In 1955 Cutter Labs in Berkeley, California was one of six laboratories in the United States that manufactured a polio vaccine.  The following is what I found regarding the lab and problems with the vaccine  produced: When the first injectable polio vaccine was tested on 1.8 million American children, within a few days they had a huge epidemic of paralytic polio: in the vaccinated, their parents and other contacts. It was called the Cutter incident and claims that some of the vaccines (produced by the Cutter Laboratories) contained live polio virus.

So, the company withdrew their vaccines despite polio vaccines produced by other manufacturers also causing paralysis in this outbreak.

Lawsuits regarding The Cutter Polio Vaccine, and other lab brands…

“1958 Verdict of $147,000 rendered against Cutter Laboratories in Calfornia for the crippling of two children with the Salk poliovaccine. Cutter Labs was the only vaccine manufacturer not part of the Rockefeller Trust.

A case against Wyeth Laboratories – another of the vaccine manufacturers – from 1968 which makes reference to a second suit against Cutter Laboratories:

“In this respect our case differs from Gottsdanker v. Cutter Laboratories, 182 Cal.App.2d 602, 6 Cal.Rptr. 320, 79 A.L.R.2d 290 (1960), involving the Salk vaccine. There harm resulted because through inadequate testing procedures live virus remained in a product from which they supposedly had been eliminated.”

Gottsdanker V. Cutter Laboratories:

“At issue in the Gottsdanker case was a polio vaccine, which was alleged to have caused poliomyelitis in two children shortly after they were inoculated.  The court held that while in food cases there typically existed a familial relationship between the purchasers and consumers, in the case of vaccinations, it is clearly the patient and not the doctor who is the ultimate consumer of the vaccine.  The court held that “while a sale is essential to impose liability under the implied warranties, the initial sale to distributor or retailer of pharmaceuticals is sufficient to impose upon the manufacturer the responsibility of fulfilling the implied warranties which run to the benefit of the persons whom the manufacturer intended to be, and who in fact became, the ‘consumers.”

What is Polio ?

Polio is a viral disease which may affect the spinal cord causing muscle weakness and paralysis. The polio virus enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands contaminated with the stool of an infected person. Polio is more common in infants and young children and occurs under conditions of poor hygiene. Paralysis is more common and more severe when infection occurs in older individuals.