Approximately one third of the polio vaccinations given to 30 million Americans were contaminated with a potent cancer-causing virus. It’s possibly one of the biggest contaminations of all time and the most deadly. The CDC who recently posted information about this virus called SV40 or Simian virus has since taken it down after it was traced back to the polio vaccination largely distributed in the US and sparingly worldwide.
Between the years of 1955 and 1963 about 1/3 of the vaccinations were contaminated with this DNA virus known as SV40 derived from a Rhesus monkey. This potent oncogenic virus, with strong links to certain types of cancers like brain cancer, bone cancer, mesothelioma, and Lymphoma, shows up in the DNA of these cancerous cells. With some careful investigation and tracing back of historical events, its origin from the polio vaccination was discovered.
Associated Risks
Various studies of human cancer tissue and reproductions in animal specimens have all concluded similar results. One study funded by the National Cancer Institute stated: ((“This analysis of published reports found a significant excess risk of SV40 associated with human primary brain cancers, malignant mesotheliomas, bone cancers, and NHL compared to control samples. Therefore, the major types of human malignancies associated with SV40 are the same as those induced by SV40 in animal models.”))
Though relief may be a common reaction for some who did not receive a polio vaccination during that 8yr period, it’s important to note that SV40 has been found in random samples of individuals including those who never received a polio vaccination during that period or who were born after that period. Therefore, SV40 is suspect as being sexually and maternally transmitted, though there is no conclusive evidence currently to determine route of transmission.
Infection Rates
Animal models have been used to show oncogenic capacity (the ability and amount of time taken to induce tumor development). The latent period of tumor development in hamsters infected with SV40 ranges from 3 months to more than a year. The frequency of tumor development in animals infected as newborns is over 90%. In older animals that percentage is reduced though the data does not specify how much. Nevertheless it does suggest that the age at the time of infection, the route of infection, and the duration of infection may be factors that influence the probability of malignancies caused by SV40.
How SV40 Causes Cancer
SV40, known as a DNA virus, binds to tumor suppressing proteins and changes the DNA sequence. With the suppressed anti-tumor gene these new mutant cells are able to reproduce uncontrollably, forming tumors.
SV-40’s Effect on the Cancer Surge
It is hard to say how much SV-40 has affected the surge of cancer cases that are rising at a concerning rate. Since little is known about how SV-40 activates within hosts nor the potency or transmission pathway of the virus and its different strains, its role in the current cancer epidemic is still being discovered. Despite having a lot to learn about SV-40, mounting evidence and the researchers behind it, are calling it an emergent human pathogen.