Hawaiian Senator's Bill to Restore Religious Freedom Opposed by "Drug Pushers"

Hilo, Hawaii--Community leaders from the Big Island of Hawaii plan to discuss school admission policies with health officials at a "talk story" aimed at resolving questions of states' rights versus religious/spiritual freedoms . The forum for concerned citizens, conceived by Councilman Gary Safarik, is cosponsored by area ministries and local businesses. Sponsors seek to empower community leaders with knowledge for informed choice-making regarding children's health and legislative "mandates" for school admission.

Addressing the issue, State Senator Russell Kokubun has advanced a resolution to restore religious freedom making exemptions available to parents who object to blood testing. Parents of public and private school children have been forced into tuberculosis skin testing, officially called TST, contrary to medical and public health practice standards.

According to internationally known public health authority, Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz, who lives with his family in Pahoa, public health officials have restricted civil rights, violated religious freedoms, and neglected standards of care evidencing medical malpractic. To remedy these inadequacies, Sen. Kokubun is working to rewrite state laws. His resolution before the Senate defends against these breaches by returning religous freedom and proper informed consent to the people. Two years ago, on behalf of Hawaiian families and a natural healing ministry, Dr. Horowitz filed a legal challenge against Hawaii's "Tb Control Program," charging officials had overstepped their authority by administered skin tests without gaining proper informed consent and without honoring religious exemptions. Dr. Jesse Wing, the program's director, had even violated recommendations issued by her federal employer, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She falsely alleged an urgency in Hawaii's Tb case rate, and unethically mandated Tb skin testing for school children at low risk for the disease, according to the legal complaint. To date, a consensus of public health authorities have discouraged mass TB skin testing of low risk populations, such as children living on the Big Island of Hawaii, home to Senator Kokubun.

The legislator's legal team determined there were serious health risks associated with the state's unusual Tb program. High rates of false positive tests among low risk children, and side effects from follow-up treatments (including chest x-rays, that may increase the risk of cancer, and long term antibiotic usage, that may cause myriad health problems) outweigh the program benefits according to official reports. "We're not interested in shedding their blood, like they do to us and our children," Dr. Horowitz said. "We want freedom to protect our children from pharmaceutical prostitutes, medical malpractices, and public health experimentation by institutionalized 'drug pushers.'" Religious exemptions for vaccinations are honored by public health and school officials in Hawaii, but so are waivers for Tb testing in most other states.

According to Dr. Wing, the non-epidemic tuberculosis case rate in Hawaii, and frightening death rate globally, warrant her strict, arguably fascist, testing program. Senator Kokubun's proposed changes to state statues seek more honest and effective health communications and disease prevention programs in Hawaii, ones that empower people with knowledge, choices and the freedom to make them. "Officials in charge of Hawaii's costly, risky, and coercive tuberculosis control program should be ashamed of themselves," Dr. Horowitz says. "Health officials took advantage of lawmakers' and the public's ignorance. Senator Kokubun's bill closes the loophole Dr. Wing abused to exercise excessive control over our children's access to schools." A "Talk Story" featuring politicians, health officials, and the public is planned for Puna. Health and school access issues will be discussed. If state public health officials have been getting away with "blatant malfeasance with their Tb skin testing program," Dr. Horowitz concluded, "it is vitally important we understand what's happening with pending DNA testing and mental health screening legislation? We need to protect ourselves and our children from other institutionalized assaults."

Rev. R.J. Hampton of Raisin' Cane Ministry of Pahoa plans to host the public forum to air parents concerns. "The microphone will be open for Puna people to share their views on balancing public health and religious freedoms," she said. The meeting will be held Thursday night, February 23, 2006, from 7-10pm. The forum will be at the Akebono Theater in Pahoa. Admission is free. Residents are invited to prepare questions and comments for state and local legislators and public health officials. Rev. Hampton will provide spiritual and religious commentary on the state's health programs. All Puna parents should plan to attend!

