The Cutter Incident
When "Science" Created an Epidemic: A Case Study in Systemic Failure
The phrase "trust the science" is often wielded as a cudgel to silence dissent. It implies that the scientific consensus is a monolith of safety and truth, incapable of catastrophic error. But history tells a different story. In April 1955, that blind trust led to one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in American history: the Cutter Incident.
The Rush to "Save" Lives
The pressure to release the Salk polio vaccine was immense. The public was terrified, and the government was eager for a win. In this atmosphere of urgency, caution was abandoned. On April 12, 1955, the vaccine was licensed after a deliberation period of just two hours. It was hailed as a miracle.
Within days, the miracle turned into a nightmare.
The Toll: A Statistical Catastrophe
Vaccine-Induced vs. Natural Risk
In 1955, the Cutter vaccine created an epidemic in the very population it was meant to protect. The statistics are damning:
- 40,000 children developed abortive polio (mild form) directly from the vaccine.
- 200 children were permanently paralyzed by the injection.
- 10 children died from the "preventative" measure.
"The vaccine was more dangerous than the disease itself for these children."
— Dr. Paul Offit, "The Cutter Incident" (2005)
The Human Cost: Anne Gottsdanker
Statistics often obscure the human tragedy. Anne Gottsdanker was a healthy 5-year-old girl when she received the Salk vaccine in April 1955. Within days, she was paralyzed. Her case, Gottsdanker v. Cutter Laboratories, became a landmark lawsuit that exposed the negligence of the pharmaceutical industry.
The jury found that while Cutter Laboratories had followed government regulations, the product itself was "defective" and "unreasonably dangerous." This verdict shattered the myth of infallible safety and established the legal precedent that manufacturers could be held liable for vaccine injuries—a liability that was later stripped away by the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act.