Aborted
Fetal Cell Line Vaccines And The Catholic Family
A Moral and
Historical Perspective
And The
(Updated
Most
Revered Robert F. Vasa, Bishop of the Diocese of Baker
Fr.
Thomas Euteneuer, President Human Life International
Fr.
Benjamin Reese, Pastor St. Mark Parish,
Fr.
Philip Wolfe,
Fr.
Anthony Zimmerman, Retired Professor Moral Theology,Divine Word Seminary,
Written By
Debra L. Vinnedge, Executive Director
Children of God for Life
The Abortions and Intention of Creating Vaccines
The Need for Further Fetal Tissue
False Notion of Immortality
New Aborted Fetal Cell Lines
Encouraging Further Abortions & Research
Hunt for Fresh Fetuses
Re-asserting Roe - Incentive to Abort
Perceived Public Acceptance
Crystal Clear Complicity
Moral Obligations
The Disease and the Vaccine – Rubella
The
Disease and the Vaccine – Chickenpox
The Cell Lines Themselves
The Problem with Remote Material Cooperation
Catholic Persecution
Parents & Physicians Speak
Out
Moral Conscience
Proper
Formation of Conscience
Right of
Conscience Must Be Protected
“Moral assessment follows an understanding of the facts of a case; moral principles follow.”
The following information has been prepared to address the concerns of Catholic parents, physicians and clergy regarding the use of aborted fetal cell lines in vaccines. It will also expose the truth that has been intentionally kept hidden from Catholic ethicists, theologians and the general public far too long.
Our Purpose Is:
To bridge the gap between ethicists, clergy and moral theologians who hold opposing opinions on the morality of using these vaccines
To protect the rights of parents, physicians and individuals abstaining from these vaccines
To promote the clear guidelines established by the recent Vatican directive in obtaining ethical alternatives
To discourage further production of medical products that utilize aborted fetal tissue or embryonic stem cells through legislative action
To uphold the Moral Conscience teachings of the Magisterium and protect her interests in related matters of health care
Many opposing viewpoints have been raised on the morality of using vaccines, which are cultivated on aborted fetal cell lines. While this document does not intend to charge that one side or the other holds the morally correct opinion, it does introduce new evidence that deserves consideration when assessing the matter. It is our hope that upon review of this information all members of our Catholic clergy and institutions will:
Support the rights of parents to refuse aborted fetal cell line vaccines and obtain information on ethical alternatives
Support the efforts to bring ethical alternatives to the public
Unite in a cohesive manner with other faiths to effectively end this injustice
After the September 11th terrorist attacks, our Campaign succeeded in obtaining ethical smallpox vaccines and currently, negotiations are underway to bring an ethical alternative for the abortion-tainted rubella vaccine into the United States. But part of that process is demonstrating that we have a solid market, which can only happen if the public is given the opportunity to make informed choices.
In light of this, Children of God for Life introduced the Fair Labeling and Informed Consent Act to Congress in January 2005. This legislation requires that the pharmaceuticals provide full disclosure in the labeling of all products that use aborted fetal or embryonic cell lines, cloned or produced otherwise. The industry knows this will immediately provide a distinctive competitive edge to those who are using ethical sources. And had this sort of information been available years ago when vaccine development using aborted babies began, the practice would have come to a grinding halt through public outrage.
In June 2005, Children of God for Life received an official Vatican letter and eight-page document that overwhelmingly supports these efforts. Under the direction of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, (now Pope Benedict XVI) the Pontifical Academy for Life clearly defined medical and parental obligations to use ethical alternatives. They further instructed that physicians and families “should take recourse, if necessary, to the use of conscientious objection with regard to the use of vaccines produced by means of cell lines of aborted human foetal origin. Equally, they should oppose by all means (in writing, through the various associations, mass media, etc.) the vaccines which do not yet have morally acceptable alternatives, creating pressure so that alternative vaccines are prepared, which are not connected with the abortion of a human foetus, and requesting rigorous legal control of the pharmaceutical industry producers.”[1]
With this in mind, we call upon our Catholic institutions and medical professionals to assist in this effort by demanding new ethical alternatives and using those listed in the charts at the end of this book. In light of the evidence you are about to read, we believe these measures are not only reasonable, but they are necessary in order to effectively end the exploitation of the unborn, to preserve the integrity of the Holy Catholic Church and to defend the legal, moral and religious rights of the her members.
