New Ebola and HIV Vaccines to use aborted fetal cell line PER C6 in production

PRESS RELEASE:  July 18, 2002
NEW EBOLA AND HIV VACCINES WILL USED ABORTED FETAL CELL LINE IN PRODUCTION 

(Clearwater Fl)  Children of God for Life announced the discovery of plans by Crucell, N.V. and the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institutes of Health’s Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to jointly develop a new vaccine against ebola.

The vaccine will be manufactured using Crucell’s PER C6 cell line, which is derived from the retinal tissue of an 18 week gestation fetus, aborted because, according to Dr. Van Der Eb at a recent hearing with the FDA, “The women wanted to get rid of the fetus. …The father was not known and that was, in fact, the reason why the abortion was requested.”

In the FDA report found at http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/transcripts/3750t1_01.pdf Dr. Van Der Eb goes on to say that, “PER C6 was made just for the pharmaceutical manufacturing of adenovirus vectors.” He adds, “I realize that this sounds a bit commercial, but PER C6 were made for that particular purpose.”

Children of God for Life has fought this issue before.  Last fall when the Federal Government awarded a contract to Acambis for the production of a new smallpox vaccine using the aborted fetal cell line MRC-5, a massive public protest quickly mounted.  Thousands of letters poured into the offices of the CDC, FDA, HHS and the pharmaceutical companies involved in the bid process, demanding alternatives.  Thirty days later, a second contract was awarded to Acambis Baxter for 155 million more doses – but this time, they will use Vero cells, not MRC-5.

“When are the pharmaceutical companies and our government going to wake up and realize this is not the direction our country needs to take in developing important medical treatments and vaccines?”, Children of God for Life’s Executive Director Debi Vinnedge stated.

“We already have an existing campaign and petition against vaccines utilizing aborted fetal tissue – MMR, Chickenpox and Hepatitis-A and so many parents are refusing to use these vaccines as they learn the truth about their source.  They have a right to protect the health and safety of their families without violating their religious beliefs or contributing to the culture of death in this country.”

The non-profit, pro-life organization has already received over 450,000 signatures in their Campaign for Ethical Vaccines.  Vinnedge admits the current situation is frightening because although many people would consider the dangers of something like chickenpox to be nominal, smallpox and ebola are well known to be deadly.

“When an on-line poll was conducted by WorldNet Daily News on whether people would use a smallpox vaccine derived from aborted fetal tissue, 56% of the people said they would refuse it, 34% said it would not deter them and another 10% were undecided.  The public has a right to expect our government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the entire population can be protected against deadly, infectious disease – not just those who see nothing wrong with profiting from abortion.”

The revelation of the PER C6 cell line which was developed in the Netherlands also turned up a number of new alliances formed with American pharmaceuticals and Crucell.  Under Phase 2 Clinical Trials is a new HIV vaccine being developed by Merck which will also use the PER C6 cell line.

“What do these people at Merck think?”  Vinnedge wants to know.  “Do they think that people with HIV are somehow less sensitive to abortion than the general public?  Clearly they simply do not care about anyone or anything other than their bottom line!  We are ready to support any company who promises to do it better – and we can guarantee them a solid return on their investment!”

Vinnedge is asking the public to respond once again by writing formal letters of protest to Tommy Thompson at the Department of Health and Human Services as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Merck.  Any email correspondence to these offices should be carbon copied to ebola@cogforlife.org as the organization will track the public response.  Addresses are as follows:

The Honorable Tommy Thompson
Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Room 615-F
Washington, D.C. 20201   

EMAIL: hhsmail@os.dhhs.gov

Centers for Disease Control
1600 Clifton Road NE Mail Stop D66
Atlanta, GA  30333

EMAIL from website at: Website: http://www.cdc.gov/netinfo.htm

Isabelle Claxton, Executive Director Public Affairs

Merck Vaccine Division

770 Sumneytown Pike   P.O. Box 4

Westpoint, PA  19486