Some of today’s vaccines are cultivated on cell lines from aborted human fetuses. This itself promotes ethical questions, which is further reinforced by the fact that most people have no knowledge of these circumstances. Few parents are aware when they vaccinate their children. It is unlikely that the topic is well-known among health professionals. It is reasonable to think that some people based on ethical education and religious reasons will be uncomfortable about these facts. One can question whether this issue is controversial to such degree that it would be prudent to disclose the circumstances to the patients – in this context, their parents.
Cell lines and virus strains from aborted fetuses:
Among the more commonly used cell lines we find WI-38 derived from the lung tissue of a three-month-old girl fetus. Another cell line, MRC-5 derived from lung tissue of a 14 week old male fetus. These cell lines was derived in the 1960s and 70s, but came in use in vaccines at a later date. Vaccines cultivated on these lines, is rubella (German measles), varicella (chickenpox), hepatitis A and rabies.
The virus strain used in the MMR vaccine rubella-component, is also harvested from aborted fetal tissue. This strain is better known as RA 27/3 and was obtained from a fetus whose mother had rubella during pregnancy and performed an abortion because of risk of fetal damage. RA 27/3 is also grown in cell line WI-38.
(Ph. D. John D. Graben Stein 1999)
https://www.immunizationinfo.org/files/nnii/files/Moral_Considerations_With_Certain_Viral_Vaccines.pdf
Further information about fetal cellines with links:
MRC-5: “The MRC-5 cell line was developed in September 1966 from lung tissue taken from a 14 week fetus aborted for psychiatric reason from a 27 year old physically healthy woman. The cell morphology is fibroblast-like. The karyotype is 46,XY; normal diploid male. Cumulative population doublings to senescence is 42-48. G6PD isoenzyme is type B.”
https://ccr.coriell.org/Sections/Search/Sample_Detail.aspx?Ref=AG05965-C&PgId=166
https://www.viromed.com/services/product/mrc5.htm
WI-38: “The WI-38 cell line was developed in July 1962 from lung tissue taken from a therapeutically aborted fetus of about 3 months gestational age. Cells released by trypsin digestion of the lung tissue were used for the primary culture. The cell morphology is fibroblast-like. The karyotype is 46,XX; normal diploid female. A maximum lifespan of 50 population doublings for this culture was obtained at the Repository. A thymidine labelling index of 86% was obtained after recovery. G6PD is isoenzyme type B. This culture of WI-38 is an expansion from passage 9 frozen cells obtained from the submitter.”
https://ccr.coriell.org/Sections/Search/Sample_Detail.aspx?Ref=AG06814-J&PgId=166
https://www.viromed.com/services/product/wi38.htm
IMR-90: ”The human diploid fibroblast strain IMR-90 was derived by W.W. Nichols and associates from the lungs of a 16-week female fetus.
The division potential, viral susceptibilities and other properties have been thoroughly studied such that the line may be considered as an alternate for WI-38 and other standard human lung cell strains.
The cells have been reported to be capable of attaining 58 population doublings before the onset of senescence.”
https://www.atcc.org/ATCCAdvancedCatalogSearch/ProductDetails/tabid/452/Default.aspx?ATCCNum=ccl-186&Template=cellBiology
https://ccr.coriell.org/Sections/Search/Sample_Detail.aspx?Ref=I90-10&PgId=166
WI-26 VA4: An SV40 transformed derivative of WI-26, a human diploid cell line derived from embryonic lung tissue of a male Caucasian. The cells have SV40 T-Ag but infectious virus has not been rescued.
https://www.cellbankaustralia.com/estore/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=1302&CategoryID=131
HEK-293: cells were generated in the early 70s by transformation of cultures of normal human embryonic kidney cells with sheared adenovirus 5 DNA in Alex Van der Eb’s laboratory in Leiden, The Netherlands. The human embryonic kidney cells were obtained from previously healthy aborted fetus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEK_cell#Origins_of_HEK_293_Cells
PER.C6: Cell line from retinal tissue of a 18 week old fetus aborted in 1985, further developed and prepared as cell line in 1995.
https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/transcripts/3750t1_01.pdf (Page 91)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=PER.C6%5BAll+Fields%5D
RA 27/3: ”Various strains of rubella virus were used. RA 27/3 was isolated previously in this labratory from an aborted fetus.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC375746/?pageindex=1 (Page 157)
RA 27/3: Note the RA27/3 strain of rubella virus was observed to induce brain cell death in rats: “The induction of cell death by the Therien strain of rubella virus (RVT), and the vaccine RA27/3 strain, was investigated in mixed glial cell cultures derived from the rat CNS. Cell death induction in Vero and rat glial cells by RVT and RA27/3 was dependent on virus replication. In both cell types and for both virus strains, cell death induction had the hallmarks of apoptosis,”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=12185266
https://www.sailhome.org/Concerns/Vaccines.html
Study finds time related association between the introduction of fetal cell lines in vaccines and autism:
A survey published in 2010 claims there is an association between the use of vaccines made from aborted fetal cells and autism. McDonald and Paul found a correlation between autsime and timely introduction of these vaccines, respectively, in the years 1981, 1988 and 1995.
