Gandhiji exposes the small pox vaccine
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES: SMALL-POX
(from the book, A Guide to Health by M K Gandhi)
Now we will proceed to deal with the
treatment of contagious diseases. They have a common origin, but, since
small-pox is by far the most important of them, we will give a separate chapter
to it, dealing with the rest in another chapter. We are all terribly afraid of
the small-pox, and have very crude notions about it. We in India even worship
it as a deity. In fact it is caused, just like other diseases, by the blood
getting impure owing to some disorder of the bowels; and the poison that accumulates
in the system is expelled in the form of small-pox. If this view is correct,
then there is absolutely no need to be afraid of small-pox.
If it were really a
contagious disease, everyone should catch it by merely touching the patient;
but this is not always the case. Hence there is really no harm in touching the
patient, provided we take some essential precautions in doing so. We cannot, of
course, assert that small-pox is never transmitted by touch, for those that are
physically in a condition favourable to its transmission will catch it. This is
why, in a locality where small-pox has appeared, many people are found attacked
by it at the same time. This has given rise to the superstition that it is a
contagious disease, and hence to the attempt to mislead the people into the
belief that vaccination is an effective means of preventing it.
The process of
vaccination consists in injecting into the skin the liquid that is obtained by
applying the discharge from the body of a small-pox patient to the udder of a
cow. The original theory was that a single vaccination would suffice to keep a
man immune from this disease for life; but, when it was found that even
vaccinated persons were attacked by the disease, a new theory came into being
that the vaccination should be renewed after a certain period, and to-day it
has become the rule for all persons—whether already vaccinated or not—to get
themselves vaccinated whenever small-pox rages as an epidemic in any locality,
so that it is no uncommon thing to come across people who have been vaccinated
five or six times, or even more.
Vaccination is a barbarous practice,
and it is one of the most fatal of all the delusions current in our time, not
to be found even among the so-called savage races of the world. Its supporters
are not content with its adoption by those who have no objection to it, but
seek to impose it with the aid of penal laws and rigorous punishments on all
people alike.
The practice of vaccination is not very old, dating as it does
only from 1798 A.D. (In India) But, during this comparatively
short period that has elapsed, millions have fallen a prey to the delusion that
those who get themselves vaccinated are safe from the attack of small-pox. No
one can say that small-pox will necessarily attack those who have not been
vaccinated; for many cases have been observed of unvaccinated people being free
from its attack. From the fact that some people who are not vaccinated do get
the disease, we cannot, of course, conclude that they would have been immune if
only they had got themselves vaccinated.
Moreover, vaccination is a very dirty
process, for the serum which is introduced into the human body includes not
only that of the cow, but also of the actual small-pox patient. An average man
would even vomit at the mere sight of this stuff. If the hand happens to touch
it, it is always washed with soap. The mere suggestion of tasting it fills us
with indignation and disgust. But how few of those who get themselves
vaccinated realise that they are in effect eating this filthy stuff!
Most
people know that, in several diseases, medicines and liquid food are injected
into the blood, and that they are assimilated into the system more rapidly than
if they were taken through the mouth. The only difference, in fact, between
injection and the ordinary process of eating through the mouth is that the
assimilation in the former case is instantaneous, while that in the latter is
slow. And yet we do not shrink from getting ourselves vaccinated! As has been
well said, cowards die a living death, and our craze for vaccination is solely
due to the fear of death or disfigurement by small-pox.
I cannot also help feeling that
vaccination is a violation of the dictates of religion and morality. The
drinking of the blood of even dead animals is looked upon with horror even by
habitual meat-eaters. Yet, what is vaccination but the taking in of the
poisoned blood of an innocent living animal? Better far were it for God-fearing
men that they should a thousand times become the victims of small-pox and even
die a terrible death than that they should be guilty of such an act of
sacrilege.
Several of the most thoughtful men in
England have laboriously investigated the manifold evils of vaccination, and an
Anti-Vaccination Society has also been formed there. The members of this
society have declared open war against vaccination, and many have even gone to goal
for this cause. Their objections to vaccination are briefly as follows:
(1) The preparation of the vaccine
from the udder of cows or calves entails untold suffering on thousands of
innocent creatures, and this cannot possibly be justified by any gains
resulting from vaccination.