The Abortions and Intention of Creating Vaccines
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Eph 5:11)
Perhaps one if the most highly misunderstood notions among moral theologians and ethicists is that the abortions involved were not done with the intention of creating vaccines. In fact, in response to President Bush’s decision on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), the USCCB highlights this point as follows:
“In the present case, human lives were taken in order to provide cells for research and, in some cases, precisely to qualify for federal grants; in the case of vaccines, tissues were taken following abortions performed for unrelated reasons.” [2]
While one might agree that the mothers who had the abortions did not do so because they wanted to help create a vaccine specifically, then one must also realize that the parents of those embryos created through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) did not do so with the intention of creating a future medical product either. The fact of the matter is that in ascertaining moral culpability, it is not just the mother’s intentions that must be considered. There are three parties involved: the mother, the abortionist and the researcher, all of whom share equally in an intrinsically evil act. We know it is the intention of scientists to destroy embryos for research purposes. And likewise, it was the full intention of both the attending abortionist and the researcher present at the foot of the abortion table to destroy those babies specifically to create vaccines. This document will prove this intent with undisputable facts recorded by those who conducted and reported on the research. Not only are all equally guilty of assisting in premeditated homicide, but it may very well have been the action of the attending researcher who actually brought about the final demise of the babies. In fact, if the mother was distraught and coerced, one could easily conclude she might very well have been a victim herself.
The evidence supporting the direct link between the abortions and the production of ensuing vaccines are unmistakable. But to fully appreciate the level of formal material cooperation involved, it is important to understand the scientific facts regarding tissue and cell viability. In aborted fetal tissue research as in any type of human tissue or organ transplant or research, it is essential that the samples collected are still living. Dead tissue is worthless. It is not possible to simply perform an abortion and then after the fact, decide one wants to use the discarded fetus for cell research. Nor is it desirable to do so, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s bioethics guidelines, which state that after the abortion, “It is not quite the appropriate time, given the emotional stress that this procedure entails. Based on this premise, consent elicited at this time may be regarded as invalid.”[3]
And from a clinical standpoint, according to Dr. C. Ward Kischer, PhD one of the leading authorities in the nation on human embryology, the abortion must be pre-arranged in order to have researchers available to immediately preserve the tissue.
“In order to sustain 95% of the cells, the live tissue would need to be preserved within 5 minutes of the abortion”, stated Dr. Kischer. “Within an hour the cells would continue to deteriorate, rendering the specimens useless.” [4]
In a more easily recognizable situation, it is no different than prearranging the donation of one’s organs after death. Steps must be taken immediately to safeguard the life of the tissue or organs.
To fully understand the magnitude of intention by not only the abortionist and the researcher, but the pharmaceutical industry as well, one needs to look at the history of how these cell lines were obtained, by whom they were obtained and who ultimately profited.
The Abortions
The research for this report will take us back to 1961 when Leonard Hayflick, who was employed by the Wistar Institute, the research facility of the University of Pennsylvania, began working with aborted fetal cell lines, WI-1 through WI-25 (Wistar Institute, fetal samples numbered 1-25). The cell strains were derived from the lung, skin, muscle, kidney, heart, thyroid, thymus and liver of 21 separate, elective abortions.[5] In fact, the entire research conducted and reported on by Hayflick was done solely for the development of viral vaccine cultivation:
“The isolation and characterization of human diploid cell strains from fetal tissue make this type of cell available as a substrate for the production of live virus vaccines. Other than the economic advantages, such strains in contrast to heteropoloid cell lines exhibit those characteristics usually reserved for normal or primary cells and therefore make the consideration of their use in the production of human virus vaccines a distinct possibility.” [6]
By 1961, success had not yet been achieved but Hayflick concluded fetal cell lines looked promising for vaccine production. The existing cell lines had been kept alive in serial cultivation, but were near the finite lifespan of sub cultivations. More fetal tissue would be needed. In concluding his research thesis, Hayflick credits grateful acknowledgement to three key players in what would soon become the first commercial cell substrate to be used in our present day vaccines:
Dr. Sven Gard of the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm Sweden who supplied the fetuses
Dr Stanley Plotkin, who is credited for developing the rubella vaccine for Wistar Institute
Dr. Anthony Girardi of the Merck Research Institute, who assisted in the research and as the sole manufacturer of the only rubella vaccine available in the US, Merck had a vested interest in the results.
In 1964 Hayflick would again report on his findings with the newest aborted fetal cell line, WI-38. [7] A bit of history is in order on this abortion, whose tissue would be collected from the lungs of a female baby at 3 months gestation The reporting by Stanley Plotkin on the abortion when he was asked about the inherent dangers of using human cell lines in vaccine production due to the possibility of viral agents and human genetic material passed over into the recipient of the vaccine is as follows:
“This fetus was chosen by Dr. Sven Gard, specifically for this purpose. Both parents are known, and unfortunately for the story, they are married to each other, still alive and well, and living in Stockholm, presumably. The abortion was done because they felt they had too many children. There were no familial diseases in the history of either parent, and no history of cancer specifically in the families.” [8]
It is important to understand that whether the mother aborted her child for this reason or not is really inconsequential to this discussion, since as we have noted, she is only one of three players involved in an evil act. It was most certainly the intention of the abortionist and researchers to secure additional fetal tissue needed for vaccine cultivation and Dr. Sven Gard accomplished that. And as we read above, the fetus was actually chosen for this specific purpose. For the record, it should be noted that Dr. Gard already had intimate ties to the Wistar Institute having taken his sabbatical there in 1959, the exact time of Hayflick’s initial research on the first 19 aborted fetal cell lines. It is documented that Gard arranged for a supply of the aborted fetuses on which Hayflick’s work was to be based, as recorded by Erling Norrby, the intern working under Sven Gard at Lederle Labs:.
