Nigeria

A northern state in Nigeria that is at the heart of a spreading polio outbreak said Sunday that it would not relent on its boycott of a mass vaccination program, which it has called a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and infertility among Muslims ....Kano state officials say their lab tests carried out late last year found estrogen and other female sex hormones in the polio vaccine -- proof, they say, that the vaccines are contaminated. [Media Feb 2004] Province at heart of outbreak alleges anti-Muslim plot

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the committee's interim report that ruled the vaccines safe. However, it acknowledged the tests showed "trace amounts of estradiol," a form of the female hormone estrogen the vaccine's Muslim detractors claim could cause infertility. ...Muslims in Nigeria's north have been wary of vaccine campaigns since 1996, when families in Kano state accused New York-based Pfizer Inc. of using an experimental meningitis drug without fully informing of the risks.....The company denied any wrongdoing. A U.S. court dismissed a lawsuit by 20 disabled Nigerians who allegedly took part in the study, but a U.S. appeals court later revived it. Vaccine Boycott Grows in Northern Nigeria

"As far as I know disposable needles are still being used in Africa. If I did that here I would immediately be deregistered and probably goaled. In Sept 1993 I purchased a copy of the special edition of Scientific American dedicated to immunology...(it shows) a Nigerian infant being vaccinated. Unfortunately the person doing the vaccinating was using a nondisposable needle!" --Dr Kalokerinos (Medical Pioneer p. 294. 2000).