O*N*E -L*E*S*S Living Woman Thanks to Gardasil

I never liked this "wonderful new drug" that Merck pharmaceuticals has been touting for the past few years as the be all and end all for the protection of all women. And trying to get states to mandate that all girls as young as age 9 should be vaccinated with it for "their own protection". There were just way too many factors that didn't add up.

Like the fact that it only protected against three (count them 3) kinds of cervical cancer when there are many more kinds that a person can come in contact with.

Like the fact that there were precious few studies done on the long term effects to developing bodies when the drug was pushed through the FDA.

Like why so much money was being poured into the slick marketing campaign that was made to make you feel like you were doing a disservice to your daughters if you didn't get them vaccinated (rather than teaching them that there is a proper place for sexual activity, and the only 100% effective method of prevention of exposure to these pathogens is abstinence.

So, when stories like this one come to light I have to feel slightly vindicated, and a little bit sickened. Ten women dead in less than a year from this wonder drug? Where is the public outrage? Why aren't there huge bands of feminists storming Merck demanding that the drug be taken off the market? Who dropped the ball here and why?

What is even more frightening almost than the deaths are the list of other complications:

I am quoting here:

In this year there have been 140 reported "serious" complications, 27 of which were categorized as "life-threatening," as well as ten spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a very rare (1 in 100,000 in a healthy population) immune response to foreign antigens such as infectious agents or vaccines, that paralyzes the afflicted person.

and this:

"The long-term consequences of Gardasil are not known. The manufacturer admits this and agrees it does not know its effect on young girls' cancer risk, on their immunity system, on their reproductive system, or its genetic effects. In due course, we will know this, possibly in twenty or thirty years from now when these young girls, the innocent subjects of the Gardasil experiment have become grown women and then report the consequences of their having taken the medication in their childhood on medical advice."

and this:


"What we have here is proof that there is scientific evidence that has been published in the past 15 years that states that HPV infection does not bear a direct relationship to the forming of cervical cancer. It also tells us that HPV, if allowed to will be taken care of by our own body's natural processes. . ."most infections are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer."


A company was allowed to use fear to sell a faulty product to an unsuspecting group of people who will forever be left with the disastrous consequences of a decision that they thought was going to protect them. Shame belongs somewhere.

I am so glad I didn't bow to conventional wisdom and considerable public peer pressure and have any one of my four precious daughters subjected to this killer vaccine. They are all safe, at least until the next "wonder drug" is discovered.

As parents we need to be vigilant, and think carefully when it comes to slick marketing and promises that sound just a bit too good to be true. We know the truth and the truth will keep us alive apparently.

Pax