"One of my duties as a young student in the laboratory in Stockholm was to dissect human fetuses from legal abortions and send organs to the Wistar Institute. Such material was the source of many important studies of cell lines at the Institute, such as Leonard Hayflick's study of WI-38 cells When we collected the organs, this was done immediately after the legal abortion. We were on duty to immediately perform the sampling and to arrange for an as rapid transport as possible over the Atlantic Ocean. The fetal material arrived by car from the nearby hospital to our laboratory enwrapped in a green surgical cloth. Maximal sterility was critical to allow an outgrowth of fetal cells without any contamination after the transport." [9]
And why would Sven Gard of Sweden be interested in assisting Wistar in the United States? His good friend, Dr. Hilary Koprowski, of Lederle Labs in Sweden was appointed the new director of Wistar in 1957, and wanted to test his OPV (oral polio vaccine) on human tissue. It seemed harmless enough. Hayflick initially obliged by creating his own fetal cell line, taken from the amniotic sac of his own daughter’s birth. But when WISH (Wistar Institute Susan Hayflick) failed to produce the desired results, more fetal sources were needed. And so began the voracious acquisition of aborted fetuses from Sweden that would become known as WI-1 through WI-38. [10]
And while WI-38 was being prepared for vaccine production, the rubella epidemic of 1964 that same year would provide the excuse to put the cell line to commercial use. While rubella is considered a harmless childhood disease, it can be dangerous for women who contract the disease in their first trimester of pregnancy. The New England Journal of Medicine describes the disease as follows:
“In children and adults, rubella is usually mild and may even go unnoticed. Children generally have few symptoms, but adults may experience fever, headache, malaise, and a runny nose before the rash appears. A person can transmit the disease from 1 week before the onset of the rash, until 1-2 weeks after the rash disappears. Lifelong immunity to the disease follows infection.” [11]
However, according to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 20%-25% of women who contract rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy could pass on Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) to their unborn child. CRS can cause birth defects including deafness, cataracts, heart defects, mental retardation, and liver and spleen damage.[12] Preying on this fear during the 1964 epidemic, some doctors in Pennsylvania began advising pregnant women who contracted the disease to abort their child. In a controlled study group, the Wistar Institute worked directly with the abortionists to collect and dissect the fetuses. It was from the 27th fetus that researchers extracted the live virus in the kidney of the baby to be used in the rubella vaccine.
“Explant cultures were made of the dissected organs of a particular fetus aborted because of rubella, the 27th in our series [emphasis added] of fetuses aborted. This fetus was from a 25-year-old mother exposed to rubella 8 days after her last menstrual period. 16 days later she developed rubella. The fetus was surgically aborted 17 days after maternal illness and dissected immediately. Explants from several organs were cultured and successful cell growth was achieved from lung, skin, and kidney. It was then grown on WI-38. The new vaccine was tested on orphans in Philadelphia.” [13]
The rubella virus clinically named RA273 (R=Rubella, A=Abortus, 27=27th fetus, 3=3rd tissue explant) was then cultivated on the WI-38 aborted fetal cell line. A later research paper by Stanley Plotkin would reveal that 40 separate fetuses were aborted, with virus strains taken from 34 of them.[13A] This means a total of over 80 separate, elective abortions recorded were involved in the research and final production of the present day rubella vaccine: 21 from the original WI-1 through WI-26 fetal cell lines that failed, plus WI-38 itself, plus 61 from the attempts to isolate the rubella virus. As one can clearly see Wistar not only directly managed the controlled abortions used to collect the rubella virus, but they also provided the cell substrate for cultivating it from the fetuses obtained by Sven Gard.
In the 1970’s a second aborted fetal cell line would be introduced in Great Britain by the Medical Research Council, named MRC-5. The cell line is derived from the lung tissue of a 14-week gestation male aborted for “psychiatric reasons”.[14] Two interesting points will be made here. The first, in an interview with Father Anthony Cornforth, of the UK, February, 2003: He related the story of how laws in England in the 1960’s - 1970’s timeframe were supposedly designed to limit the number of abortions, allowing only for “health of the mother”, which included mental health. He stated that the law was more of a “wink and a nod” and that, “psychiatric reasons were commonly noted on the records whenever no medical evidence of health problems could be legally accounted for, and certainly when there were other more sinister motives.”
The second point of interest comes from Leonard Hayflick himself, who boasted, “I have not only worked with WI-38 but I am the developer of that strain. MRC-5 is a copycat strain made by the Brits almost ten years after I showed them how.” [15]
Since neither the WI-38 nor the MRC-5 abortions were done in the United States, where at least one could speculate that even minimal informed consent laws might have prevented mischief, there is good reason to question the validity of the recorded reasons for the abortions.
