Nonfiction
Book
Availability
Details
PUBLISHED
EDITION
DESCRIPTION
xvii, 380 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN/ISSN
LANGUAGE
NOTES
Introduction -- Paralyzed president -- Nation at war with polio -- Young man from Pittsburgh -- Vaccine that opened Pandora's box -- Triumph and disaster -- Does anyone know what's in this vaccine? -- Virus discovered -- We were scared of SV40 -- Worst thing in the world -- Why not a safer vaccine? -- Everyone knows SV40 doesn't cause cancer -- Wild-assed idea -- Don't inflame the public -- Call to turn aside the dogma -- On the scientific map -- Perfect war machine -- Study marred by strife -- Wasted time, wasted money -- No funding, no research -- Alexander's tumor -- Conclusion -- Notes and sources -- Appendix A: Association of SV40 with human disease -- Appendix B: Correspondence between Bernice Eddy, Joseph Smadel, and Roderick Murray (chapters 6 and 7) -- Appendix C: Documents and articles concerning the discovery of SV40 in Salk's and Sabin's vaccines (chapters 8 and 9) -- Appendix D: Memos and correspondence relating to multi-laboratory study and carbone-pass rapid access to intervention development (RAID) Grant (chapters 17 and 19) -- Acknowledgments -- Index
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine has taken on an almost legendary quality as a medical miracle, for it largely eradicated one of the most feared diseases of the 20th century. But the story of the vaccine has a dark side, one that has never been fully told before... Between 1954 and 1963, close to 98 million Americans received polio vaccinations contaminated with a carcinogenic monkey virus, now known as SV40. A concerted government effort downplayed the incident, and it was generally accepted that although oncogenic to laboratory animals, SV40 was harmless to humans. But now SV40 in showing up in human cancers, and prominent researchers are demanding a serious public health response to this forgotten polio vaccine contaminant. A gripping medical detective story, The Virus and the Vaccine raises major questions about vaccine policy
"Jonas Salk's polio vaccine has taken on a legendary quality as a medical miracle, for it largely eradicated one of the most feared diseases of the twentieth century. But the story of the vaccine has a dark side, one that has never been fully told before. In one of modern medicine's biggest blunders, between 1954 and 1963, 98 million Americans received polio vaccinations widely contaminated with a carcinogenic monkey virus, known as simian virus 40, or SV40. A concerted government effort downplayed the incident, and it was generally accepted that although oncogenic in laboratory animals, SV40 was harmless to humans." "But now SV40 is showing up in a variety of human lung, brain, bone, and lymphatic cancers in adults. It is also appearing in the cancers of some children too young to have received the contaminated Salk vaccine. Is the simian virus spreading within the human population? Or is it possible, as internal vaccine manufacturer documents appear to indicate, that the vaccine may have been contaminated with the monkey virus more recently as well?"--BOOK JACKET