Showing posts with label Ideas to think about.... Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ideas to think about.... Show all posts

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Bea Arthur Was 5' 10"




The other night, in the middle of the night, in the cozy warmth of my bed I awoke and had to google Bea Arthur's height for some reason. I needed to know. And, as I was googling I realized I didn't know WHY I needed to know, only that I was compelled to find out.

She's 5' 10".

She was 5' 10".

I remembered doing it the next day and wondered what other skipping stone points of contact I've looked up recently--not delving deeply into any one thing, but abundantly curious about all sorts of things. And, why wouldn't I be? Bea Arthur portrayed Auntie Mame's friend Vera Charles; I'm sure she heard Mame say, "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

Not me, sister. Not me.

Let's see what I've been feasting on as of late, shall we?

I looked up how to spell McMurphy, as in the poor guy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Yggdrasil. Norse mythical tree. Huge thing.
Knutepunkt. Northern European LARPing. Look it up if you need to. Join me!
Men's rain poncho. Someone might need one.
A related search: best umbrella. And let me say here, that I don't really care how good it is, might even be the best, but an asking price of over $300 is really too much.
Here was a meta one: I had had a dream that I was involved with people selling dozens of t-shirts. When they put a hole in the tag to convey something (don't know what), the term for that was a teasing. I looked up t-shirt teasing and got smart ass sayings on shirts.
Bechdel test. Thought it was spelled with a t. Needed to know spelling.
Saw an ad for a Prada backpack. Wondered what such a thing would cost. It can stay with the excellent umbrella, unused, unbought.
When to eat persimmons. I've never had them, wanted to know what to look for. One site said eat when firm. One site said let soften.
How long to cook leg of lamb per pound. It was a little more than 20 minutes per pound. It was also a roast, not a leg, but that didn't matter. I made a paste of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary and rubbed it onto the roast before cooking. Sprinkled a little additional salt on just before putting in the oven. Oh. My. God. It was amazing with brown rice, and lemon, Parmesan roasted broccoli.
Oregon Blue. How can there be a "new" color? Yeah, there can't.
Speaking of: What do mood ring colors mean?
Who was on the balcony with the queen on her wedding day? It's who you'd expect. Doesn't hurt to check.
Good Day Sunshine lyrics. My daughter would probably point out that I've heard that song for all of my conscious life--not counting toddler-hood. Why wouldn't I know the lyrics? Well, critical daughter, because as a rule I only remember choruses and will break out into loud singing when the songs roll around to that point, and make up the rest of the lyrics singing those parts more quietly to not out myself. Yes, but why? I don't know. Why do you think you will not be like me some day? It's coming...
Estoppel. No taksie backsies. You said it and we know you said it.
Trover Conversion. Finders keepers, but only sometimes. Maybe the other tenth of the law, as in not always. GIVE IT BACK!
Why more black squirrels? I never saw anything but grey squirrels growing up and well into adulthood. Now I see them all the time. They're striking. It's a genetic mutation. Just coming out now with more frequency. Who knows if there's an advantage to that?
Stream impeachment hearing Didn't listen/watch the whole time. It's all so awful. I'm sorry, World.
Amendment granting Native Americans the right to vote Should have been the fifteenth, but it wasn't until the Snyder Act in 1924 that they received full suffrage. So much jive.
Be gay do crime I can get behind civil disobedience for good causes.
Submittable Just so I could check if my submission "in progress" for about 6 months had been decided on. My first rejection! Do you know how many marvelous people have been rejected, over and over again throughout all of time?! I'm in very good company.
Children of Heaven so I could share a link to the synopsis and a video clip of this amazing movie from Iran. A homeschooling mom was concerned about how demanding her child had become and wanted to show them how others live with very little.
Effete Spelling is tricky.
Buy squid ink powder I think you can see why I would google that. Can you walk into your grocery store and find it? Where would I go for such a thing?

This is all some of the things I looked up in about a week's time. There's so much more. What did I do before the internet? I'm sure my mind didn't jump around as much as it does now. For all the resources at my fingertips, for all the information cataloged in clear, accessible ways, I could be diving very deeply into interests. But, I don't. I flit. I skim. I jump from here to there.

On the other hand, any curiosity I have can be immediately satisfied. It's good to know things. I like finding answers. I almost never sit in wonder and instead want to know.

Still. I wonder if something is lost in that. Maybe sitting in wonder allows the mind to wander, to connect disparate dots, to further ask more questions. Maybe there's something rich in not knowing but wondering.

Honestly, I'm tempted to google that: what is lost by immediately satisfying curiosity?

I'm not going to. I'm going to let that one go.

Bea Arthur was 5' 10". Maybe I'll just think about that for a while.


Monday, July 25, 2016

Beware of Darkness

The George Harrison estate objected to the GOP using Here Comes the Sun and said instead that if they had used Beware of Darkness that might have been OK...



Sunday, July 17, 2016

Hot Damn!

Despite all of the bad stuff in the world, and there is admittedly a lot we see these days, there is still the need to relish the good. Not feel guilty about the joy you find in your own life or in those around you.

Perhaps to counter the bad, it is even more important to feel deeply the good when you encounter it.

So, I am reminding you all (we all know this...) to find something, or somethings, or someone, or someones that make you say "Hot damn!" Seek it/them out. Find it.

It may be that it's right under your nose. It could be you, if you remember yourself, after having forgotten yourself for so long. It could be your family, your friends, the book you just read, the realization that you just experienced a perfect day, which is rare. Perfect? That doesn't come along all that often.

The point being that it is a part of all of us, a part of the human condition, to feel joy. Unmitigated, unconditional joy. And, it makes no difference how it is manifested. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else. Maybe that makes it even more intense, or special, or exquisite--that it is your own intimate connection to something either outside of yourself, or within, that moves you. To be moved! To be awakened! No longer sleepwalking from one moment to the next, rather feeling a moment or moments in a day so strongly, so deep within your heart, that it's as if you are connected to the infinite, however you may define that.

You either have to seek this out, or be open to it coming to you. I won't wager on which is more likely. I think if you're not open it will never happen. If you don't seek it out you will never find it. Maybe it's a tie. It is active. It is going about with your eyes open. It is being ready in your heart.

You have to make room for good to flood into you. Nature abhors a vacuum and wants to fill it. Isn't that remarkable? If you make the space, it will be filled. It just will.

You have to get quiet too. You can't hear the angels singing if you are too loud. You can't be touched by a rare, elusive creature if you scare it away with chatter, with whining, with rancor, and discord.

The world is too loud. You can't counter that with more noise.

And you deserve to say hot damn! Everyone does. This includes you.

At one point in my life I was depressed, terribly depressed. Point is probably the wrong word. I was depressed for years. I had a huge sense of the injustice of the world and thinking about it propelled me forward, but was no impetus for me actually doing anything about anything, because I was depressed. It also allowed me to ignore myself and not face my problems and get myself together. Depression is so tiring. The work to get up out of it is immense, and sometimes feels like a sisyphean task. But, you just gotta roll that stone up the hill any way. That is the nature of life.

