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Child expelled for lack of tb test. |
Press Release 9/06/06 |
Press Release 9/8/06 |
Dr. Len Horowitz
Warning: this page is archived from 2006
Update: Posted April 9, 2017 on YouTube:
TB TESTING EXPOSED - DR. LEONARD HOROWITZ
Click Here
Dr. Len Horowitz on TB Testing
Children: Sovereign Spirits or State Properties
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/
Hawaii Tribune Herald.
Hilo, Hawaii
Thursday, February 23, 2006
A Case Against TB Testing
Senate bill would allow some students to skip mandatory requirement
By Alan Schnepf, Tribune-Herald staff writer
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
Hawaii Tribune Herald.
Hilo, Hawaii
Saturday, February 25, 2006
TB bill is out: Even legislator who introduced the bill wouldn't vote for
it.
By Alan Schnepf
Tribune-Herald staff writer
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
February 26, 2006
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
TB Screening Scam
By Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz
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?
Student expelled
Hilo High freshman refuses tuberculosis test; school officials won't allow her to take classes
A Pahoa father says he will go to court before he allows one of his children to have
a tuberculosis test required to stay in Hilo High School.
Alena Horowitz, a 14-year-old freshman at Hilo High School, wasn't shocked when
she was expelled Sept. 1. Administrators had warned her family, after all, that
she needed to undergo the mandatory TB skin test.
Hawaii Tribune Herald no longer archives this story.
Press Releases
September 6, 2006
Tetrahedron Publishing Group
Health Science Communications for People Around the World
206 North 4th Avenue, Suite 147 - Sandpoint, ID 83864
208-265-2575 - FAX: 208-265-2775
NEWS RELEASE
Release: No. TB-08
Date Mailed: Sept 6, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Matthew J. Sherrill-808/965-2112; matthew@lifefoodcuisine.com
Community Protests Health Officials' "Mistakes" in Forcing TB
Skin-Tests Hilo, HI -A student was expelled from school last week due to a
"mistake."
The administrative rules pertaining to religious wavers for TB
skin-testing required by state and federal laws were unclear to the Department
of Public Health official who ordered the illegal dismissal.
Alena Horowitz, a straight "A" high school freshman and "varsity" cross
country runner, certified "TB free" by her medical doctor last spring,
was forced from school by Director of Public Health, Judy Akamini last
week.
According to the student's father, and local attorneys, Akamini broke
state and federal laws by denying the student's religious exemption.
Akamini, who admits she doesn't really understand the confusing laws,
has referred the matter to Attorney General Jill Nagamine, contracted by
the Department of Health to rule on Alena's status.
On Friday, Akamini rejected appeals to keep Alena in school pending
Nagamine's determination. Superintendent Valeri Takata and Hilo High's
Principal, Robert Dircks, attempted to intervene on Alena's behalf.
Akamini declined their appeals saying there were no religious exemptions for
"TB clearance" contrary to the language of the religious exemption law.
By state statute and strict definitions in Hawaii's Administrative
Rules anyone with sincere religious convictions must be given a waiver.
"Medically-legally, the terms 'immunization' and 'TB clearance' are
virtually the same," explained Alena's father, Leonard Horowitz, an
award-winning expert in emerging diseases who holds two post-doctoral
Master's degrees, one from Harvard School of Public Health. "State health
officials need to study their rule book. 'TB clearance' and 'immunization'
are so closely defined they are paired in the same set of laws.
(§302A-1154-1157) Officials have been routinely neglecting this law. I
discussed this with Ms. Akamini who was confused, and I clarified her
mistake. Unfortunately, she and other state health officials have been
unknowingly rejecting appeals illegally, harming those who sought
religious exemptions. Worse than this, they have been conducting a program
that federal CDC officials have downright discouraged. All of this has
been ongoing for nearly a decade."
To get their children into Hawaiian schools, thousands of religious
families were convinced by nurses, physicians, and school administrators
that there was no way of getting around the skin tests. This required
injecting the chemical toxins phenol and polysorbate 80, and germ
proteins including genetic material into the skin with some getting into the
blood. Scientific studies found antibodies circulating throughout the
body, and system-wide white blood cell reactions, resulting from the skin
test. Yet, state officials have claimed the tests are "harmless," even
though CDC officials warned of dangers from this medical malpractice in
low risk populations.
Never intending to undermine religious freedoms, state legislators
unanimously voted to grant health officials absolute authority over the
Department of Education trusting the doctors and nurses knew what they
were doing.
"People are finally waking up to the fact that serious mistakes are
being made. Parents have been falsely informed, school administrators
fooled, religious freedoms violated, and many children unnecessarily
harmed," Dr.
Horowitz said.
