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A FLAWED STUDY

When Dr. Susan Fisher of the Loyola University Medical Center read the conclusions of Strickler's study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, she was incensed. She wrote to JAMA criticizing Strickler's methodology as "an error in judgement" - strong words among medical academics. The problem, she believed, was that Strickler had failed to take into account the fact that "cancers are highly correlated with age." When she took this factor into account, she discovered several disturbing facts.

Among 18 to 26 year-olds, the group most likely exposed to contaminated vaccine - the incidence of brain cancer, including two types linked to SV 40, was 19.6 percent higher than among those not exposed. The incidence of bone cancer was 16.6 percent higher. Most disturbing, the incidence of the previously rare mesothelomias was 178 percent greater among individuals exposed to vaccine contaminated with SV 40 than among those who were not.

Fisher, however, was also concerned that making comparisons based on whether or not people had received contaminated vaccine might be invalid on its face. The reason for her concern was that there were reports of SV 40 being transmitted between people who had taken the tainted vaccine and those who had not.

Soon, another shoe dropped.

In 1999, a number of vials of the Salk vaccine dating from 1955 were discovered. Dr. Michael Carbone, who was now at the Loyola University Medical Center, tested the samples. Carbone was stunned by the test results. He discovered that there were actually two strains of the SV 40 virus present. More disturbing, while the original strain appeared within 14 days, the second strain took 14 days to emerge. Therefore, it would not be detected by the tests intended to eliminate the SV 40 virus from the polio vaccine!

Even though Carbone's discovery of the second SV 40 virus strain provided a possible explanation of how its DNA could be present in the tumors of people who took the polio vaccine after 1963, the government continued to resist the notion of an SV 40 - cancer link. Strickler claimed that the presence of SV 40 in tumor samples must be the result of contamination at the laboratories where the tests were performed. NIH commissioned a study of samples from nine laboratories to determine whether this was the case. The only trouble was that such a study had already been conducted, and proved that contamination was not the problem. Still Strickler persisted in his crusade to discredit the SV 40 - cancer link.

Unsurprisingly, the NIH lab study found virtually no SV 40 presence in tumor samples from the nine labs. Critics, however, argued that the NIH review was flawed, and the fur began to fly. Finally the FDA stepped in and appointed an arbitrator to decide who was right. The arbitrator said contamination was not the problem but was at a loss to explain the apparently contradictory findings.

Meanwhile, more and more scientists around the world were discovering the SV 40 virus in tumor samples - especially those of the previously rare mesotheliomas. In August of last year, Dr. Carbone came up with yet another startling discovery. He found that in meosthelial cells, the presence of the SV 40 virus accelerated the rate at which healthy cells changed into cancer cells 1000 times. Apparently, the SV 40 virus acted as a co-carcinogen suppressing the immune system's response to cancer!

Yet, the NCI and NIH continued to turn a blind eye to the problem.

At a conference in August of 2001, Dr. Carbone expressed his exasperation at the government's "head in the sand" attitude.

"Sixty-two papers from 30 laboratories around the world have reported SV 40 in human tissues and tumors. … It is very difficult to believe that all of these papers, all of the techniques used and all of the people around the world are wrong."

With such dramatic evidence, the National Cancer Institute has finally acknowledged that SV 40 "may be associated with human cancer," but their response to this finding has been less than enthusiastic.

While Dr. James Goedert, who heads up the NCI's Viral Epidemiology Branch insists that the government isn't hiding anything, he does acknowledge that SV 40 is "… not one of our highest priorities."

While the NCI scientists hide their heads in the sand, other researchers around the world are discovering additional cause for concern over SV 40.

NIH researcher Dr. Jeffery Kopp has uncovered an unsettling connection between SV 40 and a new and deadly form of kidney disease. Prior to 1980 so-called "collapsing" renal disease was unknown. Since that time, however, it has been rapidly increasing. Kopp found that a large percentage of people with kidney disease had the SV 40 virus present in their system. More important fully 60% of those with the new, virulent "collapsing variety" showed evidence of SV 40.

But the mystery of how people who had not received contaminated vaccine could end up with the SV 40 virus remained. That is, if the vaccine produced after April of 1961 was truly free of the SV 40 virus.

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