"Are you avoiding milk, cheese and butter too, since these are loaded with animal estrogens?" 

      And I these people have always told me some version of this:

"No, my doctor said that those are fine for me to eat."

     This never made any sense to me -- as mother's milk (and this is true for milk from all mammal mothers -- cows, people, dogs etc.) is actually a hormone-delivery system made by nature to enable a nursing mother to deliver dozens of hormones (not just estrogen, but many others too including cortisol, testosterone and IGF-1) to her baby that stimulate growth -- and the exact percentage of each each of these hormones, as well as the amounts of protein, and fat in mother's milk, is quite different for each species, depending upon how quickly the infants are intended to double their birth weight.  Cow's milk for example is designed to put 200-300 lbs on a calf in just six months.

     Well just recently someone else I know told me that they are avoiding flax seeds because of concern about cancer -- and again when I asked, I found out that they are still consuming animal products and specifically mentioned butter, which they are not at all concerned about the actual animal estrogen that is present in butter.
     Thinking about this, I became curious about how the amounts of phytoestrogens in flax seeds compared to the amounts of actual animal estrogen in butter, and so I reached out Brenda Davis, a dietician who is known around the world, as the author of about a dozen books addressing  plant-based nutrition.  You may recognize some of them:

.

Phytoestrogen Content in Plant-Based Foods:
Food Item     Phytoestrogen Content (mg/100g)
Flaxseed                380
Soybeans               104
Tofu                          27
Tempeh                   18
Miso                        11
Note: Flaxseeds are particularly rich in lignans, a type of phytoestrogen. Healthline+1Wikipedia+1

Estrogen Content in Animal-Based Foods:

Food Item          Estrogen Content (pg/g)
Butter                          539
Gouda Cheese           170
Whole Milk                  33.7
Note: These values represent picograms of estrogen per gram of food. ScienceDirect

Understanding the Measurements:

• Phytoestrogens are plant-derived compounds that can mimic estrogen but generally have much weaker effects.
• Estrogens in animal products are actual hormones that can interact directly with human estrogen receptors.

Contextualizing the Values:

• Flaxseed: Contains approximately 380 mg of phytoestrogens per 100g, primarily lignans.Mount Sinai Health System+4Healthline+4PurpleCarrot Nutrition+4
• Butter: Contains about 539 picograms (pg) of estrogen per gram.ScienceDirect+1PubMed+1

Conversion for Comparison:
1 milligram (mg) = 1,000,000 picograms (pg)
Therefore, 380 mg (phytoestrogens in flaxseed) = 380,000,000 pg

Implications:
While flaxseed has a high phytoestrogen content, these compounds are structurally different from the estrogens found in animal products like butter and cheese. Phytoestrogens tend to have weaker effects on estrogen receptors and can sometimes act as anti-estrogens, potentially offering protective benefits against certain cancers. In contrast, the estrogens in animal products are bioidentical to human estrogens and may have more direct hormonal effects.
Understanding the differences in estrogenic compounds between plant-based and animal-based foods is crucial. While both contain compounds that can interact with estrogen receptors, their sources, structures, and potencies vary significantly, and plant estrogens tend to be protective. 

So then I did some calculations with the numbers that Brenda provided:

1TBS of flax weighs 9 gms, and dividing the number you gave me (for 100 gms) by 100, I get 3,800 pg in each gram, and 1 TBS of butter weighs 14 grams, and at 539 pg/g that's 7,506 pg of estrogen:

1 TBS of flax seeds has 34,200 pg of phytoestrogen.
                          vs
1 TBS of butter has 7,506 pg of estrogen

And here is what Brenda had to say about that comparison:

The key factor here isn't just the quantity of estrogenic compounds, but rather their biological activity and how they interact with the body’s hormone system.
1. Potency Matters: Weak vs. Strong Estrogens

• Animal estrogens (like estradiol found in butter and dairy) are bioidentical to human estrogens, meaning they directly bind to estrogen receptors and exert a strong hormonal effect. Even at lower concentrations, they can significantly influence hormonal balance and have been linked to increased risks of hormone-sensitive cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer (Ganmaa & Sato, 2005).
• Phytoestrogens from flax and soy, on the other hand, are structurally different and have much weaker estrogenic activity—often 100–1,000 times weaker than human or animal estrogens. In many cases, they can act as estrogen blockers, reducing the impact of stronger estrogens in the body (Adlercreutz, 2002).

