LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1886, 21 October 1913, Page 9

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE NATIONAL ANTI-VACCINA-TION LEAGUE. .. nm directed by tlio Counoil of tuo National Anti-Vacciimtion League to request, you to allow mo to put before J our readers tho following lacts concorning smallpox and vaccination, with epecijil reforenco to tho rccont "scaro" 3u Sydney and othor parts of Australasia. IVrom newspapers and lottors received by our leaguo, wo find that tlio authorities did not diagnoso tlio first cases of the eruptive disease which occurred in Sydney last April as smallpox, bub njlowod them to to treated as othor diseases until Juuo, by which tiino, by tho way, only somo 80 casos had occurred. Seeing that Sydney was' almost n totally un vaccinated town, surely if this disease had really beon smallpox, and if smallpox is really tho contagious diseaso iu the unvaccinated it has been represented by. tlio medical profossion to bo, it would liave spread with greater • rapidity. Even after the panic started, and ovor 400 cases wero reported by tlio beginning of August,' there wero still no deaths. Why was this? Tho doctors say that smallpox in tho unvaccinated is a terribly fatal complaint. If the Sydney eases wero unvaccinated why was tho diseaso so mild, and if they wero vaccinatod, why' did • smallpox go about picking out tho small minority of vaccinated porsons ' for .attack P In any caso, why was this awful scare worked up ? Why did tho gonoral ' public allow "ihcmsolyos to bo so frightened that thoy rushed in thousands to bo vaccinated, whereby hundreds suffered far worse than 'thoso who woro down with tho alleged smallpox? Even tho stauuehost advocates of the operation have had-to admit that in numbers of cases in Australia' and Now Zealand tho results havo been very severo, whereas tho smallpox cases have been of the mildest typ<!. , , Has not tho timo como for a. calm, dispassionate consideration of tho facts ? Onithe ono side we have a very mild disease causing no loss .of life, not a groat deal of suffering, arid in a number of casos no inconvenionco at all. It may or may not havo been smallpox, but in any caso it spread chiefly in tho poorer aud more overcrowded districts of Sydney. Tho- cases numbered 400 in about four months. On tho othor liand, over 300,000 persons in New South Wales, and thousands in other parts of Australasia submitted to vaccination during a period of about six weoks. - Tho great majority of tlieso were really ill for several days, and a largo number suffered excruciating pain and wero incapacitated for several days. lu'at least threo cases it is believed that death resulted. In addition to this personal suffering, tho trade at Syduoy was brought to a standstill, travellers were subjected to all sorts or annoyanco and discomforts, private arrangements for visits, etc., wero interfered with, , nnd in every direction thero was discomfort, Ioss ; and suffering. Was thero at any time any real, causo for what took placo? ■ Aro not tlio official doctors greatly to blame ■ for workjng up this panic? Other diseases ard far worso jn Australia than smallpox. Scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria, all tako a largo toll of human lives every year, but nothing is said. Is this because thero is iio saleable inooulation for theso diseases, which' can bo imposed on the liealthy? It pays tho doctors to create a smallpox panic, and they havo reaped their reward now, but will not tho public bo on their guard in futuro, and refuse to bo frightened or coerced into undergoing this blood-poisoning operation, which may lirtvc'such dangerous consequences ? Will they not examine the facts for themselves and seo that tho doctors aro, in ■ this * matter"blind leaders of tho blind"?' Surely thoy h'ave "by this timo learned tho tremendous folly ,of giving powor over tho bodies! of-the' peoplo-into the . hands of tho medical profession.. If tlioy. havo grasped that danger, this sad affair will not havo beon in vain.—l am, etc., L. LOOT, Secretary, the National Anti-Vaccina-tion Leaguo. ,27. Southampton Street, Strand, London, W.O. , ■ September 10, 1913;