Posted on 06/23/2006 7:21:19 AM PDT by veronica
An Israeli-born doctor stands at the head of team from pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. who announced this week the FDA approval of the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer
Senior director of Clinical Research, Merck Research Laboratories Dr. Eliav Barr, originally from Haifa, said about bout the genetically engineered vaccine Gardasil, "This is the first time we have been able to state that administration of the vaccine is going to have an effect on cervical cancer."
In the United States, almost 10,000 women develop cervical cancer each year, leading to 3,000 deaths. In the developing world, the problem is far worse, probably because women are less likely to get screenings that can catch unusual growths before they become cancerous. Worldwide, cervical cancer kills 300,000 women a year.
Almost all the cases of cervical cancer are caused by infection with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which causes normal cells to multiply out of control. Some strains of HPV lead to cancer (two strains account for 70% of cervical cancers), and others cause genital warts.
Because cervical cancer does not occur in women who have not contracted HPV, Merck, under Barr's guidance, has developed what is essentially the world's first cancer vaccine.
Public health experts called the Gardasil vaccine a major advance against the disease. "This vaccine is a significant advance in the protection of women's health in that it strikes at the infections that are the root cause of many cervical cancers," acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told Reuters.
Given in three doses over six months, Gardasil targets four HPV types believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts. The vaccine was approved for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26, Merck said.
Barr started his medical career as a cardiologist. So it was quite a shift in the mid-1990s when his employer, Merck, asked Barr to join a team that was developing an HPV vaccine.
"I had to go look up what HPV meant," Barr, 42, told The Intelligencer. "This is about as far as you can get from medicine."
Barr said he's overwhelmed by the feeling that he's helped develop something that will save millions of lives.
"It's very difficult to describe," Barr said. "One gets very emotional. It's really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing."
The biggest challenge for Gardasil comes because of the target market: adolescent girls. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, and some 20 million American men and women have it. To prevent women from getting cervical cancer, women must be inoculated before they become sexually active. But for some parents and religious groups, that might be a touchy question.
Merck's Barr says that won't be a problem. "You have to understand what's at stake here," he told Forbes. "Regardless of your background, as a parent, you want to be able to protect your child against cancer."
Sorry, your people, the obscurantist fanatics are the one who don't undertand...
And no number of ave are going to save you...
Ooookay...
Common sense should kick in at some point ... .
Let us know when it does.
So blame the Joooooooooooooz.
/s
It's great there is a new vaccine, thank God for the scientists. It's not great that it's being pushed down school parents' throats.
Perhaps for having sex before marriage? Some Asian tribes do this.
Ok. The way that reads may be different from how you meant it. It sounds like you are saying that those who get raped deserve it, that they should be punished. Was this a typing error? I know typing errors happen and I have typed things that that said something I didn't mean to say. What say you?
I assume he knows how to construct a sentence in English, and in English, it clearly says the victim of rape should be punished.
"I assume he knows how to construct a sentence in English, and in English, it clearly says the victim of rape should be punished."
I hear ya, but I'm trying to let her (she's a woman) explain her position. Let it not be said that we didn't give her an opportunity to correct a mistake if one indeed was made, and so on...
:)
Without picking up on "her" sex, I've read her other posts, and having done so, it's hard to see that one as a mistake. It's quite in line with "her" general tone.
"Without picking up on "her" sex, I've read her other posts, and having done so, it's hard to see that one as a mistake. It's quite in line with "her" general tone."
Well, I can't say I disagree with your take. I just wanted to let her answer the charges; as she has posted a bit since I asked her, with no reply... I think the answer is becoming clearer.
That's "Christian love" for you. Not the type I was raised with, but I expect she and I belong to different denominations. ;) And I can thank God for that.
"If someone is raped, they should be punished. I don't understand why this is such an issue."
clearly indicates you did mean it. What a sick, sick world-view.
"Your lack of a response denying you meant that rape victims deserve punishment when you said,
"If someone is raped, they should be punished. I don't understand why this is such an issue."
clearly indicates you did mean it. What a sick, sick world-view."
Huh?
Clearly you have a severe reading and comprehension problem as well as a LACK of common sense.
"If someone is raped, they should be punished. I don't understand why this is such an issue."
Selective replies don't change what I say.
Let me make it clear for someone like YOU:
When a person is raped, the RAPIST should be punished.
Actually your dislike of me is showing. You want to read in all kinds of stuff to validate your sick view of me.
Does THAT bother me? Not in the least!
Wading through your fabricated reasoning was not something I have time for.
"Don't blame others for you own statements. Take a little responsibility."
I agree, YOU should start practicing what YOU preach and add stop lying. You'd feel better about yourself.
"Wading through your fabricated reasoning was not something I have time for."
I fabricated nothing. You said that those who get raped should be punished. I asked for clarification, and you didn't provide any. I was not the only one who read it that way; everybody did. I was the one who asked you politely to clarify so you could clear up your name. Your response today does nothing to do that. It's too little, too late.
It was your mistake, not ours.
"I agree, YOU should start practicing what YOU preach and add stop lying."
Where did I lie? Put up or shut up. I wrote EXACTLY what you posted. You wrote this,
"If someone is raped, they should be punished. I don't understand why this is such an issue."
How is posting this, and asking you to clarify, a lie?
I know you're still steaming about being banned, and so you will read this.
Your quote above only confirms my assessment of you as one sick bastard.
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