Because of my sense of the cruelty of the world and seeing the inequity, I somehow forgot that I had a right to be happy, and that my sadness did nothing to increase joy in the world. I forgot that I was a part of the world, a member of the tribe, that I belonged too. I forgot that my happiness would be a net gain for the whole, because I was a part of it.

I'm not preaching the prosperity gospel here. I don't think it's all just about you, you selfish bastard... I just mean that sometimes we forget that being joyful, and finding things that make us joyful, and seeking it out with earnestness, allows the world to dull a little. I think your joy, my joy, his joy, her joy all contributes to more joy for everyone. It becomes exponential because it is infectious. It brushes off on others as you float through the world smiling. It warms others as you glow near them.

Try to find something that makes you say hot damn! Or whatever exclamation would make sense for you. Try to find something that makes you feel deeply and reconnects you to your heart. You need this.

The world needs this.

Hot damn...



Friday, June 24, 2016

Words...

Are you ever so moved by someone's words that you feel swept away by a tide? But, it's not scary at all. It's powerful and energizing. It can be peaceful and calm as you float on it, in it. And their words reverberate. They echo through your days and you recall them, or they come unbidden into your head and seem to push out all other thought, all other words, crowding out noise and chatter and filling you with something substantive and clear. And it makes you feel alive and attuned to everything else in the universe. And it feels warm and loving and real. And they are just words... Only words... Simply words... Do you ever feel this? Do the ideas you come across ever reach into you and caress your soul? Do they massage the wrinkles and folds of your mind and then reach into the chambers of your heart and gently touch and brush the edges of you and hold you firmly, and own you? No? Then you should do what you can to find those moments in this life, because that is magic, and it is necessary. Try to find it...

Friday, May 6, 2016

Roller Coaster

You know what? I hate roller coasters. HATE them. My kids love them. At a certain point, during a very small window of my childhood, I liked them too. Just like I liked the smell of gasoline, and can no longer stand it. I also liked spinning, twirling round and round, faster and faster, and can no longer stand that. Even a short time on a swing makes me feel a little uneven, a little unbalanced now.
That all said, you know what I do like? That life is a roller coaster. I am white knuckling it sometimes and it is scary, but so exhilarating. In the midst of it, it seems terrifying, and then I swoop down the long hill, screaming, grabbing on, clinging on for dear life, and I level out at the bottom, and I'm OK. It's OK. We got through that. And we're stronger now.
I don't seek out drama in my life. I'm not an adrenaline junky. I don't thrive on chaos. I just see that that's all a part of life and I might as well try and enjoy the ride. Even if it's at times scary. Even if it feels threatening. Even if it seems insurmountable.
The roller coaster approaches. I climb in. I just try to find comfort in the seat, buckle in, and hold on.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Wayne LaPierre Called Me

Wayne LaPierre just phoned me and I listened to his automated message.  Wayne is the CEO of the NRA which is WTF.

They really, really,  really called the wrong person.

As I read it, (and I always notice that no one else seems to read it this way, even though this is how it is written) the second amendment that Mr. LaPierre is so all fired up about protecting (get it?  I put a gun joke in there...) states, *ahem, throat clearing*:



A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Did you catch that?  Do you see the first part of that?  The conditional part?  The part that is almost universally ignored?  A WELL REGULATED MILITIA, BEING NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE...  Do you see that part?  That's the condition upon which we are allowed to have guns in this country.  In order to ensure our security, through a well regulated militia (do you hear that Michigan militias--hey!  Do you guys still exist?), the right to bear arms shall not be infringed.

So, if I want to bear arms in something other than a well regulated militia, that right may be infringed, because that's not the right that the second amendment protects.  I might have to have regulations that our society deems reasonable for me to pack heat.

Does anyone else read it this way, because I believe that's how it's written?  And how do I know that's how it's written?!  Because I read the words that they so carefully chose, and I understand English, it being my mother tongue.

The first part is a condition, people!


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

How Economic Inequality Harms Societies

Here's a Ted Talk with Richard Wilkinson explaining how larger income gaps within societies increase social maladies--poorer health outcomes, greater crime, imprisonment, shorter life spans, etc.

The richer countries, those with a higher median income, don't do better.  The USA is the worst!

The Occupy people know all of this already.  This is what they're railing about.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Enfeebling the Brain?


A child who has been boxed up six hours in school might spend the next four hours in study, but it is impossible to develop the child’s intellect in this way. The laws of nature are inexorable. By dint of great and painful labor, the child may succeed in repeating a lot of words, like a parrot, but, with the power of its brain all exhausted, it is out of the question for it to really master and comprehend its lessons. The effect of the system is to enfeeble the intellect even more than the body. We never see a little girl staggering home under a load of books, or knitting her brow over them at eight o’clock in the evening, without wondering that our citizens do not arm themselves at once with carving knives, pokers, clubs, paving stones or any weapons at hand, and chase out the managers of our common schools, as they would wild beasts that were devouring their children.

-
Scientific American magazine, October 1860


Thursday, July 29, 2010

Is Global Warming Real?



Is Global Warming real?

Yes, it is.



Phytoplankton: the starting point of the marine food chain and producer of oxygen. Now, 40% less phytoplankton in oceans than in the 1950's due to Global Warming...


Friday, May 22, 2009

Instant Karma

Here's an idea to consider from John Lennon. Thanks for the reminder, John...



Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna knock you right on the head,
You better get yourself together,
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead,
What in the world you thinking of,
Laughing in the face of love,
What on earth you tryin' to do,
It's up to you, yeah you.

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna look you right in the face,
Better get yourself together darlin',
Join the human race,
How in the world you gonna see,
Laughin' at fools like me,
Who on earth d'you think you are,
A super star,
Well, right you are.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Well we all shine on,
Ev'ryone come on.

Instant Karma's gonna get you,
Gonna knock you off your feet,
Better recognize your brothers,
Ev'ryone you meet,
Why in the world are we here,
Surely not to live in pain and fear,
Why on earth are you there,
When you're ev'rywhere,
Come and get your share.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Yeah we all shine on,
Come on and on and on on on,
Yeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah-.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun,
Yeah we all shine on,
On and on and on on and on.

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.
Well we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.
Yeah we all shine on,
Like the moon and the stars and the sun.





Monday, May 18, 2009

What's Your Philosophy?

How do you order your life? Do you just drift through? Do you have a set of rules that you live by that are dictated by your faith? Do you see yourself as part of something greater? Or do you see yourself as a mere mote floating through the infinite space of the universe? Is it all some cosmic game, or is it preordained and proscribed from on high?

Do you believe in fate? Are some things meant to be? Why? Are you a marionette with strings pulled from somewhere out of the frame?

Is it just about you? Did Atlas shrug?

What do you think?

Some radical unschoolers frame their relationships with their kids in the light of death. Do you really want to argue about penmanship when your child could be dead tomorrow? Or you? Does that make the time we spend together meaningful? Life is just a blip--phst--it's gone.

I know a man who lost his dad this last Tuesday. His dad died as he wanted, at home, and after having last visits with his family. This same grieving man came home, after visiting with his father, and on Thursday was laid off after having been assured for months by his boss that he was safe. When he finishes up his work in the middle of June, he will have been with the company for ten years.