2. Affinity for Estrogen Receptors: Blocking vs. Activating

• Animal estrogens activate estrogen receptors strongly, directly contributing to hormonal activity.
• Phytoestrogens, especially lignans from flax, tend to bind preferentially to estrogen receptor beta (ER-β), which has an anti-proliferative effect—potentially reducing cancer risk rather than increasing it (Kuiper et al., 1998).

3. Metabolism & Bioavailability: How Much Actually Affects the Body?

• Dairy estrogens are absorbed efficiently and enter circulation in their active form, exerting a direct hormonal impact.
• Phytoestrogens require metabolic conversion, and the extent of their effect depends on gut microbiota composition and individual metabolism (Setchell et al., 1984). Some individuals convert them into equol, a metabolite that has a beneficial, mild estrogen-modulating effect.

4. Epidemiological Evidence: What Does the Research Show?

• High dairy consumption is associated with increased risks of hormone-sensitive cancers, particularly breast and prostate cancer, due to its estrogen content (Ganmaa et al., 2002).
• Flax and soy intake, despite their high phytoestrogen content, are linked to lower rates of these cancers, suggesting a protective rather than harmful effect (Messina, 2016).

5. Contextualizing the Argument -- it's understandable that, at first glance, the numbers might seem surprising. However, when we consider:

• The potency difference (animal estrogens are much stronger)
• The receptor binding differences (phytoestrogens can block stronger estrogens)
• The epidemiological data (phytoestrogens tend to be protective, not harmful)

…it becomes clearer that flax is not just "estrogenic" in the same way as dairy but actually plays a regulatory role that may help balance hormone levels.
Instead of just comparing absolute amounts, a better question is:"Which source of estrogenic compounds is more likely to raise estrogen levels in the body and contribute to hormone-related conditions?"
Dairy estrogens: Strong activators, increase estrogen exposure → Potentially harmful
Flax phytoestrogens: Weak, can block stronger estrogens → Potentially protective
Thus, avoiding flax due to concerns about estrogen while continuing dairy consumption is biologically inconsistent with what we know about how these compounds function.

A big THANK YOU to Brenda for doing all this research for me!  And if you'd like to know more about Brenda Davis or her work, you can visit her website, or check out this wonderful interview with her that Vegan Linked did:

My friend Nina emailed me one day asking if I had seen any of the buzz on the internet about making bread rolls from red lentils, and telling me that she had been making them and really liked them. 

She sent me a couple of videos showing different recipes for them -- and that's all it took, I was off and playing around with this entirely new idea.

I have now come up with two different versions of my own that I really like.  The first is the simplest and it is just a very plain lentil roll.  Following this recipe, I will post (in a separate post below this one) my "Chedda" Biscuit version.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
 2 cups red lentils (picked over, rinsed, then soaked in water for 3 hours)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup psyllium powder (use powder not whole husks)
1 TBS onion powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup water
1 TBS raisins
1/4 cup lemon juice


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. F and place either a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper onto a cookie tray and set aside.
2. Place the flax seed, psyllium powder, onion powder, and baking soda into large bowl and mix well with a wire whisk or fork, and set aside
   
3. Place the water, raisins and lemon juice into a powerful blender and blend on high for about a minute until raisins are completely broken into tiny bits you can't see.
   
4. Fill a separate bowl with about 2 cups of tap water and set it on the counter near where the prepared cookie tray is -- you will use it to dip your hands into before forming each roll so they don't stick to your hands.
5. Thoroughly drain the lentils in a strainer and add them to the blender, with the lemon juice and blend on high for a couple of minutes until creamy, then pour this mix into the bowl of dry ingredients and quickly mix with a spatula just enough so there is nothing dry left.
6. Working quickly, dip your hands into the water and then use the spatula to grab about 2-3 TBS of the lentil "dough" and place it into your wet hands -- toss it back and forth rolling it into a ball and then set it onto the tray.  Wet your hands and repeat this until you have used up all the batter, leaving about 1 inch of room between the rolls.
   
7.  Pop the tray into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes just until they begin to brown.  Let them cool before slicing and they will firm up inside.

