CDC Ignores Public Protest

CDC Ignores Public Protest – Say they are not responsible…

Below is a response that was sent to us by a concerned pro-lifer who sent a letter by email to the CDC after writing to the FDA.
We want to warn you – not only is the letter filled with errors, they are missing the point entirely. 

Having said that, the CDC response is one we have heard nearly word-for word for years!  They insult our intelligence!
And my how they love to pass the buck!  While the CDC rightfully acknowledges below that they do not “manufacture vaccines” and lay that problem on the FDA, they are in fact, responsible for public health.  Therefore they should be genuinely concerned when a large number of the population tells them they will not accept the continued use of aborted fetal cell lines in vaccines.

But let’s point out some of the gross “oversights” on their part:
 Read their letter below followed by our comments in red at the end of their letter.

From: NIPINFO@cdc.gov
Sender: “Farrall, Susan \(CDC/CCID/NCIRD\) sof3@cdc.gov
To: A Concerned Citizen
Subject: Content concerns about human cell line cultures
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 11:22:03 -0600

Thank you for your comment. I can understand your concerns.

I see that you have already registered your concerns by sending your comments  to the FDA under the Open Comments mechanism to Docket Number 2006D-0383. This is exactly the right place for these comments to be sent.  They will be collected and synthesized through this system, so your comments and others like yours will be heard.

CDC’s responsibility is to ensure that the U.S. population is adequately vaccinated with safe and effective vaccines to prevent sickness, disability and death.  The CDC does not manufacture vaccines.  The Food and Drug Administration licenses vaccines for use in the United States. This email service, NIPINFO@CDC.Gov  is designed to give the public and healthcare providers information about immunizations. Let me give you some information on this matter.

CDC is aware that some, but not all, vaccines are made from human cell-line cultures, and some of these cell lines originated from aborted fetal tissue, obtained from legal abortions in the 1960’s.  No new fetal tissue is needed to produce cell lines to make these vaccines, now or in the future.  Fetal tissue is not used to produce vaccines; cell lines generated from a single fetal tissue source are used–vaccine manufacturers obtain human cell lines from FDA-certified cell banks.

Here are additional resources and information:

http://www.immunize.org/concerns/maher.pdf
http://www.immunize.org/reports/report039.pdf
http://www.immunize.org/concerns/vaticandocument.htm
http://www.ncbcenter.org/vaticanresponseNCBC.asp
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/immunization_issues_detail.cfv?id=32
http://www.immunize.org/concerns/religious.htm
http://www.immunize.org/concerns/furtonarticle.pdf

Susan Farrall
Health Education Specialist
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road, MS E-52
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
Phone: 404-639-8852
Fax: 404-639-8828
Email: SFARRALL@CDC.GOV

OUR RESPONSE

The CDC wrote:
“… these cell lines originated from aborted fetal tissue, obtained from legal abortions in the 1960’s.”
Our Response:
FALSE: The abortions involved in both existing vaccines and those currently under development were done in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s – and beyond since President Clinton authorized federal funding for aborted fetal research in 1993!  Does the CDC think that because these were “legal abortions” that somehow makes them morally acceptable?

The CDC wrote:
“No new fetal tissue is needed to produce cell lines to make these vaccines, now or in the future.”
Our Response:
FALSE: The cell lines are not immortal and at some point, another cell line will be needed: either one from new aborted children or an ethical alternative. We should further note that if this were true, why would 50 pharmaceutical companies take license to a brand new cell line introduced to the US in 2001 by Crucell NV? This new cell line,  PER C6, was taken from the retinal tissue of an 18 week gestation electively aborted baby.According to FDA documents, “PER. C6 was made just for pharmaceutical manufacturing… I realize that this sounds a bit commercial, but PER C6 were made for that particular purpose.” http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/transcripts/3750t1_01.pdf 

The CDC wrote:
Fetal tissue is not used to produce vaccines; cell lines generated from a single fetal tissue source are used–vaccine manufacturers obtain human cell lines from FDA-certified cell banks.
Our Response:
While they rightfully acknowledge fetal tissue is not used in the vaccines, cells are part of tissues and organs and thus, are still very much a part of the aborted babies. In fact, without cells, none of our organs and tissues could survive though the CDC seems to want to make some sort of distinction between the two, as though this would legitimize using aborted babies.

First of all, it is impossible to get those cell lines from aborted babies without first making use of tissues or organs to produce them – which they did. But still, even if we are to believe that its okay to use cell lines but maybe not tissue, then it would be perfectly acceptable to use embryonic stem cells wouldn’t it?  The fact is that the vaccines are cultivated on these cell lines which were taken from aborted fetal tissue.  And further, the vaccines contain fully intact DNA from those aborted children, just as embryonic stem cells contain the fully intact DNA from destroyed human embryos.  The only difference here is the age of the murdered child.

Also, it is disingenuous to say the cell line came from “a single fetal tissue source” because it leads the reader to believe that only one abortion was done.  In fact there were at least 80 recorded abortions done before researchers were able to produce a viable virus and cell line for the rubella vaccine alone!  That is somewhat like saying that a new embryonic cell line that might be developed in the future only came from one embryo – even though thousands of embryos will be destroyed in the process before that cell line might be perfected.

The CDC wrote:
Here are additional resources and information…
Our Response:
First, most of the links contain outdated articles and within those articles there is some erroneous information that was unknown to the writers and the public at large when the documents were written.  However, even the most recent articles such as the one they cite by the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAFL) openly condemn the use of aborted fetal cell lines in the manufacturing of vaccines.  Catholics especially should take great offense that the CDC is attempting to use a Church document to legitimize what they are doing when in fact, here is the strong admonition of the PAFL:

“Therefore, whoever – regardless of the category to which he belongs — cooperates in some way, sharing its intention, to the performance of a voluntary abortion with the aim of producing the above-mentioned vaccines, participates, in actuality, in the same moral evil as the person who has performed that abortion….As regards the preparation,  distribution and marketing of vaccines produced as a result of the use of biological material whose origin is connected with cells coming from foetuses voluntarily aborted, such a process is stated, as a matter of principle, morally illicit, because it could contribute in encouraging the performance of other voluntary  abortions, with the purpose of the production of such vaccines.  Nevertheless, it should be recognized that, within the chain of production-distribution-marketing, the various cooperating agents can have different moral responsibilities. However, there is another aspect to be considered, and that is the form of passive material cooperation which would be carried out by the producers of these vaccines, if they do not denounce and reject publicly the original immoral act (the voluntary abortion), and if they do not dedicate themselves together to research and promote alternative ways, exempt from moral evil, for the production of vaccines for the same infections. Such passive material cooperation, if it should occur, is equally illicit.”

This insult by the CDC of attempting to use a Church document is a weak attempt to defend the indefensible.  And it should be enough to spur you into action. For they are, as the Vatican contends, guilty of cooperation in evil.

 Tell them how you feel!

To Write to the Proper Authorities at the CDC we recommend US Mail to:

Julie L. Gerberding, Director

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Rd

Atlanta, GA  30333

And don’t hesitate to copy HHS as well!  They oversee both the CDC ad FDA

Secretary Michael O. Leavitt

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201