One doctor's surprising answer to the epidemic of chronic disease and essential reading for everyone concerned with the health of the next generation ..[T]he further we move away from nature the sicker we become, and it is our children who pay the heaviest price for what modern civilization is doing to our environment and our bodies. This book will make the reader think. I warmly recommend it! Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome Over the past fifty years, rates of autoimmunity and chronic disease have exploded. While some attribute this rise to increased awareness and diagnosis, Thomas Cowan, MD, argues for a direct causal relationship to a corresponding increase in the number of vaccines children typically receive. Dr. Cowan looks at emerging evidence that certain childhood illnesses are actually protective of disease later in life; examines the role of fever, the gut and cellular fluid in immune health; argues that vaccination is an ineffective (and harmful) attempt to shortcut a complex immune response; and asserts that the medical establishment has engaged in an authoritarian argument that robs parents of informed consent. His ultimate question, from the point of view of a doctor who has decades of experience treating countless children is: What are we really doing to children when we vaccinate them? Dr. Cowan intelligently educates us on the complicated and beautiful workings of our immune system, clearly explains how and why its malfunction is harming us, and elucidates why our precious children are so vulnerable to these diseases. Lindy Woodard, MD, Pediatric Alternatives