The red book came out first and it was like finding a secret door in my house that I never noticed before, but which opened into a vast and exciting new world.  I loved every recipe of hers, and many of them and the recipes in her updated edition (the blue book) are still staples when I make meals or entertain.

So when I started making bread rolls using soaked red lentils one of the first things I wanted to do was to see if I could use this approach to make rolls like Stepaniak's Chedda Biscuits (page 114 in the red book) and here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:
2 cups of red lentils picked over, rinsed and soaked for 3 hours
5 TBS psyllium powder (not unground husks!)
5 TBS nutritional yeast
1 TBS onion powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp ground yellow mustard powder
1/2 cup soymilk (I use Edensoy unsweetened)
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper -- pressed tight to measure
3 TBS lemon juice


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. F and place either a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper onto a cookie tray and set aside.
2. Place the psyllium powder, nutritional yeast, onion powder, baking soda, garlic powder, garlic, mustard and salt (if using) into a large bowl and mix well with a wire whisk or fork, and set aside
3. Place the soymilk, peppers and lemon juice into a powerful blender and blend on high for about a minute until peppers are entirely blended into the milk.
4. Fill a separate bowl with about 2 cups of tap water and set it on the counter near where the prepared cookie tray is -- you will use it to dip your hands into before forming each roll so they don't stick to your hands.
5. Thoroughly drain the lentils in a strainer and add them to the blender, with and blend on high for a couple of minutes until creamy, then pour this mix into the bowl of dry ingredients and quickly mix with a spatula just enough so there is nothing dry left.
6. Working quickly, dip your hands into the water and then use the spatula to grab about 2-3 TBS (depending upon how big you'd like your rolls to be) of the lentil "dough" and place it into your wet hands -- toss it back and forth rolling it into a ball and then set it onto the tray.  Wet your hands and repeat this until you have used up all the batter, leaving about 1 inch of room between the rolls.
   
7.  Pop the tray into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes just until they begin to brown.  Let them cool before slicing and they will firm up inside.

with the recipe some more to completely eliminate flour, and I also found that spraying the tops with oil really wasn't necessary either -- these are virtually oil-free too -- using just a single teaspoon of olive oil on the cookie sheet that makes 30 latkes...(Dr. Goldhammer would you approve these as SOS free?) Vegan, gluten-free, grain-free and just about oil-free too.  But most importantly they are really delicious! I still think of these as "Joe's latkes" because it was his original innovation that got us here.

Make a bunch -- this recipes doubles really well and the extras (which we rarely have) freeze really well too.  Serve them with applesauce, ketchup or home made sour tofu topping. Click the "read more" to see the recipe below...

Note: This makes 12 muffins -- fill each cup really full -- they don't rise that much.

                                             (Updated from it's original posting in 2017)

    
     But the "evidence" of the second example -- discussing measles, doesn't even mention deaths. It only mentions "cases." Since 2015 there has been only ONE measles death in the US. This in spite of nearly 1300 measles cases documented in 2019 alone! (Such a deadly disease!)  And while we hear over and over how deadly measles is -- take note -- those are deaths outside of the US -- where unfortunately, children suffering the extreme impacts of poverty and malnutrition -- and especially vitamin A deficiency -- ARE vulnerable to dying if they get measles. But those deaths reflect the dangers of poverty and malnutrition more than they do measles. Clearly unvaccinated children in the US who do catch measles are not likely to die from it. 

      This article is agenda driven propaganda. It reinforces the pharma-profiting narrative and is not unbiased journalism simply seeking to inform. About par for what we see everywhere now that the military-industrial-medical-meat-media complex has a death grip on our government.

