Dispelling Vaccination Myths
Health authorities credit vaccines for disease declines, and assure us of their safety and effectiveness. Yet these seemingly rock-solid assumptions are directly contradicted by health statistics, medical studies, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports, and reputable research scientists from around the world. In fact, infectious diseases steadily declined for decades prior to vaccinations, U.S. doctors report thousands of vaccine reactions each year including hundreds of deaths and permanent disabilities, many fully vaccinated populations have experienced epidemics, and researchers attribute dozens of chronic immunological and neurological conditions to mass immunization programs.
VACCINATION MYTH #1: "Vaccines are completely safe..."
... or are they?
The FDA's VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System) receives about 11,000 reports of adverse vaccine reactions annually, some 1% (112+) of which are deaths from vaccine reactions.[1] The majority of these reports are made by doctors, and the majority of deaths are attributed to the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine, the "P" in DPT. This figure alone is alarming, yet it is only the "tip of the iceberg." The FDA estimates that only about 10% of adverse reactions are reported,[2] a figure supported by two National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) investigations.[3] In fact, the NVIC reported that "In New York, only one out of 40 doctor's offices [2.5%] confirmed that they report a death or injury following vaccination," - 97.5% of vaccine related deaths and disabilities go unreported there. Implications about the integrity of medical professionals aside (doctors are legally required to report adverse events), these findings suggest that vaccine deaths actually occurring each year may be well over 1,000.
With pertussis, the number of vaccine-related deaths dwarfs the number of disease deaths, which have been about 10 annually for recent years according to the CDC, and only 8 in 1993, the last peak-incidence year (pertussis runs in 3-4 year cycles, though vaccination doesn't). Simply put, the vaccine is 100 times more deadly than the disease. If it were not for the many instances in which highly vaccinated populations have contracted disease (see Myth #2), and the fact that the vast majority of disease decline this century occurred before compulsory vaccinations (pertussis deaths declined 79% prior to vaccines; see Myth #3), this might be understandable, but given the complete story, it can hardly be considered a necessary sacrifice for the benefit of a disease-free society.
Unfortunately, the vaccine-related-deaths story doesn't end here. Both national and international studies have shown vaccination to be a cause of SIDS [4,5] (SIDS is "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," a "catch-all" diagnosis for cases when the specific cause of death is supposedly unknown; estimates range from 5 - 10,000 cases each year in the U.S.). One study found the peak incidence of SIDS occurred at the ages of 2 and 4 months in the U.S., precisely when the first two routine immunizations are given.[4]
There are also studies that claimed to find no SIDS-vaccine relationship. However, many of these were invalidated by yet another study which found that "confounding" had skewed their results in favor of the vaccine.[6]
Shouldn't we err on the side of caution? Shouldn't any credible correlation between vaccines and infant deaths be just cause for meticulous, widespread monitoring of the vaccination status of all SIDS cases? In the mid 70's Japan raised their vaccination age from 2 months to 2 years; their incidence of SIDS dropped dramatically.
In spite of this, the U.S. medical community has chosen a posture of denial. Coroners refuse to check the vaccination status of SIDS victims, and unsuspecting families continue to pay the price, unaware of the dangers and deprived of the right to make a choice.
Low adverse event reporting also suggests that the total number of adverse reactions actually occurring each year may be more than 100,000. Due to doctors' failure to report, no one knows how many of these are permanent disabilities, but statistics suggest that it is several times the number of deaths (see "petitions" below). This concern is reinforced by a study which revealed that one in 175 children who completed the full DPT series suffered "severe reactions,"[7] and a Dr.'s report for attorneys which found that 1 in 300 DPT immunizations resulted in seizures.[8]
England actually saw a drop in pertussis deaths when vaccination rates dropped from 80% to 30% in the mid 70's. Swedish epidemiologist B. Trollfors' study of pertussis vaccine efficacy and toxicity around the world found that "pertussis-associated mortality is currently very low in industrialised countries and no difference can be discerned when countries with high, low, and zero immunisation rates were compared." He also found that England, Wales, and West Germany had more pertussis fatalities in 1970 when the immunization rate was high than during the last half of 1980, when rates had fallen.[9]
Vaccinations cost us much more than just the lives and health of our children. The U.S. Federal Government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) has paid out over $650.6 million to parents of vaccine injured and killed children, a rate of close to $90 million per year in taxpayer dollars. The NVICP has received over 5,000 petitions since 1988, including over 700 for vaccine-related deaths, and there are still some two thousand total death and injury cases pending that may take years to resolve.[10]
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies have a captive market: vaccines are legally mandated in all 50 U.S. states (though legally avoidable in most; see Myth #9), yet these same companies are "immune" from accountability for the consequences of their products. Furthermore, they have been allowed to use "gag orders" as a leverage tool in vaccine damage legal settlements to prevent disclosure of information to the public about vaccination dangers. Such arrangements are clearly unethical; they force a nonconsenting American public to pay for vaccine manufacturer's liabilities, while attempting to ensure that this same public will remain ignorant of the dangers of their products.
