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February 26, 2003
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Contaminated Vaccines Did Not Raise Cancer Rates"
Infectious Diseases in Children (www.idinchildren.com) (02/03) Vol. 16, No. 2, P. 17; Bechtel, Bryan
Polio vaccine stocks used between 1955 and 1963 and possibly the oral polio vaccine used in clinical trials between 1959 and 1961 were contaminated with simian virus 40 (SV40), a monkey virus that is tumorigenic in rodents. The contamination resulted in between 9 million and 29 million exposures. Researchers are still uncertain whether SV40 causes cancerous tumors, though earlier this year the Institute of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review committee was unable to find evidence linking the contaminated polio virus to an increased risk of cancer. Using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program, researchers did not discover a link between potentially exposed individuals and a higher incidence of mesothelioma. In fact, rates of mesothelioma remained stable or decreased between 1975 and 1997.
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