Perry orders anti-cancer vaccine for schoolgirls

Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | Feb. 2, 2007 | LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON

[YCTHouston]

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry ordered today that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots.

The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.

Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating it Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.

Details of the order were not immediately available, but the governor's office confirmed to The Associated Press that he was signing the order and he would comment Friday afternoon.

Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, his former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.

Toomey was expected to be able to woo conservative legislators concerned about the requirement stepping on parent's rights and about signaling tacit approval of sexual activity to young girls. Delisi, as head of the House public health committee, which likely would have considered legislation filed by a Democratic member, also would have helped ease conservative opposition.

Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.

It wasn't immediately clear how long the order would last and whether the legislation was still necessary. However it could have been difficult to muster support from lawmakers who champion abstinence education and parents' rights.

Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion rights and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base.

But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different than the one that protects children against polio.

"If there are diseases in our society that are going to cost us large amounts of money, it just makes good economic sense, not to mention the health and well being of these individuals to have those vaccines available," he said.

Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit stating that he or she objected to the vaccine for religious or philosophical reasons.

Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say mandates take away parents' rights to be the primary medical decision maker for their children.

The federal government approved Gardasil in June, and a government advisory panel has recommended that all girls get the shots at 11 and 12, before they are likely to be sexually active.

The New Jersey-based drug company could generate billions in sales if Gardasil — at $360 for the three-shot regimen — were made mandatory across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which has been shown to have no serious side effects.

Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or how much it has donated to Women in Government. Susan Crosby, the group's president, also declined to specify how much the drug company gave.

A top official from Merck's vaccine division sits on Women in Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women in Government.

[YCTHouston]

If they required it for boys too, though, they'd have to label it as what it is - an STD (genital warts) vaccine.

By requiring it just for girls, it frames the issue around cancer - and who can argue against preventing cancer? It's not public policy, it's brilliant marketing.

[juliej]

I don't feel that underage girls should be forced to be vaccinated and yes, there is cancer in my family. The parents should be able to decide until the girl is not underage. The message being sent is, "Now go out and have unprotected sex, honey.".

[MamaTexan]

Now you're talking. Self-defense courses are just as important as sex ed.

Agreed!

We might however, have a great deal of trouble convincing our government schools of that very pertinent fact.

:-)

[lqclamar]

Why is it when a girl has premarital sex she is called a whore but a boy is not?

Interesting point, although FWIW I consider this governor a bigger whore than any of the girls he's forcing to take this STD vaccine.

[WolfRunnerWoman]

Sometimes a person can do a great thing for a bad reason and that's the way I feel about Gov' Perry's order.

This vaccination will save lives, tax dollars and fertility (future tax payers).

If you don't want your daughters vaccinated, opt out. If they remain virgins until marriage and if they only marry a virgin, they will be safe.

[stevie_d_64]

Whatever this is, and whereever this is going, I stand by my old tried and true template of government gone wild...

"I do not fear my government, but I do fear the tyrrany of good intentions..."

And for whatever good intentions this is being sold to us for...

I will be doing my best to compell my sister to not allow her daughter to be sucked up into this BS...

Whats really funny is that the low cost alternative to this is to teach your kids to not have sex until they fully understand the consequences of that "choice"...

Some will say, yeah Steve thats really easy!!! /sarcasm

Well...it is...

There needs to be less screwing around...(pardon the pun)

But again, what do I know...

[luckystarmom]

I don't think it sends the message "go out and have unprotected sex".

You can easily tell your daughter that she doesn't know what her husband has done for a fact, and this will protect her when she is married.

(I am totally against mandatory vaccinations, however.)

The thing that I am wondering is how to they know how many women actually have had HPV. Is there a way to tell that I have had it?

[af_vet_rr]

If they required it for boys too, though, they'd have to label it as what it is - an STD (genital warts) vaccine.

By requiring it just for girls, it frames the issue around cancer - and who can argue against preventing cancer? It's not public policy, it's brilliant marketing.

Good point - it is great marketing. Unfortunately for Perry and his cronies, many Texans are connecting the dots and seeing Perry's actions for what they truly are.

Does anybody here think Perry could pull off even 30-35% of the vote if elections were held now?

[luckystarmom]

Or how about wait until our daughters are 18 and let them decide.

[RunningWolf]

Also all vaccines are not equal as they seem to be inferring here.

Then too take the logic and apply it to other populations, say consumers of tobacco products, or alcohol for sake of argument and have govt mandated injections for them.

Also, I will bet that some of the same folks who are advocating this vaccine for young women are also hypocritically pro legalization of narcotics and other controlled substances.

[medscribe]

Having grown up in Texas through the years of Bill Clements, Mark White, Ann Richards, George W. Bush, and Rick Perry as governors, I think I do know a thing or two about Texas politics.

[Reagan80]

Absolutely Outrageous!

