It's Official - Kids need dirt to be healthy (regular, vs, elect)

[HurricaneDC]

Vaccinations don't contribute to antibiotic resistance cos they're not antibiotics. In fact, vaccinations are literally exposure to germs.

[Cunucu Beach]

Originally Posted by 70Ford

God made dirt. Dirt don't hurt. Then again, I stepped on a nail in a chicken coop once, but I had been vaccinated against tetanus, so there's that.

LOL. When my sisters and I visited our aunt and uncle on their farm (1930's and '40's) we used to plod through the cow pen barefoot and see who could get the highest "mud boots".

[mackinac81]

Doesn't surprise me a bit. THe most germophobic parents I know are always the first in the emergency room. Go figure.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by 70Ford

God made dirt. Dirt don't hurt. Then again, I stepped on a nail in a chicken coop once, but I had been vaccinated against tetanus, so there's that.

Tetanus is quite another story. I do make sure I get a Tetanus shot at the recommended intervals. Every weekend project of mine always ends up with cuts and scrapes. I'm infamous for hollering in from the back door "someone get me some paper towels..I'm bleeding"

[MJJersey]

Originally Posted by Jerseyt719

For one, chicken pox.

I've brought this up several times on here and people seem to think that vaccines are like taking a vitamin to prevent death. The chicken pox vaccine doesn't work very well and kids who got the vaccine and it didn't work or kids who could not get the vaccine were not exposed, and both of them develop shingles later in life. Shingles is very dangerous. So parents started letting their kids get chickenpox naturally again and the media made a big stink about it. Vaccines are invasive, that's a fact. And I think vaccines, like you said, should only be used when really necessary.

I often wonder if the flu was caused by a bacteria that changed slightly every year, would doctors recommend that everyone in the country take antibiotics for four months for a 60-70 percent chance of not getting the flu? My guess is that they would not, and that people would not want to do this, but we do it with a vaccine because we have been led to the false belief that a vaccination is a simple procedure with no risks or side effects. The flu vaccine was originally developed specifically for people with poor immune systems and was originally not recommended for healthy people.

[wildflower82]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Yes, and it has also been very much misninterpreted by the popular press and laypeople in general. It doesn't mean pollution is good for you, for ex. (This is the first I've ever heard that!) It doesn't mean you shouldn't wash your hands before eating and especially before preparing food. I've seen enough Hepatitis A to know that!

Your right washing hands is good. Jumping in mud puddles and playing in dirt is good for all children. Too many parents think mud puddles are dirty!!

[stan4]

Let's bring back small pox, too.

[HurricaneDC]

Vaccinations are one of the greatest inventions.

[Cunucu Beach]

Vaccines have wiped out some of the biggest killers among diseases--smallpox, diphtheria and typhoid, to name three--but it's reasonable to question the wisdom of why we should mandate vaccination against the more innocuous and/or relatively rare diseases.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by FrugalYankee

I've often thought that part of the reason for the rise of certain diseases in children had to do with the germ-phobic behavior of parents.

So have I and you're quite correct.

Originally Posted by FrugalYankee

This is exacerbated by large companies selling germ wipes and using scare tactics to convince people that their homes have to be absolutely antiseptic. The term for this by the way is the "hygiene hypothesis."

There are an estimated 3 Million different types of bacteria.

A little more than 1 Million different types of bacteria have actually been identified and cataloged.

~100 different bacteria are harmful to humans to some extent.

>10 different types of bacteria are deadly to humans.

So, Madison Avenue hysteria and hype obviously sells.

More importantly, there are several hundred bacteria that are helpful to humans, outside of those bacteria that function in the human body.

There are bacteria that kill bacteria that is harmful to humans, so how smart is it to kill those bacteria that help us?

And then of course what have we seen? Evolution. Bacteria learn how to defend against all of our chemical attacks, so the only thing we are doing is ultimately ensuring the total and complete destruction of the Human Race through bad advertising.

Originally Posted by FrugalYankee

This reminds me of when I was living in Germany during reunification and some scientist wanted to do a study to prove that all the pollution in East Germany had been harmful to the population. The result turned out to be the exact opposite.

That is so delightful to know.

About 10 years ago, the UN did a study comparing children in the dirtiest cities on Earth to children in America.

The purpose of the study was to prove that pollution is harmful. The results of the study proved exactly the opposite, and for that (and other obvious reasons) it got yanked from the UN web-site.

Children in American cities have significantly higher rates of asthma than children in the dirtiest most polluted cities on Earth, and what's more, children in the US also have higher rates of allergies.

One thing the study noted is that children outside of the US do not have wall-to-wall carpeting made from synthetic fibers derived from crude oils.

Children in other countries either have no carpeting at all, or if they do, it is made of natural plant material (linen, flaxen, cotton et al) or animal hides.

Children in the US are cocooned in Central Heat/Air, while children in other countries have none. Their "central air" consists of opening up the windows.

I personally believe that wall-to-wall carpeting made from synthetic fibers derived from crude oil is harmful to small children, that from infancy through the first few years those children breathe in those crude oil fibers and they damage the lungs, plus the central heat/air prevents children from being exposed to allergens and the result is that children never develop the proper defenses to allergens.

Not germophobic....

Mircea