Tb Commentary
by Dr. Leonard Horowitz

Hawaii's parents have been defrauded and their children intoxicated. The state's "Tb Control Program" is out of control! Its director has violated more than religious freedoms. Her program is a medical malpractice, an attack on scientific sanity, and a violation of peoples' sovereignty. Here's why: In a letter to Senator Russell Kokubun, Senate Majority Office legal advisor, Anna Liza Gavieres expressed opposition to advancing legislation providing religious exemptions from mandatory Tb skin testing of our school children. In defending the Tb testing requirement for school admission, Ms. Gavieres alleged that "Tuberculin skin testing (TST) works very differently from vaccination," for which religious exemptions remain available. She explained the differences without mentioning the similarities. For instance, she claimed the test is exclusively intradermal, and reaction exclusively local, yet contradicts herself on both counts by falsely stating "TST only produces an immuno-reaction if the body's memory cells recognize the TB germs." The body's memory cells (i.e., white blood cells) mainly circulate in the bloodstream. Therefore, the test obviously involves the blood and circulatory system, not simply the skin. The "intradermal" delusion is also obvious from determinations by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Thoracic Society experts. They published high false positive rates among low risk children "caused by nonspecific reactivity or exposure to non-tuberculous mycobacteria . . ."

Yet, Ms. Gavieres falsely claims, "TST does not . . . cause the production of antibodies in persons who do not have a Tb infection or active Tb disease." How does she suppose the test "response" occurs? She refers to the "lump, swelling, or blister at the site of injection." Obviously, some amount of antigen/antibody complex forms within the blood to yield these reactions that also involve white-blood-cell (lymphocyte and macrophage) infiltration in and around the site of injection/injury. This is a similarity to vaccinations she prefers to ignore. The Tb test might earnestly be considered "medical experimentation" The injection is locally injurious to the extent of the lumping, swelling, or blistering, but similar intradermal injections have been known to cause systemic reactions as documented in immunology. The full measure of systemic side-effects remain unknown. Thus, Tb testing might be reasonably considered "experimentation without fully informed consent." Ms. Gavieres recklessly and irresponsibly omits consideration of CDC's aversion to TST of low risk children. An important question raised by this debate is "Who authorized CDC official Jesse Wing to direct a program in Hawaii that violates official national CDC policy?" In her defense, Dr. Wing proclaims a "11.9/100,000" Tb rate for "Hawaii." Ms. Gavieres reiterates this false assertion when, in fact, public health officials and local epidemiologists acknowledge this rate is heavily skewed exclusively by Oahu, with far lower rates on other islands, including the Big Island. Ms. Gavieres states she "could find no reports that TST seeps beneath the skin to enter the bloodstream." Perhaps, if she had received her degree in medical science rather than liberal arts, she might have conducted a more thorough review of the pertinent scientific immunological literature. To be sure, I conducted a quick "Google Search" on this matter. The search terms "intradermal immune response sensitization" returned 30,700 documents addressing this well-researched phenomenon. This determination alone disqualifies Ms.Gavieres as a source of intelligence in this matter, and critically undermines the Senate Majority Office's credibility in opposing Senator Kokubun's resolution.

Furthermore, Ms. Gavieres falsely claims, "Individuals who have positive TST readings, and even false-positive readings, are not subject to mandatory further treatment. All treatment from that point forward would be subject to the patient's choice of treatment and state informed consent laws." Yet, I have personally interviewed at least a half a dozen individuals, mostly parents, who were not informed of their choice as per Gavieres's allegation. Instead parents were verbally coerced into submitting to chest x-raying and six months of toxic antibiotic therapy. In fact, upon closer examination, this claim is an insult to everyone's intelligence. The test along with Tb negative certification is mandated for school admission according to current statutes. Does Ms. Gavieres seriously believe public health officials and Tb test administrators tell individuals testing positive for Tb that no further treatment is indicated or mandated? Ridiculous! It is just the opposite! She states this later by writing, "The second aspect of prevention consists of treating people with a positive tuberculin skin test who are not yet ill." Absurd allegations continue with her blanket statement, "The risks of serious disease from not vaccinating are far greater than the risks of serious reaction to a vaccination." First, I thought TST was not equivalent to vaccination, according to Ms. Gavieres's earlier statements. Second, no acceptable vaccination for Tb is currently available. Third, I am able to cite numerous vaccination initiatives, even recent ones, that resulted in devastating increases in morbidity and mortality among trusting recipients who would have been better left alone.