https://www.lifenews.com/2010/04/21/nat-6272/
https://www.all.org/pdf/McDonaldPaul2010.pdf
HV Ratajczak (2011) studied the correlation of autism and the introduction of these vaccines and also supports a possible connection. According to Dr. J Mercola (07/10/2011) this was reported by New CBS:
“That Ratajczak reports that at the same time Vaccine makers took most thimerosal out of most Vaccines (with the exception of flu shots still Widely Which Contain Thimerosal), They Began making some Vaccines Using human tissue.
Ratajczak says human tissue is currently used in 23 Vaccines. She discuss the Increase in autism incidences corresponding with the introduction of human DNA MMR Vaccine two, and suggest the two could be linked. “
https://www.rescuepost.com/files/theoretical-aspects-of-autism-causes-a-review1.pdf
The number of 23 vaccines contaminated with aborted human fetus is also confirmed by other medical sources:
“Today, more than 23 vaccines are contaminated by the use of aborted fetal cells. There is no law that requires that consumers be informed that some vaccines are made using aborted fetal cells and contain residual aborted fetal DNA. While newer vaccines produced using aborted fetal cells do inform consumers, in their package inserts, that the vaccines contain contaminating DNA from the cell used to produce the vaccine, they do not identify the cells as being derived from electively aborted human fetuses.”
The same group og physicians claims that there could be relations between this type of vaccines and diseases like diabetes, lupus, MS and autism:
“How could the contaminating aborted fetal DNA create problems? It creates the potential for autoimmune responses and/or inappropriate insertion into our own genomes through a process called recombination. There are groups researching the potential link between this DNA and autoimmune diseases such as juvenile (type I) diabetes, multiple sclerosis and lupus. Our organization, [3] Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), is focused on studying the quantity, characteristics and genomic recombination of the aborted fetal DNA found in many of our vaccines.”
https://www.physiciansforlife.org/content/view/1758/2/
Cancer virus contamination in vaccines:
About the medical issues it should also be taken note of the aspect of viral contamination. In the 60`s a cancer virus was spread with contaminated polio vaccines. The story starts like this:
“In 1961, SV40 was discovered by Dr. Bernice Eddy of the National Institute of Health, Division of Biologics when she took the material used to grow polio vaccines and injected it into hamsters. Tumors grew in the hamsters. Her discovery was subsequently validated by Drs. Maurice Hilliman and Benjamin Sweet of Merck.”
https://www.sv40foundation.org/
As we can see from the cell lines mention above – one of the lines has antibodies against SV-40 virus although the virus was not traced:
WI-26 VA4: An SV40 transformed derivative of WI-26, a human diploid cell line derived from embryonic lung tissue of a male Caucasian. The cells have SV40 T-Ag but infectious virus has not been rescued.
https://www.cellbankaustralia.com/estore/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=1302&CategoryID=131
Ethical dilemma:
Ethical dilemmas of this kind, can be discussed in light of many factors. That the abortions where provoked is one aspect to some people, whether there was any intention of using a tissue is a different theme, and of course a wide range of issues related to information components and aspects consent of the various parties and stakeholders. Some would like to focus on the benefits, in terms of prevention of disease and death. Others choose to emphasize the fundamental ethical principles that prevent a life of having to be regarded as a vehicle for another life. Regardless of how one views these matters – the fundamental ethical issue rest on whether one is aware that these conditions exist. If people do not know the facts – there there is no opportunity to take an ethical founded choice. For that reason, the lack of information is to be regarded as the most fundamental ethical dilemma for patients in a practical context.
Legal aspects of patient and donor information:
Patients, in this case – their parents have a legally fundamental right to receive information about drugs and treatment their children receive. Given that vaccination is a planned medical intervention there should be space receiving more complete information than presently practiced. Health professionals are also obliged to provide information as well as possessing a working knowledge of drugs they administer. Based on the controversial facts and the political and legal debate, it must be assumed that this subject holds such controversial aspects that it should not be withheld general patient information.
It may also be advisable to question aspects of consent of the patients as a supplementary matters of legal nature based on the fact that some of the abortions were performed on psychiatric ill patients.
Other intricate questions may be raised on the basis that we still in 2012 possesses legislation that fails to define and review human cell lines explicitly. There should be accounted that the use of such cell lines both in vaccines as well as general research, made its entrance already in the 1950s, in the form of the HPV virus infected Hela cell line. This donor never consented that her cervical cancer cells were immortalized in medical laboratories worldwide. It is assumed that the use of aborted human fetal cell promotes just as many controversies – both medical and ethical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa
Ragnhild Madsen