The Lacuna Project

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Exhibit 114

Immunization Safety Review: SV40 Contamination of Polio Vaccine and Cancer

Exhibit 114 ยท Consensus report

Immunization Safety Review: SV40 Contamination of Polio Vaccine and Cancer

The committee found the evidence 'inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship' between SV40-containing polio vaccines and cancer. It rated as strong the evidence that SV40 is a transforming virus and that some polio vaccine of 1955 to 1963 was contaminated, and as moderate the evidence that vaccine exposure caused human SV40 infection. It judged the epidemiological studies too flawed to settle causation, because they assigned exposure by birth cohort and contamination was uneven. It recommended a Vaccine Contamination Prevention and Response Plan and serologic tests, and no policy review of current polio vaccine because it is free of SV40.

Source
Institute of Medicine, Immunization Safety Review Committee
Date
October 2002 (published 2003)
Grade
Primary record
Document
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10534
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding MED-7.3
Primary record CDC has estimated that 10 to 30 million Americans may have received polio vaccine contaminated with SV40.
Finding MED-7.4
Primary record The Institute of Medicine found the evidence inadequate to accept or reject a link between contaminated polio vaccine and cancer. It found strong evidence that SV40 is a transforming virus and contaminated some 1955 to 1963 polio vaccine, and moderate evidence that vaccine exposure caused human SV40 infection.
Finding MED-8.8
Open question Whether SV40 from contaminated polio vaccine caused cancer in people has never been settled.