The vaccination debate regarding efficacy, cost/benefit, and risk/benefit is altogether a different subject than the one Senator Kokubun is advancing. Ms. Gavieres heralds TST as "one of the best ways to stop it from spreading." What are the other "best ways?" These are omitted as they neglect her biased TST agenda. Ms. Gavieres disregards the efficacy and cost benefit of basic respiratory examinations, medical history taking, and recent advances in electrodermal testing technologies. All of these non-invasive options are religiously acceptable. It is puerile propaganda to claim, as she did, "when U.S. infrastructure for Tb control deteriorated in the 1980s, it caused a resurgence of Tb cases to occur in the 1980s and early 1990s." In fact, increased rates of Tb in the U.S. were universally ascribed to the onset of AIDS and other immunodeficiency disorders during the 1980s. Ironically, their own advice is recklessly neglected by Ms. Gavieres and officials in Hawaii's Tb Control Program. They state, "local public health action should be based on the local pattern of disease." Unfortunately for families with children at low risk for Tb on all islands expect, perhaps, Oahu, this advice is being sorely neglected. Public health officials offer skewed epidemiological data when they omit the low TB incidence rates on islands other than Oahu, and herald the "success" of their program. Their propaganda neglects the "litmus test" for measuring "success" for any public health policy. That is, definitive risk/benefit analyses to assure more people are helped by the program versus harmed. This multifactorial measure must take into consideration parameters beyond current data collection and reporting. Undetermined risks include those from long term antibiotic usage, increased cancer incidence from x-raying many falsely positive children, and psychopathology including phobias and aversion to medical care resulting in higher morbidity and mortality. Thus, to claim the state's TB program is a "success" is misleading at best, and recklessly irresponsible and fraudulent at worst.

In support of the drug cartel, Ms. Gavieres provides frightening global TB statistics courtesy of the Merck Pharmaceutical Company in service to the company's financial interests. "Three million deaths occur due to TB . . . worldwide per year." The statistic is irrelevant to this discussion of Hawaiian religious exemptions, especially without comparative data on iatrogenically-induced illnesses and adverse reactions to drugs prescribed for the prevention and treatment of TB worldwide. Finally, it is altogether deceptive to reassure Senator Kokubun, and other legislators that will vote on his proposal, that "vaccine risks" are being properly communicated according to Hawaii's informed consent statutes. Ms. Gavieres implies that the same proper informed consent is being administered for the TST as well. In fact, Ms. Gavieres neglects to inform anyone that Hawaiian families with school age children are being generally and definitively misinformed. To quote from the Department of Public Health's Tuberculosis Control Program website, their currently circulating literature states, regarding the TST, "A small amount of harmless fluid will be put just under the skin on your arm." For at least two reasons, this statement is false, misleading, and even fraudulent. Firstly, as discussed previously, the TST is not supposed to be injected "under the skin," but "intradermally" (i.e., within the skin). Subdermal injections of Tuberculin Purified Protein Derivative (Mantoux)-Tubersol produced by Connaught Laboratories is considered extremely risky. Secondly, this product is not harmless. It contains phenol and Tween 80 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate), both well established chemical toxins and suspected carcinogens, along with other potentially harmful substances. These additional ingredients include foreign proteins that may trigger allergies and even autoimmune reactions in some persons. Accordingly, the company's literature provides appropriate warnings of the potential side effects of tuberculosis skin testing ignored by Hawaii's test givers. There is a significant percentage of people for whom the tuberculosis skin test would not be a "harmless fluid."