It is also interesting to note that insurance companies (who do the best liability studies) refuse to cover vaccine adverse reactions. Profits appear to dictate both the pharmaceutical and insurance companies' positions.
VACCINATION TRUTH #1: "Vaccination causes significant death and disability at an astounding personal and financial cost to families and taxpayers."
VACCINATION MYTH #2: "Vaccines are very effective..."
... aren't they?
The medical literature has a surprising number of studies documenting vaccine failure. Measles, mumps, small pox, polio and Hib outbreaks have all occurred in vaccinated populations.[11,12,13,14,15] In 1989 the CDC reported: "Among school-aged children, [measles] outbreaks have occurred in schools with vaccination levels of greater than 98 percent.[16] [They] have occurred in all parts of the country, including areas that had not reported measles for years."[17] The CDC even reported a measles outbreak in a documented 100 percent vaccinated population.[18] A study examining this phenomenon concluded, "The apparent paradox is that as measles immunization rates rise to high levels in a population, measles becomes a disease of immunized persons."[19] A more recent study found that measles "produces immune suppression which contributes to an increased susceptibility to other infections."[19a] These studies suggests that the goal of complete immunization is actually counterproductive, a notion underscored by instances in which epidemics followed complete immunization of entire countries. Japan experienced yearly increases in small pox following the introduction of compulsory vaccines in 1872. By 1892, there were 29,979 deaths, and all had been vaccinated.[20] Early in this century, the Philippines experienced their worst smallpox epidemic ever after 8 million people received 24.5 million vaccine doses; the death rate quadrupled as a result.[21] In 1989, the country of Oman experienced a widespread polio outbreak six months after achieving complete vaccination (98%).[22] In the U.S. in 1986, 90% of 1,300 pertussis cases in Kansas were "adequately vaccinated."[23] 72% of pertussis cases in the 1993 Chicago outbreak were fully up to date with their vaccinations.[24]
VACCINATION TRUTH #2: "Evidence suggests that vaccination is an unreliable means of preventing disease."
VACCINATION MYTH #3: "Vaccines are the main reason for low disease rates in the U.S. today..."
... or are they?
According to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, childhood diseases decreased 90% between 1850 and 1940, paralleling improved sanitation and hygienic practices, well before mandatory vaccination programs. Infectious disease deaths in the U.S. and England declined steadily by an average of about 80% during this century (measles mortality declined over 97%) prior to vaccinations.[25] In Great Britain, the polio epidemics peaked in 1950, and had declined 82% by the time the vaccine was introduced there in 1956. Thus, at best, vaccinations can be credited with only a small percentage of the overall decline in disease related deaths this century. Yet even this small portion is questionable, as the rate of decline remained virtually the same after vaccines were introduced. Furthermore, European countries that refused immunization for small pox and polio saw the epidemics end along with those countries that mandated it. (In fact, both small pox and polio immunization campaigns were followed initially by significant disease increases; during smallpox campaigns, other infectious diseases continued their declines in the absence of vaccines. In England and Wales, smallpox disease and vaccination rates eventually declined simultaneously over a period of several decades.) [26] It is thus impossible to say whether or not vaccinations contributed to the continuing decline, or if the same forces which brought about the initial declines - improved sanitation, hygiene, improvements in diet, natural disease cycles - were simply unaffected by the vaccination programs. Underscoring this conclusion was a recent World Health Organization report which found that the disease and mortality rates in third world countries have no direct correlation with immunization procedures or medical treatment, but are closely related to the standard of hygiene and diet.[27] Credit given to vaccinations for our current disease incidence has simply been grossly exaggerated, if not outright misplaced.