(For a printer-friendly PDF of this essay Click HERE)

1) Eat to optimize your gut microbiome.  Bad outcomes from Covid  are linked with high levels of chronic inflammation, and inflammation levels are mediated by gut bacteria. A whole food plant based diet (emphasizing beans and greens) encourages the growth of gut microbes that down-regulate inflammation in the body, while consumption of animal protein encourages the growth of microbes that up-regulate inflammation. (1) (2) (3) (4) (22)

2) Avoid fever reducers -- especially Tylenol. Fever is adaptive, boosting our metabolism and giving our immune system an advantage against invading microbes. But artificially lowering a fever handicaps the immune system. Tylenol may be additionally harmful in the case of COVID-19, because it has been shown to reduce levels of glutathione, an important antioxidant, that protects the liver and lungs and may mitigate COVID-19 harms. Low levels of glutathione have been linked with more severe COVID-19 outcomes. In fact, Tylenol sales skyrocketed from the pandemic and may turn out to be a big reason why so many people have died from this virus. (5) (6) (7)(14)

3) Taking NAC may be beneficial. N-Acetyl Cysteine has been shown to increase levels of glutathione in the body. NAC is used to save people who have overdosed on Tylenol. Studies suggest it may be helpful in preventing some of the more serious manifestations of COVID-19.(8) (9)

4) Make sure you have optimum levels of Vitamin D. Low levels of vitamin D have been linked to worse outcomes from COVID-19. Get your vitamin D levels tested. If low or unknown, 2500 iu of vegan D3 daily is probably safe for most people. (10) (11) (41) (42)

5) Quercetin, Zinc and Vitamin C may be protective. These three nutrients may prevent  COVID-19, or may make the disease more mild for those who do get it. (12) (13) (40)

6) Avoid meat, dairy, eggs. A variety of compounds present in them (endotoxin, Neu5Gc, AGES, Saturated fat, Cholesterol) contribute to inflammation, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance/ diabetes, which are well established  co-morbidities that increase the odds of death or long-term harms from COVID-19. (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22)

7) Eat sugars, salt and oils very sparingly.  Excessive amounts of highly processed carbs like sugar and flour, oils and even too much sodium in the diet have been variously linked with insulin resistance, inflammation, or high blood pressure, all of which make one more vulnerable to harm if they get COVID-19 (22) (23) (24)

8) Seasonal flu shots may increase COVID-19 risk. A number of studies have suggested that influenza vaccine may make one more likely to become infected with other respiratory viruses -- including Coronaviruses.  Yet more and more institutions are mandating flu vaccines for school attendance, or employment. This could increase deaths from COVID. (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31)

(Update: And since first writing this -- a new study was published suggesting that getting a flu shot is correlated with an increased risk of dying if one then gets COVID-19.) (39)

     While the above information may empower you to fare better in the current pandemic -- It can prevent FUTURE pandemics. COVID-19 is just the teaser for what is likely coming if we continue on our current path of using animals for food and research.  It's not just a "personal choice" to consume meat, dairy and eggs. Doing so puts everyone at increased risk from future pandemics, and the next one could be more deadly than COVID!

       Most people know that emergent diseases like Mad Cow Disease, Ebola, Campylobactor, Listeria, E coli 0157, and Salmonella, come to us from animals, but did you realize that most infectious diseases that spread human to human, originated from humans hunting, farming, eating or using animals in some way? It's not just modern factory farms that put us at risk either. The Influenza pandemic of 1918 predated modern industrial agriculture. Measles, Tuberculosis, H. Pylori, Pertussis and many other pathogens that have plagued us since long before the era of large intensive farms, we got from exploiting non-human beings.  Some cancers are linked with by viruses in dairy cows and a variety of zoonotic diseases occur at higher levels in those involved in meat and dairy production. (32) (38)

References:

 (1) Tao, W. et al. (2020). Analysis of The Intestinal Microbiota In COVID-1 19 Patients And Its Correlation With The 2 Inflammatory Factor IL-18 And SARS-Cov-2-Specific IgA. medRxiv preprint.

(2) Tomova A, Bukovsky I, Rembert E, et al. The effects of vegetarian and vegan diets on gut microbiota. Front Nutr. Published online April 17, 2019.

