Morele reflectie op vaccins geproduceerd op cellijnen van geaborteerde menselijke foetussen

References

1. E. Banatvala, D.W.G. Brown, Rubella, The Lancet, 3rd April 2004, vol. 363, No. 9415, pp.1127-1137
2. Rubella, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1964, vol. 13, p.93. S.A. Plotkin, Virologic Assistance in the Management of German Measles in Pregnancy, JAMA, 26th October 1964, vol.190, pp.265-268
3. Hayflick, The LimitedIn Vitro Lifetime of Human Diploid Cell Strains, Experimental Cell Research, March 1965, vol.37, no. 3, pp. 614-636.
   G. Sven, S. Plotkin, K. McCarthy, Gamma Globulin Prophylaxis; Inactivated Rubella Virus; Production and Biological Control of Live Attenuated Rubella Virus Vaccines, American journal of Diseases of Children, August 1969, vol. 118, no. 2, pp.372-381.
4. A. Plotkin, D. Cornfeld, Th.H. Ingalls, Studies of Immunization With Living Rubella Virus, Trials in Children With a Strain coming from an Aborted Fetus, American Journal of Diseases in children, October 1965, vol. 110, no. 4, pp.381-389.
5. P. Jacobs, C.M. Jones, J.P. Bailie, Characteristics of a Human Diploid Cell Designated MRC-5, Nature, 11th July 1970, vol.277, pp.168-170.
6. Two other human cell lines, that are permanent, HEK 293 aborted fetal cell line, from primary human embryonic kidney cells transformed by sheared adenovirus type 5 (the fetal kidney material was obtained from an aborted fetus, in 1972 probably), and PER.C6, a fetal cell line created using retinal tissue from an 18 week gestation aborted baby, have been developed for the pharmaceutical manufacturing of adenovirus vectors (for gene therapy). They have not been involved in the making of any of the attenuated live viruses vaccines presently in use because of their capacity to develop tumorigenic cells in the recipient. However some vaccines, still at the developmental stage, against Ebola virus (Crucell,NV and the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institutes of Health’s Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID), HIV (Merck), influenza (Medlmmune, Sanofi pasteur), Japanese encephalitis (Crucell N.V. and Rhein Biotech N.V.) are prepared using PER.C6® cell line (Crucell N.V., Leiden, The Netherlands).
7. Against these various infectious diseases, there are some alternative vaccines that are prepared using animals’ cells or tissues, and are therefore ethically acceptable. Their availability depends on the country in question. Concerning the particular case of the United States, there are no options for the time being in that country for the vaccination against rubella, chickenpox and hepatitis A, other than the vaccines proposed by Merck, prepared using the human cell lines WI-38 and MRC-5. There is a vaccine against smallpox prepared with the Vero cell line (derived from the kidney of an African green monkey), ACAM2000 (Acambis-Baxter) ( a second-generation smallpox vaccine, stockpiled, not approved in the US), which offers, therefore, an alternative to the Acambis 1000. There are alternative vaccines against mumps (Mumpsvax, Merck, measles (Attenuvax, Merck), rabies (RabAvert, Chiron therapeutics), prepared from chicken embryos. (However serious allergies have occurred with such vaccines), poliomyelitis (IPOL, Aventis-Pasteur, prepared with monkey kidney cells) and smallpox (a third-generation smallpox vaccine MVA, Modified Vaccinia Ankara, Acambis-Baxter). In Europe and in Japan, there are other vaccines available against rubella and hepatitis A, produced using non-human cell lines. The Kitasato Institute produce four vaccines against rubella, called Takahashi, TO-336 and Matuba, prepared with cells from rabbit kidney, and one (Matuura) prepared with cells from a quail embryo. The Chemo-sero-therapeutic Research Institute Kaketsuken produce one another vaccine against hepatitis A, called Ainmugen, prepared with cells from monkey kidney. The only remaining problem is with the vaccine Varivax® against chicken pox, for which there is no alternative.