Vaccine advocates point to incidence statistics rather than mortality as proof of vaccine effectiveness. However, statisticians tell us that mortality statistics can be a better measure of incidence than the incidence figures themselves, for the simple reason that the quality of reporting and record-keeping is much higher on fatalities.[28]
For instance, a recent survey in New York City revealed that only 3.2% of pediatricians were actually reporting measles cases to the health department. In 1974, the CDC determined that there were 36 cases of measles in Georgia, while the Georgia State Surveillance System reported 660 cases.[29] In 1982, Maryland state health officials blamed a pertussis epidemic on a television program, "D.P.T. - Vaccine Roulette," which warned of the dangers of DPT; however, when former top virologist for the U.S. Division of Biological Standards, Dr. J. Anthony Morris, analyzed the 41 cases, only 5 were confirmed, and all had been vaccinated. [30] Such instances as these demonstrate the fallacy of incidence figures, yet vaccine advocates tend to rely on them indiscriminately.
VACCINATION TRUTH #3 "It is unclear what impact vaccines had on infectious disease declines which occurred throughout this century."
VACCINATION MYTH #4: "Vaccination is based on sound immunization theory and practice..."
... isn't it?
The clinical evidence for vaccinations is their ability to stimulate antibody production in the recipient, a fact which is not disputed. What is not clear, however, is whether or not such antibody production constitutes immunity. Agamma globulin-anemic children are incapable of producing antibodies, yet they recover from infectious diseases almost as quickly as other children.[31] Furthermore, a study published by the British Medical Council in 1950 during a diphtheria epidemic concluded that there was no relationship between antibody count and disease incidence; researchers found resistant people with extremely low antibody counts and sick people with high counts.[32] Natural immunization is a complex phenomenon involving many organs and systems; it cannot be fully replicated by the artificial stimulation of antibody production.
Research also indicates that vaccination commits immune cells to the specific antigens involved in the vaccine, rendering them incapable of reacting to other infections. Our immunological reserve may thus actually be reduced, causing a generally lowered resistance.[33]
Another component of immunization theory is "herd immunity," which states that when enough people in a community are immunized, all are protected. As Myths #2 revealed, there are many documented instances showing just the opposite - fully vaccinated populations have contracted diseases. With measles, this actually seems to be the direct result of high vaccination rates.[19] A Minnesota state epidemiologist concluded that the Hib vaccine increases the risk of illness when a study revealed that vaccinated children were five times more likely to contract the disease than unvaccinated children.
Carefully selected epidemiological studies are yet another justification for vaccination programs. However, many of these may not be legitimate sources from which to draw conclusions about vaccine effectiveness: If 100 people are vaccinated and 5 contract the disease, the vaccine is declared to be 95% effective. But if only 10 of the 100 were actually exposed to the disease, then the vaccine was really only 50% effective. Since no one is willing to directly expose an entire population to disease - even a fully vaccinated one - vaccine effectiveness rates cannot be taken at face value.
Yet another concern about immunization practice is its assumption that all children, regardless of age, are virtually the same. An 8 pound 2 month old receives the same dosage as a 40 pound five year old. Infants with immature, undeveloped immune systems may receive five or more times the dosage (relative to body weight) as older children. Furthermore, the number of "units" within doses has been found upon random testing to range from 1/2 to 3 times what the label indicates; manufacturing quality controls appear to tolerate a rather large margin of error. "Hot Lots" (vaccine lots with disproportionately high death and disability rates) have been identified repeatedly by the NVIC, but the FDA refuses to intervene to prevent unnecessary injury and loss of life. In fact, they have never recalled a vaccine lot due to adverse reactions. Some would call this infanticide.
