Florida Surgeon General, Scientist Warn of Cancer Risk Linked to mRNA COVID Shots Contaminated With DNA

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD is raising concerns about the potential for the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) COVID shots to cause cancer because the product reportedly is contaminated with viral DNA. Phillip Buckhaults, PhD, professor of cancer molecular genetics at the University of South Carolina, has issued a similar warning about the risks to health posed by DNA fragments distributed throughout the body by lipid nanoparticles in the mRNA COVID shots.¹

In a Dec. 6, 2023 letter, Dr. Ladapo asked the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Robert Califf, MD, to investigate alleged DNA contamination in Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty and Moderna/NIAID’s Spikevax gene therapies to prove to the public that they are safe.¹ In his letter, Dr. Ladapo asks the FDA to answer key questions related to the safety of the lipid nanoparticle delivery system and the presence of DNA fragments in the vaccines. He writes:

Lipid nanoparticles are an efficient vehicle for delivery of the mRNA in the COVID-19 vaccines into human cells, and may therefore be an equally efficient vehicle for delivering contaminant DNA into human cells. The presence of SV40 promoter/enhancer DNA may also pose a unique and heightened risk of DNA integration into host cells.¹

Dr. Ladapo expressed concern that the lipid nanoparticle delivery system, along with reported DNA fragments in the shots, can have a potential negative impact on a human’s oncogenes—the genes that can transform a healthy cell into a cancerous one and cause chromosomal instability, as well as unintended consequences to vital organs and other body parts including the blood, heart, brain, liver, kidney, bone marrow, ovaries/testes, lung, draining lymph nodes, spleen, and deep layers of the skin at the injection site.¹

Dr. Lapado also urged the FDA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to answer three key questions:

• Whether or not drug companies have evaluated the risk of human genome integration or mutagenesis of residual DNA contaminants from the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines;
• If the FDA holds a current standard for an acceptable and safe quantity of residual DNA (presently known as contaminants in biological therapies) used in the lipid nanoparticle delivery system for the vaccines; and
• If the risk has been evaluated—considering the wide biodistribution of ingredients of the shot in the body—beyond just the local injection site.¹

Ladapo Talked About Link Between mRNA COVID Shots and Heart Attacks in 2022

Dr. Ladapo’s letter comes just over a year after the Florida Surgeon General first warned the public that 18 to 39 year old males were especially vulnerable to suffering cardiac-related death after receiving mRNA COVID shots. The Florida Department of Health conducted an analysis through a self-controlled case series—a technique the announcement says was originally developed to test vaccine safety—and found an 84 percent increase in the relative incidence of death from heart attacks among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.²

Since Dr. Lapado’s expression of concern about the COVID shot link with heart attacks in October 2022, mainstream news outlets reported the risk, but downplayed the risk as “extremely rare” or implied that developing COVID poses a greater risk than heart inflammation and potential permanent heart damage. Later, the CDC and media doubled down and reassured the public that the mRNA COVID shots were still safe, even in patients with previous myocarditis or who had experienced previous vaccine reactions.

In his Dec. 6 letter, Dr. Lapado asked the FDA for a written response to his questions. “The American people and the scientific community have a right to have all relevant information pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccines to inform individual decision-making properly,” Dr. Ladapo said.¹

FDA Officials Say Foreign DNA in mRNA Vaccines is Safe

The FDA told Newsweek in a statement that it would respond to the Florida Surgeon General’s letter directly. “The FDA is confident in the quality, safety, and effectiveness of these vaccines,” a spokesperson for the agency said.

The FDA stated:

The agency’s benefit-risk assessment and ongoing safety surveillance demonstrates that the benefits of their use outweigh their risks. Additionally, with over a billion doses of the mRNA vaccines administered, no safety concerns related to residual DNA have been identified. In general, with regard to the mRNA vaccines, while concerns have been raised previously as theoretical issues, available scientific evidence supports the conclusion that the minute amounts of residual DNA do not cause cancer or changes to a person’s genetic code.³

Scientist Warns DNA Must Be Taken Out of mRNA COVID Shots

However, some scientists like cancer specialist Professor Phillip Buckhaults, PhD remain skeptical of the FDA’s denial that DNA contamination in the vaccines pose no safety risk. In September 2023, Dr. Buckhaults issued a stark warning in a published presentation on the University of South Carolina website:

We should insist that the USFDA force Pfizer to get the DNA out of the booster and all future mRNA-based vaccines.⁴

In his presentation, Dr. Buckhaults urged that Pfizer’s Comirnaty mRNA shot is “contaminated with the plasmid DNA vector that was used as the template for in vitro transcription reaction” which could cause serious side effects including sustained autoimmune attacks, death from cardiac arrest, and more. “This means each shot has about 200 billion pieces of plasmid DNA encapsulated in the lipid nanoparticle. This is a bad idea,” Dr. Buckhaults said. “There is also a theoretical risk of future cancer, depending on the piece of DNA and site of integration.”⁴

Professor Buckhaults concluded:

The regulation that allowed the DNA to be there should be changed. It’s a leftover from previous vaccines that contained only naked DNA. The mRNA vaccines have this DNA encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle delivery system (trojan horse) and so the DNA is a far more serious issue. 20 Greek soldiers wandering around outside the walls of Troy are not a big deal. 20 Greek soldiers packed inside a large wooden horse are a different matter.⁴

Little or No Legal Recourse for Injured Victims of mRNA COVID Shots

Despite the FDA’s assurance that “no safety concerns related to residual DNA have been identified,” people harmed by the mRNA COVID shots seem to have little to no legal recourse available for their injuries. A Louisiana lawsuit filed in October alleges that the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) violates the 5th and 7th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by failing to provide “basic due process protections, transparency, and judicial oversight. “The forum “is the equivalent of a black hole,” plaintiffs’ lawyer Aaron Siri, a partner at New York-founded Siri & Glimstad, told Reuters.⁵

Further Research Needed to Address DNA Contamination

Jane Orient, MD, executive director of Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, wrote in the recent edition of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), “the plasmid DNA contamination theory is not a sensational internet rumor, but a reality-based hypothesis prompted by standard laboratory research performed by professional researchers. Further intense research is urgently needed,” she concluded.⁶

To date, there is no publicly set standard from any U.S. health regulatory agency on how much, if any, residual DNA in vaccines is safe.

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