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A groundbreaking and controversial documentary exposing the lies and misinformation behind the Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) diagnosis has met fierce opposition from the medical and legal community as the film gains traction in festivals across the U.S.

A collaboration between Los Angeles-based filmmaker Meryl Goldsmith and her cousin, Susan Goldsmith, who is an award-winning investigative journalist, the film seeks to undercover the myths associated with SBS, a diagnosis responsible for incarcerating thousands of innocent people each year in the U.S.

Featured at more than a dozen film festivals, including the Interrobang Film Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, and most recently, the Long Island International Film Expo in Bellmore, New York, the film explains how other conditions may cause what some believe to be symptoms of SBS.

Up until recently, bleeding on the surface of the brain, bleeding behind the eyes and brain swelling were immediately assumed to be caused by violently shaking a child, inflicting whiplash-like injuries. However, researchers and a significant portion of the medical community now understand that such symptoms may be caused by several other conditions, none of which involve child abuse.
"Shaken Baby Syndrome is a belief system rather than an exercise in modern-day science"
For example, infantile rickets, a condition caused by poor diet and lack of sunshine, may produce symptoms such as the appearance of broken bones or small fractures, which to the inexperienced eye may be mistaken for child abuse, or SBS.

Dr. David Ayoub, a radiologist and known expert on the subject of infantile rickets, believes that the growing number of vaccinations containing aluminum adjuvant may also cause the disease, according to a report by Health Impact News.

Aside from studying hundreds of cases of misdiagnosed rickets worldwide, Dr. Ayoub has also testified on the behalf of many innocent people accused of child abuse. Incarcerating innocent people for a condition that could be caused by vaccines is incredibly sinister, especially when some states enforce mandatory vaccination.

If California successfully passes SB277, a bill that would end a parent's right to opt out of vaccines via a religious exemption, even more innocent people will be jailed for child abuse.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SBS is the leading cause of child abuse deaths in the U.S., and while the numbers are still unclear due to there being no reliable method for collecting such statistics, the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome estimates that there are between 600 and 1,400 cases each year.

However, many professionals in the medical community are seriously beginning to doubt the validity of these cases, with some doctors even fighting to release subjects they once help put in jail.

Film festivals willing to air Shaken Baby Syndrome documentary were accused of promoting child abuse

Exposing the junk science that keeps the Shaken Baby Syndrome diagnosis afloat, the film essentially threatens the entire Shaken Baby Syndrome industrial complex. Film festivals that considered screening the film were threatened with litigation and accused of promoting child abuse, according to the film's director.

"This is a theme in our film—how the proponents of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma have tried to silence their critics," said Susan Goldsmith.
"And that theme is extending to here and now, to our documentary. I was expecting it. We thought we were helping by uncovering these other medical conditions that can look like abuse, but are not [abuse]. It actually threatens the entire shaken baby syndrome working group and industrial complex."
A variety of conditions can be, and have been, mistaken for Shaken Baby Syndrome, including complications from premature birth, mistakes made by hospital staff, stroke, accidental falls, pneumonia and many more.

Since 2001, 16 people jailed for Shake Baby Syndrome have had their convictions overturned. For a more comprehensive list of cases that were mistaken for SBS and resulted in a parent or caregiver being jailed, click here.

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