Again we see how little bits of knowledge can be worse than complete
ignorance. It has been known for years that SV-40 contaminated the
earl lots of the inactivated polio vaccine. I'm surprised that Tom
isn't claiming that the contamination was indeed deliberate. The
question of whether SIV also contaminated these vaccines is the next
question. It is certainly likely that SIV might have been present in
the original African green monkey kidney cell preps. However, this in
no way implies that the vaccine may have been the source of AIDS.
SV-40 is a particularly hardy virus, and was able to resist the
chemical inactivation procedures which killed the polioviruses. SIV,
like all retorviruses, are nororiously unstable. These viruses are
very easy to inactivate in vitro, making it unlikely that an
infectious dose survived the vaccine processing. I know that Tom
would never consider this concept, but that doesn't make it go away.
However, the point of unknown viruses contaminating vaccines, organs,
blood, etc., is real and ominous. There is an ongoing debate about
the magnitude of the risk associated with using animal organs for
xenotransplants in humans. Most of the infectious disease community
have come out on record as being either completely opposed to the use
of primate tissues, or at least calling for a moratorium until the
issue of transmission of unknown viruses has been more fully explored.
Unfortunately for Tom and his circle of conspiracy addicts, the idea
of responsible scientists calling for more thought on the subject
doesn't lend itself well to their belief that all of us scientists are
either chasing dollars at the expense of humanity, or trying actively
to find ways to kill off the gays, blacks, Jews (insert your pet
victim status here).
Now, if Tom were to do his homework like a good boy, he would know
that the original HBV vaccine was produced from proteins obtained from
the blood of HBV infected individuals. No cell culture or animal
tissues were involved. The current HBV vaccine is made from a
recombinant protein (HBsAg) produced in yeast.
See ya
Jay M.