This is the same Merck that was so irresponsible that it let over 60,000 (that figure could be low) Americans DIE on Vioxx just two years ago; and a state government is going to force parents to inject their minor children with a drug that is in my book unproven, since it has only been available since June?

Rick Perry is no conservative, if that's his position. He can kiss any chance of running for President goodbye!

[Reagan80]

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070202151528AA3gnVq

The Facts About GARDASIL

1) GARDASIL is a vaccine for 4 strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), two strains that are strongly associated (and probably cause) genital warts and two strains that are typically associated (and may cause) cervical cancer. About 90% of people with genital warts show exposure to one of the two HPV strains strongly suspected to cause genital warts. About 70% of women with cervical cancer show exposure to one of the other two HPV strains that the vaccine is designed to confer resistance to.

2) HPV is a sexually communicable (not an infectious) virus. When you consider all strains of HPV, over 70% of sexually active males and females have been exposed. A condom helps a lot (70% less likely to get it), but has not been shown to stop transmission in all cases (only one study of 82 college girls who self-reported about condom use has been done). For the vast majority of women, exposure to HPV strains (even the four “bad ones” protected for in GARDASIL) results in no known health complications of any kind.

3) Cervical cancer is not a deadly nor prevalent cancer in the US or any other first world nation. Cervical cancer rates have declined sharply over the last 30 years and are still declining. Cervical cancer accounts for less than 1% of of all female cancer cases and deaths in the US. Cervical cancer is typically very treatable and the prognosis for a healthy outcome is good. The typical exceptions to this case are old women, women who are already unhealthy and women who don’t get pap smears until after the cancer has existed for many years.

4) Merck’s clinical studies for GARDASIL were problematic in several ways. Only 20,541 women were used (half got the “placebo”) and their health was followed up for only four years at maximum and typically 1-3 years only. More critically, only 1,121 of these subjects were less than 16. The younger subjects were only followed up for a maximum of 18 months. Furthermore, less than 10% of these subjects received true placebo injections. The others were given injections containing an aluminum salt adjuvant (vaccine enhancer) that is also a component of GARDASIL. This is scientifically preposterous, especially when you consider that similar alum adjuvants are suspected to be responsible for Gulf War disease and other possible vaccination related complications.

5) Both the “placebo” groups and the vaccination groups reported a myriad of short term and medium term health problems over the course of their evaluations. The majority of both groups reported minor health complications near the injection site or near the time of the injection. Among the vaccination group, reports of such complications were slightly higher. The small sample that was given a real placebo reported far fewer complications — as in less than half. Furthermore, most if not all longer term complications were written off as not being potentially vaccine caused for all subjects.

6) Because the pool of test subjects was so small and the rates of cervical cancer are so low, NOT A SINGLE CONTROL SUBJECT ACTUALLY CONTRACTED CERVICAL CANCER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM — MUCH LESS DIED OF IT. Instead, this vaccine’s supposed efficacy is based on the fact that the vaccinated group ended up with far fewer cases (5 vs. about 200) of genital warts and “precancerous lesions” (dysplasias) than the alum injected “control” subjects.

7) Because the tests included just four years of follow up at most, the long term effects and efficacy of this vaccine are completely unknown for anyone. All but the shortest term effects are completely unknown for little girls. Considering the tiny size of youngster study, the data about the shortest terms side effects for girls are also dubious.

8) GARDASIL is the most expensive vaccine ever marketed. It requires three vaccinations at $120 a pop for a total price tag of $360. It is expected to be Merck’s biggest cash cow of this and the next decade.

These are simply the facts of the situation as presented by Merck and the FDA.

Source(s):

http://www.fda.gov/cber/label/hpvmer0608...

Also see:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...

and

http://www.straight.com/article/vaccines...
http://journals.humanapress.com/index.ph...

[metmom]

Ping to post 673.


Thanks for digging that up.

[lqclamar]

Good info! Thanks for the heads up.

[MamaTexan]

Thanks for digging that up.

Thanks for the ping, metmom.

And to you as well, Reagan80...kudos!

[BykrBayb]

Thanks for the ping metmom.

I was of the opinion that this vaccine was probably a good idea, for some women, but that it shouldn't be mandatory for anyone, much less little girls. Now it looks like it's a bad idea all around. Didn't we used to require reasonable testing before putting drugs on the market?

[khnyny]

Thanks for the info.:)

[af_vet_rr]

He can kiss any chance of running for President goodbye!

He kissed any chances of running for President or VP goodbye when he eeked out 40% in the last election. A candidate would be foolish to select him, especially at this point as his popularity continues to sink. They want people who can carry a big state, not have 60% of the state vote against them.

For everybody who supports this and conveniently overlooks the matter of corruption going on, where do you want to stop? If we are going to start rolling out vaccines for STDs to little girls, are you going to stop with HPV?

[khnyny]

You may be interested in reading the following articles also.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/02/news/companies/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm

http://www.medicalaccountability.net/essay_gardasil.html