Was that fate?

Do you believe, as I do, that the universe and all that is in it is beautiful and amazing and it's perfectly OK to not know why or how it all came to be? But what about the stuff that's not beautiful?

Do you feel in any way obligated as a passenger on Earth to try and make it better somehow? Do you feel, as you walk around all day, connected to everybody and everything, or do you have to get the laundry done?

Here's a Zen proverb:

Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.

That's about right, isn't it? You have to keep on keeping on, because that is a function of being alive.

What's your philosophy?

Let's hear Miss Sally Brown as she sings about her new philosophy, and then maybe you can tell me about yours.







Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Como se Dice?

Does anyone know what this means?

Уважаемый автор, а вы случайно не из Москвы?

It is a question posed to me on my guestbook. I'd like to answer it, but no hablo.

And while we're looking at it, I'm leaning towards Russian, but is it?

NOTE: I just looked it up at a great site that translates languages for you. I think it doesn't always translate with any kind of understanding of what is trying to be said however...

It is Russian and this is what the translation is:

Distinguished author and you do not accidentally from Moscow?

So, I think that may mean, "Hey, I think you're a great writer. Are you perchance from Moscow?"

I love languages and people trying to talk to one another. Thank you my new Russian friend. No, I'm not from Russia, nor have I ever been there. I am, however, grateful that you like my writing.

Visit again!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny

I have a previous entry where I posted a video presentation by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny called, Vaccines: the Benefits, the Risks, the Choices. I think it might not always work for people, so I'm going to repost it here, and hopefully it will work.

If you have some time and would like to learn more about vaccines and where there may be problems or room for questions, please take a look at this video.


Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Couple of Questions

Do you think that raccoons, being the scavenging kind of animals that they are, will be in any way put off by the Paas dye covering the eggs that my husband and I just now scattered all over the yard? Will there be any eggs left in the morning?

Raccoons as they might look were they in search of pastel dyed eggs in our yard.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Words of Wisdom

I just read some very sage words on a young mom's blog (Presidio Unschooling). She is just starting out unschooling her little kids and she's feeling some impatience and guilt over not being fully available to her kids at all times. Been there. I've experienced that too.

Here are her very wise words:

Don't do a fancy craft project when you're PMS.

Bingo! Words we can all live by...

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

It's All Been a Joke--Suckers!

God are you guys push overs! Again, you have fallen for my ruse here. This is all a joke. I don't really not buy new things--that would be impossible!!

I've been pulling your legs. I buy new stuff all of the time. I get things on sale, I get full priced things--it doesn't matter. I just love to shop and feel I deserve whatever I can get. Doesn't everyone?!

Who would espouse such a hard way of life? Who would actually suggest that Americans, Americans (!) should deny themselves anything?

Aren't we in hard economic times now?? Don't we need to spend our way out of it? If people stop spending, won't that put all sorts of people out of work? It's not the behavior of the guys at the top that have messed up this economy--no, it's people who have slowed down their buying.

Come on people. Step up. I don't really care about my neighbors and the larger community any more than you do--selfishness is really self-interestedness--there's a difference! But, if you buy for yourself, you're really helping someone else too. It's a win, win...win.

So, on this April Fool's Day, I want you to think about what junk you can go out and buy today. Maybe you're in difficult economic straits yourself. You can still buy a blouse you really don't need. Just go charge it. You can still go out and buy the scented candle on sale that you'll throw out in 6 months 'cause it doesn't burn evenly, and now looks ugly. Those things don't have to cost too much.

The point is I think you should go buy, buy, buy! Oh, and while you're at it, eat a lot of junk filled with chemicals and mercury tainted corn syrup and genetically modified corn starch. That doesn't effect health and it tastes soooo good! Also, I think you should slather on a bunch of sunscreen and not let the sun touch you at all.

Follow every piece of conventional medical advice--even though it might not make a lot of sense when seen through the perspective of evolution or history or anthropological norms around the world. Just blindly follow what the doctors say...

And speaking of experts, I think I'll enroll my kids in school today, because I'm not a trained teacher--how can I possibly educate my kids?! They're not learning enough about bullying or arbitrary institutional rules that serve only the flow of group management and have nothing to do with learning. My kids should learn at this tender age about red tape and busy work and a dulling of their curiosity. It's sink or swim kids! That's how the world works and you're not learning enough of that here in the confines of your loving home. It's off to school with the two of you.

Daughter, you can no longer grab your Harry Potter book and read it for however long you want in the morning. You can't have a playdate with Unnamed's kids in the middle of the day while I take Son to a lesson. Son, you can no longer build robots from kits your grandparents bought you for Christmas. No--go learn things on the school's timetable and in the school's way.

I've been joking around about my concern about pollution and ice caps melting too...It's fine! The world has been around for millions of years, billions of years, only 6,000 years (Hello young earthers! Nice of you to visit my blog!!). How arrogant of us to think that we are actually affecting the very climate of the earth! Besides, lots of religions feel it's all in God/Allah/Jesus's hands. Don't worry!! Let God take care of it. We are nothing and as the nothing beings we are, we really should not care about pollution or anything having to do with ecology.

If there's an eminent domain issue where a development company wants to build a mall and they need to knock down the last habitat of a mouse or a butterfly or an owl, I say "When will the mall be open and where's the nearest Forever21 store!!!"

You see what my true feelings are here. I've just been kidding. I want everyone to do whatever makes them happy because isn't that the best thing we can all do for oursleves? If everyone is happy, would there really be wars? Would there?? So, ultimately, if I worry about the soldiers still in Iraq, it doesn't help to end the war. Whereas if I shop, then I will be happy and that will help the world be more peaceful and then that will end the war. See??

Whatever...

The point here is to just go buy and not worry your little heads about things. "We Don't Buy It" now buys everything: stuff, mainstream ideas about health, ideas from women's magazines about how we should look as women, commercials that show us what products we should use to wash ourselves, our homes, our kids (what's a little formaldehyde in bath products?...afterall it's in vaccines...dont' you think they would've taken it out if it causes cancer or something...oh, they don't test if it does...well, any way what's a little formaldehyde??). We're not questioning anything else around here any more. Who am I to question anything?! Where do I get off?!

Have a happy day shopping today. Enjoy your various swiffer products! Just use 'em and throw them out--what could be easier??

Be happy. Shop...

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What do Doctors Tell Parents About Vaccination?

I'm wondering what doctors tell the parents in their practice who are going to vaccinate their children. Do they talk about side effects? Do they explain about the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and that they should report any kind of side effect? Do they talk about contraindications to vaccination--allergies, immunocompromised kids, illness?

Do they ask that parents keep their kids at home for the length of time that the live vaccines in them will be shedding? Do they explain what that means? For all the fervor a while ago with the actress Amanda Peet calling non-vaccinating parents parasites, do doctors tell parents that the live viruses injected into their kids will be excreted through feces, saliva, and nasal secretions for weeks at a time? Do they tell them to stay away from babies, or the elderly in their concern for their weakened systems which may not be able to fight off exposure to live viruses? Do they tell them that vaccines are not 100% effective and that they shouldn't risk exposing people to the live vaccine? Do they explain how negligent that is or how irresponsible or selfish?


