Gardasil Somehow Equals Pimping

How did I miss the whole Gardasil flap? I didn't even write an entry about it, although I obviously should have.

Well, luckily, it's not over yet, because my new friend Dr. Henry Makow has decided to weigh in on the matter. Just to bring you up to speed, Gardasil is a new vaccine approved for girls 9 years of age that protects against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which is a leading cause of cervical cancer. Girls have to be innoculated before they contract HPV (it's a vaccination, not a cure). For this reason, the FDA (and its Canadian equivalent) recommends 9 years old, figuring most girls won't be sexually active at that age.

Well, fundies don't like the idea of Gardasil at all, because apparently it will make young girls think it's okay to go out and have unprotected, promiscuous sex. And that's a problem because we still haven't eradicated HIV, herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and unwanted pregnancy. Of course, knowing fundies, even if we do manage to succeed in all these areas, they probably still won't want girls to have sex.

The Harper government has allocated $300 million to vaccinate thousands of girls as young as age nine against a sexually transmitted disease, human papillomavirus (HPV), which occasionally causes cervical cancer.

Occasionally? Wow, you're off to a great start already, Henry. According to Wikipedia, there were nearly 500,000 cases of Cervical cancer reported last year, and 100% of them were caused by HPV.

The vaccine (Gardasil) only works on girls with no sexual experience. So instead of teaching these children that it is self destructive and dangerous to be promiscuous, the government is inoculating them as if they were going to become prostitutes.

Um, actually, Henry, the government is inoculating them as if they were going to have sex. Which, (hopefully) upon achieving an age where they're comfortable with it, they are.

HPV has nothing to do with promiscuity, and bringing it up is just an inflammatory red herring. Infected people can go for years without seeing any symptoms at all, and that includes men who marry. And they'll then give it to their wives, even if the wives abstained until this magical cure-all time known as "marriage."

And instead of selling these girls, the politicians are taking their cut up front, from big pharma, all in the name of protecting "public health."

Um, I'm not all that familiar with the politics of Canada, but I'm having trouble understanding what this has to do with politicians' money. Do they get paid per girl inoculated or something?

This is the shape of socialism in the New World Order: enriching corporations by drugging the population.

(Eyeroll) Whatever, Henry. Moving on...

In an interview with CBC-TV, a representative of Merck-Frosst, the maker of the vaccine, admitted that lobbying is how pharma business is done in Canada.

Yeah, okay, so they lobbied the government? So what? They have to, to combat the misinformation that people like you are feeding out. (Or dare I say it, the lobbying?)

Why is it automatically bad if companies lobby the government? Are there no causes you think are worthy of action, Henry?

The 15 minute TV-Report, which can be viewed here, says that this is the only case of government-mandated mass vaccination in the world. The last time the Canadian government took such drastic action was during a polio outbreak in the 1950's.

So in the first sentence, he says it's the only case of mass vaccination in the world, and in the second sentence, he says it's not. Will you make up your mind?

Now, about that video...

Seriously, Henry, what's going on here? It doesn't even TRY to be objective. The "news" reporter is clearly biased against Gardasil, and repeatedly downplays all the good it does while furiously (and smugly) highlighting all the problems with it. Journalism doesn't get any yellower.

But there is no epidemic of cervical cancer now. In fact, it doesn’t even rank in the top 10 cancers affecting Canadian women. Whereas 400 women die of cervical cancer each year, over 5000 die of breast cancer.

Okay, I don't see a cite for that, but it doesn't really matter. If there's a safe, efficient vaccine for one type of cancer, why should the fact that more women suffer from a different type mean that we shouldn't wipe out the one we can? What does one have to do with the other?

At the same time, society is giving children the message that being "sexually active" is part of "becoming a woman." In fact, girls become women by preparing to become wives and mothers.

Cite please.

No, seriously, Henry. Why do you get to decide what makes a girl into a woman? And why do you use an outmoded, patently offensive, 19th century ideology to do it?

Promiscuity just makes them feel worthless and unwanted.

I clicked on that link thinking, "Oh yes, I HAVE to see where this one goes." Turns out it's to another Henry Makow column, full of his antiquated, stifling opinions about women, and illogical strawman conclusions.

In the TV Report, a mother just laughs when her 13-year-old daughter announces her intention to become "sexually active" at age 16.

Somehow, I doubt that's what happened. I mean, granted, I don't know for sure (because the video keeps breaking before I can get more than halfway through it). But since when has ol' Henry been trustworthy?

BOONDOGGLE WITH CONSEQUENCES

Boondoggle? You mean one of these?

At best, this vaccination campaign is a boondoggle for Merck. At worst it could have many negative side effects.

Oh, please tell me, Henry. Tell me all about the negative side effects, oh Doctor of English.

A report for the Women's Health Network by a McGill University epidemiologist calls the program "premature and could possibly have unintended negative consequences for individuals and for society as a whole."

Yes, that's very scary and authoritative sounding, until you realize that Gardasil was tested on over 10,000 females with no adverse side effects.

While as many as 50% of women get some form of HPV over their lifetime, the report says most of these do not result in cervical cancer and can be cured. "Most HPV infections are cleared spontaneously. Recent research using available molecular detection technologies suggests that clearance occurs within one year for about 70 per cent of those infected, and within two years for 90 per cent. Thus, HPV infection and cervical cancer must not be conflated: most women who are infected with even a 'high-risk' strain of HPV will not develop cervical cancer."

