Who Guards Against Gardasil?

Please see my post of the 08-20-2008, NYTimes article: "Drug Makers' Push Leads to Cancer Vaccine's Rise"

The following is an article that I wrote that was published in The North Adams Transcript, 03-05 2007: “Who Guards Against Gardasil?”

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Who Guards Against Gardasil?

Peter D. May, DC

The North Adams Transcript: 03-05-2007

Recently the Governor of Texas issued an order making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that is believed to cause cervical cancer. Eighteen other states are pursuing similar laws. Governor Patrick has proposed taxpayer funding for the same vaccine in our state. Their claim is that they want to save lives. And, of course, with that kind of claim, everyone jumps on board.

But what’s wrong with this picture? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty wary of drug companies and their claims. This new vaccine, Gardasil, is being brought to you by Merck, the creators of Vioxx. Remember the claims they touted about that? The FDA attributes 27,785 deaths directly to Vioxx. And, I guarantee that is way under-reported.

In Texas, of all places, a jury found Merck negligent in the death of a 59-year-old triathlete who used Vioxx, awarding the man's widow a total of about $253 million. Oops! Sorry! Now they are mandating a Merck made vaccine that may save 3700 lives per year. How does this happen? Well, in Texas it is easy to understand. One of the Merck's three lobbyists in Texas is the Governor’s former chief of staff.

What is it with us and our blind faith in drugs, drug companies and their licensed drug pushers? Better health through better chemistry is a model that has failed! But, I digress.

So, let’s take a closer look at Gardasil.

According to their own TV commercial: 70% of all cervical cancers MAY BE caused by a virus and Gardasil MIGHT help. That’s a bunch of mights and maybes.

But more importantly: they want to give this vaccine to girls starting at age nine. Remember, drug companies do not test drugs on kids. There have been no Gardasil trials in girls, only women ages 16-26, and these trails have all been short term (less than five years) and seriously flawed. Need I say more?

According to Merck’s own web-site: GARDASIL has not been evaluated for the potential to cause carcinogenicity or genotoxicity (but it did show a rise in arthritic conditions in the young women who took it). It is not known whether GARDASIL can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or if it can affect reproductive capacity. And, unbelievably, the duration of (possible) immunity following a complete schedule of immunization with GARDASIL has not been established.

(http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/g/
gardasil/gardasil_pi.pdf)

American kids are already the most vaccinated children in the world, yet they are among the sickest in all categories studied in fifteen industrial countries. The U.S. ranks last or next to last in infant mortality rates per capita, as well as sudden infant death syndrome. We also rank last or next to last in the number of cases of pediatric allergies, asthma, cancer, diabetes and hyperactivity and autism. Is there a link to rising rates and vaccines? The debate continues as the numbers soar.

And now they are pushing another vaccine to give our children; a vaccine (created by a drug company which in one experiment killed 27,785 people) that may be helpful for virus that, in rare cases, might lead to cervical cancer and may save 3700 lives/year in the US.

Interestingly enough, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control: nearly 2 million US patients catch an infection from the hospital each year and about 90,000 die. This could be prevented if doctors and hospital staff would wash their hands between patients. But, no drug company would profit from that, unless of course they create a new vaccine.

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NOTES/Update:

1. Subsequent, but unrelated, to my article the Texas legislature over-rode the Governor and Texas did not mandate school girl vaccines with Gardasil. However, as of October, 2009 the state of Virgina has mandated Gardasil vaccines for all girls entering middle school.

2. In my article I cite 27,785 deaths attributed to Vioxx, another Merck drug. However, later in 2007, Merck reached an out-of-court settlement for $4.85 billion (about $125,000.00 per plaintiff) for the 140,000 heart attacks and more than 55,000 deaths directly attributed to Vioxx. See related article: "Vioxx Settlement Is Classic Wall Street Denial: Bury the Losses and Say It Never Happened" (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/15/5251/)

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See related CNN video at:

http://www.dakotavoice.com/2008/08/
cnn-reports-on-9749-adverse-gardasil.html