I know doctors tell people that vaccines are well tested, but do they tell them that they're not tested for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential or potential to impair fertility? Not that they've been found safe, rather that they're not even tested for that possibility? Do they tell them that Merck and other vaccine manufacturers aren't even looking? You can see that if you read Merck's package insert for MMR II (mumps, measles and rubella vaccine)


That's kind of amazing to me in light of SV40. I guess if you don't look, you don't find. Maybe that's enough of a scientific standard for some, but it seems a little bit shoddy to me.

Do doctors share the package inserts, as they're instructed to do in the package inserts?

Here's some information about the live nature of viruses in some vaccines. There's also some good information in the comments section. Which raises another question for me, has your doctor talked to you about nutrition for you or your kids?

Maybe your doctor should...


Secondary Transmission: The short and sweet about live virus vaccine shedding.

February 24, 2008 by generic
Filed under: Parents' Pages, Vaccine/Disease Analysis

shedding.<span class=jpg">

A child gets vaccinated and is from that moment on protected from the vaccine virus, correct? We all realize that vaccines are not 100% failproof, but is that the only concern?

If it only were that simple. The fact is that once a child is injected with a live virus vaccine (and let’s assume that this child is immune as a result of it) there are still other things to consider which most parents do not know about and most pediatricians fail to warn about - which is shedding!

Shedding is when the live virus that is injected via vaccine, moves through the human body and comes back out in the feces, droplets from the nose, or saliva from the mouth. Anyone who takes care of the child could potentially contract the disease for some time after that child has received certain live vaccines. This was a huge problem with the oral polio vaccine, and was one of the reasons why it was taken off the market in the US.

The OPV is still used in developing counties.

Secondary transmission happens fairly often with some of the live virus vaccines. Influenza, varicella, and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) are the most common. On the other hand it may happen very seldom or not ever with the measles and mumps vaccine viruses.

Here are the vaccines that shed or have been known to result in secondary transmission:

Measles Vaccine - Although secondary transmission of the vaccine virus has never been documented, measles virus RNA has been detected in the urine of the vaccinees as early as 1 day or as late as 14 days after vaccination. (1)

In France, measles virus was isolated in a throat swab of a recently vaccinated child 4 days after fever onset. The virus was then further genetically characterised as a vaccine-type virus. (2)

Rubella Vaccine - Excretion of small amounts of live attenuated rubella virus from the nose and throat has occurred in the majority of susceptible individuals 7-28 days after vaccination. Transmission of the vaccine virus via breast milk has been documented. (3)

Chicken Pox Vaccine - Vaccine-strain chickenpox has been found replicating in the lung (4) and documented as transmtting via zoster (shingles sores) (5) as well as “classic” chickenpox (6) rash post-vaccination.

Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) - In areas of the world where OPV is still used, children who have been vaccinated with it pass the virus into the water supply through the oral/feces route. Other children who then play in or drink that water pick up the vaccine viruses, which can pass from person to person and spark new outbreaks of polio. (7)

FluMist Vaccine - The mist contains live attenuated influenza viruses that must infect and replicate in cells lining the nasopharynx of the recipient to induce immunity. Vaccine viruses capable of infection and replication can be cultured from nasal secretions obtained from vaccine recipients.

Transmission of a vaccine virus from a FluMist recipient to a contact was documented in a pre-licensing trial. The contact had a mild symptomatic Type B virus infection confirmed as a FluMist vaccine virus. (8)

Rotavirus Vaccine (RotaTeq) - There is a possibility that one strain of rotavirus which is presently circulating may be an “escaped” vaccine strain, from an old Finnish rotavirus vaccine. (9)

Following are excerpts from the discussion by the FDA Advisory Committee on RotaTeq vaccine shedding: (10)

Page 50:

The latest shedding that we saw was 15 days from dose one.

We had no subjects that shed after dose two, and only one subject shed after dose three. He shed four days from dose three.

Page 51:

A: The quantities were low, similar to what we saw in phase 2 studies, as well.

We also had two placebo recipients that shed, and of course, this raised a red flag for us.

B: Could this have been transmission of vaccine virus from vaccine recipients to placebo recipients?

A: We did a very thorough investigation looking for opportunities for a vaccine transmission to occur and did not find anything. These children were not siblings of a vaccine recipient. They didn’t attend day care with vaccine recipients. They didn’t have a common caretaker with the vaccine recipient, and in the office and clinic in which they were vaccinated, they were not exposed to vaccine recipients.

So going on then to summarize general safety, Rotateq was well tolerated….

Page 70:
Question and answer section -

Then with respect to the possibilities of how these children ended up with vaccine strains in their stool, we really could not find the answer for that. We even went so far as to look and see like on the day that that child was in the clinic, were other children getting vaccine, you know, right before or after them?

And that was not the case. So it has been a puzzle, and we don’t have an answer as to why these children had vaccine strains in their stool.

(One has to ask: Could the reason have been that someone mixed up the placebo with the actual vaccine vials and consequently some kids of the control group got the real vaccine?)

Source:
(1) Detection of Measles RNA
(2) Detection of measles vaccine in the throat of a vaccinated child.
(3) MMR II
(4) Vaccine Oka Varicella-Zoster Virus
(5) Chickenpox Attributable to a Vaccine Virus
(6) Genetic Profile of an Oka Varicella Vaccine Virus
(7) Polio Outbreak in Nigeria
(8) Flumist
(9) Human and Bovine Serotype G8 Rotaviruses
(10) Products Advisory Committee

Comments

2 Comments on Secondary Transmission: The short and sweet about live virus vaccine shedding.

  1. jules on Mon, 25th Feb 2008 10:18 am
  2. I believe the titer test(blood test) for Measles can also tell if it was the vaccine-type Measles or wild Measles. Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong:)

    Some people never develop an immunity-vaccinated or not. That is why some people get chicken pox more than once, or some women get repeated Rubella vaccines and still show no immunity. Reinfection is also always ‘possible’ if vaccine or natural immunity wears off over time due to NOT being exposed which helps keep immunity level up.

  3. Marconi on Mon, 25th Feb 2008 10:45 pm
  4. The titre blood test cannot differentiate between vaccine-type measles or wild measles. In order to do that, the virus would have to be typed with a test called Polymerase Chain Reaction, and the “bar code” compared with the reference viruses for either the vaccine virus, or the wild virus. Furthermore, the vaccine virus varies slightly with every new attenuation, so each batch of vaccine might show a slight genetic variation from each other.

    To say some people never develop immunity, vaccinated or not is very simplistic. If you mean, some people never show antibodies on a titre test, that too is very simplistic. The current titre test offered to parents is a crude measure. Using other tests such as ELISA, antibodies can be picked up, which the standard titre test does not.

