Deadly disease a "good thing" for kids, author claims

[KamaAina]

If your local bookstore doesn't have an "anti-vax woo" section, there's always Amazon...

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/measles-can-be-fatal-so-why-would-you-tell-kids-it-will-make-them-stronger/story-fneuz9ev-1226549028390

A BOOK promoting the "marvellous" health benefits of potentially fatal measles should be taken off the shelves, doctors say.

Melanie's Marvelous Measles is an anti-vaccination book aimed at children. It claims – despite evidence that measles can kill and cause brain damage – that it's a "good thing" to have.

The Australian Medical Association said the suggestion was wrong and misleading and that publishers "should be ashamed of themselves".

On the cover of the book ‘Melanie' is happily playing in the garden and showing off a rash on her belly. In the story, she is home with measles and her friend Tina is worried – but her mother reassures her.

[Butterbean]

1. Are you even KIDDING me right now???!!!?? SMDH. Wow.

Holy eff.

[KamaAina]

2. 'Fraid not.

I'm good, but I'm not THAT good.

[Warpy]

3. How the hell did that stupid woman find a publisher?

Damn! Talk about your basic confederacy of dunces!

Thank goodness this isn't a particularly crunchy granola part of the country any more. People get their kids vaccinated around here.

I say that because measles almost killed me when I was six. There was nothing marvelous about them and it took me years to recover.

I also don't develop positive antibody titers to the vaccine or have them from the disease, so every one of those unvaccinated kids is a loaded gun pointing right at me.

[joeybee12]

4. Ann Coulter always finds a publisher...nt

[KamaAina]

6. She couldn't find one Down Under

so she had to come here.

The book's author is Queensland-based natural health activist Stephanie Messenger who was self-published until recently. Her first edition sold out and now an American publisher is selling the book through online sites including Angus and Robertson and Bookworld (formerly Borders).

[Kalidurga]

5. I am all for natural remedies when ever possible...

But, this is extreme and it is stupid. We can't cure everything with a bowl of oatmeal and fresh fruits and vegetables. Some things we have to leave to science and doctors.

[Iris]

7. Interesting how much influence Jenny McCarthy has had....

with her "University of Google" education.

[KamaAina]

9. Alas, this appears to have arisen independently

the author is in Australia, and if autism is mentioned as a consequence of the Evil Shot, that was uncharacteristically downplayed in the article.

[kiva]

8. I like the last comment to the story:

"from the author of "See Dick Run With Scissors" Look for the next book in this series. This one is for teens: "Gabby's Glorious Gonorrhea"

[Odin2005]

10. *FACEPLAM*