Serious Concerns Continue to Grow Over Use of HPV Drug GARDASIL

by Karen Hatter | February 11, 2009 at 04:55 pm

1218 views | 45 Recommendations | 11 comments

Since it's approval in the summer of 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 5 million girls and women, ages 9 to 26, have been vaccinated with GARDASIL.

GARDASIL, aggressively marketed by Merck & Co. Inc. with it's 'One Less' campaign, on television, radio, in print and on the internet, beginning in the fall of 2006, has been approved for distribution worldwide and is currently seeking approval for use in boys and men.

GARDASIL, manufactured by Merck & Co. Inc. and Cervarix, manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline, have been the leading two drugs tested and approved for use in preventing the growth of specific human papillomaviruses (HPVs), by targetting 4 human papillomaviruses said to be responsible for the majority of HPVs found in the female population studied and now being vaccinated.

Of the 150 human papillomaviruses identified, 30 have been linked to cervical cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, 90% of human papillomavirus infections are gone within two years, said to be true of the low risk HPVs and the high risk HPVs, said to cause cancer.

Claims that GARDASIL can prevent cervical cancer cannot be proven. Test subjects studied before the FDA approval of GARDASIL were not studied until the common age group for the appearance of cervical cancer in women, 35 to 55 years of age. For the girls and women vaccinated during the study, between the ages of 9 and 26, follow up study was less than 5 years.

The rate of cancer occurring in girls and women in the age group being vaccinated, ages 9 to 26, occurs at a rate of 20 to 30 in every 1 million girls and women, or less than several thousandths of 1 percent.

Heavy lobbying for making vaccination with GARDASIL mandatory for school aged girls in the U.S. has been the subject of debate and protest over the past two years, with many legislators with ties to the drug company being instrumental in trying to get passage of legislation in their states for the drug's use.

The National Vaccination Information Center (NVIC), a private parent led organization has collected data from emergency room visits. Of all the drug adverse reactions recorded after inoculation, GARDASIL has been 30 times higher.

From an article at CBSNews.com:

Gabby Swank was a straight-A student and cheerleader.

But that was before she became very ill following the standard dose of three Gardasil vaccinations, Attkisson reports.

You know the commercial. It showed teenage girls saying "I want to be one less" who gets the HPV virus, which is linked to cervical cancer.

"It was like a big hype among my friends, because we're like, 'we're gonna get it' because we felt almost pressured by the commercials," Gabby said.

Gabby got sicker after each shot, progressing to seizures, strokes and heart problems. It was her neurologist who suspected Gardasil was to blame.

"I think there are too many people having serious long-term side-effects," said neurologist Dr. Dwight Lindholm.

Last fall, the government and vaccine maker Merck concluded there's no link between Gardasil and serious adverse events like Gabby's. But a new analysis calls that finding into question.

During the production phase for the creation of both drugs, GARDASIL by Merck & Co. Inc. and Cervarix by Glaxo Smith Kline, a settlement agreement involving HPV gene patent infringement was settled with Merck & Co. Inc., makers of GARDASIL, agreeing to pay the makers of Cervarix, Glaxo Smith Kline, a percentage of Merck's sales of GARDASIL.

This agreement was meant to offset the early introduction of GARDASIL onto the drug market. Glaxo Smith Kline's drug, Cervarix, was introduced more than a year after Merck & Co. Inc.'s drug GARDASIL, with Glaxo Smith Kline stating that Merck & Co. Inc. had been instrumental in educating the public about HPVs and the need for vaccination against the viruses.

In 2008, the FDA refused approval of GARDASIL for use in women 27 to 46 years of age.

Click here to read the article.

Also at NowPublic:

Public Health or Profit? What Drives the HPV Vaccination Campaign?

Creating a Market for and Testing HPV Vaccines

Health and Safety Versus Profit

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Amy Judd

at 17:07 on February 11th, 2009

I never know whether this is a good thing or not. I have a friend who got it but it's still fairly new in Canada.

AKAmamma

at 17:12 on February 11th, 2009

I've seen a lot of objections to gardasil. Now I have some idea why. Great piece!

kuuva

at 18:15 on February 11th, 2009

many people worry about vaccines. look at autism, many people continue believing it is from thiomerosal in the MMR vaccine. The scientific consensus —including scientific and medical bodies such as the Institute of Medicine and World Health Organization as well as governmental agencies such as the FDA and the CDC—rejects any role for thiomerosal in autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders, several studies have disproved that. California banned thiomerosal from most childrens vaccines and rates continued to climb.

Vaccines only reduce or eliminate disease by administrating using herd mentality. Look at polio, do you know a young person with it. nope. look at the baby boomers, they were afflicted before the vaccine was administrated.

From http://www.thehpvtest.com/About-HPV/Cervical-Cancer-FAQs.html

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second-most-common type of cancer that strikes women – behind only breast cancer. In the United States, cervical cancer is the 14th most common cause of new cancers diagnosed among women every year. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007, about 11,150 women in the United States developed cervical cancer and about 3,700 died from it. That lower occurrence of cervical cancer in the United States is largely thanks to the Pap test, which has helped decrease the number of American women with cervical cancer by about 75 percent in the past 50 years.