There is certainly no way of knowing whether the mothers volunteered their babies as research projects or not, but one could muse that especially in the case of MRC-5, even if the mother really had psychiatric problems, she could have been easily coerced. It may be speculation, but it deserves consideration in light of the absolute truth the abortions had been pre-arranged to have researchers present whose intention was extracting the tissue for vaccine production. That fact is undeniable.
The Need for Further Fetal Tissue
“Science without conscience is the death of the soul.” (Rabelais 1537)
Another key debate that has been used by some theologians and ethicists in determining the moral complicity of using these vaccines has been based on a misconceived idea that the aborted fetal cell lines are “immortal” and hence, no further fetal tissue would be needed to create new vaccines. The term “immortal” is deceivingly misleading and was deliberately presented to the public by the pharmaceutical industry as a means of covering up the fact that from the time these cell lines were first used, they knew fully well that one day further fetal tissue would be required to continue producing these vaccines.
The False Notion of Immortality – A Brief History
Surprisingly, experiments in this area of biomedical research began in the early 1900’s with considerable documentation as early as the 1930’s. During that time, scientists thought they had discovered a virtual “fountain of youth” in chicken cell line experiments. Alexis Carrel, Nobel Laureate and cell biologist cultivated cells derived from chick heart tissue, which lived for 34 years, well beyond the oldest age ever recorded for a chicken (12 years). Scientists theorized if they could achieve immortality at the cell level, they might be able to defeat the aging process altogether. The research quickly migrated to human subjects and at first, like Carrel’s experiments, some, but not all cell cultures seemed to replicate indefinitely.[16]
In 1964 Hayflick and Moorhead would prove these “immortal” theories wrong, demonstrating that all normal cell strains – animal or human have a finite lifespan and that lifespan is directly proportionate to the age of the cell donor. For example, experiments on aborted fetuses demonstrated that these cells would live much longer than the cells donated by a fully matured adult. Why? Because all normal cells go through a natural aging process called senescence – just as human beings do. And in the years that followed Carrel’s work, every experiment conducted worldwide, failed to produce the same results - except, as Hayflick discovered, when the cells were cancerous. The human cell lines used at this point called HeLa had been derived from female cervical cancer tissue. Two theories emerged from this: that Carrel’s chick cells were either cancerous or the cells had been fed or “seeded” with fresh chick embryo extract daily.[17]
And in 1964 Hayflick proved the undisputed fact that this very same aborted fetal cell WI-38 which has been reported to be immortal, in fact, has a limited capacity to replicate, and will eventually die. Hayflick openly states in his dissertation:
“The cellular theory of aging must be reconsidered since it has been shown that normal human diploid cell strains in vitro are in fact mortal. To our knowledge, no one has thus far reported that cells having the karotype of the tissue of origin have been able to multiply in vitro longer than the lifespan of the species from which tissue was obtained.”[18]
After over 30 years of research on these and hundreds of other aborted fetal cell lines, Hayflick concluded in another 1997 report that the effort to achieve immortality was “futile”. [19]
New Aborted Fetal Cell Lines Underway
So, what happens when the current cell lines expire? One might assume that the logical step would be to use an ethical source to replace them; however, that is not the case. Realizing that WI-38 was rapidly approaching its finite lifespan, the Coriell Institute for Medical Research signed an agreement with the National Institute on Aging to establish and bank new fetal cell lines for future replacement of existing fetal cell lines. It was the implicit intention of the researchers to establish this new fetal cell line for future vaccine production. Writes Dr. Christine Beiswanger, PhD, Assistant Director and Associate Professor for Coriell:
“The cell line developed at Coriell, identified as IMR-90 was the first of several lines planned in support of NIA research programs...IMR-90 was developed and characterized in such a way as to parallel WI-38 as closely as possible to minimize the variables in replacing WI-38 within ongoing laboratory programs ... The IMR-90 cell line, like WI-38 was derived from the lung tissue of a human female embryo following therapeutic abortion ...Since the goal of establishing this cell line was a replacement for WI-38 in vaccine production, virus yields were compared for IMR-90, WI-38 and MRC-5 for a number of different viruses including varicella zoster, herpes simplex, vesicular stomatitits virus and cytomegalovirus.” [20]
Details from the American Type Cell Culture repository list the gestation age at 16 weeks (slightly older than the 3 month gestation WI-38 baby) and reiterate that, “the cell line may be considered as an alternative for WI-38.” [21] The expected lifespan for this new cell line is 58 population doublings, enough to continuously supply sourcing for new vaccines for several years to come.
