Philadelphia Bulletin:

Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.

[…]Although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, participants said they came away convinced the vaccine should not be received.

[…]Dr. Harper began her remarks by explaining that 70 percent of all HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment within a year. Within two years, the number climbs to 90 percent. Of the remaining 10 percent of HPV infections, only half will develop into cervical cancer, which leaves little need for the vaccine.

She went on to surprise the audience by stating that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is already so low that “even if we get the vaccine and continue PAP screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the US.”

There will be no decrease in cervical cancer until at least 70 percent of the population is vaccinated, and even then, the decrease will be minimal. (Wha?)

Apparently, conventional treatment and preventative measures are already cutting the cervical cancer rate by four percent a year. At this rate, in 60 years, there will be a 91.4 percent decline just with current treatment. Even if 70 percent of women get the shot and required boosters over the same time period, which is highly unlikely, Harper says Gardasil still could not claim to do as much as traditional care is already doing.

[…]However, at this point, Dr. Harper dropped an even bigger bombshell on the audience when she announced that, “There have been no efficacy trials in girls under 15 years.”

Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, studied only a small group of girls under 16 who had been vaccinated, but did not follow them long enough to conclude sufficient presence of effective HPV antibodies.

This is not the first time Dr. Harper revealed the fact that Merck never tested Gardasil for safety in young girls. During a 2007 interview with KPC News.com, she said giving the vaccine to girls as young as 11 years-old “is a great big public health experiment.”

At the time, which was at the height of Merck’s controversial drive to have the vaccine mandated in schools, Dr. Harper remained steadfastly opposed to the idea and said she had been trying for months to convince major television and print media about her concerns, “but no one will print it.”

“It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11 to 12 year old girls,” [Dr. Harper] said at the time. “There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue.”

[…]Since the drug’s introduction in 2006, the public has been learning many of these facts the hard way. To date, 15,037 girls have officially reported adverse side effects from Gardasil to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). These adverse reactions include Guilliane Barre, lupus, seizures, paralysis, blood clots, brain inflammation and many others. The CDC acknowledges that there have been 44 reported deaths.

But the main side effect people are afraid of is infertility.

Via Wikipedia:

There’s concern on whether Polysorbate 80 [which Gardasil contains] can cause infertility problems.[6] A 2007 study on rats has found that administration of 16.783 ml/kg bw/day to pregnant rats lowered body weight in male and female offspring [7]

The abstractfor link number six in the Wikipedia article:

Neonatal female rats were injected ip (0.1 ml/rat) with Tween 80 in 1, 5 or 10% aqueous solution on days 4-7 after birth. Treatment with Tween 80 accelerated maturation, prolonged the oestrus cycle, and induced persistent vaginal oestrus. The relative weight of the uterus and ovaries was decreased relative to the untreated controls. Squamous cell metaplasia of the epithelial lining of the uterus and cytological changes in the uterus were indicative of chronic oestrogenic stimulation. Ovaries were without corpora lutea, and had degenerative follicles.

A few other interesting points:

Merck says that 60% of the American population has HPV. They fail to mention that HPV is a medical term used for many different warts, 99% which are harmless: Planters warts, Flat warts, etc. “>Merck openly admits that they dont know if Gardasil will actually prevent cancer at all. Afterall, the incubation period for cervical cancer is 15-20 years. Merck has only watched their patients from 18 month to 3 years.

[…]Merck also pushed for all the states to make this vaccine mandatory as soon as possible (Within the year). — By mandating the vaccine, it comes under the federal vaccine protection laws, and Merck cannot be sued if the vaccine turns out to be harmful.

[…]Merck says that 60% of the American population has HPV. They fail to mention that HPV is a medical term used for many different warts, 99% which are harmless: Planters warts, Flat warts, etc.

There have been attempts to make this mandatory for all girls: In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry had tried to order a Gardasil mandate in 2007 (His motives were a bit “Merck-y,”) but was over- ruled by the state legislature. That same year, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson vetoed a mandate passed by that state’s legislature. They also wanted boys to get a version of it too, although luckily it doesn’t look like it’s going forward. Yet even with these failures, they’ve somehow managed to make it mandatory for all US immigrants.

Via American Chronicle:

This week has shown that a large number of reports stating that Gardasil is proving unsafe. News stations around the world have reported that Gardasil the HPV vaccine has been found to cause adverse reactions. The adverse reactions range from mild, such as headaches, nausea and fainting, to the more severe such as seizures, blood clots, Guillian Barre Syndrome and even death. […]However, despite the controversy surrounding this vaccine, with much information proving it to be unsafe, it appears not only is still being offered to teenage girls across the USA and the world today but is a mandatory vaccine for immigrants wanting to come into the USA.

November 2, 2009  
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