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October 23, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Study Is Unsure on Tainted Polio Vaccine's Cancer Role"

New York Times (www.nytimes.com) (10/23/02) P. A17; Grady, Denise

Years of study have not shown whether the polio vaccine used in the United States from 1955 to 1963, which was contaminated with a cancer-causing monkey virus, is linked to cancer in humans, say scientists, but they add that if the vaccine does have an effect, it will probably be only a very small increase in risk for certain rare types of cancer.  The vaccine may have been given to 10 million to 30 million people; the simian virus 40 can cause cancer in rodents and cultured human cells, and has been found in some human tumors, but this does not prove that the virus caused the tumors.  Most large population studies have found no increased risk, says a committee convened by the Institute of Medicine to examine vaccine safety, but missing information means that the question can never be completely resolved--researchers do not know how much vaccine was contaminated or which vaccine was given to certain people.  [Polio vaccines subsequently licensed by the FDA contain no simian virus.]

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