Black's Law Dictionary defines "fraud" as "2. A misrepresentation made recklessly without belief in its truth to induce another person to act." Given this, and the preceding scientific and commercial facts, the behavior of HTCP officials who authorize the circulation of this material, is arguably fraudulent and possibly criminal. Ms. Gavieres's concluding paragraph cites the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act as effective in assuring compliance with state informed consent statutes. In fact, Hawaii's parents should know that the NCVIA is an abysmal failure in its alleged mission to protect children from vaccine-induced injuries. The Act does not address TST, it does not assure compliance with informed consent laws. It best protects pharmaceutical companies from vaccine-injury lawsuits. It has left hundreds-of-thousands of families with vaccine-related injuries and fatalities uncompensated and unrepresented despite approximately $2 billion in justifiable disbursements since its contrivance by pharmaceutical industry lobbyists in 1986.

Dr. Leonard Horowitz is health spa director at the Steam Vent Inn & Health Retreat, in Pahoa. He is the father of three healthy vaccine- free children. Dr. Horowitz, and his bestselling book, Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola--Nature, Accident, or Intentional? is cited by federal health officials as having heavily influenced the vaccine risk awareness movement worldwide.

For more information about the upcoming public form in Pahoa at the Akebono Theater on Thursday night, February 23, 2006, contact R.J. Hampton at 965-5486. For more information about Dr. Horowitz's educational books, tapes, CDs, DVDs and visit: http://tetrahedron.org/

Mandatory tuberculosis tests for students entering school might seem logical to many people.

Not everyone thinks so, however.

A bill introduced by state Sen. Russell S. Kokubun, D-Puna, Ka'u, Volcano, would allow parents to opt their children out of skin tests if it "conflicts with the person's bona fide religious tenets and practices.

Advocates of curbing the state's authority for mandatory immunizations and tests will be presenting their case tonight in Pahoa during a three-hour discussion at the Akebono Theater,. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

Moderating the open-microphone meeting will be the Rev. R.J. Hampton, who operates the Raisin' Cane ministry in Pahoa. Hampton, a minister ordained online by the California-based Universal Life Church, said some spiritual beliefs reject vaccines that are animal based.

"Some people believe that the blood should not be corrupted by an animal spirit, she said.

Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a dentist with a master's degree in public health, also will speak out against mandatory vaccinations. Horowitz believes many vaccines are actually harmful, but that their use is driven by pharmaceutical companies seeking to boost profits.

"The best word for it is 'genocide,' and I'm not being sensations using that word, he said.

Horowitz, who has written several books railing against vaccines, said the state Department of Health has overstepped its bounds by having mandatory skin tests. He also said the department overstates the prevalence of TB in Hawaii.

"I think her are more people who would object to these if they knew the scientific and medical facts (about the vaccines), Horowitz said.

According to Department of Health statistics, Hawaii has a higher rate of TB than any other state. In 2004, there were 116 cases of TB in Hawaii, seven of which were on the Big Island.

The department did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Kokubun's bill also states that TB screening all students is not a cost-effective way to prevent the disease. Testing only children with specific risk factors would be a more effective approach according to the bill.

Kokubun did not return several calls seeking comment on the bill and it is unclear whether he will attend the forum.

State Rep. Helene Hale, D-lower Puna, will attend the discussion, according to her staff.

End

Alan Schnepf can be reached at aschnepf [at the newspaper] hawaiitribune-herald.com

A bill that would allow parents to opt their children out of school tuberculosis testing for religious reasons has been shot down.

State Sen. Russell Kokubun, D-Puna, Ka'u, Volcano, introduced the bill but now says even he would not vote for it.

"It raised many concerns, especially with the (state) Department of Health, he said.

Russell said he had senate attorneys draft the bill "as a courtesy to Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a doctor of medical dentistry with a master's in public health.

Horowitz has written several books that claim vaccines cause more harm than good. State health officials are unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, according to Horowitz, and promote vaccines that should not be used.

State law already allows parents to stop mandatory vaccinations of their children for religious reasons. Kokubun's bill—which he said will die in the Senate Health Committee—would extend that to a skin test for tuberculosis.

Kokubun said introducing the bill was still a productive step, even through he would vote against it.

"You don't draft a bill just because you know it's going to go anywhere, he said. "You draft a bill to get input.

Horowitz on Thursday told an audience at the Akebono Theater in Pahoa, that the skin test also has the potential to harm.

