This letter concerns the article by Dr. Kirsten Peters regarding celiac disease and gluten allergies.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are increasing exponentially and include dozens of very debilitating diseases. Celiac Sprue dermatitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia, juvenile arthritis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and ulcerative colitis are some of the most familiar examples. All these and many more are epidemic and increasing still.

Autoimmune diseases all have one common property: the victim’s body is attacking itself. A normal immune system can discern self from non-self and makes antibodies and while blood cells to eliminate invading organisms. The autoimmune problem is that the body loses the ability to know self from non-self and makes antibodies and white blood cells that attack itself. Which disease manifests is a matter of what tissue(s)/ organ(s) they attack.

The real issue is why would someone’s body attack itself? Another thing all these diseases have in common is that they are linked to vaccination. For thousands of years of recorded history, these diseases were either rare or nonexistent. Introducing foreign proteins directly into the bloodstream is an unnatural exposure that we are not equipped to respond to. The confused immune system makes antibodies to the proteins and some which attack the body’s own tissue(s). The general population suffered with these diseases at a rate of 5-10 percent previously, but now the number is about 50 percent.

The rates of infectious disease morbidity and mortality fell dramatically before the beginning of the vaccine era. Ever increasing numbers of shots has been accompanied by increased illness of our population, especially our children. The cost to treat these diseases is tens of billions of dollars, but the lost productivity, human potential and needless suffering are incalculable.

Join us at the Autoimmune Disease Walk on April 28 at Donnelly Park. Only by preventing these diseases can we truly be healthy. For more information about the walk, contact Sarah Mascorro at 404-6058.

— David Dubyak, D.C.