Ironically, the bill that gave Akamini the power to rule over education
department chiefs was passed to "make the education laws easier to
understand." The law was drafted in 1996 "to create a state education
policy framework that is less compliance and regulatory oriented and more
supportive to schools becoming student focused."
"What happened in my case?" Alena asked. "I had so much fun in school.
I worked really hard to get straight 'A's, made so many new friends who
I have grown to know and love. I ran nearly a hundred miles; up to 8
miles a day to make the Varsity Cross Country team as a freshman. I want
to go back to school." It has been Alena's choice to abstain from
vaccinations and Tb skin-testing. Her Christian and Jewish parents both
respect Biblical laws.
Leviticus 19:19, for instance, prohibits genetic and chemical
intoxications of the body, especially blood deemed spiritually precious.
"This is the reason religious exemptions from vaccinations and Tb
skin-tests must be honored," insists Alena's mother, Jackie, a corporate
executive and activist.
"If Akamini's belief that TB-skin testing supersedes religious
convictions is accurate, you'd have to throw out the First and Fourteenth
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and legislatively change the state's
exemption code
§302A-1156 to reflect this breach of religious freedom," explained
attorney Gary Zamber. "This problem is going to resolve by an examination
of medical-legal definitions. TB skin testing is a type of immunization
by the clear language of these statutes. Health officials' also have
certain definitions of these words that support the previous legislation,
as well as growing scientific evidence, but they haven't integrated
this knowledge."
State Senator Russell Kokubun (D-Puna) advanced a related bill last
session based on Horowitz's urging to end this confusion. The
clarification was abandoned in health and education committees following health
officials'
appeals. The health department convinced Kokubun to leave the status
quo intact. Officials were concerned that if the religious exemption
language was clarified, and these freedoms publicized, more people would
refuse vaccinations as well as TB tests.
"This is Dark Ages medicine mentality," Dr. Horowitz said. "Not long
ago doctors wrote prescriptions in Latin so their patients would remain
ignorant."
"There is adequate scientific evidence to prove systemic antibody
production in response to the local skin test," attorney Zamber said. "These
findings support the clear wording in the current law that most lawyers
can understand, yet health officials might easily misinterpret."
Hilo attorney Zamber was spearheading a state-wide campaign to clarify
the religious exemption statute when Alena's illegal dismissal
occurred.
"Alena is more than a model student," Zamber said. "In this case she is
a community leader helping all of us clarify what's needed to do the
right thing."
"I now have a lot of free time to spend on this," Alena said. "My
friends and I are planning marches, demonstrations, petitions,
letter-writing campaigns, and a website for people to get educated on personal
health, religious freedoms, and civil rights."
For those who wish to get involved, join Alena and friends on Friday,
September 8, at 1:30PM at the gates of Hilo High School, and at 3:00PM
at the Department of Public Health on 75 Aupuni St. Several speakers and
political candidates will be on hand to address this and other related
issues.
-end -
Note to journalists: For interviews on this topic, or copies of the
petition, contact Alena and Dr. or Mrs. Horowitz at 808-965-2112.
To
contact Judy Akamini call 808-974-6025.
Attorney Zambur's number is
808-962-0025.
Permission to circulate and reprint this article is granted by
Tetrahedron Publishing Group,
206N. 4th Avenue, Suite 147,
Sandpoint, ID 83864,
http://www.tetrahedron.org
Visit Alena's web page at:
http://www.myspace.com/health_freedom_hawaii
September 8, 2006
Statement to the Press, Hilo, HI, September 8, 2006
Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M. D., M.A., M.P.H.
Tetrahedron Publishing Group
Health Science Communications for People
Around the World
206 North 4th Avenue, Suite 147 ۰
Sandpoint, ID 83864 ۰
208-265-2575 ۰
FAX: 208-265-2775
NEWS RELEASE Release:
No. TB-09 Date Mailed: Sept 8, 2006 For Immediate Release
Contact: Matthew
J. Sherrill-808/965-2112; matthew@lifefoodcuisine.com
State Attorneys to Battle TB-testing Protesters in Court Hilo, HI -An Attorney General for Hawaii's heath department has been ordered to defend against a public health authority who is protesting the State's forced TB-skin testing of religious people.
Attorney General Blair Goto will represent the Department of Health against Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz, according to court papers to be filed next week. The doctor is an internationally renowned award-winning author whose daughter, a 14 year-old Hilo High School freshman, was forced to leave school last Friday for failing to get a TB-skin test.
Alena Horowitz, a straight "A" student and member of the school's "varsity" cross country team,
sought her religious exemption from the test as is her right under the current law (§302A-1156). Officials are denying her legal exemption saying the law provides no mention of the test.
