Editor’s note: This is the first column in a series by Lillian Quinones, president of the Guardians for Life group at St. Ambrose Academy in Madison. The column will profile professionals who inspire us through their courageous witness to their Catholic identity as defenders of life.
As a young Catholic, I look for examples of successful scientists who witness to their Catholic faith, because in modern society, they are heroes.
Dr. Theresa Deisher, whose expertise is adult stem cell research, is a stellar example of a conscientious Catholic who is impacting lives by her work. Enjoy our first Guardians for Life interview!
A scientist’s reconciliation to the Catholic faith
“I grew up Catholic, but it was partly my interest in science that drew me away from the faith. Shortly out of high school I had a scientific experience that made me completely reject my faith. I think we were not well catechized in the basic tenants of the Catholic faith.
“As scientists, I think we have trouble embracing faith because there are mysteries to faith and there are things that we have to understand without knowing and scientists want to know.
“Actually it was becoming involved in the stem cell area that led me back to my faith. [I] realized that our faith actually translates into science as it is based on sound and natural morals.”
Research on vaccines reveals concerns
“In 1996, I became aware of the introduction of the use of fresh aborted fetuses for drug discovery. Today, the use of electively aborted fetal cells has become a routine method for producing human vaccines. Not only is this practice morally problematic, but I had immediate concerns about how this would affect the health of the vaccinated child. This is not something that has been examined, studied, or considered by any group prior to our research at Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute.
“Let me illustrate this with the chicken pox vaccine, which is produced using aborted fetal cell lines. Merck, the manufacturer of this vaccine, has reported contaminants in these vaccines are at very high levels, actually over 200 times higher than the maximum recommended guidelines by the FDA.
“The reason this is a problem is because the contaminants are human, and primitive fetal as well. See, if you have contaminants from a chicken cell line which can be used to make vaccines, these contaminants are foreign to our bodies, and our immune system rejects them. In contrast, if we have contaminants from an aborted human cell line, our body does not necessarily recognize those as foreign and reject them.”
Related to autism epidemic
“Since they might not be recognized and rejected as foreign, the contaminants have the potential to interfere with normal gene function. We are concerned that the introduction of these aborted fetal cell vaccines is related to the worldwide autism disorder epidemic that we face today.
“Autism is a terribly controversial issue and vaccines have been suspected to be an environmental trigger for autism since about 1988. Evidence was supplied when the new MMR2 vaccine was introduced into the U.K. and they noticed an almost immediate rise in autism. Unfortunately, this research became heavily politicized and controversial.
“At Sound Choice, we looked and saw that the first aborted fetal cell vaccines were introduced to the U.S. between 1979 and 1983, and autism began to rise immediately after that. Scientists had already noticed that the same vaccine was introduced to the U.K. a decade later in 1988 and they saw the same thing: autism rose. Those independent associations make one suspicious about what the link between aborted fetal vaccines and autism might be.
“However, not being in the commercial biotech area, most people are not even aware that aborted fetal DNA and human retroviruses contaminate the vaccines. You can look at autism incidents in the U.S., in the U.K., Denmark, and other countries and look at changes in the slope over time and identify what are called change points; maybe autism is steady for four decades and then it starts to rise and you can statistically identify that year as a change point.
“A 2010 publication from the Environmental Protection Agency looks at autism incidence and identified change points in those increased trends. A change point in 1988 was identified in the U.S., Denmark, and worldwide. When we do internal analysis on the same data, we also see 1988 as a change point, and additionally we see an earlier change point between 1980 and 1981 and a later change point in 1995. And the only environmental change that one can associate with all of those change points is the introduction of aborted fetal DNA contaminants in our vaccines.
“In 1979, the first vaccines using aborted fetal cells were approved, in 1988 we introduced a second dose of MMRII into our vaccination schedule and had a successful compliance campaign (so now children are getting two times the contaminating DNA), and in 1995, the third change point, chicken pox, was introduced with the highest level of aborted fetal contaminants.”
For more information on Dr. Deisher’s research, visit the site www.soundchoice.org
What can I do, Dr. Deisher?
“We actually have formed a biotech company called AVM Biotechnology, whose mission is to provide moral vaccines.
“We would ask you to make your objections known to your pediatricians for the vaccines MMR II, Hepatitis A, and Chicken Pox, which you don’t currently have alternatives for.
“Write to your legislators. We don’t have to accept this. If we all just said ‘no, thank you’ to aborted fetal vaccines, we would have alternatives for most of the vaccines within 12 months. It is as simple as that.”