    It is “normal” for some people to develop antibodies, for antibotides to subside over time, and for a titre test years later to show no antibodies. However, if you vaccinated those people, or blood tested them before and after a known exposure and subclinical infection during with the person shows no signs of infection, the immediate rise in detectable antibodies over a period of days is a specific curve which shows an anamnestic response. What that means is that the person actually did have immunity, but it was “memory” immunity. Just because a person doesn’t have “detectable” immunity according to a titre test, doesn’t mean they have lost their immunity.

    What it means is that immunologists have not yet devised a method for detecting permanent “memory” immunity.

    Virology texts are also interesting, in that they point out that many children who don’t have antibodies cope very well with diseases like measles. The reason for that is that the key to survival of a first exposure to disease in any person, isn’t antibodies anyway. When you first come in contact with any disease, how well you survive that is due to your “cellular” immune system, which does utilise IgA, and IgM at some point if you have a normal immune system. But most textbooks, even older ones by ‘greats’ like McFarlane Burnett, describe in great detail, children who have no antibodies, who cruise through measles and polio. The rate of paralytic polio in normal children (using the most virulent strain as a reference point) is one case of paralysis, per 100 children with mild symptoms. The historical rate of paralysis in children with no antibodies is 6 per 100. So while children with no antibodies are 6 times more likely to get paralytic polio, the cellular immune system of those children guarantees that 94 out of 100 of them will not.

    Yes, some children with no antibodies will get sick and die. But not all of them will.

    The key to fighting an infection for the first time, in everyone, normal or not, is a well functioning cellular immunity is nutrition, nutrition, and nutrition. A person can have a normal immune system, but if they have malnutrition or bad nutrition, their immune system will not work properly, and they can die regardless. Anyone working in Africa can tell you that. The connection between nutrition, infection and immunity has been, and is very strong in the medical literature.

    A huge amount of “immunity” is based on the integrity of the gastro-intestinal system, and the person’s nutritional status. Antibodies are essential the net at the bottom of the cliff, which while vital, isn’t the most important factors.

    Using Tetanus as an example, were antibodies the most important part of the immune system with regard to protection against tetanus, then the human beings on the earth would never have got past the first generation. Even in the western world, civilians had no access to a tetanus vaccine until around 1960 (at least in the country in which I live). You just have to look at your own family tree to realise that your great great grandparents probably died of other things rather than tetanus during childhood.

    So the use of antibodies as a measuring rod of “immunity” is not only a very crude measure, it’s inaccurate. But it’s a very useful “weapon” with which to create fear.


    Note: I didn't bold or enlarge the font in the first two paragraphs on purpose. I don't really mean to be yelling with my post up there. I'm just trying to talk and I can't correct it, darn it. Sorry about the bold and the large... that's a soap opera, right?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Who's up for Some Light Reading? Adventitious Agents in Vaccines

Occasionally, I check out the Vaccines forum at Mothering.com. There are all sorts of varying points of view, but more importantly there are great links to government sites where you can read things that aren't generally written for the public--in other words, they're not dumbed down, or written to scare people into compliance with certain public health agendas. They are minutes from meetings, or information compiled for doctors (the CDC Pink Book for example).

You can read the source material yourself and see what you can glean from it all.

I came across this link in a woman's signature at the bottom of her post. It is a set of meeting minutes from the fda.gov site from a workshop for government agencies dealing with infected animal tissues which are used to grow diseases which are then harvested and used to make vaccines. Whew--did you get that? Monkey kidneys, the sides of calves, eggs have all been used to grow diseases. This workshop speaks to contaminants (adventitious agents) in the cells of monkey kidneys, the sides of calves and eggs that inadvertently get mixed into the vaccines themselves.

A well known contaminant is SV40. It was a monkey virus that was in polio vaccine for years and years before anyone realized it was in there. It has shown up in various cancerous tumors even now. Millions of people were exposed to this monkey virus through vaccination.

This workshop speaks to trying to control these kinds of contaminants.

Let's read some together, shall we? I'll have the minutes in blue so you can differentiate between what they said and what I will say. After you read this post, you might want to go and check out the original minutes from the meeting for yourself.

Welcome:

              U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

CENTER FOR BIOLOGICS EVALUATION AND RESEARCH

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BIOLOGICALS


NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND
INFECTIOUS DISEASES

NATIONAL VACCINE PROGRAM OFFICE

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION


+ + + + +

EVOLVING SCIENTIFIC AND REGULATORY PERSPECTIVES ON
CELL SUBSTRATES FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

+ + + + +


WORKSHOP

+ + + +

Friday,
10 September 1999


A Dr. Phil Minor was introduced to open up the meeting and to give an overview of the issues involving cell substrates in vaccine production.

10                I would like to introduce the first

11 speaker, Dr. Phil Minor, from the National Institute

12 of Biological Standards and Control, who will be


13 giving us an introduction to adventitious agent

14 issues, both reviewing the past and current experience

15 with adventitious agent contamination of biologicals


16 in vaccines.

17 DR. MINOR: Thanks. Thanks very much.

18 Can I have the slide on, please, or do I just press it

19 here?


20 What I am going to do is to review firstly

21 all of biologicals, if you like, from an adventitious

22 agent point of view. So it won't just be vaccines.


23 In particular, I will be talking about the range of

24 source materials that people have used in preparing

25 biologicals. There will be a clear message that comes


5

1 out of that, which is that the more you use well-


2 characterized cells, the better.

3 I will also be talking about the SV40

4 story in some detail, which has been gone through a

5 number of times, but I will be going through it from


6 a particularly regulatory point of view because again,

7 there is a message there which says that if you get it

8 wrong, you will still be working on it 40 years later.




Let's read more.



11 So there are a variety of source materials

12 that you can use if you are preparing biologicals.


13 They are sort of listed here, if you like. There are

14 biological materials which are made from whole

15 animals. That would include things like blood and


16 blood products. I will describe that in a moment. So

17 you can just go to a whole animal and take something

18 out and make your biological from that.

19 You can use your whole animal as a


20 substrate for growth. I will discuss that in the

21 context of things like influenza vaccines and the

22 like.


23 You can grow material on primary cells.

24 This was the main starting point for things like polio

25 vaccines in the early days, where the SV40 issue


6

1 arose. Finally, you can grow materials on well-


2 characterized cell preparation.

3 The further down the list you go on this

4 thing, probably the happier you are from the

5 adventitious agent point of view.


6 This shows some examples of contaminants

7 which have arisen when whole animals have been used as

8 source materials or the origin of the source material.


9 Most of these will be human rather than anything else,

10 but really an awful lot of the serious adventitious

11 agent problems that have arisen have arisen because of

12 materials sourced from whole animals or using pooled


13 preparation.



My take away at this very early point in the presentation is acknowledgment of problems in vaccine production. Carry on.



14                The first one on this list here is CJD,

15 Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, which was transmitted by


16 growth hormone. The growth hormone was produced from

17 human cadaveric material. A very unpleasant disease.

18 It's almost impossible to detect the agent other than

19 by standing back and waiting for the incubation period


20 to go.

21 In France, there are still a large number

22 of cases coming through as a result of this. It may


23 well be that around 10 percent are recipients of

24 human-derived growth hormone, will actually wind up

25 going down with CJD in France.


