Underground Knowledge — A discussion group discussion

Exerpt from Chapter 23 of Vaccine Science Revisited: Are Childhood Immunizations As Safe As Claimed?:


Mycoplasma – It’s a sticky situation

“The only safe vaccine is one that is never used.” – Dr. James A. Shannon, MD, Former Director, National Institutes of Health (1955-1968)


One of the most common and notorious contaminants plaguing vaccine manufacturers is other bacteria. Laboratories do test for some bacteria, but not all are detected, especially if they are fastidious or slow-growing and therefore not detectible until late in the process. In this chapter, we are only going to mention one of them: mycoplasma.

There are multiple ways mycoplasma ends up in vaccines during the manufacturing stage. This bacterium is everywhere and it requires a good imagination to think of all the ways mycoplasma infiltrates the vaccine-making process. The opportunities are not isolated to locations inside the lab as the bacterium can easily be brought in via vents, humans or whatever else enters the lab.

According to a paper published in Vaccine, one of the reasons is plain and simple, lab hygiene:

“Mycoplasma contaminants can be considered important not only because of their role as pathogens but also because they may indicate that insufficient care has been taken during vaccine manufacture or quality control.”

Mycoplasma can multiply undetected in the cell cultures and can grow even in presence of antibiotics.


Lab hopping

According to Corning Incorporated bulletin on ‘Understanding and Managing Cell Culture Contamination’, there have been various studies on mycoplasma contamination in vaccine manufacturing across the world. For instance, in the Netherlands, “1949 cell cultures” were tested and 25% of them were positive for mycoplasma; in Czechoslovakia, 327 cell cultures were tested and 37% of them were positive for mycoplasma; in Argentina, 65% of the cell cultures tested positive; and in Japan, 80% of the cell cultures tested positive for mycoplasma.

As the brochure explains, the problem often lies in the particles that are stirred into the air during laboratory work. These particles can be from the preparation of cell cultures, lab coats and other clothing, skin (especially from much handwashing), lab equipment (i.e. pipets), incubators, even the air flow hood. The sources are many. This can become even more complicated if animals are stored nearby.

Potentially, the bacteria can piggyback on lab technician errors as well. To show how simple mistakes can be made in the lab, resulting in serious consequences, the brochure gives these examples:

“A technician retrieved a vial labeled WI-38 from a liquid nitrogen freezer thinking it contained the widely used diploid human cell line. once in culture, it was immediately discovered to be a plant cell line derived from a common strain of tobacco called Wisconsin 38, also designated WI-38.

“Two separate research laboratories, both attempting to develop cell lines from primary cultures, shared a walk-in incubator. One lab used the acronyms HL-1, HL-2, etc. to identify the primary cultures they derived from human lung. The other lab worked with cultures derived from human liver, but they too (unknowingly) used the identical coding system. It wasn’t long before a culture mix-up occurred between the two laboratories.”

It’s one thing when mistakes are caught before the vaccines are distributed to the public.

But what about those times they are not recognized and no-one’s aware that mistakes were made?

There appears to be enough toxic ingredients and unknown dangers packed into the solution we’re injected with. It should be mandatory to fully inform us before we consent to be vaccinated or have our children vaccinated. Such knowledge would empower us to make more informed decisions affecting our health and our children’s health.

To keep us in the dark on these dangers and force vaccination upon everyone feels highly unethical and undemocratic. To get a closer look at forced vaccinations, we visited a website for the vaccine schedules in EU countries. It appears not all the countries in the European Union feel it’s necessary to force vaccinations on their children 18 months or younger. We discovered that although all 31 countries recommend vaccinations, 20 don’t mandate any of them. Surprisingly, some of the countries don’t recommend the varicella vaccine. Only two (Italy and Latvia) mandate all the vaccines on the list (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepB, polio, hib, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella).

In order for children in all 50 states in the US to attend public schools, they are required to be vaccinated. That being said, some states have religious or philosophical exemptions. Australia as well has mandated vaccines insomuch as they will not pay “Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR) payments” because the Government is “extremely concerned at the risk non-vaccinated children pose to public health.”

For those who wish to hold off on certain vaccines, we recommend you look into the exemptions many countries offer, especially if you’re concerned about the status of your child’s immune system.


References for Chapter 23: Mycoplasma – It’s a sticky situation:

Thornton, D.H. (1986). A survey of mycoplasma detection in veterinary vaccines. Vaccine. 4(4), 237-240.
Ryan, J. (2012). Understanding and Managing Cell Culture Contamination. [Technical Bulletin]. N.Y. Corning Incorporated. Retrieved from: https://safety.fsu.edu/safety_manual/...
Ibid.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). (n.d.). Vaccine schedules in all countries of the European Union. Retrieved from https://vaccine-schedule.ecdc.europa.eu/
Skinner, E. (2017, Dec). A quick look into important issues of the day (Vol. 25, No 48). [LegisBrief]. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/documents/legisbr...
Klapdor, M. and Grove, A. (n.d.). ‘No Jab No Pay’ and other immunisation measures. [Budget Review 2015-26 Index]. Retrieved from https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliame...