Subject:  (Butler) (Riedlinger) Spin Doctors Working Overtime?? (fwd)
Date:     Tue, 16 Feb 1999 044813 -0600 (CST)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To:       emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------


........NOT likely ... EMF related.......guru......

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 23:33:02 -0800
From: James Butler 
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: Re: (Riedlinger) Spin Doctors Working Overtime?? (fwd)

Early Polio Vaccinations May be Causing Cancer Deaths

 Robert Matthews and Adrian Humphreys                          
 The Sunday Telegraph; National Post 

 The mass vaccination campaigns of the 1950s and '60s may be
 causing hundreds of deaths a year because of a cancer-causing virus
 that contaminated the first polio vaccine, according to scientists. 

 Known as SV40, the virus came from dead monkeys whose kidney
 cells were used to culture the first Salk vaccines. Doctors estimate
 that the virus was injected into tens of millions during the
 vaccination campaigns, including several million in Canada, before
 being detected and screened out in 1963. Those born between 1941
 and 1961 are thought to be most at risk of having been infected. 

 Now a new study of the effects of SV40 points to evidence that the
 monkey virus causes a number of human cancers. It concludes there
 is "compelling" evidence linking SV40 to mesothelioma, a once-rare
 type of lung cancer whose prevalence is rapidly increasing. 

 Dr. Janet Butel of the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, and the
 lead author of the study, said: "I feel strongly that research is
 warranted to determine how common human infections by SV40 may
 be, and what factors might predispose individuals to SV40-related
 tumours." 

 Her study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer
 Institute, also suggests the monkey virus may be passing from those
 given the contaminated vaccine to their children, spreading the
 cancer risk still further. 

 Blood samples analyzed by Dr. Butel and her colleagues point to the
 steady spread of the cancer-causing virus in the human population,
 with 10% of those never exposed directly to the contaminated
 vaccine testing positive for SV40. 

 But several Canadian scientists are skeptical and say those
 immunized during the period in question should not panic. 

 "I believe SV40 is present in the human population today and is
 being spread among individuals by an unknown route," said Dr.
 Butel. 

 Stephen Vas, a microbiologist at the University of Toronto, said the
 link between the vaccine and cancer is far from a certainty. 

 "This study will be hotly argued. The name SV40 means it is a
 'simian virus' and it is a very controversial topic whether the simian
 virus is a cancer-causing virus in humans." 

 Said Grant McFadden, a professor of microbiology and immunology
 at the University of Western Ontario: "This idea has been tossed
 around for years but never shown. The evidence for it has been
 lousy." 

 And Gregory Dekaban, director of gene therapy and molecular
 virology at John P. Robarts Research Institute in London, Ont., said
 determining cause and effect of cancer is extremely difficult. "Just
 because there is a certain virus present doesn't mean it is the cause
 of the cancer." 

 But scientists in Britain said they are joining an international effort
 to confirm the findings. According to Gordon McVie, the director
 general of the Cancer Research Campaign in Britain, researchers
 have so far uncovered evidence linking SV40 to a number of cancers,
 including brain tumours and bone cancer. 

 "I've a feeling that the virus might be implicated in more, such as
 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and prostate cancer," he said. 

 The study is also likely to prompt a rethink by doctors of what
 happened 40 years ago during the early days of polio vaccination.
 Until now, SV40 was regarded as harmless, with no evidence of
 long-term health effects emerging in follow-up studies of those
 vaccinated. Now it appears these studies may not have been
 conducted over a long enough period. New highly sensitive laboratory
 tests suggest the presence of SV40 in many different types of human
 tumour. 

 The most startling results centre on mesothelioma, until recently
 linked primarily to exposure to asbestos. Studies have found that
 around 70% of mesothelioma cases test positive for the SV40 virus.
 Over the past 30 years, the number of mesothelioma cases has risen
 10-fold, to about 1,000 a year, and is predicted to reach 4,000 early
 next century. Until now, the increase was blamed on the asbestos
 industry. 

 But the new findings are leading scientists to suspect that SV40 may
 account for a substantial number of mesotheliomas. Dr. Butel said:
 "The consistent association of SV40 with that tumour is compelling." 

 Dr. Bharat Jasani, a leading expert on SV40 and mesotheliomas at
 the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, said the new
 research could bring new hope to hundreds of cancer patients, as
 many might be treated by a vaccine that attacks SV40. "We could
 think about saving more than 2,000 lives a year from mesothelioma
 -- and that is good news." 

 A spokesman for the UK's Department of Health said it was aware
 that SV40 had contaminated early polio vaccines but insisted there
 is no evidence the virus caused tumours. Health Canada officials
 could not be reached. 

 Prof. Vas said any concern over cancer from old versions of the polio
 vaccine should be mitigated by how many lives were saved by wiping
 out polio in North America and Europe. 

 "If you calculated how many lives would have been lost if the vaccine
 hadn't been used you would see the benefits far, far outweighed the
 possible harm. There is no debate over the benefits, only the
 possibility it caused harm. 

 "But given the fashion of the day, I wouldn't put it beyond people to
 sue the government over this."



Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html