The 2016 Winners of our Adding Insult to Injury Awards are:
CBC Ontario Today
CBC Sunday Edition
CTV Your Morning
National NewsMedia Council
Ottawa Sun
Windsor Star
CBC Ontario Today Awarded VCC Media Award
Attention: Rita Celli – Host of Ontario Today
Dear Ms. Celli,
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vaccine Choice Canada I’m writing to inform you CBC- Ontario Today has been awarded our 2016 media award. The award titled ‘Adding Insult to Injury’ recognizes media entities that continue to disseminate deceptive, distorted and dishonest information pertaining to the topic of vaccinations in Canada.
CBC’s Ontario Today earned the award as a result of its unwillingness to address incorrect information and misrepresentations made on the program of September 15, 2016 entitled, ‘Vaccines and Who Should Get Them’.
CBC failed to make a public correction of a number of inaccurate statements made by guest Dr. Leslie Barron. Nor did the CBC apologize for any misunderstanding this misinformation may have caused in spite of being provided with corrected information and documentation by Vaccine Choice Canada.
This failure by the CBC undermines confidence in Canada’s national broadcaster as a credible source of information as pertains to the topic of vaccinations. These actions are a disservice to all Canadians, especially those children neurologically injured and killed by vaccines.
A hard copy of the award will be mailed to you and award winners will be posted on the Vaccine Choice Canada website.
Sincerely,
Edda West, President of Vaccine Choice Canada
cc. Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman
PDF of CBC Ontario Today letter
CBC Sunday Edition Awarded VCC Media Award
Attention: Michael Enright, Host of The Sunday Edition
Dear Michael,
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vaccine Choice Canada I’m writing to inform you CBC – The Sunday Edition has been awarded our 2016 media award. The award titled ‘Adding Insult to Injury’ recognizes media entities that continue to disseminate deceptive, distorted and dishonest information pertaining to the topic of vaccinations in Canada.
CBC’s The Sunday Edition earned the award as a result of its unwillingness to address incorrect information and misrepresentations made on the program of June 19, 2016 entitled, ‘The Backfire Effect’.
CBC failed to make a public correction of the inaccurate statements made in this program related to the known relationship between vaccines and autism, or to apologize for any misunderstanding this misinformation may have caused in spite of being provided with accurate information and documentation by Vaccine Choice Canada.
This failure by the CBC undermines confidence in Canada’s national broadcaster as a credible source of information as pertains to the topic of vaccinations. These actions are a disservice to all Canadians, especially those children neurologically injured and killed by vaccines.
A hard copy of the award will be mailed to you and award winners will be posted on the Vaccine Choice Canada website.
Sincerely,
Edda West, President of Vaccine Choice Canada
cc. Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman
PDF of CBC Sunday Edition letter
CTV Awarded VCC Media Award
Dear Ben Mulroney,
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vaccine Choice Canada I’m writing to inform you CTV has been awarded our 2016 media award. The award titled ‘Adding Insult to Injury’ recognizes media entities that continue to disseminate deceptive, distorted and dishonest information pertaining to the topic of vaccinations in Canada.
CTV earned the award as a result of its unwillingness to address incorrect information and misrepresentations made on CTV’s ‘Your Morning’ program of October 18, 2016 entitled, ‘The Anti-Vax Movement: Canadian Pediatricians Weigh In’.
CTV failed to make a public correction of the inaccurate statements in this program or apologize for any misunderstanding this information may have caused in spite of being provided with accurate information and documentation.
This failure by CTV undermines confidence in the CTV and Bell Media as credible sources of information as pertains to the topic of vaccinations. These actions are a disservice to all Canadians, especially those children permanently injured and killed by vaccines.
A hard copy of the award will be mailed to you and award winners will be posted on the Vaccine Choice Canada website.
Sincerely,
Edda West, President of Vaccine Choice Canada
PDF letter to CTV Your Morning
The Your Morning Video (clipId=974434) is no longer available online here, here, or here.
Formal Complaint letter re: CTV Your Morning Segment
October 25, 2016
CTV Television Network
P.O. Box 9, Station ‘O,’
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4A 2M9
Bell Media
299 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5V 2Z5
RE: Formal Complaint – Inaccurate Statements
I am writing to file a formal complaint regarding inaccurate statements made on CTV’s ‘Your Morning’ program entitled, ‘The Anti-Vax Movement: Canadian Pediatricians Weigh In’ of October 18, 2016. http://www.ctv.ca/YourMorning/Video/How-do-doctors-react-to-parents-who-decide-against-vaccinations-vid974434 [Link to video not available]
Numerous False Statements
In the program the host, Ben Mulroney, interviews two Canadian Pediatricians, Dr. Dina Kulik and Dr. Graham Black, on the topic of how Doctors react to parents who are vaccine hesitant. Dr. Kulik makes a number of false statements that require correction.
In response to parent’s concerns about the use of preservatives in vaccines, Dr. Kulik states: “The reality is there is no mercury in Canadian vaccines.” This statement is clearly at odds with information provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada – Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine for 2016. 1
In Appendix A of this document, (a portion attached) the Public Health Agency clearly identifies thimerosal (mercury) in six (6) influenza vaccines alone. This does not take into consideration the known use of thimerosal in the manufacture of other Canadian vaccines.
