Letters to the Editor

Question: Dear Dr. Rona:

I am curious to know if you have any documentation or package concerning  vaccination of school aged children directed at the school administration.

My daughters have not been immunized and we have recently just moved to a new town. The school secretary seemed very fearful when she discovered that our two children were not vaccinated. She even mentioned to my horror that the rest of the school population should be informed!    N.

Answer: N:

Do not allow yourself to be intimidated by anyone in school administration who is either fearful of alternatives or ignorant of the law in this province.  By the way, any lawyer will tell you that it is illegal for anyone at a school to harass and threaten you if you refuse to vaccinate your children. Here is a copy of what I wrote to one parent with a similar problem to yours:

“You are legally entitled in Ontario to not vaccinate your child for religious or medical reasons. The word religious here is in the broad sense of the word and does not necessarily mean you have to belong to any organized religion, an exotic cult or sect.

All you need to do to legally exempt yourself or any family member from compulsory immunizations is to complete a Form 2 (http://www.vran.org/docs/form-2.pdf), which can be downloaded or obtained from the Ontario Ministry of Health. The form then has to be notarized by a lawyer or notary public and sent to the school or doctor in question.

I wrote a short book a few years ago called “Natural Alternatives to Vaccinations” (Alive Books) which you can pick up at any health food store. Some of the vaccine alternatives discussed in the book include homeopathic remedies, bovine colostrum, wild mountain oregano oil, Echinacea, probiotics and cod liver oil.  Lately, vitamin D has been proven to be a safe and effective alternative to the flu vaccine, according to the prestigious Vitamin D Council in the USA. Unfortunately, none of these alternatives are acceptable to unenlightened schools or doctors as a substitute.

Get the form, sign it and bring it to your lawyer or notary public.  You should have no problems with antagonistic schools or dogmatic and threatening doctors............unless they want to be successfully sued for breaking the law.

By the way, one Ontario doctor about 10 years ago reported a mother to the Children’s Aid Society for refusing to vaccinate her children.  This was his not so subtle way of enforcing vaccination. The mother got a lawyer to notarize the form and there hasn’t been a discouraging peep from anyone ever since.  You still have rights in this province!”

Zoltan Rona, M.D., M.Sc.

1366 Yonge St. Suite 201

Toronto, ON M4T 3A7

416-920-9241

http://www.mydoctor.ca/drzoltanrona

http://blog.naturallysavvy.com/category/dr-zoltan-rona-md/

A Fan Letter for Michael Downey

Your summaries of the latest nutrition studies are the number one "can't miss" item for me each month. The brief on the new report out showing medicinal plants face possible extinction from over-harvesting was fascinating and yet scary. The link to the actual report was very helpful and I read the entire study. Thank you for your monthly roundup. It keeps me right up to date with the latest trends and supplement news. A great service.

J M Drake, Toronto

Seeking a Wholistic Minded Opthamologist

Back in June 2007, you ran a wonderful article on Vision Education. I was very happy to see this sensible, wholistic approach to caring for our eyes and our sight receiving this attention. Over the past few years, I have experienced some serious eye problems – detached retinas in both eyes, cataracts in both eyes – which did require emergency surgeries, three in total.

I am fortunate and grateful to have recovered enough eyesight to have my drivers license reinstated. This blessing of having my eyesight restored happened as a result of extremely good surgical skill and technique, psychotherapy, art therapy, naturopathy, cranial sacral treatments, nutrition, supplements and extensive work with the Bates Method (which is described in your article). My sight is continuing to improve. However, with the amount of surgical intervention that was required, I have been left with some distortion and vulnerability in my eyes and sight and I do also need the medical expertise of an opthamologist.

My question to Vitality and its readers is this – does anyone know of a wholistic minded Opthamologist? I am looking for someone who will share their medical expertise in a way that complements my awareness of what I need in my ongoing journey back to “seeing clearly”. I am looking for someone who understands the changeable nature of eyesight (as so beautifully described in your article) and who will allow me to adjust my glasses prescription accordingly. So, if anyone knows of any wholistic minded Opthamologist, please let me know. I prefer phone calls – they are easier on my eyes than looking at a computer screen, but either way, let me know.

Barbara Sauve 416-944-0540 barbarasauve@hotmail.com

(Readers: you can find the Vision Improvement article in our archives by going to www.vitalitymagazine.com and typing in “vision improvement” to the search engine on our home page.)

Ranting Against Pesticides in Our Food Supply

I usually buy wild blueberries, in season, and I enjoy them. One day I purchased blueberries, labeled “natural”, imported from Argentina by an American company and upon consuming them I became violently ill, likely because of the pesticides/insecticides on them. I have been arguing with farmers about pesticides and they keep telling me how they protect their crops. Yet there are products that will eliminate bugs without poisoning the crops.

And why is our food supply being handled by commercial supermarkets that have no idea how fruits and vegetables should be treated? For example, papayas should not be kept refrigerated as they can not tolerate temperatures lower than 10 degrees Celsius. They are usually picked still green and if they are put in cold storage they never ripen and are inedible. I depend on papayas as this is one fruit with many nutritional values and which, in my case, greatly enhances my digestion but if they are destroyed by mishandling, I can’t eat them.    

Despite all these foods on the market we are a starving nation because the food sold to us is inedible due to the pesticides/ insecticides, their mishandling and poor storage practices. I did not realize how important good food and water are until I nearly died. I am writing in the hope that my experience will be an eyeopener and someone might benefit from this information.

We have to eat and drink, but at what cost to our health and life? Readers don’t just complain amongst yourselves: take action and protest safely!

Support the organic farmers and stores that carry organic produce at a reasonable cost. I was lucky to find a store that provides me with nice fresh organic food, but it should not be a challenge to find such stores.  If we stick together and do something about, it all grocery chain stores might change too and offer us the food we want.

Katahrina Del Degan, Toronto

Readers:

Send your comments, criticisms, and letters of interest to: letters@vitalitymagazine.com. The letters may be edited to fit the space available.