Responsible reporting should carry information about the risks of the HPV vaccine called Gardasil. Diane Harper, the lead researcher, a scientist and physician, who has spent 20 years developing the vaccine for human papillomavirus, says that this vaccine is not for younger girls, and to mandate vaccinations now is simply for the drug company Merck’s benefit. Merck has spent millions buying the favors of the legislators.

Most cervical pre-cancers develop slowly, so nearly all cervical cancers can be prevented with regular Pap smear screening and prompt treatment. Merck admits in its product insert that Gardasil has not been tested for its long-term neurological impairment, immune disorders, carcinogenicity or genotoxicity – nor it can affect reproductive capacity.

Merck, with the approval of the FDA, used a placebo containing an aluminum adjuvant for the control groups (aluminum is known to cause adverse reactions and has never been tested for safety in clinical trials). This made it seem that that the Gardasil was safer than it really was and there were more serious side effects experienced by the Gardasil group. (Trust FDA’s approval? We regularly hear of the illnesses and deaths from the so-called “FDA approved” drugs).

Merck said it was halting its efforts to pressure states into making Gardasil mandatory because of the backlash among physicians, consumer advocates, parents and even legislators. The idea that we need to force people to take shots here in the U.S. flies in the face of everything America is supposed to stand for, says Carolyn Dean, M.D. (“U.S. Infectious Disease Policy, Based on the wrong Germ Theory” -www.carolyndean.com). Virginia Governor Kaine recently signed a measure giving parents and children more say in how a child is medically treated. However, it is important that they should not have to ‘jump through hoops’ in order to qualify for exemption.