Cervical Cancer Vaccine: Life Saver or Teen Sex-Life Catalyst?

playfuls.com ^ | 1/31/07

[higgmeister]

Not a liberal or conservative issue, but a health issue for women who can get the HPV from their husbands as adults.

Of course it is a conservative issue! Government does not exist to make everyone healthy. It is only up to the parents and medical practitioners.

Egalitarian social mechanics may be expected in France but not here.

In the USA we don't have to all be equal, just treated equally under the law. There is a big difference!

Hillary can take her village to Quebec or Toronto!

[Nathan Zachary]

Exactly. Or chest xrays for lung cancer, or mammograms, Colon inspections (many in SF would like that).

Maybe Hillary will get her hands on this company too, and it will go the way of the flu shot companies...

[khnyny]

LOL, it's always about the money.

"Merck lobbies states over cancer vaccine"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_he_me/cervical_cancer;_ylt=AhwqUQZRdA7PaDORdAXdU.4er7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

The push is definitely on to make this vaccine mandatory.

[GrandEagle]

I am going through this very issue with my daughter, the doctor, and my wife right now.
I have a couple of issues that may be a bit different than others.
First and foremost I resist anything that the government tells me I must have done to my children. Polio is a prime example. The oral polio vaccine had very high incident of people getting polio from the vaccine.
My wife and daughter were at the pediatricians office one day last month. When I showed up, the vaccine had been drawn and was soon to be administered. I promptly pulled the plug on it because I had not had time to research the vaccine. Needless to say, I wasn't very popular with either the pediatrician OR my wife.
During the investigation I found an amazing lack of information on the drug. What you can get is a generic "fact sheet" that gives no information about the testing at all. It's pretty much a sales brochure for the vaccine. Even more surprising was what I did find. The FDA and the manufacturer did do a study and found that when they provided parents with a full blown "fact sheet" the parents were more informed about the vaccine, but that it did not increase the rate of acceptance of the vaccine among parents. The conclusion was that since it didn't get more parents to accept it, there was no need to inform them. A revelation I found to be stunning at first.
I then realized that it is irrelevant that I know more about the vaccine, it is only relevant that I allow my children to take it.
The FDA IMHO is a government sponsored protection racket for the food and drug industry.
The manufacturer could care less if it kills my children so long as they can avoid a lawsuit. The just want to sell the stuff. What better way to accomplish both goals than to have the government make it mandatory. They get to make the money and the government assumes the liability.
From my investigation I think we will still go through with the vaccination - but I am still very leery based solely on the motives of the folks involved.

[ishabibble]

Sad. There isn't a truly feminine looking young girl in the bunch. The sports theme seems to indicate that "jock girls" could go either way. This commercial is like the rest of TV, stamp out the natural instincts by brainwashing.

[linda_22003]

That is entirely what YOU are bringing to the ad, not what the ad is bringing to you. Athleticism is an indicator of sexuality? Maybe if you hated gym in school! The fact that you think sports is "unfeminine" is all in you, not in the ad.

[Mr. Silverback]

I believe it is child abuse not to give your children this vaccine.

Then, with all due respect, you are a complete idiot.

Child abuse is when one ABUSES THEIR CHILD not when one decides not to administer a purely optional vaccine for a disease that they can avoid exposure to.

[wagglebee]

I agree, it is far too early to know what side effects exist for this vaccine. Everything I've read indicates that it was pushed through the FDA with very minimal testing. And unlike Polio, Mumps, Measles and other illnesses, HPV is not contagious through normal interaction.

[television is just wrong]

false sense of security. only guards agains some viruses, and encourages young women to have cheap sex.

wow I wanna run my daughter down for that one....

[Labyrinthos]

I read the article. The real problem is that you don't seem to understand the statistical difference betweeen "cause" and "correlation," which puts you in the same catagory as the global warming zeolots. Nothing in that article -- and I repeat, NOTHING -- states that birth control pills cause breast cancer.

[jalisco555]

" 1121 girls age 9-15 were in the study (not control) group that determined safety and efficacy."

That's it? and it's approved for mass distribution based on that?

No, many thousands of women age 16-26 were first tested showing the vaccine to be both safe and effective. The relatively small size of the study group of the young girls was because the vaccine was already proven safe. It was only necessary in the young girls to demonstrate that the vaccine caused an antibody response.

[khnyny]

You're right, the ad is strange. The images are carefully chosen. Has anyone ever studied the advertising industry and the psychology of advertising? It's a fascinating subject.

[khnyny]

Regular screenings for cervical cancer, including pap smears, are just as effective. The statistics are skewed to include third world country stats, where women don't get pap smears.

[Vaquero]

there comes a time in the affairs of all countries when emergency measures must be implemented.

IE. WWII.

now during Ike's administration we invented and delivered Polio vaccine.....and before during and after that we delivered Smallpox vaccine....

would you have stopped either of these 2 vaccines.

this is not socialized medicine per se.

[jalisco555]

Media stories, with the exception of human interest stories, always have a conflict. Every time the media talks about this vaccine they bring up the promiscuity objection as "the other side of the issue." Well, why aren't we talking more about Merck's lobbying efforts? Something just doesn't add up here, it looks like a straight out money grab to me.

I have to tell you, it doesn't bother me a whit if Merck makes a boatload of money from Gardasil. In fact, I hope they do. This vaccine has the potential to prevent hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths a year worldwide, so more power to them. And I'm neither a Merck shareholder or employee. Just a pathologist tired of diagnosing cervical cancer.

[jalisco555]

Follow the money. How many people die because of HPV?

The reason cervical cancer deaths today are so low is only because of mass Pap smear screening, which is extremely expensive and laborious. Take that away and the death rate would soar in this country. You want to save money? Vaccinate.

[jalisco555]

The oral polio vaccine had very high incident of people getting polio from the vaccine.

The HPV vaccine was developed using recombinant DNA technology. It is impossible to get HPV from the vaccine. In clinical trials involving thousands of patients the only significant side effect was temporary pain at the injection site.

[jalisco555]

The FDA IMHO is a government sponsored protection racket for the food and drug industry.

I was a Principal Investigator in a study that led to the FDA approval of a medical device. The FDA was very rigorous in their oversight and made sure our data was clean. If they are in bed with industry it sure wasn't evident in our study.

[higgmeister]

As for the money thing, no state or federal government should be mandating anything that is provided by only one seller. I'm not sure how to get around this while still protecting the intellectual property rights of the seller, but there must be a way.

Read about "Reardon Metal".

I would reword your first line:

No state or federal government should be mandating anything that is not stipulated in The Constitution.

[wagglebee]

And I can think of no reason that an eleven or twelve year old girl who is not sexually active should get a pap smear.