Controversy Over Polio Vaccine Contamination

Polio was a hidden passenger lurking in the vaccines given to

millions of Canadians in the 1950s?

The best estimate we can give right now is that there was at least, at least

26 different monkey viruses in those preparations.

Now, there's strong evidence that one of those monkey viruses, called

SV40, may be linked to rare forms of cancer.

What was your reaction when you found it?

Uh, I almost fell out of my chair.

The vaccine passed the test. None of the recipients was informed the

vaccine might be contaminated. The federal government and Connaught

believed the injectable Salk vaccine, which had already been given to

millions of Canadians, was free of SV40. They were wrong.

Almost a year after SV40 was identified, tests revealed

batches of the Salk vaccine were also contaminated.

Connaught addressed the issue in its 1961 annual report,

describing SV40 as "an aesthetic blemish,

somewhat embarrassing, but apparently harmless." Dora Dow

recalls the day she told her mother she was sick.

She voiced a concern I was so afraid she would.

She said, uh, about a week later, "Oh, to think I took my baby

in for a vaccine, and now she has cancer."