Posted on 02/06/2007 8:45:52 AM PST by Froufrou
Gov. Rick Perry stood firm Monday against a political firestorm ignited by his order that sixth-grade girls be inoculated against a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer.
Social conservatives from Austin to Washington joined some state lawmakers in calling for Perry to reverse his executive order making Texas the first state to mandate the human papillomavirus vaccine for girls entering sixth grade in September 2008.
Several legislators expressed outrage that Perry circumvented the legislative process. Several bills had been filed to make the HPV shots mandatory for school enrollment.
"This needs closer examination. How much will it cost the state?" Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said at a news conference.
"Most importantly, as a mother of four daughters I want to make sure our daughters' health is protected and parental rights are preserved."
Another senator, Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, said he'd file legislation to reverse Perry's order, which he said was not in the best interest of the state.
Parents will be able to opt their 11- and 12-year-old daughters out of the program, as they can for other required vaccines.
As speculation swirled about why Perry risked angering his conservative base, political observers said the governor is showing newfound independence and may be trying to raise his national profile as a potential vice presidential candidate.
The governor's spokesman also indicated that first lady Anita Perry's strong support for the vaccine might have played a role in the decision. A former nurse and the daughter of a doctor, Anita Perry works for an organization dealing with sexual assaults.
"I know they have discussed it, and it's something they both feel very strongly about," the spokesman, Robert Black, said.
In a statement, Perry addressed criticism that the vaccine could send a message that teenage sex is permissible.
"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity any more than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use," he said.
"If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?"
Perry's office said it would cost the state $29 million for its share of inoculating students who are uninsured or on government health programs. Federal funds also will be available for children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Federal health authorities last year recommended girls and young women get the vaccine, which prevents infection by four common strains of the HPV virus, which can cause cervical cancer years after infection.
Cervical cancer accounts for 3,700 deaths a year in the United States, including nearly 400 in Texas.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, said he supports the vaccine but noted that other state legislatures have decided not to make it mandatory.
"What kind of deal was made?" asked Keffer, referring to comments by Cathie Adams, president of Texas Eagle Forum, that Perry's political ties with drug company Merck may have influenced the decision.
Perry's office has denied he was influenced by anything other than health concerns. His ex-chief of staff, Mike Toomey, is a lobbyist for Merck and Perry got $6,000 in contributions from the drug manufacturer's political action committee.
Black said Perry and Toomey never discussed the issue, and noted the Merck campaign contributions were relatively small.
"The governor is very pro-life, and he views this as protecting life," Black said. "The human race has never had an opportunity to prevent cancer. Not to pursue that opportunity, the governor believes that would be morally reprehensible."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick both said Perry did not consult them. Craddick said he didn't have a position on the issue. Dewhurst said he would prefer a voluntary vaccination program.
GOP consultant Royal Masset said he thinks Perry wants to be considered as a national leader. Perry talked about international terrorism and immigration reform in his inaugural address.
"Health care is one of the most powerful issues we're going to be dealing with nationally," Masset said.
Meanwhile, a Christian group knocked the Texas governor in a Washington update mailed to supporters Monday.
Tony Perkins with Family Research Council said, "By commandeering this issue, Gov. Perry, who has championed family values, has only succeeded in arousing more mistrust."
Vioxx is a drug, not a harmless foreign protein (along with yeast and aluminum and some other more-or-less inert stuff) which generates antibodies in your system and is then cleansed from your blood and passed harmlessly. If Gardasil is fine after 5 years, it is fine forever.
ANd besides, as said a thousand times already, gardisol only MAY protect against 2 strians, you still have a better than 50% chance of developing other cervical cancers.
Carefull words like "HPV caused" and "70%" because they are misleading.
As is shown on this thread by pro gardisol people, Women are being led to believe gardisol will save them from All cancers of the cervix, and they WILL, despite claims of what YOU do, skip regular pap smears which can detect pre cancerous changes in cells. These tests need to be done even more often if you are sleeping around. knowing the nature of people, all gardisol will do is cause even more women to develop cancer because of false hope in a useless drug.
I have a feeling that some of these people don't know what a cervix is, let alone how they are treated for cancer. And heaven forbid we introduce vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile, head, or neck cancer, or recurrent respiratory papillomatosis.
I was so aghast when I posted that I failed to credit austinamericanstatesman.com who posted the entire State of the State speech.
I was looking for some mention of the vaccine but found none. Instead, he's going after more fed tax dollars for healthcare. This is what Medicaid already does! It seems very likely to me that he and his buddy at Merck are banking on sending this global. The Merck site is specific on this and licensed the product in 1995 - that would be before the trials were completed!
"I have a feeling that some of these people don't know what a cervix is, let alone how they are treated for cancer. And heaven forbid we introduce vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile, head, or neck cancer, or recurrent respiratory papillomatosis."
LOL.
Actually, I think they know. They just want sinful "sluts" to die and/or have their genitals cut out because they had evil sex.
It's the only explaination for the hysteria --- no such outcries of "untested" and "abuses of power" came out with the chickenpox vaccine or the rotovirus (? may be another one) vaccine --- which were implimented with similar testing and similar authority by Gov. action. (I think GWB signed those, those.)
Early detection is not synonymous with detecting precancerous cells. Lesions can move from cancerous to precancerous quickly, or even develop cancer immediately. The one is not a neccessary precursor to the other.
Morever, simply because you have detected a precancerous condition that DOES NOT mean, even using every treatment known to modern man, that the patient will not still develop cancer! Even if you excise every precancerous lesion, you can STILL GET CANCER AND DIE. Or get a hysterectomy or chemo. Those things are not nice!
"you still have a better than 50% chance of developing other cervical cancers."