Finally, vaccination practice assumes that all recipients, regardless of race, culture, diet, or any other circumstances, will respond the same. This was perhaps never more dramatically disproved than an instance a few years ago in Australia's Northern Territory, where stepped-up immunization campaigns resulted in an incredible 50% infant mortality rate in the native aborigines.[34] Researcher A. Kalokerinos, M.D. discovered that the aborigine's vitamin C deficient "junk food" diet was a critical factor (vaccination depletes vitamin C reserves; children in shock or collapse often recovered in a matter of minutes when given vitamin C injections). He considered it amazing that as many survived as did. One must wonder about the lives of the survivors, though, for if half died, surely the other half did not escape unaffected.
Almost as troubling was a very recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine which revealed that a substantial number of Romanian children were contracting polio from the vaccine, a less common phenomena in most developed countries. Correlations with injections of antibiotics were found: a single injection within one month of vaccination raised the risk of polio eight times, two to nine injections raised the risk 27-fold, and 10 or more injections raised the risk 182 times [Washington Post, February 22, 1995].
What other factors not accounted for in vaccination theory will surface unexpectedly to reveal unforeseen or previously overlooked consequences? We will not begin to fully comprehend the scope of this danger until researchers begin looking and reporting in earnest. In the meantime, entire countries' populations are unwitting gamblers in a game that many might very well choose not to play if they were given all the "rules" in advance.
VACCINATION TRUTH #4: "Many of the assumptions upon which immunization theory and practice are based have been proven false in their application."
VACCINATION MYTH #5: "Childhood diseases are extremely dangerous..."
... or are they, really?
Most childhood infectious diseases have few serious consequences in today's modern world. Even conservative CDC statistics for pertussis during 1992-94 indicate a 99.8% recovery rate. In fact, when hundreds of pertussis cases occurred in Ohio and Chicago in the fall 1993 outbreak, an infectious disease expert from Cincinnati Children's Hospital said, "The disease was very mild, no one died, and no one went to the intensive care unit." The vast majority of the time, childhood infectious diseases are benign and self-limiting. They also impart lifelong immunity, whereas vaccine-induced immunity is only temporary. In fact, the temporary nature of vaccine immunity can create a more dangerous situation in a child's future. For example, the new chicken pox vaccine has an effectiveness estimated at 6-10 years. If effective,it will postpone the child's vulnerability until adulthood, when death from the disease is 20 times more likely. (About half of measles cases in the late 1980's resurgence were in adolescents and adults, most of whom were vaccinated as children,[35] and the recommended booster shots may provide protection for less than 6 months.) [36] Furthermore, some healthcare professionals are concerned that the virus from the chicken pox vaccine may "reactivate later in life in the form of herpes zoster (shingles) or other immune system disorders."[37] Dr. A. Lavin of the Dept. of Pediatrics, St. Luke's Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, strongly opposed licensing the new vaccine, "Until we actually know...the risks involved in injecting mutated DNA [herpes virus] into the host genome [children]."[38] The truth is, no one knows, but the vaccine is now licensed and recommended by health authorities.
Not only are most infectious diseases rarely dangerous, but they can actually play a vital role in the development of a strong, healthy immune system. Persons who have not had measles have a higher incidence of certain skin diseases, degenerative diseases of bone and cartilage, and certain tumors, while absence of mumps has been linked to higher risks of ovarian cancer.
VACCINATION TRUTH #5: "Dangers of childhood diseases are greatly exaggerated in order to scare parents into compliance with a questionable but profitable procedure."
VACCINATION MYTH #6: "Polio was one of the clearly great vaccination success stories..."
... or was it?