And the rest of them, presumably, can just drop dead.

The report also states that clinical trials were insufficient to test the efficacy of the vaccine since the subjects were too young to be exposed to HPV.

No, you idiot. You're supposed to get it before you contract HPV! Christ.

During the last six months of 2006, the (US) National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) got 385 reports of adverse reactions to Gardasil.

Oh yeah? 385? Out of how many girls who took it?

By the way, what, exactly DOES that report recommend?

NVIC is calling on the FDA and CDC to warn parents and doctors that GARDASIL should not be combined with other vaccines and that young girls should be monitored for at least 24 hours for syncopal (collapse/fainting) episodes that can be accompanied by seizure activity, as well as symptoms of tingling, numbness and loss of sensation in the fingers and limbs, all of which should be reported to VAERS immediately.

Hm, so don't combine it with other vaccines, and there may be some numbness? And it happened in 385 out of 5 million patients administered the vaccine? (see video) Geez, somebody call the AFA! There's an epidemic on our hands!

"There are twice as many children collapsing and four times as many children experiencing tingling, numbness and loss of sensation after getting Gardasil vaccination compared to those getting a Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis) vaccination.

Okay, and how many kids get that? And does that mean we should stop administering it? The fact that one vaccine makes some people sick, and a different vaccine for a different disease makes more people sick?

There have been reports of facial paralysis and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. And doctors who give Gardasil in combination with other vaccines are basically conducting an experiment on their young patients because Merck has not published any safety data for simultaneous vaccination with any vaccine except hepatitis B vaccine."

Okay, so let's not give it at the same time as other vaccines. That seems simple enough; you don't need to write a whole column decrying the stuff.

Meanwhile the FDA says Merck is testing this vaccine for males- with penis or throat cancer in mind. Straights and gays are the target market.

That's nice. So what?

INSANITY

You got that right.

Next week in Toronto alone, 40,000 young girls and their parents will be pressured to allow an inoculation for a sexually transmitted disease. The reason for the pressure is that three injections are required over a six-months period i.e. the school year.

"My 12 year old daughter is facing this decision -- her MD. has suggested we vaccinate her right away," a mother posted on the CBC-TV web site. "I am NOT a sceptical person by any means but something about this whole campaign makes me very nervous. "

Yeah, those damn medico-fascists! Always trying to inoculate girls against life-threatening diseases...something stinks here! Why is the government so concerned about my daughter's well-being?

The unstated, and outrageous assumption behind this vaccination campaign is that promiscuity is the norm.

No, there is no such assumption. But Henry never lets facts get in the way of rhetoric.

Human papilloma virus will not be transferred if people are selective and monogamous.

And go through life without ever getting raped.

These girls have never had sex. Many will not have sex for years. Most will not be promiscuous and will not need this vaccine.

Some girls will have sex, and they may need this vaccine. Why would you deny it to them? Do you think that cervical cancer is a fitting punishment for breaking holy law?

The other assumption is that sex is a necessary experience that is divorced from courtship, love, marriage and procreation.

Umm, no. Nobody ever said that either. You can get HPV from your husband, dimwit.

On the contrary, a girl's healthy psychological development is based on the recognition that sex is the essence of her natural life cycle which usually will see her become a wife and mother.

GAH! The sexism! The misogyny! It burns, it burns!

The current Canadian government pretends to be socially conservative and espouse "family values."

Surely it would be less hypocritical (and cheaper) to teach these girls that promiscuity doesn’t make them a woman.

Okay, aside from the fact that nobody said anything about promiscuity or "becoming a woman," I think we've seen proof positive that abstinence-until-marriage sex ed is bullshit and it doesn't work.

On the contrary, it ruins their chances for fulfillment by undermining their ability to bond permanently with a future husband.

You know, Henry, maybe you'd be a lot better off if you didn't keep trying to pigeonhole women into this narrow little role you've outlined for them. Trust me, women don't need or want your "advice" on how to live.

Contrary to feminist ideology, women are most fulfilled as wives and mothers, not dentists or mechanics. Thus they should consecrate themselves sexually for future husband or potential mates.

Cite please. (You woman-hating troglodyte.)

A young woman shouldn’t need more than a couple of long term relationships before she finds the right one.

Oh, thank you so much for that bit of wisdom, Henry. I'm sure women all over the world will drop what they're doing as far as dating and rush to start behaving exactly as you want them to.

She doesn’t need to protect herself like a prostitute would.

You know, just because you keep raising the specter of prostitution, that doesn't make you any more correct or worth listening to. Any woman should protect herself. You have no idea what's going to happen in your life. You could get raped, you could enter a relationship with a liar, you could get drunk one night and make a really bad decision.

Henry, THINGS HAPPEN. I know you wish that women could all be as perfect as you, but let's face it, we can't all be God.

On the other hand, many politicians and doctors could use a good dose of Gardasil.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

This superfluous mass innoculation sets a bad precedent. I don't want to speculate what excuse they will find for the next one.

Uh, gee, I dunno Henry. Maybe their "excuse" will be it protects against HIV? But I'm sure women won't need that either, unless they're dirty, filthy whores, right?

Look, Henry tries to talk a nice game. He brings up Gardasil's effectiveness and its possible health risks. But let's face facts here, he really doesn't care about any of that. He just thinks girls should stop wasting their time enjoying life and settle in to be good little wives and mothers. Henry, I'm not a woman, but something tells me that most of them are going to pass on your generous offer.