In fact, if the lifespan was not nearly at capacity for the present cell lines, one should question exactly why Merck and at least 50 other pharmaceutical companies would go to the trouble of buying licensing rights on an entirely new fetal cell line in the Spring and Summer of 2002, that is neither FDA approved, nor used in any other vaccine applications. At FDA hearings in May 2002, Dr. Van der Eb of Crucell, NV, the Dutch biomedical company that owns patented rights to the cell line, explained in great detail about this new martyr for the pharmaceutical industry:
“So I isolated retina from a fetus, from a healthy fetus as far as could be seen, of 18 weeks old. There was nothing special with a family history or the pregnancy was completely normal up to the 18 weeks, and it turned out to be a socially indicated abortus - abortus provocatus, and that was simply because the woman wanted to get rid of the fetus. The mother was completely normal... PER C6 was made just for pharmaceutical manufacturing of adenovirus vectors-and the pharmaceutical industry standard. I realize that this sounds a bit commercial, but PER C6 were made for that particular purpose. Also, as far as I know, more than 50 companies have taken license for PER C6.” [22]
While we have shown that the original reasons for the abortions are subject to speculation, the intent of the donor is actually not relevant in either embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) or vaccines that were derived from abortion. In both cases however, the intent of the researcher and abortionist is quite calculated and quite clear: Both were not only pre-meditated murder, but both were done with full intent of commercializing and profiting from the destruction of human life. And in the case of the abortions, every single one of them was performed with full knowledge in advance that the fetus would be used not just for some sort of future research, but for the specific intent of creating vaccines.
More abhorrent than ESCR, is the “up-close and personal” state of the babies slaughtered for vaccine production. For it is quite possible these tiny, fully formed human beings could have been alive at the time of dissection and at may have had the capacity of feeling the pain of the surgeon’s knife. Consider the following, from immunologist, Dr Peter McCullough’s book, The Fetus As Transplant Donor the Scientific, Social, and Ethical Perspectives, as reported by Dr. Bernard Nathanson about the methods used in harvesting fetal tissue in Sweden where the WI-38 abortion and others were performed:
“For example, he talks about how in Sweden they have been puncturing the sac of a pregnant woman at let us say 14 to 16 weeks, and then they put a clamp on the head of the baby, pull the head down into the neck of the womb, drill a hole into the baby's head, and then put a suction machine into the brain and suck out the brain cells. And this is directly from his book. Healthy human fetuses from 7 to 21 weeks from legal abortions were used. This is in Sweden. The conception age was estimated from crown rump length and so on. Fetal liver and kidney were rapidly removed and weighed. Now at 21 weeks, what they were doing, or 18 weeks, or 16 weeks, was what is called prostaglandin abortions. They would inject a substance into the womb. The woman would then go into mini-labor and pass this baby. 50% of the time, the baby would be born alive, but that didn't stop them. They would just simply open up the abdomen of the baby with no anesthesia, and take out the liver and kidneys, etc.” [23]
Even more distressing is the fact that there was no need for any abortions to be done in order to create a rubella vaccine. There were already two licensed rubella vaccines on the US market: the Cendehill and Merck’s HPV-77, both of which use animal cell lines – and both of which are still licensed today and could be brought to market at any time. [24] The efficacy and safety of both vaccines is not an issue either as they rate pretty much the same as the present day rubella.[25]
Assuming then that a new vaccine was desired for some other unknown reason, again, it was not necessary to isolate the virus through abortion. There was an epidemic - scientists could have done exactly what the Japanese did: they swabbed the throat of an infected child! Nor was it necessary to cultivate the rubella virus on fetal cell lines, also evidenced by the Japanese who cultivated their vaccine on rabbit cells.[26]
In addition, during the development of the tainted rubella vaccine, Stanley Plotkin had the choice of using either a fetal cell line taken from a miscarriage or the aborted fetal cell line WI-38, both of which he concluded, were equally capable of sustaining the rubella virus for cultivating the vaccine. [27]
So why use aborted fetal cell lines at all? It is crystal clear that the method used was done solely to validate the benefits and to advance aborted fetal research, which in turn has advanced huge profits for the abortionists, researchers and the pharmaceutical industry.
And when one stops for a moment to consider the abortion procedures used, such as partial birth abortion or the Swedish method, it is obvious that the practical bottom line is no longer an attempt to end an unwanted pregnancy, but rather the unwanted pregnancy becomes the “economic bottom line.”
Encouraging Further Abortions and Research
“Killing humans and then reaping financial rewards for having done so is reprehensible. When we help provide those rewards, we risk becoming complicit in this moral wrong and even legitimizing it to others.” (USCCB Life Insight, Aug-Sept 2001)
There has been some skepticism among ethicists as to whether the use of vaccines derived from these aborted fetal cell lines might “encourage” more abortions.
“Neither does it seem that use of these vaccines will encourage future abortions. Regrettably, the cell lines that gave rise to MRC-5 and WI-38 began with tissue taken from aborted human beings, but these immoral actions were one-time events. Since their first beginnings, the cells used for these lines have continued to duplicate and grow in culture. There is little incentive to begin new human cell lines when these are well established and their various scientific properties well understood.” [28]
While one might find it difficult to imagine that parents using these vaccines could be responsible for actually encouraging further abortions, there is a chain reaction of events that must be considered, because in effect, that is exactly what has happened.