Six New England states reported increases in polio one year after the Salk vaccine was introduced, ranging from more than doubling in Vermont to Massachusetts' astounding increase of 642%. In 1959, 77.5% of Massachusetts' paralytic cases had received 3 doses of IPV (injected polio vaccine). During 1962 U.S. Congressional hearings, Dr. Bernard Greenberg, head of the Dept. of Biostatistics for the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, testified that not only did the cases of polio increase substantially after mandatory vaccinations (50% increase from 1957 to 1958, 80% increase from 1958 to 1959), but that the statistics were manipulated by the Public Health Service to give the opposite impression.[39] According to researcher-author Dr. Viera Scheibner, 90% of polio cases were eliminated from statistics by health authorities' redefinition of the disease which occurred when the vaccine was introduced, while in fact the Salk vaccine was continuing to cause paralytic polio in several countries at a time when there were no epidemics caused by the wild virus (thousands of cases of viral and aseptic meningitis are diagnosed each year in the U.S.; prior to the polio vaccine, these were diagnosed as polio). In 1985, the CDC reported that 87% of the cases of polio in the U.S. between 1973 and 1983 were caused by the vaccine, and later declared that all but a few imported cases since were caused by the vaccine (and most of the imported cases occurred in fully immunized individuals). Jonas Salk, inventor of the IPV, testified before a Senate subcommittee that nearly all polio outbreaks since 1961 were caused by the oral polio vaccine. At a workshop on polio vaccines sponsored by the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Samuel Katz of Duke University cited the estimated 8-10 annual U.S. cases of vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAPP) in people who have taken the oral polio vaccine, and the [four year] absence of wild polio from the western hemisphere. Jessica Scheer of the National Rehabilitation Hospital Research Center in Washington, D.C., pointed out that most parents are unaware that polio vaccination in this country entails "a small number of human sacrifices each year." Compounding this contradiction are low adverse event reporting and the NVIC's experiences with confirming and correcting misdiagnoses of vaccine reactions, which suggest that the actual number of VAPP "sacrifices" may be much higher than the number cited by the CDC.
VACCINATION TRUTH #6: "Vaccines caused substantial increases in polio after years of steady declines, and they are the sole cause of polio in the U.S. today."
VACCINATION MYTH #7: "My child had no short-term reaction to vaccination, so there is nothing to worry about..."
... or is there?
The documented long term adverse effects of vaccines include chronic immunological and neurological disorders such as autism, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders, dyslexia, allergies, cancer, and other conditions, many of which barely existed 30 years ago before mass vaccination programs. Vaccine components include known carcinogens such as thimersol, aluminum phosphate, and formaldehyde (the Poisons Information Centre in Australia claims there is no acceptable safe amount of formaldehyde which can be injected into a living human body). Medical historian, researcher and author Harris Coulter, Ph.D. explained that his extensive research revealed childhood immunization to be "...causing a low-grade encephalitis in infants on a much wider scale than public health authorities were willing to admit, about 15-20% of all children." He points out that the sequelae [conditions known to result from a disease] of encephalitis [inflammation of the brain, a known side-effect of vaccination]: autism, learning disabilities, minimal and not-so-minimal brain damage, seizures, epilepsy, sleeping and eating disorders, sexual disorders, asthma, crib death, diabetes, obesity, and impulsive violence are precisely the disorders which afflict contemporary society. Many of these conditions were formerly relatively rare, but they have become more common as childhood vaccination programs have expanded. Coulter also points out that "...pertussis toxoid is used to create encephalitis in lab animals."
A German study found correlations between vaccinations and 22 neurological conditions including attention deficit and epilepsy. The dilemma is that viral elements in vaccines may persist and mutate in the human body for years, with unknown consequences. Millions of children are partaking in an enormous, crude experiment; and no sincere, organized effort is being made by the medical community to track the negative side-effects or to determine the long term consequences.
VACCINATION TRUTH #7: "The long term adverse effects of vaccinations have been virtually ignored, in spite of strong correlations with many chronic conditions."
VACCINATION MYTH #8: "Vaccines are the only disease prevention option available..."
... or are they?
Most parents feel compelled to take some disease-preventing action for their children. While there is no 100% guarantee anywhere, there are viable alternatives. Historically, homeopathy has been more effective than "allopathic mainstream" medicine in treating and preventing disease. In a U.S. cholera outbreak in 1849, allopathic medicine saw a 48-60% death rate, while homeopathic hospitals had a documented death rate of 3%.[40] Roughly similar statistics still hold true for cholera today.[41] Recent epidemiological studies show homeopathic remedies as equaling or surpassing standard vaccinations in preventing disease. There are reports in which populations that were treated homeopathically after exposure had a 100% success rate - none of the treated caught the disease.[42]
There are homeopathic kits available for disease prevention.[43] Homeopathic remedies can also be taken only during times of increased risk (outbreaks, traveling, etc.), and have proven highly effective in such instances. And since these remedies have no toxic components, they have no side effects. In addition, homeopathy has been effective in reversing some of the disability caused by vaccine reactions, as well as many other chronic conditions with which allopathic medicine has had little success.
