SV40 and polio vaccine
New documents show the monkey virus is present in more recent polio vaccine
A monkey
virus linked to human cancers may have contaminated the oral polio vaccine for
years after the U.S. government ordered manufacturers to remove it, according to
drug company documents obtained by The Chronicle.
The
Chronicle reported last week that the simian virus SV40 had contaminated early
polio vaccine given to millions of Americans. When health officials discovered
in 1961 that SV40 caused malignant tumors in lab animals, they ordered the virus
eliminated from all future vaccine.
But
internal memos from Lederle Laboratories, the chief producer of polio vaccine in
the United States, indicate SV40 may not have been completely removed.
The
polio vaccine and simian virus 40
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."
The
Lethal Dangers of the Billion-Dollar Vaccine Business
| Science 1972 Mar 17;175:1225-30 |
Wade N.
From the article: "The importance attached to presenting an unruffled surface to the public is exemplified by the the SV40 incident in 1961; even when the contaminating virus was found to be oncogenic in hamsters, the DBS and its expert advisory committee decided to leave existing stocks on the market rather than risk eroding public confidence by a recall.......For instance, a recent article on the reactions associated with viral vaccines concludes: 'There has been a tendency on the part of certain higher government circles to play down any open discussion of problems associated with vaccines... Perhaps this has been overdone. Scientists now find themselves in the position of balancing the benefits of a vaccine against the risks, yet are in no position to judge what the long-term risks are."
Coming soon: Literature searches on SV40 and polio vaccine and SV40 and cancer