Dr. Kulik also states: “The amount of aluminum is miniscule amounts” and “less than the amount in breast milk and formula.” Dr. Kulik seems unaware there is a significant difference in the rate of absorption between ingesting aluminum and injecting aluminum into muscle tissue.
While breast milk and conventional formula may be a source of aluminum, it is mostly cleared by the kidneys of a healthy person, and only a minute part is absorbed into the body. With injected aluminum, however, nearly all of the aluminum is retained in the body.
Dr. Kulik’s statement is also at odds with the known neurotoxicity of aluminum in vaccines. 2 No clinical studies have been conducted to establish the safety of using aluminum in vaccines. The neurotoxicity of aluminum is well documented, affecting memory, cognition, psychomotor control, and damage to the blood brain barrier. 3 The amount of aluminum used in vaccines regularly exceeds the maximum amount permitted by the FDA. 4. 5
Dr. Kulik also incorrectly refers to aluminum as a preservative when it is an adjuvant.
Dr. Kulik also references a 1998 study and incorrectly attributes the study with the claim that vaccines cause autism. The Lancet study never claimed that the MMR vaccine causes autism. The study referenced a new bowel syndrome found in some children who have autism. The concluding statement of the study was – “We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described. Virological studies are underway that may help to resolve this issue.”
Dr. Kulik describes the study as “completely falsified, made up”. Again, Dr. Kulik seems unaware the results of the study have been replicated by more than 25 independent labs around the world. To continue to refer to the 1998 study as “completely falsified” is dishonest or grossly uninformed.
Finally, Dr. Kulik states: there have been “thousands of studies that show no relationship between MMR and autism”. This statement too is completely false. There have been less than a dozen studies that were unable to find a relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. Most of these studies have been discredited as being of poor design. Also, the inability to find a link between vaccines and autism does not mean there is no relationship, it only means those researchers using that particular study design did not find a link.
Dr. Kulik seems unaware of the findings of an extensive meta analysis done by the Cochrane Collaboration on MMR safety where they state, “The design and reporting of safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies, both pre- and post-marketing, are largely inadequate. The evidence of adverse events following immunisation with the MMR vaccine cannot be separated from its role in preventing the target diseases.” 6
The most commonly referenced study where researchers were unable to find a relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism is the 2004 CDC study. This is the subject of the documentary Vaxxed in which one of the lead authors and senior scientists with the CDC, Dr. William Thompson, has taken whistleblower status and declared the CDC has been fraudulently manipulating data for ten years in their effort to deny a clearly evident vaccine-autism link.
There are more than 127 studies that demonstrate vaccine-autism causation. 7
Your host and guests also express a distorted perception of the potential risk posed by unvaccinated individuals. The fact is individuals recently vaccinated with live-virus vaccine pose more of a health risk to the immune compromised than healthy unvaccinated individuals.
Consider that individuals who are immune compromised or being treated for cancer are advised to avoid anyone who has received a live-virus vaccine because these viruses can and do shed, some for as much as four weeks, potentially infecting the immunocompromised patient with disastrous results. This includes the MMR vaccine, the intranasal flu vaccine, and the chicken pox shot. In fact, it is much more likely for an immune compromised individual to encounter a peer at school who has been recently vaccinated with a live-virus vaccine than he or she is to encounter natural disease from an unvaccinated child.
It is well established that pertussis is more easily “spread” by vaccinated people than non-vaccinated people because vaccinated people can be asymptomatic carriers who don’t even know they harbor an active pertussis infection.
Program Bias
Mr. Mulroney clearly demonstrates a bias in this program. By using the terminology “anti-vax” he fails to recognize that those expressing hesitancy about the safety of the current vaccine program are mostly parents whose children have been injured by vaccines. If these parents were truly “anti-vax” their children would never have been injured in the first place.
These parents ought to be respectfully referred to as “pro-safety”, “pro-choice” and “pro-accountability” or “anti-unsafe vaccines”. Further, describing the relentless efforts to silence the voices of parents of vaccine injured children as “a war against the anti-vax movement” shows callous disregard for the suffering families have experienced as a result of our systemic and willful blindness to vaccine injury.
The pediatricians failed to disclose that every G7 nation other than Canada has a national vaccine injury compensation plan. Canada is the outlier with its systemic denial of vaccine injury, aided and abetted by a complicit media. This is in stark contrast to the more than $3 billion paid to date by the U.S. government to individuals and families whose loved ones have suffered catastrophic injuries and death from vaccines. This alone should be cause for concern.
The pediatricians also failed to disclose they have a financial conflict of interest in recommending vaccinations. Canadian doctors, in addition to compensation for administering the vaccines, receive bonuses for achieving a high rate of vaccination amongst their patients.
This episode of ‘Your Morning’ is a compelling example of why having balance in the media is so necessary. When only one perspective is offered, there is no opportunity to hold those who blindly advocate their perspective accountable for their inaccuracies, biases, and distortions.
