Debra
Gambrell, DO, is an Anthroposophical Medicine Specialist, which means that she is not merely batshit insane but actively
dangerous. Gambrell is nevertheless one of the people presented as “experts” in Ty Bollinger’s antivaccine conspiracy propaganda series The Truth About Vaccines. So yes, Gambrell is antivaccine (according to herself, she managed
to heal her own son’s autism); but Gambrell, in fact, has
delusional views on a wide range of issues.
EMFs, for instance. Gambrell not only
touts such (comparatively) mainstream myths as the idea that 5G may cause cancer; Gambrell is also worried
that 5G might make us into “automatons”, or “human beings who
give up their free will in exchange for information and convenience” … and
by that description she is not only expressing some metaphorical existential
worry about modern life but about how such radiation is, literally, “‘digested’
and processed by the body” (hint: it isn’t). And the problem, as Gambrell
sees it, is that 5G and EMF radiation, as opposed to other “natural”
waves in our surroundings, is “highly processed” (the degree to which energy
is safe is, to Gambrell, a question of “[h]ow much has nature been processed
and altered from its original state? In general, the more highly processed the
energy source is, the harder it is for the body to utilize”) and that,
given that they are unnatural, EMFs will
work “as a stimulus or irritant to the nervous system and can over-tax our
metabolic system”. She bases the observation on “[c]ommon sense and
clinical observation” – mostly the former (which, in her case, has nothing
to do with sense),
but she also falsely
believes that unidentified “[s]tudies” have shown that EMF exposure is
associated with a range of negative health outcomes. She is, of course, mostly
concerned about children, but her attempts to connect her pseudoscientific
gobbledygook on EMF to the literature on child development does of course not
involve reality-based literature but anthroposophical, pseudoreligious nonsense
about the development of the “consciousness soul” and suchlike.
As for vaccines, Gambrell claims to base her conclusions on
her own experiences from anaesthesiology, when she ostensibly
“saw that the children that weren’t vaccinated […] did better under
anaesthesia”. More importantly, and in line with principles of
anthroposophic medicine,
Gambrell is worried that vaccines prevent today’s children from being
sufficiently sick – kids should be seriously sick “every six to twelve
months” to properly detox,
and things like measles,
mumps and rubella are “normal things
that our body has been evolutionarily designed to take in” (no, she doesn’t
understand evolution either). And as Gambrell sees it, it is the absence of
these detoxing diseases that is the source of today’s increases in “asthma,
ADHD, sensory disorder”. Indeed, Gambrell observes this every day: “You
can see this when you go out in the grocery store. You can see children that
are not able to walk down the grocery aisle and be aware of where they are in
space. One out of two children is what I see are affected,” and it is a
consequence of the vaccines and, in general, our ‘unnatural’ lifestyles with
painkillers and synthetic clothing materials that “[t]he children are not in
their body” anymore. At least Gambrell is trying to make a difference
herself by fooling parents to forego Tylenol in favor of homeopathic alternatives.
Otherwise, although she tends to avoid relying on science, she will freely
refer to bullshit that looks scientific, such as the efforts of
Christopher Exley,
Yehuda Shoenfeld
and Stephanie Seneff.
Gambrell is affiliated with The Language of the Heart, which
is “a branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America serving Sonoma,
Mendocino, and Lake Counties”, where she offers “pediatric specialty
services including evaluation and treatment for asthma, ADHD, sensory disorder,
autism, and food sensitivities, using pediatric integrative”.
Diagnosis: A major threat to health and well-being. A truly
dangerous, frothingly insane and utterly disgusting person, and that she is in
a position to influence the treatments of and health choices on behalf of
children is an absolute tragedy.