(3) Plant-Based Diets and the Gut Microbiota by Carrie Dennett, MPH RDH, CD, Today's Dietitian, Vol 20, No 7 P.36

(4) David, L., Maurice, C., Carmody, R. et al. Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature 505, 559–563 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12820

(5) https://www.pnas.org/content/115/22/E5243

(6) Polonikov, Endogenous Deficiency of Glutathione as the Most Likely Cause of Serious Manifestations and Death in COVID-19 Patients, ACS Infect Dis, May 28, 2020

(6) Polonikov, Endogenous Deficiency of Glutathione as the Most Likely Cause of Serious Manifestations of Serious Manifestations and Death in COVID-19  Patients, ACS Infect Dis, May 28, 2020

(7) Dimova S, Hoet PH, Dinsdale D, Nemery B. Acetaminophen decreases intracellular glutathione levels and modulates cytokine production in human alveolar macrophages and type II pneumocytes in vitro. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2005;37(8):1727-1737. doi:10.1016/j.biocel.2005.03.005

(8) Jorge-Aarón, Rangel-Méndez, and Moo-Puc Rosa-Ester. “N-acetylcysteine as a potential treatment for COVID-19.” Future microbiology vol. 15 (2020): 959-962. doi:10.2217/fmb-2020-0074

(9) https://drjewilliams.com/glutathione-and-nac-reduce-the-severity-of-covid-19/

(10) Meltzer DO, Best TJ, Zhang H, Vokes T, Arora V, Solway J. Association of Vitamin D Status and Other Clinical Characteristics With COVID-19 Test Results. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(9):e2019722. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19722

(11) Biesalski, H, Vitamin D deficiency and co-morbidities in COVID-19 patients - A fatal relationship?
Nfs Journal, Aug 20, 2020, pp 10-21

(12) Biancatelli, R., Quercetin and Vitamin C: An Experimental Synergistic Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of SARS-C0V-2 RElated Disease (COVID-19) Front Immunol, 2020; 11: 1451.

(13) Wessels, The Potential Impact of Zinc Supplementation on COVID-19 Pathogenisis, Front, Immonol, 2020; 11: 1712.

(14) https://hbw.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/RS149912/JJ-Producing-Tylenol-247-As-US-OTC-Sales-Jump-35-On-PandemicDriven-Stockpiling

(15) Tall, Alan R, and Laurent Yvan-Charvet. “Cholesterol, inflammation and innate immunity.” Nature reviews. Immunology vol. 15,2 (2015): 104-16. doi:10.1038/nri3793

(16) Padler-Karavani V, Yu H, Cao H, Chokhawala H, Karp F, Varki N, Chen X, Varki A. Diversity in specificity, abundance, and composition of anti-Neu5Gc antibodies in normal humans: potential implications for disease. Glycobiology. 2008 Oct;18(10):818-30.

(17) van der Lugt, Timme et al. “Dietary Advanced Glycation Endproducts Induce an Inflammatory Response in Human Macrophages in Vitro.” Nutrients vol. 10,12 1868. 2 Dec. 2018, doi:10.3390/nu10121868

(18) Erridge C, Attina T, Spickett CM, Webb DJ. A high-fat meal induces low-grade endotoxemia: evidence of a novel mechanism of postprandial inflammation. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Nov; 86(5):1286-92.

(19) Erridge C. The capacity of foodstuffs to induce innate immune activation of human monocytes in vitro is dependent on food content of stimulants of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4. Br J Nutr. 2011 Jan; 105(1):15-23.

(20) D Estadella, C M da Penha Oller do Nascimento, L M Oyama, E B Ribeiro, A R Damaso, A de Piano. Lipotoxicity: effects of dietary saturated and transfatty acids. Mediators Inflamm. 2013; Epub 2013 Jan 31.

(21) C J Nolan, C Z Larter. Lipotoxicity: why do saturated fatty acids cause and monounsaturates protect against it? J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009 May;24(5):703-6.

(22) Giovana Jamar, Daniel Araki Ribeiro & Luciana Pellegrini Pisani (2020) High-fat or high-sugar diets as trigger inflammation in the microbiota-gut-brain axis, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1747046

(23) R J Suckling, F J He, N D Markandu, G A MacGregor. Dietary salt influences postprandial plasma sodium concentration and systolic blood pressure. Kidney Int. 2012 Feb;81(4):407-11.

(24) G A MacGregor, N D Markandu, F E Best, D M Elder, J M Cam, G A Sagnella, M Squires. Double-blind randomised crossover trial of moderate sodium restriction in essential hypertension. Lancet. 1982 Feb 13;1(8268):351-5.

(25) Wolff GG. Influenza vaccination and respiratory virus interference among Department of Defense personnel during the 2017-2018 influenza season. Vaccine. 2020;38(2):350-354.