Confusion arose nearly a decade ago when health officials failed to read their own Department of Health Revised Statutes.* This law established that, "No child shall be subjected to medical examination, vaccination, revaccination, or immunization, whose parent or guardian objects in writing thereto on grounds that the requirements are not in accordance with the religious tenets of an established church of which the parent or guardian is a member or adherent. . . ."
The law goes on to state that during a declared epidemic a religious child may be forced to leave school or quarantined, but only when a vaccine is recommended for the exempted condition. In the case of TB, the BCG vaccine has been discouraged from use due to its risks and inefficacy.
The risk of TB infection in Hawaii is far below what State officials require to declare an epidemic, but the health department has issued press releases that feature Hawaii's rate among nation's worst.
"Persuasion graphics and spin-doctoring helps officials get funding for programs," Dr. Horowitz said.
"Hawaii's 'Tuberculosis Control Program" is a classic example. According to CDC publications, Hawaii's Department of
Public Health is breaching standards of care and misallocating resources for skin-testing 'low risk' children."
The State's TB case rate varies from low on metropolitan Oahu (approximately 12 cases/100,000) to very low on the Big Island (3-9 cases per 100,000). All states with similar rates honor religious exemptions. These include Washington, D.C., California, Texas and Maryland. Hawaii may be the only state in the America violating this fundamental right to religious freedom.
Dr. Horowitz began to study this problem of health department wrongdoing in 2002 when two of his children were refused admission to local Christian and Waldorf schools. He determined that health officials were overstepping their legal authority.
"In 1996," Dr. Horowitz explains, "local legislators passed bill 302A-1154-1157 pertaining to school "IMMUNIZATION" and "TB Clearance" to reduce burgeoning bureaucracy and give students more personal attention. Somehow this term "TB Clearance" was introduced into this law. No one seems to know where it came from. The word/phrase is nowhere to be found in legal
or medical dictionaries, or even in health department administrator's rules."
According to Dr.Horowitz, an overzealous health official came up with the idea that "TB Clearance" is different from "IMMUNIZATION" even though they are paired in 302A-1154. Both prompt a system-wide immunological antibody response.
Officials forcefully established a policy that breaks the State's religious exemption statutes. This set a precedent that nearly everyone has mindlessly followed. "This abuse of power continues today," Dr. Horowitz said.
Health officials are breaching religious freedoms, civil rights, medical and public health standards, State laws, and Constitutional guarantees for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness according to the lawsuit in Hilo's Third Circuit Court. The complaint will be filed by Hilo attorneys Gary Zamber and John Carroll who will urgently seek an injunction to return Alena to school and her athletic training.
"A number of important and fundamental rights are central to this suit, including rights to privacy, bodily sovereignty, and a child's education. The law is very clear that parents and students maintain religious freedom and shall not be subjected to unwanted medical examinations or immunizations. TB skin testing is clearly a form of medical examination
featuring the fundamental mechanisms of immunization. Alena has a strong likelihood of success based on the merits of this case."
"This provides a great opportunity for all the citizens to become informed about their legal rights to medical and religious exemptions," Zamber added. "If anyone were to reach a contrary result, it would mean that your body is a piece of property owned by the government, which cannot be the case if natural persons have inalienable rights."
Opposing Attorney's for the State were not able to explain the total basis for their defense. They simply told Zamber that health officials do not consider TB skin-testing either a "medical examination" or "immunization," and that their defense will follow receipt of the complaint.
* (Vol. 6, 1993; Vol 6 Cumulative Supplement 2005; Reg. 321-11.5)
-end -
Note to journalists: For interviews on this topic, or copies of the petition, contact Alena and Dr. or Mrs. Horowitz at 808-965-2112. To contact the public health nurse who ordered Alena from school,
contact Judy Akamini call 808-974-6025. Attorney Zamber's number is 808-962-0025.
Permission to circulate and reprint this article is granted by
Tetrahedron Publishing Group,
206N. 4th Avenue, Suite 147,
Sandpoint, ID 83864,
http://www.tetrahedron.org
Web manager's Note, FAX number below is is for department where Judy Akamimi works:
http://www.hawaii.gov/health/about/doh-info.html
State of Hawaii
Department of Health
District Health Office
P.O. Box 916
Hilo, HI 96720
Karleen Yoshioka
District Health Officer
Phone (808) 974-6006
Fax (808) 974-6000
Information about Dr. Len Horowitz
Read more at: http://www.drlenhorowitz.com/
For more than two decades, Dr. Len Horowitz (a.k.a., Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D., M.A., M.P.H.) has
earned the reputation of
being - "The 'King David of Natural Healing' vs. The Goliath of 'Slash, Burn, and Poison Medicine.'"