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A recent DNT commentary article, written and or endorsed by area board-certified pediatricians, oncologists and obstetricians/ gynecologists appeared in the Duluth News-Tribune Op-Ed section promoting the universal use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for pre-teen and teen-age girls. It appears to be a part of the world-wide billion dollar promotion campaign to get the world’s young women, even in poor third world nations, more fully vaccinated than they already are. The huge amount of money behind the massive effort comes from one of the most profitable, price-gouging pharmaceutical companies in the world, Merck. In 2006, after only 3 – 5 years of clinical trials, the FDA approved for marketing the most expensive vaccine in the history of the world, Gardasil, which has been proclaimed as a preventative for cancer of the cervix, a claim that was never proved and has, to date not prevented a single case of cervical cancer. The whole premise that the vaccine could prevent cancer was presented by Merck investigators to the FDA (and then to American physicians and now to their patients) was based on the finding (again made by investigators who were deeply conflicted by their financial involvement with Merck money in that they were employees, had shares in the company or had received honoraria or grants to get the product to market and promote the vaccine any way they could. The name of Merck’s so-called anti-cancer vaccine is Gardasil. Their competitor (and collaborator when it comes to promoting the notion that a vaccine directed at the HPV can prevent cancer) is the British multinational pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline, whose HPV vaccine is called Cervarix. |