Do you even 'get' statistics? Did you take that class? How can a person have a better than 50% chance of developing cervical cancer?
30% of cervical cancer is NOT linked to HPV 16 or 18. Gardasil cannot prevent cancer in these cases. 70% of cervical cancer is linked to HPV 16 and 18. These cancers can be virtually eliminated by Gardasil because it is 100% and 99% effective in preventing these two types of HPV, respectively.
That is all. There is no magical 50% of anything anywhere that anyone is getting. No one has a 50% chance of getting cervical cancer. That's crazy.
Did you know that the traditional cure for hysteria is stimulation -- either manual or with a vibrator -- leading to orgasm? "Hysteria" is Greek for "uterus," as well, I believe.
Sounds like Texas should change their insurance laws, not impose upon parental authority.
Polio is easily spread by daily school interaction - sharing food, slobber, etc. HPV is not. The mandate to reat kids is because the disease is spread by kids through casual interaction. TO do what Perry did based on the analogy of Polio is an abuse of the spirit of the law, though not the letter (maybe).
I would like to see the curve/algorithm for both these epidemics. I suspect it would be like comparing Mount Everest to one of your fire ant mounds.
Again, if you are a conservative, you will join me in arguing for an "opt-in" version of this law and either work to reform the Texas insurance mess or quit trying to make government the solution to life's endless litany of problems. If you can't fix insurance then you certainly shouldn't be trying to fix teen sexual behavior. School are not the government's social engineering sandbox.
How is HPV contracted? Is it worth an "intrusive exam" to prevent cancer? Is it worth a public labeling as a disease spreader to prevent cancer? In other words, you seem to make some rights more sacred than others.
I think the innoculation solution is an odd mix of prudery (let's not invade their young sex lives) and promiscuity (let's just treat everybody because we cannot establish effective personal relationships).
Very odd behavior for a "conservative" state and people.
Also HPV causes more than cervical cancer. Which a pap smear isn't going to catch because, hey, it's not on a cervix!
But I don't think you're actually reading anything anyone says. You've been saying the same blatanly false nonsense for 20 posts even though you've been corrected half a dozen times. So I am going to stop reading your posts and we will be even.
HPV infection isn't strictly genital and it can be spread without sexual contact.
The other vaccinations are for diseases that spread through casual contact.
"work to reform the Texas insurance mess"
A practical impossibility, alas.
Checking the box on the form the nurse gives you "no" is hardly an imposition worthy of such heated debate.
No, it does NOT.
Education Code
§ 38.053. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED. (a) A school-based health center may provide services to a student only if the district or the provider with whom the district contracts obtains the written consent of the student's parent or guardian or another person having legal control of the student on a consent form developed by the district or provider. The student's parent or guardian or another person having legal control of the student may give consent for a student to receive ongoing services or may limit consent to one or more services provided on a single occasion.
(b) The consent form must list every service the school-based health center delivers in a format that complies with all applicable state and federal laws and allows a person to consent to one or more categories of services.
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1418, § 1, eff. June 19, 1999. Renumbered from V.T.C.A., Education Code § 38.011 and amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, § 4.005, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
§ 38.054. CATEGORIES OF SERVICES. The permissible categories of services are:
(1) family and home support;
(2) health care, including immunizations;
(3) dental health care;
(4) health education; and
(5) preventive health strategies.
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1418, § 1, eff. June 19, 1999. Renumbered from V.T.C.A., Education Code § 38.011 and amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, § 4.005, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
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Repeating a lie won't make it true. A Governor of a Representative Republic does not possess the ability to issue an order as if he were a King.
(If you want to get technical, it's also a felony. See deprivation of rights under color of law US Code Title 18 Section 242)
Rick Perry is not my Lord and Master, and his ability to play political pattycake with his cronies ENDS where the rights of me and my children begin....PERIOD!
I suspect many of the hysterics here could use that treatment.
" They just want sinful "sluts" to die and/or have their genitals cut out because they had evil sex. "
You have no trouble making ugly - and untrue - statements about others and yet you refuse to acknowledge the very real possibility that Merck is in this for the money only. They are a business, not a philanthropic organization.
Women will continue to die from cervical cancer from the remaining 16 HPV strains this vaccine won't prevent. That's a reality you choose to ignore.
I will ask the question once again, but paraphrased. Do you expect all females to be virgins until the day they die?
HPV 16 is linked to oral cancer which can be spread through casual contact. Are we done with this casual contact stuff yet?
Hepatitis B is almost exclusively spread through needle sharing, sex, and blood contamination and is extremely unlikely to be spread casually, but we still vaccinate against it.
I guess you have to ask yourself if one kid goes to school with chickenpox, how long before the other 20 or so in his class get it?
Ditto for HPV?
It's not hysteria to ask these questions. They're really pretty basic. And yes, it is also basic to question under what circumstances should I let the government what medical treatment to subject my child to. It is CONSERVATIVE to ask when and how government should exercise power over you for "the greater good." If "the greater good" is not a scary term to you, it should be.
That said, if Perry and friends would work hard to make this opt in and to stress the kind of parents-in-the-kid's-face education we see in the anti-drug campaigns, they would make many allies.
One:
We weren't talking about you, or your reasoned post.
A casual review of this thread reveals who we talking about.
Two:
"Women will continue to die from cervical cancer from the remaining 16 HPV strains this vaccine won't prevent. That's a reality you choose to ignore."
Yes. But 70% or more will not.
Cutting out 70% of the cancer and 705 of the hysterectomies is a good thing.
Would 1005 be better? Sure. But 70% is a great start.
Since you brought that up, should only virgin girls get the vaccine, since it's proven less effective on girls already exposed [by sex] to the HPV viruses?
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