Summary

In the spring following the H1N1 epidemic when Eula’s son was one-year-old, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded killing eleven workers and ultimately spilling 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Among the young mothers that Eula socialized with the gargantuan assault against the environment symbolized how little anyone had control over anything and especially how little control mothers had over the health and well-being of their children.

The body’s employment of strategies to avoid causing damage to itself in immunology is called “regulation” and is a function of the immune system. Vaccines became one of the most heavily regulated products produced in the nation and is overseen by the CDC and FDA. The immune system is designed to stand-up to these invisible dangers. The term “immune system” connotes a complex and highly functioning regulatory mechanism. While it...