Whoa, whoa whoa! Hold on a minute. A disease is passed on to people in France from growth hormone which was derived from producing it in human cadaveric material. "A very unpleasant disease." he said. "Almost impossible to detect the agent other than by standing back and waiting for the incubation period to go." You can't detect it except after the people have it?!? Around 10% of people receiving growth hormone in France will come down with this disease?!

Huh. Sounds a little sloppy. Let's continue.

  
6 Scrapie was first shown to be a

7 transmissible agent by the use of a TBE vaccine, which

8 was grown in the brains of sheep. TBE being tick-


9 borne encephalitis, which then transmitted scrapie to

10 a large number of the sheep that were actually

11 inoculated with it. So again, this is a whole animal

12 source material, if you like, that had quite serious


13 consequences, especially if you were a sheep.


Good one doc, "...especially if you were a sheep." Ha, ha.

Back to humans.


14                Over the last 15 or 20 years or so, one of

15 the best examples of serious or disease-causing


16 transmissions of infectious agents has been through

17 human blood and blood-derived materials, clotting

18 factors in particular. In all of these things, the

19 entire alphabet soup of hepatitis viruses has been


20 transmitted by blood product.

21 In the early days at least, some of these

22 were really regarded as really a hazard, if you like,


23 of being a hemophiliac. So, for example, hepatitis C,

24 in the days when there was a non-A, non-B hepatitis,

25 it was really regarded as an inevitable consequence of


8

1 using factor 8 to treat hemophilia. I am not sure


2 that that is an acceptable way of actually doing

3 things any more. I am sure that hemophiliacs would

4 agree with that. B-19, paravirus B-19 is still

5 transmitted by clotting factors.

Continuing on...


6                Finally, this one down at the bottom here

7 is a classic example of a transmission by a vaccine,

8 if you like, where hepatitis B was transmitted by


9 yellow fever vaccine back in the 1940s. The hepatitis

10 B actually came from the stabilizers of the albumin

11 that was actually put in there to keep it stable.

12 There is a story that Fred McCallum, who


13 is head of the Public Health Service in the United

14 Kingdom tells to the effect that he basically won the

15 war because he prevented Winston Churchill having a


16 yellow fever vaccine when he was going off to talk

17 with Stalin around 1944.

18 So most of the serious consequences really

19 come from whole animal source materials, if you like.


20 You can use whole animals as substrates. I'm using

21 the term "whole animals" in a fairly broad sense.

22 Eggs in the definition of the Animal Regulated Use Act


23 in the United Kingdom count as an animal because they

24 are embryonated.


Yikes. Glad Churchill skipped that vaccine too. Albumin are the egg whites that were in there. Let's continue.

25                For many years, rabies vaccines were


9

1 produced in mouse brain or sheep brain. They have


2 quite serious consequences, but not necessarily

3 associated with adventitial agents. You can get

4 encephalitis as a result of immune responses to the

5 non-invasic protein.

Wait. Wait just a minute. Hold it right there. "You can get encephalitis as a result of immune responses to the non-invasic protein." The protein that's in there can cause encephalitis?! Not some additional contaminant causing it?! (Adventitial agents. Unknown pathogens that are present in the cell lines that are used to produce vaccines and that can become part of the final vaccine.) Your body's natural immune response can bring on the encephalitis?!

I wonder if there are other proteins in other vaccines that can cause this kind of response. Hmmm.

Do they still use mouse brains?

6                The Japanese  encephalitis vaccine, which

7 is used for travelers in the United Kingdom, is still

8 made in mouse brain. So it's not an unusual source of


9 material, if you like. Smallpox for a long time was

10 made on the scarified flanks of calves. Like I said,

11 isn't any more. However, while these things seem

12 really quite primitive, in terms of how you make


13 vaccines nowadays, you still have a number of vaccines

14 that are made in eggs. Yellow fever is the classic

15 example, and influenza.




Reading on...



4                Influenza is an actuated vaccine.  Again,

5 it's not made on SPF eggs, that is, specified


6 pathogen-free eggs. They are avian leukosis free, but

7 they are not free of all the other variety of

8 pathogens that you would choose to screen for measles


9 vaccine production system, for example.

10 So even today then you have to bear in

11 mind that a large amount of vaccine that's made is

12 made on really quite crude materials, from an


13 adventitious agent point of view. It's not a trivial

14 usage. In fact, when you go through and consider what

15 vaccines are actually made on these days, they are


16 quite primitive, if you like, in some respects.



What are SPFs? What's that you say? It means Specified Pathogen Free? So if a vaccine is made from eggs that are not SPF it means that there may be pathogens in there?! "It's not a trivial usage." The doctor said. Meaning, a LOT of vaccines are made on materials where they don't know whether there are any harmful pathogens in there or not... The doctor continued, "In fact, when you go through and consider what vaccines are actually made on these days, they are quite primitive, if you like, in some respects." Huh, ya think?! Yeah, I've got to agree on this one. It sounds like a noxious witches brew. (Not to offend Wiccans. I think they would use some nice herbs or something. Nothing noxious...)

"Oh, but that's crazy." you're thinking. Yep, it is.

Onward to SV40.


24                SV40 is one that I'm going to talk about

25 in some detail in a minute. This was in polio


11

1 vaccines in the 1950s and very early 1960s, probably,


2 a source from rhesus monkey kidney. Polio vaccines

3 are still made on monkey kidney, though they are not

4 usually on rhesus monkey kidney. It would be

5 cynomologous or something like that, for reasons which


6 I'll describe in a moment.

7 Nonetheless, a great deal of vaccine is

8 still made in primary monkey kidney cells. There are


9 reasons for that. There's a deep conservatism I think

10 about changing the vaccine production process if you

11 have a vaccine that works, largely because you are

12 dealing with a prophylactic material rather than a


13 therapeutic material. So you don't want to mess about

14 with anything if it's reasonably safe and effective.


OK. So no one wants to change things that they think are working. Some might argue about the whole "reasonably safe and effective" thing, in light of SV40. Nonetheless, let's hear you explain about SV40 *cough, harmful, cough*--let's hear more about that. But before that, let's hear about some other problems first.

15                I'll mention very briefly the defective


16 retrovirus story in chick embryos. I think Jim

17 Robertson will probably mention this in more detail,

18 but I will mention that just as I go by. Finally

19 recently, the FDA released a talk paper on a


20 preparation of urokinase, which is used in treating

21 the heart. This material was grown from primary

22 cultures made from aborted fetuses. I think it was


23 aborted fetuses or miscarriages, or whatever. There

24 were quite a variety of infectious agents were

25 actually found in this. I believe this one has now


12

1 been suspended.



Ah!! Suspended one because, "There were quite a variety of infectious agents were actually found in this." Great. But, what about the infections that aren't found right away, like SV40? What's your point here?


2                The point is that there are still a large

3 number of materials which are made on really quite

4 basic culture systems, if you like, where adventitious

5 agents are a serious consideration, if you like. So


6 it's not all continuous cell lines versus the rest.