(2) Vaccination, instead of doing
good, works considerable mischief by giving rise to many new diseases. Even its
advocates cannot deny that, after its introduction, many new diseases have come
into being.
(3) The vaccine that is prepared from
the blood of a small-pox patient is likely to contain and transmit the germs of
all the several diseases that he may be suffering from.
(4) There is no guarantee that
small-pox will not attack the vaccinated. Dr. Jenner, the inventor of
vaccination, originally supposed that perfect immunity could be secured by a
single injection on a single arm; but when it was found to fail, it was
asserted that vaccination on both the arms would serve the purpose; and when
even this proved ineffectual, it came to be held that both the arms should be
vaccinated at more than one place, and that it should also be renewed once in seven
years. Finally, the period of immunity has further been reduced to three years!
All this clearly shows that doctors themselves have no definite views on the
matter. The truth is, as we have already said, that there is no saying that
small-pox will not attack the vaccinated, or that all cases of immunity must
needs be due to vaccination.
(5) The vaccine is a filthy substance,
and it is foolish to expect that one kind of filth can be removed by another.
By these and similar arguments, this
society has already produced a large volume of public opinion against
vaccination. In a certain town, for instance, a large proportion of the people
refuse to be vaccinated, and yet statistics prove that they are singularly free
from disease. The fact of the matter is that it is only the self-interest of
doctors that stands in the way of the abolition of this inhuman practice, for
the fear of losing the large incomes that they at present derive from this
source blinds them to the countless evils which it brings. There are, however,
a few doctors who recognise these evils, and who are determined opponents of
vaccination.
Those who are conscientious objectors
to vaccination should, of course, have the courage to face all penalties or
persecutions to which they may be subjected by law, and stand alone, if need
be, against the whole world, in defense of their conviction. Those who object
to it merely on the grounds of health should acquire a complete mastery of the
subject, and should be able to convince others of the correctness of their
views, and convert them into adopting those views in practice. But those who
have neither definite views on the subject nor courage enough to stand up for
their convictions should no doubt obey the laws of the state, and shape their conduct
in deference to the opinions and practices of the world around them.
Those who object to vaccination should
observe all the more strictly the laws of health already explained; for the
strict observance of these laws ensures in the system those vital forces which
counteract all disease germs, and is, therefore, the best protection against
small-pox as well as other diseases. If, while objecting to the introduction of
the poisonous vaccine into the system, they surrendered themselves to the still
more fatal poison of sensuality, they would undoubtedly forfeit their right to
ask the world to accept their views on the matter.
When small-pox has actually appeared,
the best treatment is the “Wet-Sheet-Pack”, which should be applied three times
a day. It relieves the fever, and the sores heal rapidly. There is no need at
all to apply oils or ointments on the sores. If possible, a mud-poultice should
be applied in one or two places. The diet should consist of rice, and light
fresh fruits, all rich fruits like date and almond being avoided. Normally the
sores should begin to heal under the “Wet-Sheet-Pack” in less than a week; if
they do not, it means that the poison in the system has not been completely
expelled. Instead of looking upon small-pox as a terrible disease, we should
regard it as one of Nature’s best expedients for getting rid of the accumulated
poison in the body, and the restoration of normal health.
After an attack of small-pox, the
patient remains weak for sometime, and in some cases even suffers from other
ailments. But this is due not to the small-pox itself; but to the wrong
remedies employed to cure it. Thus, the use of quinine in fever often results
in deafness, and even leads to the extreme form of it known as “quininism”. So
too, the employment of mercury in venereal diseases leads to many new forms of
disease. Then again, too frequent use of purgatives in constipation brings on
ailments like the piles. The only sound system of treatment is that which
attempts to remove the root-causes of disease by a strict observance of the
fundamental laws of health. Even the costly Bhasmas which are supposed
to be unfailing remedies for such diseases are in effect highly injurious; for,
although they may seem to do some good, they excite the evil passions, and
ultimately ruin the health.
After the vesicles on the body have
given place to scabs, olive oil should be constantly applied, and the patient
bathed every day. Then the scabs rapidly fall off, and even the pocks soon
disappear, the skin recovering its normal colour and freshness.
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