Polio vaccine infected with BSE?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, OCT. 21. A polio vaccine suspected to be infected by ``mad cow'' disease has been withdrawn creating panic among parents who already have had their children vaccinated.

Nearly 35 million doses of the vaccine have been administered since 1991 when it was first produced by a company called Medeva. Official assurances that the risk of catching the dreaded mad cow disease (BSE) was negligible and that the vaccine was being withdrawn as a precautionary measure have not convinced the people, raising fears about the future of the highly successful polio vaccination programme. Health authorities have appealed to parents not to panic and abandon the programme which has virtually eliminated polio in Britain, once the scourge of not only children but also adults.

The vaccine was made with a serum from British cows in violation of a ban on using cow products in medicine. The ban was imposed after the outbreak of the mad cow disease 14 years ago. The manufacturers of the vaccine have been accused of concealing facts but no legal action is likely as the ban is not covered by a law.

A legislation to enforce the ban legally is expected next March. Medeva has in turn blamed Wellcome, the company which, it says, originally produced the vaccine.

The issue is already beginning to take on a political complexion with the Government's detractors accusing it of negligence. A Liberal Democrat M.P., Mr. Norman Baker said there had been a ``terrible averting of eyes on anything related to the vaccines in the last 11 years ''. The chairman of the Human BSE Foundation, Mr. Malcolm Tibbert charged that the Government did not seem to have learnt any lessons and pointed out that the health department had failed to ``check out these companies for proper standards.''

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Section  : International
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