The Virus and the Vaccine: The True Story of a Cancer-Causing Monkey Virus, Contaminated Polio Vaccine, and the Millions of Americans Exposed - Tapa dura

Recounts how nearly one hundred million Americans were exposed to a dangerous virus through tainted polio vaccines distributed between 1954 and 1963, revealing the government's efforts to downplay the incident and the numerous cases of cancer linked to the vaccines. 35,000 first printing.

"The Virus and the Vaccine has its share of heroes and villains, like any good novel-except that this is not fiction. Powerful and emotive, the book captures the joy of scientific discovery-from the dramatic fight against polio to the thrill of basic virology-with the tone of a mystery thriller. It offers an inside look at how scientific thinking evolves and how scientists must struggle to overcome established dogmas."
- Dr. Norman J. Maitland, Professor of Molecular Biology, Director of YCR Cancer Research Unit, University of York

"A beautifully-told tale of science and a fascinating piece of medical history. The Virus and the Vaccine reveals how science can be distorted, pushed and pulled by the pressures of politics and profits."
- Dr. David Himmelstein, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

"Millions of Americans are unaware that government officials and leading scientists played Russian roulette with their health in the 1960s after discovering that the original polio vaccines were contaminated with a cancer-causing monkey virus. Debbie Bookchin and Jim Schumacher's fascinating, meticulously-researched account of the coverup, and its possible long-term health effects, is a deeply disturbing chapter in the recent history of science."
- Stephen S. Hall, New York Times Magazine science writer and author of Merchants of Immortality