Press Release

"Pet Vaccine Industry Needs Independent Regulating"  Professor Richard Lacey exposes lack of control over pet vaccine manufacturers
>
> Professor Richard Lacey, one of the UK's most eminent scientists and the man
> who exposed the BSE problem to the world, has lent his weight to the Canine
> Health Census campaign which seeks to protect dogs from unnecessary and
> harmful vaccine practices.
>
> Professor Lacey, who served on the Ministry of Agriculture Veterinary
> Products Committee (VPC) between 1986 and 1989, told the CHC that veterinary
> vaccine manufacturers are totally without proper control. "The Veterinary
> Medicines Directorate and the VPC are reliant upon data supplied by the
> manufacturers themselves," reveals Professor Lacey, "but no-one makes them
> supply that information. It is my belief that serious side-effects are far
> greater than the number reported. There is no proper monitoring system, no
> independent check, and there should be."
>
> Professor Lacey has confirmed to the CHC that only vaccine manufacturers are
> able to test vaccines, which means that if there are any problems, no-one
> except the vaccine manufacturers need know about them. Professor Lacey
> further confirmed that bovine products are used in vaccine manufacture which,
> he believes, "could certainly pose a risk of cross-species spongiform
> encepalopathy (BSE)."
>
> Once again, the vaccine industry goes unchecked in this respect. "All
> pharmaceutical companies providing material for human use have been
> instructed since 1989 not to use bovine material where BSE is prevalent," he
> says, "but this isn't a legal requirement, it's only advisory." At the end
> of last month (July), Schering-Plough Animal Health recalled older stocks of
> Intrac canine Bordetella bronchiseptica vaccines containing bovine serum.
> The recall was prompted by unstable bacterial counts in the affected
> batches.
>
> Professor Lacey echoes statements from top US veterinary immunologists that
> once immunity to a virus exists, it generally exists for the lifetime of an
> animal. "Vets and kennels are demanding that pets are vaccinated
> unnecessarily," he says, "and the owners are being fleeced. The veterinary
> profession and the vaccine manufacturers should be subject to adequate
> external monitoring."
>
> Professor Lacey's comments follow the release of the CHC's interim vaccine
> survey findings which show that a high percentage of dogs become ill within
> three months of vaccination. "Vaccines are decimating the dog population,"
> says Catherine O'Driscoll of the CHC. "It is time the veterinary profession
> took notice of the evidence on a medical rather than financial basis.
> Professor Lacey is one of the most eminent scientists in the world - we
> should surely listen to him. We urge dog lovers to inform themselves where
> vaccines are concerned, and think seriously before putting their dogs' lives
> at risk with unnecessary and costly annual vaccinations."
> ends
> 18 August 1997
>
> Press contact: Catherine O'Driscoll, Canine Health Census, PO Box 1,
> Longnor, Derbyshire. Telephone 01298 84737. Fax 01298 84739.
> e-mail: CODrisoll@aol.com