I could never be as knowlegable or as eloquent as a friend of mine who is an epidemiologist by profession and long time peace activist (since the 60's) who wrote this letter to North Carolina lawmakers:
Members of the Senate Committee on Health Care,
I wish to thank you, particularly the chairman, for allowing me to speak from the floor during the hearing March 14 on SB 260, “Schools Provide Info on Cervical Cancer.” I thought I was out of order, and, indeed, I still do not know whether I was. I thank you for your patience.
In my remarks, I noted that no one had been called to speak against the bill, even though there has been much criticism both regarding the safety of the new HPV vaccine being marketed by Merck, Gardisil, and of the motive of Merck Corporation in launching a massive nationwide lobbying effort to promote immunizations of young girls through the public schools, which could be worth billions for Merck.
I did not say anything about Mercks motives at the hearing, but I would like to add now that given the shadow of corruption, of the culture of pay to play, that still darkens the image of the NCGA, this is not a good time to kowtow to a massive lobbying effort by a bloated and blatantly cynical corporation. Nor is it responsible for state legislators to rely on the authority of the FDA, which, like FEMA and other government agencies, has been purged by the Bush administration and placed under the management of political loyalists with poor qualifications. Have all of you so soon forgotten about Vioxx? Do you not recall that Merck and the FDA suppressed findings from clinical trials, and that even after word was leaked by a brave whistle blower, Merck continued to temporize and equivocate, although its executives knew full well that tens of thousands of deaths were attributable to Vioxx.
Executives of Vioxx ought to be in prison for manslaughter, or for crimes against humanity, but they still are running the company. David Graham, the Vioxx whistle blower, in Congressional testimony last month has said that nothing has changed at the FDA: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-13-fda-over...
Do you assume that Merck can be trusted because it must have learned its lesson from Vioxx? Would you assume that anyone who lied for profit, causing thousands of deaths, would learn a lesson just from having once been caught? I think we should expect of our political representatives less gullibility and more hardheaded insistence on scientific integrity when dealing with questions based on presumed scientific findings. In matters of science, never trust blindly the authorities or the majority opinon. The mavericks and critics often turn out to be right. Wake up! Do not gamble on participating in medical fraud that could damage the health of thousands or tens of thousands of young girls.
When I spoke at the hearing, I meant to end with my advice I would give to my daughter, but I forgot. Well, here it is:
Wait a couple years before getting immunized, allowing a minimal amount of time for conflicting scientific studies of its safety and efficacy to be evaluated in the broader scientific community. Some serious adverse health effects occurred in the clinical trials, and we can not trust either Merck’s or the FDA’s evaluation of the clinical trials data, as they both have a record of suppressing negative data and providing misleading statistics. Meanwhile, the best way to prevent genital warts and the longer term possibility of cervical cancer if one has sex outside of a permanent strictly monogamous relationship is safe sex; and there is only one kind of safe sex: using a condom (properly). It is the only kind of safe sex with regard to HIV. It is not quite as effective with regard to HPV, but certainly as effective as the experimental vaccine. Neither gives 100% protection. The far more serious threat is HIV. So do not think you have to take the risk of getting immunized now. Just be sure that you protect yourself from HIV first, and you ought to be safe from HPV.
Best regards,
Andrew G. Silver, MA, MSPH
Andy Silver is an epidemiologist, peace activist since the 60's, and e-voting activist for several years. He actively works against US sponsored torture, US sponsored rendition, and against war.
I remember the common refrain in the sixties that if the government can tell you the drugs you cannot take, it will soon be telling you the drugs you must take. The first time I notice this prophecy fulfilled was when the public schools started informing parents of active boy children that such children had to take Ritalin if they were to continue in a public school. Instead of recesses and gym classes, we forcibly sedate our most promising boys. Now, we have been mandated to compel our daughters to take a new, unproven vaccine, even if the child makes a firm commitment to forego extramarital sex. The clock has run full circle, and the hippies were proved right. Of all freedoms, the freedom to do whatever we wish with our own bodies should be paramount, so long as our behaviour does not immediately threaten harm to others.
by
W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 387 comments)
on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 12:00:03 AM
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