The SV40 Cancer Foundation is an educational organization devoted to raising awareness about a potential link between the simian virus SV40 and human cancer.[1][2][3][4]
The SV40 Cancer Foundation was founded by Raphaele and Michael Horwin. The Horwin's son Alexander Horwin was born on June 7, 1996, and was given oral polio vaccine in November 1997. On August 10, 1998, Alexander was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a malignant (cancerous) pediatric brain tumor, leading to his death on January 31, 1999. The Horwins contend that the polio vaccine their son ingested was contaminated with SV40, leading to his death. Tests performed at four laboratories on Alexander's brain tissue demonstrated the presence of the virus.[5][failed verification][6]
The SV40 Cancer Foundation views their mission as raising public awareness of this threat and lobbying for more research funding for this area. On September 10, 2003, the Horwins got Congressman Dan Burton, Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform to hold a hearing into SV40 contamination of vaccines.[7]
The United States National Cancer Institute announced in 2004 that although SV40 does cause cancer in some animal models, "substantial epidemiological evidence has accumulated to indicate that SV40 likely does not cause cancer in humans."[8]
References
edit- ^ Rogue virus in the vaccine: Early polio vaccine harbored virus now feared to cause cancer in humans, William Carlsen, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, July 15, 2001
- ^ The Virus and the Vaccine, Debbie Bookchin and Jim Schumacher, St. Martin's Press, 2004, ISBN 0-312-27872-1
- ^ The Virus and the Vaccine official website
- ^ "The Virus and the Vaccine", Debbie Bookchin and Jim Schumacher, Atlantic Monthly, February 2000.
- ^ The Virus and the Vaccine, The Reading Room, WNYC website.
- ^ Who We Are, SV40 Cancer Foundation official website
- ^ Demanding a Congressional Investigation into SV40, SV40 Cancer Foundation official website
- ^ NIH/National Cancer Institute. "Studies Find No Evidence That Simian Virus 40 Is Related To Human Cancer." ScienceDaily, 25 August 2004. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/08/040825092736.htm.