The Untold Story of Polio – Forrest Maready on DarkHorse

Forrest Maready is the author of “The Moth in the Iron Lung”, among other books. It tells a very different story of the Polio epidemic than the one you are likely familiar with, a story with radically different implications for health and medicine. Bret talks with Forest about his book and his interpretation of the evidence with an evolutionary bent to the conversation.

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Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music.

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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introductions
(06:45) Hypothesis and theory
(08:15) Polio, the founding myth
(16:48) Sponsors
(20:40) Definitions of Polio
(35:30) Gypsy moth
(40:15) Antibiotics hypothesis
(44:30) Mouse telomeres
(54:50) Surgery
(57:50) Pesticides to deal with gypsy moths
(01:10:33) Smallpox vaccination
(01:23:35) Valorization
(01:25:28) Earliest Polio outbreaks and symptoms
(01:37:20) Intestine and spinal cord
(01:45:41) Salk vaccine
(01:49:15) Rise and fall of Polio infections
(01:58:00) Crooked faces and metals in medicine
(02:00:46) Why we kiss and chickenpox parties
(02:05:05) Are you an antivaxxer?
(02:23:20) Sunglasses
(02:27:00) Wrap up

[motherhubbard]

As a polio survivor (right arm paralysis) who worked a lifetime as a clinical scientist, I find this fascinating. I remember seeing newspaper articles from around that time lauding the use of DDT in our area against mosquitoes. Our family was recently plagued by the use of Remdesovir for Covid that killed my brother. The more we think we know the stupider we become.

[anri]

My parents came to live in a remote town in Australia in 1956 with 6 children and a medical self-help book "Alt om børn" (All about children). Mum managed us all through measles, mumps, whooping cough etc, all using tips from this book. I can never recall seeing a doctor until I was 12 and needed stitches in my hand. Even now at 70 I avoid doctors and pharmaceuticals and am very strong, still working full time.

[francesmorgancline]

I vaccinated all 4 of my children as have they with their children. I wish I knew then what I know now. None would be vaccinated.

[jenn]

The relief I feel hearing Bret cover this topic is immense. We're getting there, friends...

[lizfickhesen]

Nothing but respect for Forest. He was the first “parent” I encountered who even entertained there might be a different story after my son was diagnosed with Autism. Respect to Brett for giving him the
Interview.

[thisslightlysweetlife]

As a neonatal icu nurse I vaccinated newborns and even preemies without question. Later, as a school nurse, I was required to deny enrollment and sometimes even terminate enrollment if a child would not come into compliance with vaccine mandates. I was so uncomfortable with this part of my job that I began researching vaccines so that I would be armed with convincing, life-saving information and wouldn’t feel like such a mean person kicking kids out of school and so that I could genuinely win parents over to the overwhelming benefits of vaccine compliance. After several years of study I was the only nurse in the district who was open about how to obtain state exemptions. :/

[sondraarrache]

So glad to see Bret waking up to the obscenity that is our "Healthcare System".

[dollarshake]

This episode is incredible and especially hilarious when Forrest is like "Bret! You don't wanna go down this rabbit whole, trust me, it will break your heart" and Bret instantly responds with "wait wait wait, no no, i mean we have no other choice here".

Bret is always willing to run head first through a brick wall for the chance to challenge a belief he had previously held.

[jackorzechowski]

I will argue that introduction of plumbing has had a greater impact on health overall and extending longevity than any pill/vax so far invented.

[breevestal]

After my daughter was v injured when she was a baby 13 years ago, I have had to do hours upon hours of research and finally found a physician that diagnosed her with the injury. I was gaslit by 99% of medical staff. What’s really frustrating is that my husband is a nurse practitioner and I’ve been a nurse 22yrs and we were never taught that v injuries even happened besides a sore arm and fever (completely false). I’m so happy this is starting to come out more.

[irowebot]

Conversations like these are how we defeat the evil that's captured our institutions

[GordieGii]

A friend told me an anecdote years ago that I think Forrest might like to track down.
When he was a young teenager, he went cross-country skiing for the first time and as he pushed off, his arm broke. He didn't fall or anything, his bone just couldn't take the force. He obviously was taken to the hospital for repair, and his parents were concerned that a normal healthy boy's arm would break under such ordinary circumstances. The doctor said that the break was caused by a tumor in the surface of the humerus bone, and it wasn't that uncommon. It happened most often in boys, around his age, almost always on the left arm. I thought, "that's funny." Around the same location where a child would get a booster.

[mardyroux]

I am in my 60s now and a lifelong sufferer of vaccine injury from a polio vaccine given to me when I was 5 years old.

[deborahfox]

I had a girlfriend whose father was a gynecologist and she said whenever they planned a vacation he said he’d perform more hysterectomies in order to pay for the vacation.
The profit motive seems to ruin everything it touches.

[janetclark]

I loved this discussion; it was extremely interesting and relatable. Between the ages of 6 and 10 I had chicken pox, measles, and mumps. Understanding the body's systems as nuanced, complex and interrelated, our parents chose a vaccine free childhood in which healthy living was paramount. Having kept our parent's wholistic outlook me and six siblings remain free of acute and chronic illness in our 60's, 70's and 80's. We do get the flu every few years. We're not afraid of getting covid. We don't need the shingles shot. We trust our immune system. (Our mom lived to 102, our dad 98).

[spikeontheroad]

i find this discussion reassuring. I chose not to vaccinate my daughters in the 90's at a reasonable social cost. My decision was based on my belief, after a good deal of research, that the benefits did not outweigh the risk. Most illnesses we give vaccines for are mild for the great great number of children, and the vaccines have more unknown risks than we are being told. I didn't trust pharma, and I didn't trust the regulatory agencies meant to oversee them. In the following years, I have had no reason to regret my decision.

[lucywalter]

My autistic son has NEVER been vaccinated, he was born with extreme sensory sensitivities, did not talk for his first five years, used stimming to try and calm himself, couldn’t bear certain environments and was officially diagnosed with autism when he was 13 ( partly delayed by my not being able to accept what we all knew to be true). I have a mouthful of amalgam fillings, and heard somewhere that the incidence of autism rises is correlated with the number of maternal mercury fillings. It’s the only cause for my son’s autism that makes any sense to me as we live in rural wales far away from any other environmental toxins and grow much of our own food.
I’m going to read ‘ Crooked’ as I see Forrest’s hypothesis brought to bear in my own son’s face and his orthodontic development. Somewhere in all this new knowledge and understanding I’m trusting there is some way forward to help those children/babies already damaged by scientific hubris.
One of the best discussions I’ve listened to, a huge thank you to both Brett and Forrest.

[GordieGii]

Ignaz Semmelweis was also laughed at by all his peers, was drummed out of medicine, and died destitute. Yet we all understand the importance of hand-washing today.

[jackjr]

Wow you should have Forrest on again as a guest regardless of a book. He has some amazing ideas and is able to think outside the box. A true Dark Horse

[elroy]

I’ve been waiting four years for Bret and Heather to fall down this rabbit hole