Editor's Note: Since the publishing of this article, Dr. O'Shea now claims that he never wrote The Doctor Within, even though the book is directly attributed to him at the following website, and even lists his name as the direct contact: http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/. If any further developments come from this story, we will create a timely update for our readers.
More than one million children living in America today suffer from peanut allergy, and a significant percentage of these have such severe symptoms that they must carry around self-injectable epinephrine just in case they accidentally become exposed to the wrong food. According to available records, however, virtually nobody had peanut allergy prior to 1900 despite the fact that people have been eating peanuts for ages, which begs the question, why do so many people have peanut allergy today, and from where did this potentially-deadly allergic condition emerge?
In his book The Doctor Within, Dr. Tim O'Shea argues that vaccines may be largely responsible for both the advent and increased prevalence of peanut allergy, noting that many vaccines and even antibiotic drugs contain, or were made using, excipients potentially derived from peanut oil. Since it is a relatively inexpensive oil to produce, refined peanut oil apparently became widely adopted as an excipient of choice in the production of vaccines during the 1960s, according to some reports, and peanut-derived excipients are still believed to be in use today for this purpose.
But peanut oil's specific role in triggering the peanut allergy epidemic we see today is not fully understood, even though its introduction at the turn of the 20th century appears to have caused a sudden and very apparent wave of anaphylaxis, which had never before been seen. Anaphylaxis, of course, is the general term used to denote allergic reactions to food and other triggers, and can include severe and sometimes violent reactive symptoms, including but not limited to convulsions, seizures, and even death.
The more peanut oil was used in vaccine and drug production, it turns out, the more the population began to suffer from serious food allergy symptoms. Utilizing peanut oil as an excipient was great for the drug and vaccine industries, of course, as it works as an effective preservative and adjuvant for vaccines. But for those who ingest or are injected with it, peanut oil-based excipients and adjuvants can be the precipitator of a very serious and permanent peanut allergy.
"Although peanut allergies became fairly common during the 1980s, it wasn't until the early 1990s when there was a sudden surge of children reacting to peanuts -- the true epidemic appeared," explains Dr. O'Shea in his book, highlighting the fact that the ever-expanding childhood vaccination schedule may be directly correlated with a corresponding rise in peanut allergies. "As vaccines doubled between the 1980s and the 1990s, thousands of kids were not exhibiting peanut sensitivities, with many violent reactions that were sometimes fatal."
Vaccine manufacturers do not have to disclose all vaccine ingredients to consumers It is important to note that in 1973, when peanut allergies were still relatively rare, a comprehensive study was conducted on the effects of peanut excipients in vaccines. Interestingly, not long after it was published, government regulators decided that vaccine manufacturers no longer had to indicate whether or not vaccines contained peanut-derived excipients, which means pediatricians, parents, and others who wanted to avoid peanut excipients for safety reasons could no longer effectively do so.
"What is listed today in the Physicians Desk Reference in each vaccine section is not the full formula," adds Dr. O'Shea. "Suddenly that detailed information was proprietary: the manufacturers must be protected. They only had to describe the formula in general."
Since that time, peanut allergies have only gotten more prevalent and more severe, and the vast majority of the population still has no idea that peanut-derived excipients, which may still be used in vaccines (though this cannot be proven), are more than likely responsible. Will this ever change? Only if government regulators and medical authorities suddenly develop consciences and fess up to the truth, whatever that might be.
