By: John L. Wilson, Jr., M.D.

 

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s journey to understand vaccinations began when she attended the
National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) meeting in September 2000 and was left
with more questions than answers. Since then, she has spent thousands of hours
researching vaccinations, notably including a large amount of data directly from the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website. She became an authority on the subject of
vaccinations and has written and lectured extensively on the topic.

I was expecting a well-researched and referenced presentation about the biology,
efficacy, economics, and politics of bird flu. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Fowl!
was all that and much more. It is a treasure-trove of information on the biology of
influenza and its theoretical, practical, and scientific underpinnings, notably in regards to
the H5N1 bird flu, and processes involved in flu vaccine manufacturing.

As an added bonus, Fowl! explores the nomenclature of various flu strains and how they
are identified, predicted, and marketed, revealing the roles that economics and politics
play in promoting vaccination, in addition to how legislation is enacted to protect vaccine
manufacturers from liability.

Dr. Tenpenny outlines the steps involved in flu vaccine manufacturing and lists their
ingredients. I suspect that most physicians in practice today would not know the
ingredients in vaccines and would be surprised to learn that some “flu shots” contain up
to 25 mcg of ethyl mercury (the highest amount in any vaccine) and formaldehyde
(embalming fluid).

Fowl! gives the reader an excellent explanation of influenza epidemics and pandemics
and how they occur. Dr. Tenpenny explains how the zeal of health professionals towards
vaccination, the impact of media’s representation of vaccination, and insufficient
questioning of flawed scientific logic among scientists (among other factors) combine to
turn vaccinations given en masse to large populations into a game of Russian roulette (a
scenario exemplified by the swine-flu vaccination program of 1976).

Of particular interest is Dr. Tenpenny’s discussion of the factors that possibly contributed
to the occurrence of bird flu “epidemics” in Southeast Asia. She theorizes that the
application of defoliants during the Vietnam War (notably with Agent Orange, which was
highly contaminated with dioxin) contributed to protracted environmental toxicity that
damaged not only human health, but also the immune health of migratory and domestic
fowl. That, coupled with extremely crowded and toxic environments characteristic of
commercial fowl-raising practices, led to their susceptibility to bird flu. Innocent victims,
the birds became mere dominoes in the cascade of adverse effects that environmental
pollution has on all living creatures.

Unnecessary phobic extermination of millions of chickens of small poultry farmers
followed and pushed the farmers into poverty, forcing them to become servants of the
huge multi-national poultry producers in order to merely survive.

Appropriate relevant detail is used to explain to the reader why the neuraminidase
inhibitor class of drugs (Tamiflu, etc) would be ineffective in treating the bird flu. At the
end, the “Activists Play Book” is outlined, leaving the reader with a sense of hope and
direction through options that can be exercised to deal with bird flu “Hype.”

Fowl!’s frustratingly inaccurate index has thankfully been corrected in subsequent
editions of the book. Fowl! is a well-referenced, well-written treatise on vaccinations
that should be required reading for any parent, patient, or doctor contemplating giving or
receiving a vaccine.