President Bush Given Misinformation
BUSH DEFENDS FEDERAL RESEARCH ON STEM CELLS FROM DESTROYED HUMAN EMBRYOS BY SAYING CHICKEN POX VACCINE IS FROM THE SAME SOURCE. BUT WHY SHOULD A CHICKEN POX VACCINE DEVELOPED FROM AN ABORTED BABY BE USED IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHY DO WE EVEN NEED A CHICKEN POX VACCINE?

In his August 12 New York Times op-ed defending federal research on embryonic stem cells, President Bush claims, "There is a precedent. The only licensed live chickenpox vaccine used in the United States was developed, in part, from cells derived from research involving human embryos. Researchers first grew the virus in embryonic lung cells, which were later cloned and grown in two previously existing cell lines. Many ethical and religious leaders agree that even if the history of this vaccine raises ethical questions, its current use does not." (emphasis added).

It's true that the vaccine (Varivax) was developed from human embryonic cells. The maker, Merck, says, "The virus was initially obtained from a child with natural varicella, then introduced into human embryonic lung cell cultures." But it's FALSE to say that no one objects to its current use.

Consider:

"Dr. [Chris] Kahlenborn, medical consultant for People Concerned for the Unborn Child, thinks that 'each time cells are used from an aborted child, it gives the abortion industry one more 'reason' for proclaiming the benefits of abortion.

"It is morally impermissible to reap the research benefits from a deliberately induced abortion without, in some sense, being an accomplice to that abortion, according to Dominican Father Albert Moraczewski, of the Pope John XXIII Center for Medical-Moral Research in Braintree, Massachusetts.

"Benefiting from a fetal cell line like MRC-5 'involves a complicity with the induced abortion from which the cells were obtained,' he added. 'We could grant that the use of cell lines from induced abortions is several steps away from the abortion itself,' he admitted, but that doesn't break 'the chain of complicity.'

"When it comes to using a cell line from an aborted baby, researchers 'know the source of the tissue - unless they deliberately blind themselves to it.' said Father Moraczewski, editor of ETHICS AND MEDICS. 'It doesn't appear spontaneously in a lab dish.' Turning an abortion into a vaccine, he concluded, means 'being an accomplice to the act of the abortion.'"

"Aside from questions about vaccine safety, many parents may decide it is better for their children to catch chickenpox disease when they are young, benefiting from the resultant lifetime immunity. Similar to measles vaccine use, widespread use of the chickenpox vaccine will shift the incidence of chickenpox from younger children, where the disease is usually mild, to adults, where the disease can be more serious. Merck's and the CDC's solution to this is to lobby state legislatures to enact chickenpox vaccine mandates for school, daycare, and college admission, with periodic, lifelong chickenpox vaccine boosters. What a cash cow for Merck! "

Kristine M. Severyn, R.Ph., Ph.D., Director, Vaccine Policy Institute

The Chicken Pox Vaccine (VARIVAX). What Parents Should Consider.

SOURCE: http://www.alternativeparenting.com/health/chicken_pox_vaccination.htm

"California's Pacificare Health Systems HMO chose not to recommend VARIVAX; medical director Dr. William Osheroff said, "The real issue is all of the unanswered questions about Varivax...This is a very benign disease in children, but the vaccine may create a false sense of security as these kids get older and find themselves non-immune. Chickenpox as an adult is a serious disease."

WHAT'S NEXT?

"We are making progress in the development of an HIV vaccine, again using fetal tissue."
· Rep. Henry Waxman

SOURCE: HEARING before the SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT of the COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION, MARCH 9, 2000
Distributed by the Committee to Protect Medical Freedom, a project of America's Survival, Inc. 301-855-2679 FAX 301-855-3732
www.protectmedicalfreedom.com