smoking, infected millions of people with polio (i.e. the Cutter incident), killed a bunch of people with Vioxx, said that probiotics were pure woo, that glyphosate didn’t cause cancer, and believed that white sugar was an essential part of a healthy diet? Thank goodness someone thought to question medical ‘science’ or we would still be bloodletting people with leeches, treating a stutter by cutting off part of the tongue, spraying kids with DDT, and treating common ailments with poisonous mercury.”
These are striking examples in history when science and the medical establishment were wrong, to the point of death. It was only 150 years ago when Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis went against the status quo by being the first to endorse hand washing for physicians when he noticed the death rate was nearly five times higher at the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students than at the midwives’ clinic. Even after the mortality rate fell from 18% to 2% after implementing handwashing, he was not taken seriously by his senior staff. It wasn’t until the mid-1860s and Joseph Lister, that doctor handwashing took effect more consistently and permanently (https://www.thoughtco.com/joseph-lister-biography-4171704).
Fast forward to the late 1950s and early 1960s where Thalidomide was a widely used drug for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. Thalidomide was marketed in 1956 by Chemie Grünenthal in Western Germany, first as an anti-flu, then as a hypnotic drug, and then described as a miracle drug. Thousands of samples were distributed to doctors who were encouraged to prescribe it to pregnant women to alleviate pregnancy nausea. Everyone was told that this drug represented no risk at all for pregnant women, “safe and effective.” However, Grünenthal had no reliable evidence to back up the safety reports and ignored the increasing number of reports and complaints about harmful side effects. Because babies were dead before birth, stillborn, or died soon after birth due to the severity of their malformations, it is hard to obtain an accurate number of thalidomide victims. It is estimated that 15,000 children were born worldwide with malformations attributable to thalidomide. (https://helix.northwestern.edu/article/thalidomide-tragedy-lessons-drug-safety-and-regulation).
And even more recently, the FDA estimated that Vioxx may have contributed to 27,785 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths between 1999 and 2003. Vioxx was a big moneymaker for Merck, generating about $2.5 billion in yearly sales. (https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/vioxx_estimates.html). And even as David Graham, the associate director for science in FDA’s office of drug safety, conducted his study, the results were watered down. Merck responded to the report by saying there is “no reliable way to estimate the actual events.”
Given the history of science and the fallibility of pharmaceutical products, isn’t it wise to at least educate ourselves and ask questions? According to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System or VAERS, 11,940 deaths, 1272 miscarriages, and 40,991 hospitalizations were reported after receiving Covid vaccinations as of July 23, 2021. (https://www.openvaers.com/covid-data).
What makes today different from the 1860s, the 1960s, or the 2000s? Why has it become socially unacceptable to question the current science? Why are we told to accept experimental drugs as “safe and effective” despite no long-term proof of safety and a wide range of documented and increasing severe side effects? Thank heavens that generations before us questioned the science of the day so today doctors wash their hands and equipment before surgery or delivery of babies, and drugs that cause baby deformities and heart attacks and deaths have been taken off the market. How will the current scenario with the experimental Covid vaccines play out? How will history read?
Are things really that different now?