8. The vaccine against rubella using the strain Wistar RA27/3 of live attenuated rubella virus, adapted and propagated in WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts is at the centre of present controversy regarding the morality of the use of vaccines prepared with the help of human cell lines coming from aborted foetuses.
9. M. Prummer O. Pr., De cooperatione ad malum, in Manuale Theologiae Moralis secundum Principia S. Thomae Aquinatis, Tomus I, Friburgi Brisgoviae, Herder & Co., 1923, Pars I, Trat. IX, Caput III, no. 2, pp. 429-434.
   .K.H. Peschke, Cooperation in the sins of others, in Christian Ethics. Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican II, vol.1, General Moral Theology, C. Goodliffe Neale Ltd., Arden Forest Industrial Estate, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6Er, revised edition, 1986, pp. 320-324.
10. Fisher, Cooperation in Evil, Catholic Medical Quarterly, 1994, pp. 15-22.
    .D. Tettamanzi, Cooperazione, in Dizionario di Bioetica, S. Leone, S. Privitera ed., Istituto Siciliano di Bioetica, EDB-ISB, 1994, pp.194-198.
    .L. Melina, La cooperazione con azioni moralmente cattive contra la vita umana, in Commentario Interdisciplinare alia “Evangelium Vitae”, E. Sgreccia, Ramon Luca Lucas ed., Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, pp.467-490.
    .E. Sgreccia, Manuale di Bioetica, vol. I, Reprint of the third edition, Vita e Pensiero, Milan, 1999, pp.362-363.
11. John Paul II, Enc. Evangelium Vitae, no. 74.
12. 1868 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
13. The alternative vaccines in question are those that are prepared by means of cell lines which are not of human origin, for example, the Vero cell line (from monkeys) (D. Vinnedge), the kidney cells of rabbits or monkeys, or the cells of chicken embryos. However, it should be noted that grave forms of allergy have occurred with some of the vaccines prepared in this way. The use of recombinant DNA technology could lead to the development of new vaccines in the near future which will no longer require the use of cultures of human diploid cells for the attenuation of the virus and its growth, for such vaccines will not be prepared from a basis of attenuated virus, but from the genome of the virus and from the antigens thus developed (G. C. Woodrow, W.M. McDonnell and F.K. Askari). Some experimental studies have already been done using vaccines developed from DNA that has been derived from the genome of the German measles virus. Moreover, some Asiatic researchers are trying to use the Varicella virus as a vector for the insertion of genes which codify the viral antigens of Rubella. These studies are still at a preliminary phase and the refinement of vaccine preparations which can be used in clinical practice will require a lengthy period of time and will be at high costs. .D. Vinnedge, The Smallpox Vaccine, The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Spring 2000, vol.2, no. 1, p. 12. .G.C. Woodrow, An Overview of Biotechnology As Applied to Vaccine Development, in «New Generation Vaccines), G.C. Woodrow, M.M. Levine eds., Marcel Dekker Inc., New York and Basel, 1990, see pp.32-37. W.M. McDonnell, F.K. Askari, Immunization, JAMA, 10th December 1997, vol.278, no.22, pp.2000-2007, see pp. 2005-2006.
14. Such a duty may lead, as a consequence, to taking recourse to “objection of conscience” when the action recognized as illicit is an act permitted or even encouraged by the laws of the country and poses a threat to human life. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitaeunderlined this “obligation to oppose” the laws which permit abortion or euthanasia “by conscientious objection” (no.73)
15. This is particularly true in the case of vaccination against German measles, because of the danger of Congenital Rubella Syndrome. This could occur, causing grave congenital malformations in the foetus, when a pregnant woman enters into contact, even if it is brief, with children who have not been immunized and are carriers of the virus. In this case, the parents who did not accept the vaccination of their own children become responsible for the malformations in question, and for the subsequent abortion of foetuses, when they have been discovered to be malformed.