After Thirty Years, Prominent Polio Vaccine Researcher
Confirms Suspicions About Monkey-Virus Contamination
By T.J. Moriarty
(OLNews@aol.com)
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Over the past fifteen or more years, the immune system has
been increasingly more challenged. Indefensible disorders such as AIDS and HIV
as well as conditions like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Persian Gulf
War-Related Illnesses are the new epidemics of the Silicon Age. By comparison,
the days of polio and small pox epidemics seem crudely forgiving when we
consider that today's viral mutants repeatedly outsmart gains made in vaccine
development.
However, it seems the days of polio are still with us - not in the form of
acute viral outbreaks of fever and paralysis - but in the "uncharted"
data on the long-term effects from the simian (monkey) viral contaminated polio
vaccines given to countless children and adults three decades ago. Even more,
what other "undetectable" monkey viruses have been transmitted in the
vaccine batches of late? These unanswered questions continue to resurface in
today's research and still riddle retired scientist Ben Sweet. "No one
really knows if there are any dangers, but no scientist can definitively
say there aren't any, that is what's scary," says Sweet.
As a senior research scientist for a major pharmaceutical company from 1959 to
1964, Dr. Sweet was one of those responsible for the research, development and
field testing of the killed respiratory virus vaccine.
Contaminated Polio Vaccines
Scientific literature states that some polio vaccines given between 1955
and 1961 may have contained low-levels of live monkey viruses. As many as 26 of
the simian contaminants were readily detected but still other viruses, like
SV40 slipped past rigorous quality control testing procedures available at that
time. The simian viruses were inadvertently introduced into the vaccine pool
because the polio virus was grown in monkey (Rhesus, Patas, or Cynomolgus)
kidney cells.
In his 1960 paper, "The Vacuolating Virus : SV40" Sweet and co-author
M.R. Hilleman write, "This new virus represents the detection for the
first time of a hitherto "non-detectable" simian virus of monkey
renal cultures and raises the important question of the existence of other such
viruses. All three types of Sabin's live polio virus vaccine were
contaminated."
Dr. Sweet told Chronic Illnet about the alarm that circulated around the
discovery of the SV40 virus in 1960, "It was a frightening discovery
because, back then, it was not possible to detect the virus with the testing
procedures we had. It only showed up in the cells of the African Green monkeys
-- the species being used exclusively by our company. We had no idea of what
this virus would do thirty years ago."
Sweet says there were two things that the research team had determined:
"First, we knew that SV40 had oncogenic properties (cancer-causing) in
hamsters which was bad news. Secondly, we found out that it hybridized with
certain DNA viruses - like adeno virus - such that the adeno virus would then
have SV40 genes attached to it. We couldn't clean up the adeno virus vaccine
seed stocks grown in monkey kidney cells only". The seed stocks apparently
were always contaminated but the vaccines were still administered.
Confusion Surrounding the "Killed" Vaccine
Possibly the most unsettling part of his research that he carries with him
thirty years later, is knowing that an untold number of people (possibly in the
10's of millions) were exposed with this virus whether they were given the
"live" or "killed" polio vaccine.
"Even the people who received a killed polio virus vaccine could have been
infected. Those papers we wrote were incorrect at the time, stating that
formalin killed vaccines were free of simian SV40 virus. But the new
information regarding the killed ones was never published," he added. By
then it was too late. These findings came after the mass inoculations with the
polio vaccine.
The distinction between "live" and "killed" vaccines is a
critical one. The scientific community and the American public was told that
"killed" vaccines were undoubtedly safe because formalin was used to
destroy any contaminating simian virus. The thirty-nine or so simian viruses
prior to SV40, were probably inactivated with formalin, but not SV40. The virus
eluded the virus-killing
behavior of formalin. This now meant even the "killed" vaccines
unintentionally contained small
amounts of active virus. "So it's a likely possibility that a some of
those individuals injected with supposedly inactivated adeno virus vaccines
that had the SV40 contaminant or SV40/adeno hybrid could also be producing
antibodies to it."
Due to the molecular "kinetics" of virus inactivation, Sweet and
other researchers believe other viruses -- similar to SV40 -- could also
have been present in the vaccines if they too could circumvent formalin
inactivation.
There were specific laboratory difficulties associated with adeno virus -- now
carrying an attached form of SV40. Sweet describes, "When we started
growing the vaccines, we just couldn't get rid of the SV40-contaminated virus.
We tried to neutralize it, but couldn't. Either adeno or SV40 would come out
down the line."
Chronic Illnet: What were you thinking at the time when you realized people
were being exposed to SV40 about the long-term effects, considering we're still
in the dark?
Sweet: "We really didn't think about it until we found out it was
oncogenic and now, with the theoretical links to HIV and cancer, it just blows
my mind."
Chronic Illnet: Was there any temptation to just scrap the whole project, make
an announcement and move on?"
Sweet: "Sabin and, more specifically, Salk vaccines were already widely in
use by then. We were, of course, always worried about possible vaccine
contaminants present because we didn't know what these monkey cell cultures
were carrying. We were always worried about encountering a new, undescribed
virus. Always. When we found out there were viruses present in the Rhesus
-cynomolgus monkey systems, and the possibility that each monkey assay system
was different from another, the temptation was there to transfer the studies to
another system. But it was too late to switch gears and start using raccoon or
chicken systems, because then you could be dealing with another whole set of
viruses."
Chronic Illnet: What was the political climate?
Sweet: "You had to be careful, very careful. When the virus appeared
oncogenic in hamsters, we wanted to do tests to determine if it caused
malignant transformation of normal cells in culture. In reality, we did not
although an outside agency confirmed the findings."