Unfortuantely for males HPV is not a real health care concern. I do think they should continue to work on developing a test for detecting HPV in males. Once that is done it will be possible to determine if the HPV vaccine is beneficial or harmful to men. If it was safe I would require it for men too, they are half of the carriers. Think if everyone was vaccinated woman would not have to have PAP smears any longer. There is already talk of elminating it for HPV vaccinated women.

Obviously, I am pro vaccine - assuming all of the testing is done properly. I cant wait until the day we have stem cell grown human tissues labs that we can test every drug before administrating to the public.

A. Tran

at 18:42 on February 11th, 2009

I'm surprised that the physician who administered these series of shots did not stop once adverse effects had occurred.

Great piece, Karen

mtammas

at 20:24 on February 11th, 2009

As others, I have also been watching this issue since the vaccine hit the market, backed by a slick marketing campaign. For me, the verdict is still out. In fact, with new vaccines, drugs and treatments, I'd like to see a return to rigorous testing, trials, peer reviews of the research and oversight before any are allowed into the general population. I wouldn't want my daughter or granddaughter to be the testing field for any new thing that comes out of Big Pharma these days.

Maireid Sullivan

at 00:23 on February 12th, 2009

The basic fact we must remember is that pharmaceutical firms cannot patent a product until they have altered it. That means that our beautiful sensitive bodies cannot use it without suffering negative side effects.

Remember, our bodies replace a billion cells every hour! :) We are a super organism that cannot work with unrefined materials, such as these human experimental inventions.

What we think, feel, eat, do is transformed and incorporated into our being every hour!!!!!

Terri Potratz

at 09:47 on February 12th, 2009

Thanks for this update Karen.

Karen Hatter

at 20:31 on February 12th, 2009

My thanks to Everyone for the recommends and your comments.

kuuva

at 18:10 on February 13th, 2009

Court rules vaccines not the cause of autism

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29185694/

maggieglander (not verified)

at 18:33 on February 16th, 2009

So, courts rule and overrule themselves all the time. A court ruling doesn't make something true. Listen to the mothers. They say differently.

Jodi (not verified)

at 17:45 on February 25th, 2009

My daughter, Victoria, has been having non-epileptic seizures since March 31, 2008. Doctors seem to believe that my daughter's seizures are stress induced and will not relate them to Gardasil.

Here is some history. I will be as brief as possible. My daughter had her first Gardasil vaccination November 2007. Her second vaccination was in the beginning of February 2008. Immediately after her second vaccination, Victoria experienced severe diarrhea and was nauseous for about eight weeks. On March 31, 2008, she had her first seizure. After several emergency room visits, she was diagnosed with conversion disorder. My daughter has treated with many neurologists, all of whom will not relate my daughter's seizures to Gardasil. Meanwhile, there quite a few hundred people that I have found over the internet through my numerous postings and through Erin Brockovich, and their daughters are all experiencing the same symptoms, which occurred after the Gardasil vaccination. My daughter has had CT scans, MRI's, MRA's, EEG's, blood work and was hospitalized at an epilepsy center for two separate weeks in 2008. Iinitially, she was put on many different seizure medications. All tests have normal results. Although her SED rate seems to be high each time and she did have protein in her urine which doctors do not seem concerned about..

Doctors recommended that my daughter treat with a psychiatrist and I complied. However, the psychiatrist did not believe that my daughter had conversion disorder.  My daughter has seen several neurologists, a psychiatrist, psychologist, several neuropsychologists, an immunologist, several infectious disease doctors, and also treated a wellness center.

My daughter currently experiences fhe following: non-epileptic seizures, migraines, fainting, tremors, twitches, numbness, staring episodes, tingling, eye pain, joint pain, neck pain , memory loss, confusion, regression and chronic fatigue . She has not been in school since September 2008 -- she should be a senior in high school.  Her teachers helped her to complete her junior year by sending work home.   My daughter can never be left home alone. She can't go to school, go out with her friends or work or has little "normalcy" in her life.

I do not know which way to turn for help. We have seen so many doctors and I can't seem to find anyone willing to help my daughter except for one psychologist, who "talks" to her to try to work through her stress.  I continue to take my daughter to the psychologist although I do not believe that my daughter's symptoms are stress related. There are so many other girls who have the same symptoms as my daughter and the one thing all the girls seem to have in common is the Gardasil vaccination.
Although, we are on a fixed income, I have expended many thousands of dollars in an effort to seek medical opinions and assistance. Although we do have medical insurance, it is very difficult to find doctors willing to treat my daughter who accept our HMO.
We are in desperate need of medical treatment for my daughter. I have run out of ideas, finances have dwindled and I do not know which direction to turn. Jodi Speakman
Jodispeaks@aol.com