"You're told that—quote—'this is a harmless test,' Horowitz told a crowd of about 40.

Horowitz said that some people can have severe reactions to the test, especially those with eczema. The best way to detect TB, he said, is simply to perform a physical examination [and thorough history].

"What's a stethoscope for? he said Friday. "It's to listen to your lungs.

Dr. Jesse Wing, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doctor who heads Hawaii's TB Control Program, said it's not that simple.

"You can't always pick it up, she said Friday. "You need to have other tools to diagnose it.

Wing said the skin test is not the most efficient means to screen for TB and that the state is looking to cut back the number of people who get tested. Horowitz said testing low-risk groups will produce many time more false positive results than true diagnosis.

Outside the meeting, state Rep. Helene Hale, D-Lower Puna, said she wasn't sure what to make of the contention that vaccines are bad for public health.

"I would support something like that (the bill, she said. "I don't know whether I believe all I heard or not, though.

Hale said it was too late to introduce a House bill this session and that she "probably wouldn't be around for the next.

Regardless, most of the audience was receptive to Horowitz's ideas.

"We've known Dr. Horowitz since we moved here and we support his work, Hale said.

Alan Schnepf can be reached at aschnepf [at the newspaper] hawaiitribune-herald.com

Sen. Russell Kokubun announced Friday he wouldn't vote for his own bill SB 2808, determined by his staff to be vitally, if not urgently, needed to secure the public's health and our children's safety. (TH, "TB bill is out; 2/25/06.) He said he wrote the bill as a "courtesy to me? One might think a letter of thanks for my "input would suffice. Assigning attorneys, senate staff, and medical consultants, at taxpayer expense, to conduct a thorough medical/legal review, and subsequently advancing SB 2808 to save lives and secure religious freedoms, I thought was Sen. Kokubun's civil duty, not his personal political charade.

I naively believed the Senator might be more loyal to his Creator and constituents than to political powers running our TB Control Program amok. In this case our children wishing to enter school are forced into TB skin testing violating international standards of public health policy, the CDC's official recommendations, and the manufacturer's written warnings. If children were assaulted, in broad daylight, civilized persons would object. Yet, here we are, our senators view violators of state and federal laws, and help them assault and intoxicate our youth.

The enlightening well-written article by Alan Schnepf was highly complementary to me. I am, after all, internationally famed for my contributions to public health and consumer advocacy. Arriving on this island nearly five years ago, my first social service was to inform state commissioners and police chiefs why our officers should avoid risky smallpox vaccines. They heeded my counsel, stayed safe, and remained healthy. I was wrong to think Hawaiian senators might, likewise, value the scientific facts and people's lives more than the politics of drug-industry profits.

Senator Kokubun said public health officials' "input caused him to cave on SB 2808. For the record, as part of his early investigation, he requested my assistance to academically respond to a special interest document, littered with lies, prepared in defense of public health officials who have been operating above-the-law in obvious violation of medical/legal standards. So Senator Kokubun knew public health officials would be adamantly opposed to exposing their medical malfeasance and relinquishing their overstepped authority. The bill was none-the-less excellently researched, drafted, and widely supported by voters who learned TB officials in Hawaii were poisoning our children with chemical toxins, valueless carcinogenic chest x-rays, and dangerous long term antibiotics, after experimentally sensitizing their immune systems with allergenic pieces of tuberculosis. The need for SB 2808, and its abandonment by Senator Kokubun, is appalling.

I thank those who wrote SB 2808, our volunteer campaigners, and Rep. Helene Hale who voiced support for the measure. I pray other elected officials will act more wisely in advancing similar legislation to protect the health of our children, secure religious freedoms, and demand honesty and integrity in politics and the Department of Public Health regarding risky practices like TB skin testing and mercury-laden neurologically-impairing vaccinations.

Until Hawaiian legislators stand as heroes, and informed citizens demand respect for their rights, Hawaii's hoodwinked parents and innocent children will continue to be injured.

Very sincerely,

Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz
Award-winning author of 15 books including the national bestseller, Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola—Nature, Accident or Intentional?