The Ontario Ministry of Health has confirmed in writing that the vaccine currently given to Canadian school children to prevent Rubella (German Measles) and Rabies has been and is being derived from the lung tissue of aborted babies.
In Ontario, and some other provinces, vaccination is mandatory for all children entering both the public and separate school systems. Exemptions may be granted if parents sign a “Statement of Religious Beliefs” stating that the immunization conflicts with the tenets and practices of the religious denomination of which the parent is a member; or if an immunization is not allowed for medical reasons. However, non-immunized children will be suspended from school if an outbreak of disease occurs.
The rubella vaccination is part of the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) series of shots given to children over a period of years. Rabies vaccine is not, of course, given routinely but is a crucial shot for those in danger of contracting the life-threatening disease.
The rubella and rabies vaccine, called (“live attenuated,”) is derived from two sources. The WE-38 strain of diploid cells was developed in 1962 by Dr. Leonard Hayflick, a microbiology professor at Stanford University in California (the Wistar Institute). The MRC5 strain of diploid cells was developed in 1966 at the National Institute for Medical Research in Great Britain. The U.S. research was performed on an aborted Swedish child; that in Britain used an English aborted child.
Researchers cultured the lung tissues of the aborted fetuses, and the vaccine virus is grown in the resulting strains of diploid cells. The original tissues have been kept frozen and are, therefore, available for vaccine production over a long period of time. The World Health Organization and the Biological Licensing Bureaux of governments worldwide have accepted both strains to produce vaccines against such diseases as polio, measles and mumps as well as against rubella and rabies.
At the moment, Canadian vaccine for both mumps and measles is derived from chicken embryo cultures, not human diploid cell cultures. Polio vaccine is currently derived from monkeys’ kidney cells.
The two Canadian manufacturers of diploid-cell vaccines are Connaught Laboratories (Toronto), and the Institute Armand Frappier (Montreal). Additional supplies come from the U.S.-owned drug company Merck, Sharp and Dohme of Pennsylvania, which has offices and laboratories in Canada. (The company distributes its products to over 36 countries.)
Rubella-virus vaccine derived from human cells is the only rubella vaccine available in Canada since January 1979; there is no choice in this particular matter.
Such vaccines are seen as an “improvement” by health officials who argue there is less chance for contamination than in animal cell cultures. An official of the Ontario Ministry of Health commented, “Organ and tissue transplants and even blood transfusions are morally unacceptable to some but nevertheless a fact of modern medicine and science.” He added, “the disposition of tissues and organs removed from a patient is strictly controlled and recorded under the Public Hospitals Act. Tissues and organs may only be used when authority is given by the donor or next-of-kin.”
Presumably the official is referring to Ontario regulations when he speaks of the Public Hospitals Act, but they are hardly relevant as the research took place in different jurisdictions, 22 and 24 years ago, respectively.
It is equally irrelevant to imply that such research on aborted babies is done when consent is “given by the donor of next-of-kin.” It does, however, make the research sound less unethical. The unborn child is in no position to give permission and, even today, a mother of an aborted child is not asked if she might allow research on that child.
Two abortions
Both Connaught Laboratories and Ministry of Health officials stress that current and future vaccine is developed from the frozen tissue of just two babies. The implication is, of course, that it is of minor consequence. However, this is but one instance of research being carried out under questionable ethical circumstances.
As The Interim editorial this month points out, pro-lifers are caught in a dilemma. Many children have already received these vaccinations, and parents of children yet to be immunized face many a battle with their local school boards if they do not wish to allow immunization.
Now that the source of this vaccine has become public knowledge, Separate School
Board officials have a particular problem. If they continue to insist on immunization for all children under these circumstances, they will be ignoring the teachings of the Catholic Church. In Ontario (where separate high schools have just received government funding in the higher grades), officials may well be caught between the government and the church – that conflict will not be easy to resolve. Vaccine manufacturers and provincial governments will not take action unless encouraged. Safe, effective vaccines can be developed using animal cell cultures. This will take research, time, and money, none of will be forthcoming without much public pressure.
Please write
We suggest that you write immediately to both your provincial and your federal members of parliament, informing them of this matter. A further letter should be sent to your provincial minister of health, objecting to the use of vaccines derived from human cell cultures and requesting immediate action to develop alternate vaccines. Remember, every politician knows that one letter represents 10 concerned constituents.
In Ontario, write to the Hon. Keith Norton, Minister of Health, 10th Floor, Hepburn Block, Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A2. Concerned parents should also discuss this issue with their clergymen and ask that this subject receive wide debate.
