Beware of Gardasil

I'm sure you've heard in the news lately, or maybe you've seen the commercial, for the new vaccine against cervical cancer called Gardasil. Gardasil is manufactured by Merck and is said to protect against two forms of the HPV virus that is said to cause 70% of all cases of cervical cancer.

Now there is a lot of controversy over this vaccine. Many people, myself included, feel that it is too early to tell if the vaccine has any long term negative side effects and if it is safe. In fact, according to one article:

One would hope and expect that Gardasil has been well tested and is safe to inject into young girls and possibly boys.
BUT!
According to The Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP) this is not the case. AHRP say that the vaccine has not been proven safe and effective in clinical trials. The fact is that 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.They use this aluminum placebo because it can artificially increase the appearance of safety of an experimental drug or vaccine in a clinical trial.Furthermore the Gardasil vaccine contains 225 mcg of Aluminum and we know that vaccine aluminum adjuvants can allow aluminum to enter the brain, as well as cause inflammation at the injection site leading to chronic joint and muscle pain and fatigue.Around 60 percent of those who got Gardasil or the aluminum placebo suffered side effects such as headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, myalgia and the Gardasil recipients had more serious adverse events such as headache, gastroenteritis, appendicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, asthma, bronchospasm and arthritis.

Despite these findings, Governor Rick Perry of Texas bypassed state legislation and made Texas the first state that requires the Gardasil vaccine to all girls entering the sixth grade. I, for one, wonder how much time he has put in into researching the side effects and safety issues concerning this vaccine. After reading this particular little tidbit, I am thinking the answer is zero time:

Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government. The governor also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.

Beware of Gardasil