(26) Rikin S, Jia H, Vargas CY, et al. Assessment of temporally-related acute respiratory illness following influenza vaccination. Vaccine. 2018;36(15):1958-1964.

(27) Kelly H, Jacoby P, Dixon GA, et al. Vaccine Effectiveness Against Laboratory-confirmed Influenza in Healthy Young Children: A Case-Control Study. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2011;30(2):107-111.

(28) Cowling BJ, Fang VJ, Nishiura H, et al. Increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine. Clin Infect Dis. 2012;54(12):1778-1783. doi:10.1093/cid/cis307

(29) Dierig A, Heron LG, Lambert SB, et al. Epidemiology of respiratory viral infections in children enrolled in a study of influenza vaccine effectiveness. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2014;8(3):293-301. doi:10.1111/irv.12229

(30) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2010/04/new-canadian-studies-suggest-seasonal-flu-shot-increased-h1n1-risk

(31) https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.4.21022

(32) Buehring, Gertrude Case et al. “Exposure to Bovine Leukemia Virus Is Associated with Breast Cancer: A Case-Control Study.” PloS one vol. 10,9 e0134304. 2 Sep. 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134304

(33) Johnson ES. Poultry oncogenic retroviruses and humans. Cancer Detect Prev. 1994;18(1):9-30.

(34) Johnson ES, Griswold CM. Oncogenic retroviruses of cattle, chickens and turkeys: potential infectivity and oncogenicity for humans. Med Hypotheses. 1996 Apr;46(4):354-6.

35) Gandhi S, Felini MJ, Ndetan H, Cardarelli K, Jadhav S, Faramawi M, Johnson ES. A pilot case-cohort study of brain cancer in poultry and control workers. Nutr Cancer. 2014;66(3):343-50.

(36) De Roos AJ, Stewart PA, Linet MS, Heineman EF, Dosemeci M, Wilcosky T, Shapiro WR, Selker RG, Fine HA, Black PM, Inskip PD. Occupation and the risk of adult glioma in the United States. Cancer Causes Control. 2003 Mar;14(2):139-50.

(37) Johnson ES, Zhou Y, Sall M, Faramawi ME, Shah N, Christopher A, Lewis N. Non-malignant disease mortality in meat workers: a model for studying the role of zoonotic transmissible agents in non-malignant chronic diseases in humans. Occup Environ Med. 2007 Dec;64(12):849-55.

(38) Johnson ES, Yau LC, Zhou Y, Singh KP, Ndetan H. Mortality in the Baltimore union poultry cohort: non-malignant diseases. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2010 Jun;83(5):543-52.

(39) https://peerj.com/articles/10112/

(40) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7482607/

(41) www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096007602030296X

(42) febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/febs.15495
       A slightly condensed printer-friendly PDF of this article is available for download HERE

     On June 26th I saw the above article linked to on the main page of CNN's website where the first paragraph begins like this:
                                                                          (click, "read more" to continue)   ---->

     My first exposure to Nina Shapiro was when I stumbled upon an article of hers featured on Forbes where she argues that the right to have or refuse an abortion IS a valid personal choice, but the right to have or refuse other medical interventions -- with documented risks is not. She thinks having an abortion which can be definitively linked with ending a specific life is acceptable while refusing a vaccine which has  only a theoretical possibility of preventing a disease which if not prevented has only a theoretical chance of hurting someone is not acceptable.  Here is a screen shot of the headline of her article:

      Could a medical doctor who graduated from Harvard really be THAT ignorant?

      Tetanus is not a communicable disease.
     
     The vaccine for Diphtheria is a toxoid --- so there is not even a theoretical basis to suggest that it can  prevent the spread of the organism that causes diphtheria.

     And the published science on the Pertussis vaccine not only provides ZERO evidence that this vaccine prevents the spread of the disease --- in fact it is well documented that people properly vaccinated for pertussis can have and spread the illness -- and often don't show any symptoms!

     I notice a disturbing double standard by some of my scientist and doctor friends when it comes to medical information like this.

     When I share information that challenges their perspective (particularly on the subject of vaccines) many look at it only long enough to find a single detail they can point to, to discredit the entire article -- even when the detail might not be central to the evidence being presented. But they take the opposite approach to sources that support what they already believe....like this one I just deconstructed by Nina Shaprio.