The widespread use of the vaccines by an unknowing public has led to a general idea in the pharmaceutical industry that their practices are acceptable. This very statement is supported by at least four key events that have taken place in recent years:
1) The University of Nebraska used the article Vaccines From Aborted Fetus
Cell Lines Judged Morally Acceptable, citing the opinions of the National
Catholic Bioethics Center as justification to continue fetal tissue research on
more than one occasion.[29] Stated
Drew Miller, PhD, University of Nebraska Regent:
“I am “Pro-Life.” I agree with the Nebraska Catholic Bishops and others who consider abortion to be an evil act. But once that evil act is done, I don't want to see another evil act occur: that of destroying something that can contribute to saving lives. It is also important to note that National Catholic officials (including National Catholic Ethicists) have specifically studied this subject for the Catholic Church. The March 4, 2000 issue of the Catholic Church Weekly, America, reported on the St. Louis Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office: “... Using a hepatitis vaccine derived from cell lines developed from an aborted fetus is morally acceptable because it is the only available alternative to the spread of the disease. In making its determination, the Pro-Life Office cited research by the ethicist Edward Furton of the National Catholic Bishops [sic] Center in Boston, who concluded it is permissible for a Catholic to receive the vaccine since the individual is not in immoral cooperation with the evil of abortion. To the above, I say, "Amen!!!!" And this is exactly the argument that UNMC researchers and the Board of Regents have been using to help others understand how important it is to continue this research, to continue using this source of tissue until our alternative supply program is successful. Based on this Catholic Church pronouncement UNMC is not guilty of “Moral Complicity with abortion.”[30]
2) During the Senate sub-committee hearings on Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Senator Harry Reid compared the possible benefits of ESCR to the polio vaccine, which used aborted fetal tissue, stating the public had no moral problem with that[31]
3) President Bush justified his ESCR decision to provide federal funding for
only those embryos that had already been destroyed, based on the precedent of
the chickenpox vaccine, which is cultivated on aborted fetal cell lines. In an
article written August 12th in the New York Times OP/ED section, he states,
"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."
4) In January 2001 123 Nobel laureates co-signed a letter to President Bush, urging him to provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Leonard Hayflick was no doubt instrumental in the following paragraph noted in that letter:
"For the past 35 years many of the common human virus vaccines -- such as measles, rubella, hepatitis A, rabies and poliovirus -- have been produced in cells derived from a human fetus to the benefit of tens of millions of Americans. Thus precedent has been established for the use of fetal tissue that would otherwise be discarded." [32]
Leonard Hayflick now sits on the advisory board at Advanced Cell Technology, a biotech company conducting embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
In each of the above cases, the proponents of ESCR and fetal tissue research have used the production of tainted vaccines to support their own agenda. Yet the fact remains that if there were no market for products and vaccines obtained in immoral manners, there would be no incentive for researchers, investors or politicians to support them. And just how bad is it becoming?
How about an international market for aborted babies?
The Hunt for Fresh Fetuses
In a CBS 60 Minutes, television expose in 1999 and subsequently reported by the Asheville NC Tribune, not only is there a growing market for baby body parts, but the abortionists now have published “sales lists”. Interested researchers can choose prices ranging from $150.00 for a brain less than 8 weeks gestation to $999.00 for one greater than 8 weeks.[33]
As though they were advertising used merchandise at a bargain thrift shop, the abortionists further callously listed “discounts” up to 30% if the brain material is “partially fragmented.”[34] Following those newscasts, World magazine reported that researchers are specifically looking for fetuses 18 to 24 weeks gestation, which is notably well within the range of viability and survival outside the womb. According to the same report researchers pay a “site fee” to abortion clinics in order to remove the organs and body parts on location.[35]
But the problem is not confined just to the United States. Australian researchers recently announced their intention to use aborted fetal tissue to cultivate new embryonic stem cell lines, marveling at the abundance of fetal tissue available. They cited the “need” was due to the current practice of using mouse tissue as “feeder cells”, which ultimately contaminates the cell lines, making them unsuitable for human treatments. It should be noted that if they simply used ethical adult stem cells, fetal tissue would not be necessary at all.
The quest for more and more sources for viable fetal tissue to create vaccines continues as is noted in the most recent news reported from New Zealand in May 2003:
“Aborted New Zealand foetuses have become a sought-after product in a controversial international biotechnology market. A Weekend Herald investigation has revealed that Wellington's district health board stood to make money out of providing tissue from aborted foetuses to a Dutch company, Crucell. Capital and Coast Health Board pulled out of the deal last week following Weekend Herald inquiries into its application to the Wellington Regional Ethics Committee to take the tissue for the production of vaccines against HIV, Ebola and other viral diseases. This week it emerged Crucell was interested in New Zealand because it had been identified as one of only four countries that can provide a source of foetal tissue clean of mad cow disease contamination. In what would have been the first known case of New Zealand foetuses being used for commercial purposes, Capital and Coast Health would have profited by providing the tissue to Crucell, listed on New York's Nasdaq technology stock index.”[36]
Crucell’s new fetal cell line PER C6 is simply not enough! Now they propose to hunt down fresh sources to continue their research. And branching out into a new line of technology for Crucell is the desire to create therapeutic treatments for eye disease using new aborted fetal tissue for stem cell transplants.
