AR-News: Vermont authors contend that virus tainted polio vaccine

[סמדר]

From: primfocus at waste.org

http://timesargus.com/Local/Story/84426.html

Vermont authors contend that virus tainted polio vaccine
May 29, 2004

By WILSON RING The Associated Press

MONTPELIER - A monkey virus that was introduced to humans in the polio
vaccine that was given to hundreds of millions of people in the 1950s and
1960s is the cause of a variety of rare cancers appearing now, a new book
argues.

"The Virus and the Vaccine" by a Burlington couple argues that the medical
establishment in the United States refused to publicize the danger posed by
the virus after it was first discovered in 1961.

The system used to make polio vaccine was not changed until 1963 and the
risk of contamination was not eliminated completely until 2000. As a result,
millions more Americans were unnecessarily exposed to the virus, known to
scientists as SV40, the book argues.

"Wiping out polio was an incredible public health advance. Nobody would ever
want to see the return of polio," said co-author Jim Schumacher. "The story
of SV40 is that when this virus was discovered in 1961 the response was not
'let's fix the vaccine,' the response was 'let's not tell anybody about
it."'

Schumacher wrote "The Virus and the Vaccine" with his wife Debbie Bookchin,
a longtime Vermont journalist. It was published this month by St. Martin's
Press of New York.

Bookchin and Schumacher say they are not opposed to the use of vaccines.

"Vaccines are a critical public health tool," Bookchin said. "There is no
excuse for not preventing disease through vaccines."

But Schumacher continued, "There is no excuse for not making them safe."

Scientists across the world have come to recognize the dangers of SV40 and
many studies are looking into the virus' link to certain cancers, scientists
said.

"The Virus and the Vaccine" argues that SV40 is linked to cancers of the
bone and brain as well as mesothelioma, a virulent and deadly cancer of the
lining of the lungs, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Much of the science in the book is based on research done by Dr. Michele
Carbone, a physician and scientist at Loyola University in Chicago. Carbone
has spent the last decade studying SV40.

He said scientists were initially cautious about accepting the link between
SV40 and cancer.

"I think in general the amount of skepticism was very high, but not unusual.
Scientists are skeptical. We went through three scientific reviews," Carbone
said.

"When people started seeing that other people are seeing what we found, this
was something popping up all over the world and others were reproducing our
discoveries, then the skepticism has gone down consistently," he said.

Schumacher said he first became aware of SV40's link to cancer and the polio
vaccine almost a decade ago while working as a law clerk on a divorce case.
A spouse was fighting her husband about being able to make health care
decisions for their children; the wife didn't want her children vaccinated.

And in researching her position Schumacher came across an article about
SV40, the polio vaccine and cancer.

"I went home to Debbie and said

More.... http://timesargus.com/Local/Story/84426.html



the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040602/38d98d4f/attachment.html