7 I mean there are -- most of the vaccines that are made

8 in the world probably come from other primary cultures


9 or eggs or things of that nature.

"Primary cultures"? Oh you mean animals and animal parts where infectious agents can get mixed in? Wait, I skipped that part. Let's look again:



17                Primary cultures as been described

18 previously around here, are really cultures that are

19 made directly from the animal. So they are not one


20 pass. They are directly from the animal, if you like.

21 Here are a number of examples where agents are

22 actually being found or at least located in these kind


23 of cultures.


And you said that, "most of the vaccines that are made in the world probably come from other primary cultures or eggs or things of that nature." Well, I see why that would be a concern, certainly. Animals and eggs have their own viruses and infections and they just get mixed into the vaccines don't they?

Tell us about SV40.

10                I will now talk about SV40.  I'm sure in

11 this audience there are people who know far more about

12 SV40 than I do. But nonetheless, I'll talk about this


13 from what you might call the regulatory adventitious

14 agent point of view, if you like.

15 So it's a very common polyoma virus of old


16 world monkeys, and particularly rhesus macaques. The

17 difficulty with this was that when the rhesus macaque

18 monkeys are sacrificed and a primary monkey kidney

19 culture is made from him or her, as the case may be,


20 a silent infection is set up. So there is on evidence

21 of infection just by looking at the cultures. In

22 fact, these cultures can throw out as much SV40 as


23 they do polio, when you start infecting it with polio.

24 So you wind up with a culture that's just stiff with

25 adventitious agent which you really don't want.


13

1 It's able to transform non simian cells in


2 vitro, and it can be tumorigenic if you have the right

3 kind of animal that you put it into. Between 55 and

4 62, probably at least a third of all the vaccines that

5 were made on these kind of cultures, because they were


6 pooled and the like, were almost certainly

7 contaminated with SV40. It wasn't a trivial

8 contamination. It was really quite a serious


9 contamination.

10 Because it was mainly an activated polio

11 vaccine, there wouldn't have been that much live SV40

12 in it perhaps. But SV40 is more resistant to formalin


13 than polio is. So almost everybody who received the

14 shot of inactivated polio in the 1950s, which would

15 include me, would have received live SV40 in some form


16 or another.

17 So the concern is really summarized here,

18 which is basically that everybody, I mean this is my

19 own take on it, that everybody -- I mean you can argue


20 that it might not have been sort of everybody, but I

21 think it probably was. But almost everybody who

22 received the full course of polio vaccine between 1955


23 and 1965, also got live SV40 stuck into them. That's

24 millions of people basically.




Wow. That sounds awful. An entire generation exposed to Sv40. I wonder if there was some kind of carcinogenic effect with that additional monkey virus. Was there? Surely vaccine safety standards would have ensured that that was studied for years and years.



25 There were epidemiological studies that


14

1 were done at the time which really didn't cause much


2 concern, but they can all be criticized. Some of the

3 studies were really quite short-term, about two or

4 three years or so, looking to see if there were cancer

5 effects basically, as a result of SV40. It may be


6 that two or three years is not enough to actually find

7 such an effect, if it actually exists.


Such adverse conditions may not show up for years and years afterwards? But, vaccines have no long term studies like that...


16                So while the studies were reassuring, the

17 most reassuring thing was that there was no sudden

18 surge of cancers that you can actually trace back to

19 polio vaccine usage in the United States or in Europe


20 where these things were used in a big way. So it

21 really did seem that in the long term, over about 19

22 to 20 years, there was no real cause for alarm.


OK. So maybe a little monkey virus between friends is no big deal. No problem! Wait, what?


23                However, in 1992, Michaili Carboni and

24 colleagues and others, a number of others, including

25 Janet Butelle down in Texas and the like, identified


15

1 SV40 sequences which were present in a variety of


2 relatively rare tumors. So mysathelia, which is the

3 asbestos tumor, osteosarcomas, pendymonas, actually

4 the young chorioid plexus tumors of children, these

5 sequences do appear to be genuine SV40 sequences.


6 Where they come from is really not quite

7 clear. Part of the argument was that you could get

8 similar types of tumors in experimental animals, like


9 hamsters. I think that is probably the only example

10 where a hamster is cited as a good model for a human

11 being perhaps. But who knows? In fact, this might

12 actually be an argument that this has got nothing to


13 do with it.

14 So the question then arises as to where

15 did the SV40 sequences come from. Of course the


16 classic response really would have been it must have

17 come from the polio vaccine because why not?




Say, I have a question--how did SV40 cancer causing monkey virus show up in kids if the contaminated polio was discovered in the early 60's? How is it effecting kids and giving them cancer? You did change the monkeys to the ones without SV40, right? Let's read.


18                Now SV40 was discovered around 1961 or

19 1962 or thereabouts, 1960 perhaps. Directly it was


20 discouraged. There were precautions put in place to

21 exclude it from polio vaccines, because it was known

22 to be a tumor kind of virus, if you like. These were


23 the kind of things that were put in place. They are

24 listed in WHO requirements from about 1962 onwards.

25 They reached their final fully flowered form, if you


16

1 like, by about 1965. A number of countries certainly


2 had put this in place before that.

3 The first thing you can do is to use

4 seronegative animals as the source of cells. So you

5 can use animals that have no evidence of SV40


6 infection as your source. That really is something

7 which is now very firmly in place, which manufacturers

8 now do.


Good. We're listening. Continue.


9                The second thing is, you remember I said

10 that it was the rhesus macaques with the problems.

11 The problem was that the cell cultures didn't show any

12 sign of having defect, when they were actually


13 infected with SV40. What you can do then is you can

14 use species, such as cynomolgus or pattus monkeys,

15 where the primary monkey kidney culture cell, when


16 infected with SV40, will actually wrinkle up and die

17 on you. So at least you know you have got something

18 nasty and you can throw it away.

19 Finally, you can test your control of


20 production cultures for SV40 by the same kind of

21 procedure. That is why using sesetral cells to see if

22 anything comes through.



Gotcha. Go on.



23                Around the period that this was taking

24 place, wild caught monkeys were being used extensively

25 in vaccine production. Up to a half of the cultures


17

1 would have been thrown away because of adventitious


2 agent contamination, mainly foamy virus, but certainly

3 other things as well. I think that just illustrates

4 the kind of lack of control, if you like, over the

5 source materials that was going on, and the extent to


6 which adventitious agents are really a serious problem

7 in finding monkey kidney cultures or primary cultures

8 in general.





Yeah, I again have to agree with you--it all sounds sloppy and impossible to control. But, I'm not a doctor--what do I know?!



9                An alternative way of doing this is to

10 actually use a validated cell bank. Certainly many

11 manufacturers use MRC5, and Mary of course used vira

12 cells, as we heard last night.


13 Nonetheless, a significant, if indeed not

14 a large proportion of the world's supply of polio

15 vaccine is still made on primary monkey kidney cells,


16 which should really fit this kind of criteria for

17 excluding SV40.

