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Saturday, August 11, 2001 9:39 PM

Monkey Virus Present in Todays Recent Polio Vaccine 8-8-01.html

 

 

> Monkey Virus Present in Recent Polio Vaccine

> 8/8/01http://www.mercola.com/2001/aug/8/monkey_virus.htm

>

> Monkey Virus Present in Recent Polio Vaccine

> By William Carlsen

> 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.

> 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.

> According to one memo, SV40 was found in three of 15 lots of the oral

> vaccine seven months after the federal directive was issued in March 1961.

> Lederle released the contaminated vaccine to the public anyway, the memo

> shows.

> The documents also suggest that the company failed to test the monkey-

> kidney seed strains used to make the bulk polio vaccine for contamination,

> despite a written warning from Dr. Albert Sabin, who developed the oral

> vaccine.

> Lederle and the US government insist there is no evidence that any

> contaminated vaccine was distributed after the directive went into effect.

> Scientists discovered SV40 in the Salk polio vaccine in 1960. By then as

> many as 30 million Americans had been given injections of the SV40-tainted

> polio vaccine, which was first licensed in 1955.

> In recent years more than 60 scientific studies have found SV40 in rare

> human brain, bone and lung-related cancers, the same kinds of tumors the

> virus caused in laboratory animals. Some scientists believe SV40 may play

a

> role in causing those cancers.

> One of the biggest mysteries, however, is why SV40 has been found in

tumors

> removed from people who never received the contaminated Salk vaccine.

> Researchers have several theories for how the virus could have spread from

> those infected through the Salk vaccine: in transmission from mother to

> fetus or through breast milk; through sexual activity or a flu-like virus.

> But the Lederle documents, which were obtained by Philadelphia attorney

> Stanley Kops in litigation not related to SV40, raise the possibility the

> virus might have been transmitted by contaminated oral vaccine, licensed

for

> production in 1962.

> The documents include:

> A November 1961 memo saying the virus was found in three of 15 lots of

> vaccine. According to the memo, Dr. Roderick Murray, head of the

> government's program to ensure vaccine purity, allowed the lots to be

> released. To comply with the removal order, Lederle had switched from

rhesus

> monkeys, which are natural hosts for SV40, to African green monkeys,

> supposedly free from SV40. However, the memo notes that SV40 was found in

10

> percent of the green monkeys.

> A letter from Sabin to Lederle in October 1962, warning that sufficient

> testing for SV40 contamination had not been done on one of his strains of

> weakened polio virus that formed the seed for bulk vaccine production.

> A confidential memo in 1979 from a Lederle official stating: " It should be

> noted that Lederle did not test the original Sabin seeds for extraneous

> agents or neurovirulence since Dr. Sabin assured us that this had been

> done. "

> Another memo stating that Lederle did not test the seed " since only 50

> (milliliters) or less of each seed were provided by Dr. Sabin. "

> The two memos added that testing was unnecessary because later vaccine

> samples submitted for license were free of SV40.

> Kops also said that he had taken testimony in 1998 from a top Lederle

> official who said the company did not have the test results from many of

the

> vaccine lots.

> " The vaccine manufacturers and the government need to disclose what really

> happened, " said Kops. " Without the facts, (scientists) will continue to

look

> in the wrong places to explain how people were infected with SV40 after

> 1961. "

> At a 1997 conference, however, a Lederle representative outlined the

series

> of tests the company uses to detect SV40 contamination. The company also

> says that it uses antiserum to neutralize any SV40 in the " master seeds. "

> But it is not clear whether these procedures were in place in the years

> after the US government issued its directive.

> Last year, a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles against Lederle by the

parents

> of 2 1/2-year-old Alexander Horwin who died of a brain tumor that later

> tested positive for SV40. The suit claims that the tumor was caused by

SV40

> and that he became infected through a 1997 oral polio vaccine.

> Kops and attorney Donald MacLachlan represent a New Jersey family that is

> considering a suit against vaccine manufacturers.

> In 1970, surgeons removed a large brain tumor from 2-year-old Mark Moreno.

> He since has undergone five more surgeries and now wears a protective

helmet

> over the large opening in his cranium where bone grafts never took.

Moreno,

> now 33, lives with his mother and requires daily assistance.

> Recent tests show Moreno's tumor was riddled with SV40, according to the

> lawyers.

> Moreno, Mark's mother, believes her son's brain tumor was caused by

> SV40 and that he was infected through the oral polio vaccine in 1968.

> Last year, two investigators from the US Food and Drug Administration used

> genetic testing to examine 30 samples of bulk oral polio vaccine used in

the

> United States going back to 1972. They reported finding no SV40.

> But the government has not used the genetic tests to determine whether

> vaccine made prior to 1972 was contaminated.

> Dr. William Egan, deputy director of the FDA's vaccine research branch,

said

> testing went back only to 1972 because those samples were the only ones

> available to them. " There was nothing sinister, " he said.

> MacLachlan said he finds it " incredible " that the government hasn't

> comprehensively investigated the possibility of SV40 contamination of the

> oral vaccine.

>

> Simian Virus Q & A

> Q: How widespread is the SV40 infection?

> A: Scientists and government health officials don't know, because no

> comprehensive studies have addressed the question. What is known is that

> during the 1950s and '60s, at least 10 million to 30 million Americans --

> and more than 100 million people worldwide -- were given SV40-contaminated

> polio vaccine. The virus also has been found in people who did not receive

> contaminated vaccine.

> Q: Can I be tested for SV40?

> A: An accurate blood test does not exist. Current antibody blood tests can

> be inaccurate, scientists say, because they also may detect the presence

of

> closely related viruses, and SV40 may be present at such a low level that

no

> antibodies are produced. Researchers are working to create an effective

> test.

> Q: In which kinds of cancers has SV40 been found?

> A: The virus has been detected in rare cancers, including:

> Mesothelioma, a fatal tumor of the membrane surrounding the lungs. Few

cases

> were reported prior to 1950, but the incidence has grown in the United

> States to 2,000 to 4,000 cases a year, with greater incidence in Europe.

> Brain cancers: Primarily ependymomas and choroid plexus tumors, but also

> astrocytomas, glioblastomas, medulloblastoma, and meningiomas. Fewer than

1,

> 000 cases of these cancers are reported in the United States each year.

> Bone cancers: Primarily osteosarcomas, but also chondrosarcoma and giant

> cell tumors. These also make up fewer than 1,000 cases annually.

> For more information on SV40 and the polio virus, please check the

Internet

> at sfgate.com/chronicle/sv40/.

> San Francisco Chronicle July 15, 2001

>

> DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

> A sad tragedy for all involved: that loving parents attempting to do the

> best they could for their children, wind up exposing them to a virus that

> could lead to a fatal case of cancer.

> Related Articles:

> Mystery Of The Monkey Virus

> Simian Virus 40 DNA Found In US Children

> How Vaccines are Made

>

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