PESHAWAR, Feb 22: A local lawyer has urged the government to defer the ongoing anti-polio vaccination campaign till the final verdict is announced by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on the issue.

“Reputed laboratories have found Estradiol in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) which affects human reproductive system,” claimed advocate Ghulam Nabi Khan at a press conference here on Thursday.

Advocate Khan had filed a writ petition with the PHC late last year, through advocate Mohammed Isa Khan. The petition seeks an end to the countrywide polio vaccination, pleading that as it affects the human reproductive system.

“Authorities in the US had banned oral vaccination in 2002 and started administering it through injection. But it’s beyond comprehension why the West is carrying out oral vaccination in Muslim countries,” said advocate Khan.

He underlined the need for making laws to check vaccine before being administered to children. He suggested production of all kinds of vaccine in the country to avert any conspiracy.

He said the World Health Organisation did not specify OPV’s ingredients on vial and avoided its sale in the market.

“Department of Pathology of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre has found Estradiol in the vaccine,” he claimed.

“When Estradiol is given to males, it decreases spermatogenesis (formation of sperm) and can lead to sterility and development of female organs in males,” he said, quoting the 8th edition of the Textbook of Medical Physiology by AC Guyton.

On the pretext of immunisation campaigns, the West was conspiring to kill millions of Muslims without using a single bullet, he said.

Referring to an Internet report, advocate Khan said: “As per the OPV schedule, children should get only three dozes till they attain the age of five years. But in Pakistan, the authorities are administering over 40 dozes to kids until they are five.”

On November 29, 2006, officials affiliated with the Extended Programme of Immunisation (EPI) had informed a two-member bench of the PHC -- comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Mohammed Qaim Jan Khan -- that EPI had sent polio vaccine samples to the National Control Laboratory (NCL), a biological wing of the National Institute of Health, and the result would be available in two months.

Advocate Khan said the OPV was a biological product which was tested in living systems like cell cultures and needed very delicate and specialised techniques for their maintenance and execution.

A report released by the NCL said the maximum testing time under the law was 60 days. However, as an urgent court matter, the samples were being analysed on top priority.

In line with the court orders issued on October 10, 2006, Deputy Director of EPI NWFP Dr Waheed Khan had produced the report before the PHC.

APP adds: Meanwhile, over 95 per cent children under the age of five were administered polio drops in the NWFP and Fata on the second day of the anti-polio campaign titled ‘Sub National Immunisation Days (SNIDs)’.

At an event in Peshawar on Thursday, Director General of NWFP Health Services Dr Jalilur Rahman advised the parents to get their newborns immunised against polio “as one child with polio virus will put all others at risk”.

The number of polio cases in Pakistan has reduced from 199 in 2000 to 40 in 2006. Initial reports show that most of the children between 12 and 59 months have already been provided polio drops on the day two of the three-day campaign. Besides, children under one year of age are being reached through mobile teams comprising at least one female member.

Three million children across the province are being targeted under the SNIDs.