VACCINATION TRUTH #8: "Documented safe and effective alternatives to vaccination have been available for decades but suppressed by the medical establishment."
VACCINATION MYTH #9: "Vaccinations are legally mandated, and thus unavoidable..."
... aren't they?
There are three exemption possibilities in most U.S. states:
- Medical Exemption: All 50 states in the U.S. allow for a medical exemption. A few states allow licensed naturopathic or chiropractic doctors to issue medical exemptions in addition to medical doctors. However, few pediatricians check for indications of increased risk before administering vaccines, so it is advisable for parents to research this matter for themselves. Epilepsy, severe allergies, and siblings' previous adverse reactions are but a few of the many conditions in child or family history which may increase the chances of an adverse reaction, and thus qualify for a medical exemption;
- Religious Exemption: Nearly all states allow for a religious exemption. This may or may not require membership in an established religious organization, as individual state laws vary; and
- Philosophical Exemption: An increasing number of states allow philosophical exemptions, in recognition of the controversy and/or violation of freedom that mandated vaccination laws impose.
Generally, exempted children may not be banned from attending public schools and colleges except during local outbreaks. It is best to contact local school officials in advance to determine their particular procedure for handling exemptions.
The best source for a copy of your state's vaccination laws is state health officials. A phone call to the state Department of Epidemiology may be all that it takes to get a copy mailed to you.
VACCINATION TRUTH #9: "Legal exemptions from vaccinations are obtainable for most - but not all - U.S. citizens."
VACCINATION MYTH #10: "Public health officials always place health above all other concerns..."
... or do they?
Vaccination history is riddled with documented instances of deceit designed to portray vaccines as mighty disease conquerors, when in fact many times they have actually delayed and even reversed disease declines. The United Kingdom's Department of Health admitted that vaccination status determined the diagnosis of subsequent diseases:
Those found in vaccinated patients received alternate diagnoses; hospital records and death certificates were falsified. Today, many doctors are still reluctant to diagnose diseases in vaccinated children, and so the "Myth" about vaccine success continues.
However, individual doctors may not be wholly to blame. As medical students, few have reason to question the information taught (which does not address the concerns presented in this report). Ironically, medicine is a field which demands conformity; there is little tolerance for opinions opposing the status quo. Doctors cannot warn you about what they themselves do not know, and with little time for further education once they begin practice, they are, in a sense, held captive by a system which discourages them from acquiring information independently and forming their own opinions. Those few that dare to question the status quo are frequently ostracized, and in any case, they are still legally bound to adhere to the system's legal mandates.
SUMMARY
In the December 1994 Medical Post, Canadian author of the best-seller Medical Mafia, Guylaine Lanctot, M.D. stated, "The medical authorities keep lying. Vaccination has been a disaster on the immune system. It actually causes a lot of illnesses. We are actually changing our genetic code through vaccination...10 years from now we will know that the biggest crime against humanity was vaccines." After an extensive study of the medical literature on vaccination, Dr. Viera Scheibner concluded that "there is no evidence whatsoever of the ability of vaccines to prevent any diseases. To the contrary, there is a great wealth of evidence that they cause serious side effects." These would seem to be radical positions, but they are not unfounded. The continued denial of the evidence against vaccines only perpetuates the "Myths" and their negative consequences on our children and society. Aggressive and comprehensive scientific investigation is clearly warranted, yet immunization programs continue to expand in the absence of such research. Manufacturer profits are guaranteed, while accountability for the negative effects is conspicuously absent. This is especially sad given the readily available safe and effective alternatives.
Meanwhile, the race is on. According to the NVIC, there are over 250 new vaccines being developed for everything from earaches to birth control to diarrhea, with about 100 of these already in clinical trials. Researchers are working on vaccine delivery through nasal sprays, mosquitoes (yes, mosquitoes), and the fruits of "transgenic" plants in which vaccine viruses are grown. With every child (and adult, for that matter) on the planet a potential required recipient of multiple doses, and every healthcare system and government a potential buyer, it is little wonder that countless millions of dollars are spent nurturing the growing multi-billion dollar vaccine industry. Without public outcry, we will see more and more new vaccines required of us and our children. And while profits are readily calculable, the real human costs are being ignored.