18 One of the questions that then arises is

19 were these precautions good enough? What we did at


20 NIBSC, because we happened to have about 150-odd

21 batches of vaccine archived from the years, was to go

22 back and look at them by PCR. PCR of course is the


23 cat's pajamas. It's really the best technique that

24 anybody ever invented in terms of sensitivity. It's

25 probably about as good as infectivity, at least in our


18

1 hands anyway.


2 But nonetheless, we went back and we

3 looked by PCR at 133 preparations of polio vaccine

4 which had been used in the United Kingdom between 1966

5 and about 1997. What we had done was looked at all


6 batches of vaccine which had been used since 1980, and

7 all of those were free of SV40 sequences. So that

8 gives you some reassurance that these precautions were


9 actually appropriate.

10 In fact, the only preparation which had

11 any SV40 sequence in it at all was a seed virus which

12 was used by a manufacturer for making vaccine from.


13 The amount that was in there was around two logs worth

14 of genome as opposed to seven logs of genomes in a

15 really full-fledged infected preparation. So there


16 wasn't that much in there. The manufacturer had also

17 treated this stuff with toluidine blue, which is

18 supposed to kill of SV40. This was done on the advice

19 of Albert Sabin back in 1960-something or other.


20 But nonetheless, it does seem to me that

21 it's rather a foolish thing to have a seed that's got

22 SV40 sequences in it at all. I think the WHO


23 requirements have now been changed so the seed has to

24 be checked to see if it does have SV40 sequences in

25 it or not.



You think it's foolish for the seed virus to have SV40 in it--even if it's a little, teeny, tiny bit?

Tell us more about the kids and their cancer. If there was no more SV40, how did they get it?

1                This particular seed was not infectious


2 SV40. We did some quite serious studies on it, like

3 transvecting the DNA into cells to see if it would

4 work, infecting monkeys with it to see if we could

5 actually get seroconversion. There was no


6 seroconversion. So there was no infectious virus

7 there that we could actually detect. But nonetheless,

8 the seed did have material in it.


9 If on the other hand you look at materials

10 from around the 1960s or from other parts of the world

11 a little bit later than that, you can pick up SV40

12 sequences quite easily. So the method would have


13 picked it up had it been there.

14 So our conclusion from that was then that

15 really as soon as these kind of precautions were put


16 in place, no SV40 would have been present in all polio

17 vaccines used, at least in the United Kingdom and I

18 would guess in the United States as well, because it's

19 after the same kind of precautions were put in place.


20 So the precautions were adequate. Which means that

21 SV40 exposure of the population through polio vaccines

22 would have stopped around 1962.


23 So what you then have is the problem of

24 the chorioid plexus and appendinoma tumors, which

25 occur in children who are around two years of age or


20

1 maybe less. You have to say well how did they get a


2 hold of the SV40 sequences? One possibility, which is

3 mooted with some enthusiasm is that maybe you are

4 getting passage of SV40 from parents who did receive

5 the SV40 contaminated polio vaccine to their children.





What?! Are you telling me that it's possible that parents who were infected with SV40 in the polio vaccine that they got before the early 60's could be passing it down to their kids?


6    So how this stuff gets around is quite important.

7 One of the things that we have been

8 involved in is doing serological surveys of


9 populations to see who has got SV40 antibodies and who

10 hasn't. It is about a five percent seropositivity by

11 the assay that we're using at least. It seems to peak

12 at around age 10 or thereabouts, and doesn't arise


13 after that.

14 So what you could argue then is that you

15 are seeing vertical transmission from parents down to


16 their children.


Vertical transmission? Where a mother passes on an infection while the baby is in utero? It's continuing to another generation? Cancer causing monkey viruses are being passed from generation to generation?

What other known or unknown infections, viruses or other contaminants will be passed from generation to generation?



2                The point about this long story which I

3 have just been telling you about SV40 is that SV40 was

4 a problem between 1955 and 1962, and it's now 1999,

5 and we still don't really know what was going on.




Yeah, that seems patently obvious...


So


6 if you actually make a mistake, it's really quite

7 serious. It may keep you occupied for the rest of

8 your working life.


9 One last quick thing or two last slides

10 here. One is about reverse transcriptase of vaccines.

11 Dr. Schuepbach will be talking later and Jim Robertson

12 will be talking in a moment about detection of reverse


13 transcriptase in chicken cell grown vaccines, such as

14 flu or yellow fever or measles, mumps, rubella.

15 This appears to be due to the presence of


16 defective non-infectious particles. There are

17 sequences from EAV and ALV both in these things, a

18 ratio of about nine to one as I understand it. It

19 does seem to me that you are not really quite sure


20 what the AV sequence is in there and what ALV sequence

21 is in there. It's probably going to vary from chicken

22 to chicken in so far as these chickens have not been


23 bred. In other words, every egg is a new experiment.

24 You are really not quite sure what you are dealing

25 with in that. I think that is quite an unfortunate


23

1 position to be in. I'm not sure how you control it.



I'm not sure what "reverse transcriptase" is. It doesn't sound good and the doctor explained it's involved with chicken cell grown vaccines: flu, yellow fever, measels, mumps and rubella. As he said, "In other words, every egg is a new experiment. You are really not quite sure what you are dealing with in that. I think that is quite an unfortunate position to be in. I'm not sure how you control it."

It doesn't sound to me like any of these vaccines grown and harvested on living animal tissues or cadaveric tissues is controlled or understood very well. Of course I'm not a doctor, but I just read the words of one--he sounds concerned.

2                Finally, this is my last slide, and this

3 has to do with characterized cells. The issues that

4 I have been dealing with really have been to do with

5 primary cells and primary cell problems where the


6 virus comes in direct from the animal origin. I think

7 there is no doubt in my mind that that's the main

8 source of concern in terms of human health.


9 Nonetheless, there are clearly problems

10 which also arise with characterized cells and the

11 continuous cell lines, in particular. We have some

12 down here.


13 Now the regulatory authorities in the room

14 will be well aware of a large number of other examples

15 of this type which don't actually get published. I


16 think that's not so good. I think this stuff really

17 should be out there in the public literature.


Wow, "...a large number of other examples of this type which don't actually get published." A large number? How big a problem is this? Why don't they get published...

I'm glad to help out. I'm spreading the word here. You can count on me.


That was all the presentation of Dr. Minor. If you look at the index,

 I N D E X


SPEAKER PAGE

Philip Minor, Ph.D. 4

James Robertson, Ph.D. 32

Jorg Schuepbach, M.D. 51


Jens Mayer, Ph.D. 66

Thomas Broker, Ph.D. 78

Neil Cashman, M.D. 102


Panel Discussion 129
Dr. Onions, Chair

John Sedivy, Ph.D. 176

Frits Fallaux, Ph.D. 199


Panel Discussion 212
Dr. Coffin, Chair


you see that it continues on for some time. I didn't read the rest. I'm going to. You might take a look at it too.

This is all public record. Not surprisingly, it is not the kind of thing that's included in the flu vaccine public service announcements I've seen recently. They're not talking about flu vaccines being produced from eggs that may or may not have viruses that may or may not be harmful to humans when injected into their blood streams that may or may not be transmitted vertically to the next generation. It just doesn't come up.

Maybe it should.
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