“He [Professor Peter Stone] has talked to fellow New Zealand clinicians about whether they could take advantage of what stem cell research has to offer, but it was not until he was approached by an Australian group that he had to give the technology serious thought. The Australians, who are a subsidiary of Dutch biotechnology company Crucell, approached Stone last year asking his department to contribute to work that could lead to breakthrough treatments.” [37]
The plan was to obtain some 30,000 aborted babies annually from hospitals and doctors who would be “paid an hourly rate” for their time. Crucell offered an “upfront fee” to the hospital, for “overheads" and a substantial "success fee" if the researchers were able to produce a viable fetal cell line.
And when New Zealand decided to table the idea for future discussion on the moral and ethical concerns, Crucell took their cannibalistic human trading to Australia, as reported June 10, 2003:
“A Sydney company is involved in a secret plan to collect tissue from aborted
babies and export it for medical experiments. The sensitive proposal, to harvest
some of the 90,000 foetuses aborted in Australia each year has been condemned by
pro-life groups for fostering an international trade in human body parts. The
Daily Telegraph has established that a Dutch bio-tech company, Crucell, working
through a Sydney contract research organisation, Parexel International, has
applied to the ethics committee of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide for
access to foetal material. It is believed to be the first proposed commercial
collection of foetuses in Australia, but those behind the project were hoping to
carry it out without the public knowing. The tissue would be sent to Crucell's
laboratories in the Netherlands and used to grow cell lines for research into
vaccines for infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola. The abortion doctors who
collect the tissue stand to make money out of the project – they would be paid
an "hourly rate" for their time.”[38]
This callous and horrific exploitation of aborted babies was again recently evidenced when researchers in Israel announced that they had removed ovarian tissue, from aborted fetuses, which could mature into eggs that could then be used in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. These matured eggs could also be used for human cloning therapies and experiments. Noted Dr Tal Biron-Shental, of the Meir Hospital-Sapir Medical Center in Kfar Saba in Israel, “I am fully aware of the controversy about this, but most probably in some places it would be ethically acceptable.” [39]
Crucell has seen the market explode with the advent of their PER C6 fetal cell line and further outrageous research on the innocent unborn is growing at an alarming rate, which never would have occurred if the pharmaceutical industry did not already have a market for fetal cell line based products.
The use of these tainted vaccines does indeed lend itself to furthering the market for fetal tissue and ESC research. But how can such an action actually encourage further abortions? Let’s examine those facts more closely.
Fact I – Reasserting Roe - The Right To Choose
In recent hearings on the legalization of fetal tissue research in the State of Arizona, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruled that to deny the research would interfere with a woman’s “right to choose.” The court cited the polio vaccine as a benevolent reason to strike down the ban and further stated that banning such research would violate the spirit of Roe v. Wade:
“Other physicians and expert witnesses explain that many established treatments for illness have developed from fetal research and experimentation, including the polio vaccine... Roe v. Wade held that the constitutional right to personal privacy encompasses a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. Roe and its progeny established that the pregnant woman has a right to be free from state interference with her choice to have an abortion. A prohibition on aborted fetal tissue research could burden the rights of women and couples to make both present and future reproductive choices. …Experimentation on aborted fetal tissue may foster the development of reproductive technology that is related to reproductive decisions. Governmental restrictions on reproductive decisions are only justifiable given compelling state interests.” [40]
Fact II – An Incentive to Abort
Women considering abortion are more likely to do so if they
believe they can donate the fetus for research. As presented by the Nebraska
Catholic Conference at the State Capitol Rotunda, March 21, 2001, numerous
studies and polls conducted over the years show the following:
[41]
A study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal 1995, 153: 545-552 reported that "of the 122 [women] who indicated that they would consider an abortion if they were pregnant, (17.2%) stated that they would be more likely to have an abortion if they could donate tissue for fetal tissue transplants and 24 (19.7%) were uncertain.
L. Gillam from the Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University, Clayton, Vic, Australia said that "although it cannot be definitively established" it is "at least factually plausible" that "if it were to become a standard form of treatment, [fetal tissue transplantation] would encourage or entrench the practice of abortion." (J Med Philos 1998 Aug; 23(4): 411-27
Redbook magazine conducted a poll of its readers in September 1990, gathering opinions about fetal tissue research. Nearly 1300 readers responded and the results were printed in the December 1990 issue. Fifty-eight percent felt that "some women who are ambivalent about abortion would be swayed to do so if they knew that they could donate the tissue." Seventy-three percent believed that "publicizing the benefits of fetal tissue research would lead to a black market in aborted fetuses."
