Lawsuit Alleges SV40 in Polio Vaccine Caused Tumor

HACKENSACK, N.J. - A New Jersey man has sued several pharmaceutical companies claiming a monkey virus that contaminated the oral polio vaccines he received in the late 1960s caused him to develop a brain tumor. Moreno v. American Home Products, Inc., No. n/a (N.J. Super. Ct., Bergen Cty.).

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 18 in Bergen County Superior Court in New Jersey, alleges that oral polio vaccine manufacturers American Home Products, American Cyanamid and Pfizer failed to remove cancer-causing Simian Virus 40 (SV40) from its polio vaccine products and, as a result, placed millions, including plaintiff Mark Moreno, at risk of …