My request is that CTV and Bell Media make a public correction of the inaccurate statements in this program and apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused. Any failure to do so undermines confidence in the CTV and Bell Media as credible sources of information as pertains to the topic of vaccinations.
Sincerely,
Ted Kuntz, parent of a vaccine injured child
References:
1. Statement on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine for 2016
2. Vaccine Papers
3. Does an Elevated Aluminum Burden From Vaccine Adjuvants Contribute to the Rising Prevalence of Autism? Lucija Tomljenovic, PhD & Chris Shaw, PhD
4. New Parent Guide – Vaccine Choice Canada – page 23
5. Aluminum Exposure in Neonatal Patients
6. Cochrane Library. Vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella in childre
7. 127 Research Papers Supporting the Vaccine-Autism Link
PDF of complaint letter to CTV Your Morning
National NewsMedia Awarded VCC Media Award
Dear John Fraser, President and CEO.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vaccine Choice Canada I’m writing to inform you The National NewsMedia Council has been awarded our 2016 media award. The award titled ‘Adding Insult to Injury’ recognizes media entities that continue to disseminate deceptive, distorted and dishonest information pertaining to the topic of vaccinations in Canada.
The National NewsMedia Council earned the award as a result of its unwillingness to correct misrepresentations in the media pertaining to the status of vaccinations in Canada even when provided with accurate government supported documentation confirming there are no required or mandated vaccinations in Canada.
It is our expectation the National NewsMedia Council would uphold the standards of responsible journalism in Canada as well as respect and protect the rights and freedoms of Canadians, rather than erode and undermine them. The National NewsMedia Council has failed on both counts.
These actions by the National NewsMedia Council are a disservice to all Canadians, especially those children who have been permanently injured or killed by vaccines. Additionally you have undermined confidence in the media to be honest, accurate, and fair brokers of information.
A hard copy of the award will be mailed to you and award winners will be posted on the Vaccine Choice Canada website.
Sincerely,
Edda West, President of Vaccine Choice Canada
cc: Pat Perkel, NNC Executive Director
PDF of NNC letter
Reply from the NNC:
From: John Fraser
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2016 7:28 AM
To: Vaccine Choice (Canada)
Cc: Pat Perkel ; Brent Jolly
Subject: RE: atten: John Fraser – CEO National NewsMedia Council
On behalf of the National NewsMedia Council of Canada, we would like to thank you for awarding us the “Adding Insult To Injury Award for 2017” which we are going to have framed and placed on our Wall of Honour. In return, I hope you will accept our irregular presented award, entitled – familiarly — The Flat Earth Award, which honours brave people who stick to their guns regardless of facts and universally accepted scientific research and history. Enjoy!
All the best for the holidays,
John Fraser
John Fraser | President & CEO | Président Directeur-Général
37 Front Street East. Suite 200 | Toronto | Ontario M5E 1B3 | 416.340.1981 x1
Ottawa Sun Awarded Media Award
Dear Michelle Richardson, Editor in Chief of the Ottawa Sun,
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vaccine Choice Canada I’m writing to inform you The Ottawa Sun has been awarded our 2016 media award. The award titled ‘Adding Insult to Injury’ recognizes media entities that continue to disseminate deceptive, distorted and dishonest information pertaining to the topic of vaccinations in Canada.
The Ottawa Sun earned the award as a result of its misrepresentation of the status of vaccinations in Canada in its September 29, 2016 article – “With New School Year, Vaccine Blitz Begins” and its unwillingness to correct the misrepresentations even when provided with accurate government supported documentation confirming that there are no required or mandated vaccinations in Canada.
These efforts by the Ottawa Sun are a disservice to all Canadians. They undermine the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, erode the medical ethic of informed consent, and add insult to injury to the many Canadians injured by vaccines.
A hard copy of the award will be mailed to you and award winners will be posted on the Vaccine Choice Canada website.
Sincerely,
Edda West, President of Vaccine Choice Canada
cc: Anne Marie Owens
PDF of Letter to Ottawa Sun
Windsor Star Awarded Media Award
Dear Marty Beneteau,
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Vaccine Choice Canada I’m writing to inform you The Windsor Star has been awarded our 2016 media award. The award titled ‘Adding Insult to Injury’ recognizes media entities that continue to disseminate deceptive, distorted and dishonest information pertaining to the topic of vaccinations in Canada.
The Windsor Star earned the award as a result of its misrepresentation of the legal status of vaccinations in Canada in its September 2, 2016 article – ‘Kids born in 2008 face school suspension if they don’t have proof of vaccinations’ and its unwillingness to correct the misrepresentations even when provided with accurate government supported documentation confirming there are no required or mandated vaccinations in Canada.
These efforts by the Windsor Star are a disservice to all Canadians. They undermine the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, erode the medical ethic of informed consent, and add insult to injury to the many Canadians injured by vaccines.
A hard copy of the award will be mailed to you and award winners will be posted on the Vaccine Choice Canada website.
Sincerely,
Edda West, President of Vaccine Choice Canada
PDF of Windsor Star letter
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