Glamour magazine ran the same type of poll and reported the results in the June 1989 issue. Twenty-three percent indicated that using fetal tissue in medical research will lead to more abortions. The poll also asked "If you were undecided about having an abortion, would the opportunity to donate the fetal tissue to useful medical research make you more likely to have the procedure". Eighteen percent responded "don’t know" and 8% said "yes".
The June 17, 1991 issue of Time magazine included a story by L. Morrow entitled "When One Body Can Save Another". The story included a Yankelovich poll revealing public attitudes on the morality of fetal tissue transplantation. According to the poll, 18% thought it acceptable to "conceive and intentionally abort a fetus so the tissue can be used to save another life."
And while the Nebraska Catholic Conference has painstakingly attempted to prove that fetal tissue research does increase the odds that a woman will abort her child if she feels some benefit may come to society as a result, they also note that:
“It is important to point out that the use of aborted baby tissue in research need not be shown to increase abortions to be morally wrong. Even if it could be proved that such research would never increase abortions, it is still immoral because of its complicity with the practice of abortion and an absence of a legitimate surrogate from which to obtain consent to use the tissue.” [42]
Even the 1988 National Institutes of Health advisory acknowledged that: "The possibility for using fetal tissue in research and transplantation might constitute motivation, reason, or incentive for a pregnant woman to have an abortion.” [43]
Perceived Public Acceptance
The public’s complicity in encouraging further abortions by using vaccines from aborted fetal tissue is due to a chain reaction of events that actually works itself backward from the use of the vaccines:
The vaccines created a need for aborted fetal tissue
More fetal tissue research is being done to create more vaccines
Aborted fetal tissue research creates a need for more abortion
More abortions are done when donating the fetus is an option
While certainly it is not the parent’s desire to encourage abortion by using the vaccines, the effect is a result of their action, albeit unintended, but nonetheless a direct effect. And this assumed acceptance by the pharmaceutical industry of using aborted fetal tissue in vaccine production also contributes to the development of new vaccines using existing and new fetal sources.
Thus it would appear that the use of the vaccines could be considered by some to be morally wrong and in fact, in light of this new evidence, Dr. Edward Furton himself supports this theory:
“Most troubling, however, is the possibility that the present use of these vaccines might encourage future abortions. If that were true, then one might expect vaccination to constitute immoral cooperation with abortion.” [44]
Further, the perceived “moral permissibility” of using these vaccines has led to a denial by the pharmaceutical industry for ethical alternatives. Merck Public Affairs Executive Director Isabel Claxton has already stated as much in a letter to Children of God for Life in response to the Campaign for Ethical Vaccines, November 2000:
“No new fetal tissue is needed to produce cell lines to make vaccines, now or in the future. A number of thoughtful briefings have been published regarding the moral implications of vaccination against rubella and varicella, including a paper by John J. (sic) Grabenstein in Volume 2, Number 2 of the Official Journal of the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International in 1999 and an article from America Liturgy in March 2000. I have enclosed these articles for your review.”
Obviously their response was completely disingenuous. When Merck announced in May 2002 that it had acquired the new fetal cell line PER C6 for further vaccine development, Children of God for Life again wrote their offices to advise against their decision to use yet another unethical cell line for vaccine production. The letter further reminded them of their own promise that “no further fetal tissue would be needed to create vaccines, now or in the future.” Merck’s response was:
“A number of thoughtful briefings have been published regarding the moral implications of vaccination against rubella and varicella, including a paper by Bishop Budd in 1994 and John J. (sic) Grabenstein in Volume 4 of the Catholic Pharmacist. Both authors underscore that vaccines work in preventing disease, disability and death, but only when children and adults in a community are adequately vaccinated.”
Merck ignored the fact that Bishop Budd’s paper also stated that in defense of parents, who felt that the use of the vaccine would be a source of scandal by obscuring the evil of abortion,
“The only prudent course of action is to refuse consent to vaccination ....The health service should be required to develop vaccines and treatments that are in no way associated with abortion.” [45]
But even setting that aside for a moment, John D. Grabenstein’s opinion on the morality of vaccinations is simply not credible. The Glaxo SmithKline Executive Management Program touts John D. Grabenstein, PhD, a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army and a Catholic, as “an expert in medical ethics”. Their program states that, “For seven days each year, 40 pharmacists from around the nation are competitively selected to study financial, managerial and leadership approaches to organizational development essential to the pharmacy leader’s role.” Grabenstein is listed on the faculty and staff of the Glaxo SmithKline Wharton Pharmacy Management team.
According to Glaxo SmithKline, their “Industry-academic cooperation is a win-win proposition for both parties involved. A unique program called The Wharton Partnership brings together member organizations, corporations and foundations, in order to create long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.”[46] It just so happens that Glaxo SmithKline is one of the manufacturers of the tainted Hepatitis-A vaccine. Merck is the other.
And what is Grabenstein’s relationship to Merck? He has co-authored publications with Merck,[47] conducted training seminars for Merck[48] and even assisted with the development of a website for the ASHP Research Foundation, which was funded by an unrestricted grant program by Merck.[49] Grabenstein also chaired a recent sym