Where is the impartial, balanced reporting when it comes to Merck’s latest ‘miracle drug’, Gardasil? It would seem that most of the media are blissfully happy with Merck’s and the FDA’s track record when it comes to ‘drug safety’.

Colin Downes-Grainger

Most ordinary people are still haunted by the memory of the tens of thousands of people killed by Merck’s other wonder drug, Vioxx. However, the press seem to be immune to such ugly reminders of the failure of the drug industry and their drug-funded regulatory agencies to protect the public from harm.

Merck would do better to instead develop a vaccine to rid the press of amnesia on the subject of adverse reactions to vaccines and other FDA-approved drugs.

With the BBC pulling at the heartstrings of the public with phrases such as ‘plea for girls aged 11’ one might be forgiven for thinking that little girls all over the world are menaced with imminent death from cervical cancer.

Once again media drug advertising is thinly disguised as health information and the public are repeatedly bombarded with death threats. Death threats in the form of disease scare-mongering and demands that potentially deadly (but more importantly very profitable) products be forced upon children.

Colin Downes-Grainger

The following items might help to clarify issues:

‘It's Not Just Religious Conservatives Who Oppose Mandatory HPV Vaccination - The Missing Debate on the HPV Vaccine’ by Suzanne Nelson

“Yes, 3,700 women in the United States die of cervical cancer every year. But just having HPV doesn't mean you're going to get cancer. The FDA said as much in its press release: ‘For most women, the body's own defense system will clear the virus and infected women do not develop related health problems.’ Estimates of the number of people with HPV in the United States vary wildly, but perhaps up to 80 percent of women are infected with HPV at one time or another before they are 50 . . .

. . . In terms of long-term safety, one sentence in the FDA's insert is particularly revealing. ‘Gardasil has not been evaluated for the potential to cause carcinogenicity or genotoxicity,’ according to the insert. Yes, carcinogenicity means the ability to cause cancer. It's also not known whether the vaccine can cause chromosomal damage. We don't know because researchers didn't look. The trials were not set up to examine that question . . .

Colin Downes-Grainger

. . . Merck had an enormous amount at stake in making the shots mandatory. A place on states' required lists means a steady and exponentially larger revenue stream. Financial analysts predict Gardasil could be Merck's most important pipeline contributor to top- line growth, with peak sales of at least $2 billion -- revenue Merck badly needs after the Vioxx scandals. That revenue figure assumes that states will make Gardasil mandatory. The CDC's support also all but guarantees insurance reimbursement, as well as state and federal funding. Perhaps more importantly, it also gives Merck coverage under a federally funded vaccine liability program. If Gardasil turns out to have devastating or deadly consequences, Merck isn't liable.”

Emma Holister

‘HPV Type Associated with Cancer’ by Frederick R. Jelovsek MD

“Is HPV always a sexually transmitted disease?

HPV is very frequently transmitted sexually and often explains why dysplasia of the cervix is considered a sexually transmitted disease. It is important to understand that is is not always sexually transmitted. In fact children can be positive for HPV antibodies with a background incidence of 3% (4) while 60-70% of adults will show antibodies to HPV types 16, 18 and 33. Since only a few percent of the population ever develops cervical cancer, HPV is not a direct cause and effect. While not necessarily conclusive that HPV can be transmitted non sexually except during the birth process, women who have never had sex with men, but only with other women can also be positive for HPV”

Cervical Cancer Vaccine?

"The US national cancer institute says that direct causation has not been proven In the U.S., the incidence of cervical cancer in all women, with and without HPV, per 70-year lifetime is about 1%. In a controlled study of age-matched women, 67% of those with cervical cancer and 43% of those without were found to be HPV-positive. These cancers are observed on average only 20-50 years after infection."

MERCK'S GARDASIL VACCINE - NOT PROVEN SAFE FOR LITTLE GIRLS

National Vaccine Information Center Criticizes FDA for Fast Tracking Licensure

"The FDA allowed Merck to use a potentially reactive aluminum containing placebo as a control for most trial participants, rather than a non-reactive saline solution placebo.[1] A reactive placebo can artificially increase the appearance of safety of an experimental drug or vaccine in a clinical trial. Gardasil contains 225 mcg of aluminum and, although aluminum adjuvants have been used in vaccines for decades, they were never tested for safety in clinical trials. Merck and the FDA did not disclose how much aluminum was in the placebo."

Emma Holister

Emma Holister