Company won’t use fetal stem cells for vaccine

The company producing 155 million new doses of smallpox vaccine for the United States says it won’t use a stem cell line taken from an aborted fetus. The announcement represents a reversal of earlier plans.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted with Acambis PLC of Great Britain to manufacture smallpox vaccine to be stockpiled against the danger of a terrorist attack.

“Expanding our stockpile so there is a smallpox vaccine for every American if needed prepares us to respond aggressively to minimize the spread of the disease should an outbreak occur,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. “Additionally, we hope that increasing our smallpox vaccine stockpile would serve as a deterrent to those who might consider using smallpox as a weapon.

WorldNetDaily reported that Acambis planned to manufacture the vaccine using MRC-5 cells, a line of fetal cells dating back to a 1966 abortion. Those cells were developed from lung tissue taken from a 14-week fetus aborted for psychiatric reasons from a 27-year-old physically health woman. An existing order for 54 million doses will be manufactured using the MRC-5 cells, but the new larger order will be filled using animal cell lines.

“The main difference is that in contract one, we are using the MRC-5 cell substrate; in contract two, we’re going to use the Baxter serum three Vero culture cell,” explained Acambis CEO John Brown.

Medical ethicist Dr. Robert Orr told Focus on the Family that use of an existing stem cell line doesn’t create moral complicity.

(EP)