Sweet also described another inherent problem in vaccine development -- the
controversy and competition between the Salk (killed) and Sabin (live)
formulas. Despite common knowledge, both Salk and Sabin were definitely
contaminated. The Salk vaccine had already garnered prestigious appeal as a
"safe vaccine".
Long-term Studies Encouraged Three Decades Ago
In his 1960 paper, Sweet, et al. stressed the need for studies on the long-term
effects on humans to determine the pathogenicity of these agents for man.
"When the 'contaminated' vaccines were released, we really felt confident
patients needed a substantially higher level of infectious SV40 and/or they had
to receive multiple shots to elevate the body's viral count high enough to
cause the harm." To some, the term "contaminated" carries with
it an intent of malice, but Dr. Sweet says this
is clearly not the case. Sweet noted that persons fed live SV40 contaminated
polio virus vaccine orally, or inactivated Salk-type vaccine intramuscularly,
showed strong evidence of antibody
production to polio viruses. In additon, the vaccine recipients were not
showing significant harmful effects or antibody production, in the short term,
to SV40 - which was encouraging. "Less concerning long-terms effects could
be noted," he says.
At the time of the discovery of the human exposure to SV40, there was no
evidence that the virus was present or active in vaccine recipients. In recent
years, however, SV40 has been isolated in human tissue, two from the brains of
patients with PML (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) and another from
a metastatic melanoma patient. Results of this study appeared in the paper
"Human Exposure to SV40 : Review and Comment" by Shah and Nathanson
in the Journal of Epidemiology in January of 1976. Important from that report
is the only definitive origin of where human exposure came from, "With the
exception of viral vaccines, no pharmaceutical product intended for human use
requires the use of simian cultures." Based on their interpretations, the
authors estimate somewhere between 10-30 million people of the 98 million
injected were exposed to at least SV40.
Today's Polio Vaccine Research - Long-Term Effects
To date, the polio vaccine has been administered to an estimated ninety-seven
percent of children in the United States.
Although there are no "proven" scientific facts about the possible
perils of contaminated or even "purified" polio vaccines, there are a
handful of credible researchers with theories too intriguing and carefully
outlined to disregard. Their theories, if proven, may offer a new link in
conquering the immunodeficiency diseases of this century.
Microbiologist Howard Urnovitz is one member of a team who believes many of
today's "new"
syndromes like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Gulf War-Related Illnesses and
even HIV have, "some association with the possible contaminants in the
vaccine." He says we may be paying the price for "prevention"
years later, as the uncertainty about the effects on our immune system from the
vaccine continues to unfold.
Was SIV Also Present? Is There an Evolution of HIV from the Vaccines ?
There is also a concern whether another virus of primate origin -- Simian
Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) -- could also have been present in the original
vaccines. That possibility cannot be ruled out. But only testing of the
original polio vaccine samples and seed stocks would give a reliable or closely
definitive answer. Sweet stressed the need for studies on the original simian
isolates and the antisera prepared against them and their possible relationship
to SIV. At this point, future studies may be lost due to the impossibility of
retrieving such samples.
At the 8th Annual Houston Conference on AIDS, Urnovitz suggests that HIV-1 may
have also originated from the contaminated polio vaccines through the
recombination with normal human genes. "It is very likely that HIV-1 may
have been a result, and that it may in fact be a monkey-human
hybrid. His theory states that the contaminating viruses have
"archived" themselves in the body's nerve tissue. These virus
fragments then resurface at a later date when the immune system becomes
challenged. An opportunistic infection or exposure to toxins could be the
"trigger" that stimulates the reappearance of these virus fragments.
"This virus 'archiving' could be igniting the symptoms of central nervous
system disorders, chronic fatigue and joint pain that have been linked to more
than a dozen unexplained epidemics," he added.
Dr. R. Stricker's paper entitled "The Polio Vaccine and the Origin of
AIDS" that appeared in the January 1994 edition of Medical Hypothesis
is yet another theory highlighting a potential link. Stricker states, "The
transfer of monkey viruses to man via vaccines is particularly relevant to AIDS
since the causative agent HIV, is thought to be derived from a simian precursor
virus." He says the evolution of HIV remains to be proven but is
nonetheless startling, "Is it only a coincidence that HIV infection
manifested itself at the same time as the introduction of vaccines that are now
known to have been contaminated with simian viruses?"
The collection of theories on the origins, pathways and the sheer number of
potential "victims" from the contaminated vaccines is certainly
unsettling. Although each theory has its own individual elements, a cohesion
exists: The cross-species cultivation of vaccines is clearly laden with risks
-- risks that may be irreversible, carrying consequences too great to endure.
But to what extent, if any, irreparable damage has been inflicted upon humanity
is still blurry.
For consumer activist Barbara Loe Fisher, co-Founder & president of the National Vaccine Information Web Site, the
fact that the original vaccines were contaminated and current polio vaccines
are still grown on African Green monkey tissues, is just one more indication
that government vaccine officials have created dangerous public health policies
without making sure they have the solid science to back them up.
"Who is minding the public health when the FDA allows drug companies to
produce vaccines grown on animal tissue cultures and they don't even know if
this practice is facilitating cross species transfer of animal viruses into
man?" says Fisher.
Highlighting the fact that American parents are legally required to vaccinate
their babies with 10 different viral and bacterial vaccines, Fisher warns,
"No one really knows the latent, long term effects on the human immune and
neurological systems. With 200 vaccines in the research pipeline, more than 100
in clinical trials and scores on the brink of being licensed, vaccine research
had better get back to the basic science before another AIDS epidemic is
created in a vaccine lab."
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