My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. This is a blog about women's issues, health & wellness, and inspirational thoughts. If you like this blog, you will love BlogHer.com where I am also a contributing editor.
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Find out all the places I blog at Catherine Blogs.
In Health News: Autism Debate, Drive-Thru Mastectomies, and the HPV Vaccine (Gardasil).
When I heard this story, about a family with a child who appeared to developed Autism after her childhood immunizations, I wondered how this might affect other families dealing with this devastating disease. Also in the blogs, is a petition that women can sign, supporting an end to drive-thru mastectomies. And end they should, this practice is a disgrace, as well as a travesty against women. And, my pet-peeve issue (Gardasil) is also in the news.
This week news spread of results of a Georgia court case in November, which states that the parents of 9-year old Hannah Poling will receive compensation because multiple vaccines contributed to her symptoms of autism. Not all the details are known, as the court case has been “sealed,” but it appears that Hannah has an underlying mitochondrial disorder. After she received five shots in July 2000, at the age of 19 months, she developed a high fever and inconsolable crying within 48 hours. Within three months after receiving the vaccine, she went from being a normal, verbal toddler to one who showed signs of autism and, for a while, lost her ability to speak. She now requires one-on-one care at all times.
“Desperate Housewives” star Marcia Cross joined Lifetime, Senator Landrieu (D-LA) and Representatives DeLauro (D-CT) and Moran (R-KS), at a Capitol Hill press conference to give voice to the 20 million signatures collected on myLifetime.com urging Congress to end the practice of “drive-through” mastectomies, when women are forced to leave the hospital following their physically and emotionally difficult breast cancer surgeries before they and their doctors may feel they are ready to go home.
Caught your attention, didn’t I? “Be My Support, Be My Strength, Be My Bra” is Lifetime Television’s saying/blurb/catch phrase in for the fight against breast cancer. I just love it.
Then we have my number one pet-peeve health and wellness issue…The HPV Vaccine. Touted as the Cervical Cancer Vaccine (Gardasil)…it is really an HPV prevention medication, using our children as mandatory test subjects. This is a vaccine that would be a life saver to people in developing countries, who have little access to PAP tests for prevention. But Merck’s only concern is with the money they can make by convincing our government to make this vaccine mandatory.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines hold great promise for preventing cervical cancer, but 93 percent of mortality worldwide occurs in low- and middle-income countries, where high vaccine costs can restrict dissemination.
The man who pioneered the first cancer vaccine says cervical cancer deaths in Australia could be negligible if all Australian women took part in pap smear programs.
Professor Ian Frazer was named Australian of the Year in 2006 in recognition of his work with the vaccine, which has a success rate of up to 70 per cent.
But Professor Frazer says women should no longer feel anxious about cervical cancer.
“In this country cervical cancer is well down the list of cancer deaths now because we have such an effective pap smear program and indeed if all women in Australia took part in the pap smear program according to the government recommendations we’d hardly have a death from cervical cancer,” he said.
“Worldwide, cervical cancer is actually increasing and is the second commonest or commonest cause of cancer death in women in most countries in the world.”
A researcher who has spent 20 years studying human papillomavirus (HPV) and did the bulk of the work that was used to develop a vaccine for several strains of the virus has warned that mandating the vaccine for girls under the age of 18 may actually backfire, causing cervical cancer rates to go up.
Twenty-six states are considering some form of mandatory HPV vaccination for school-age girls.
Diane M. Harper, director of Dartmouth Medical School’s Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in New Hampshire, warned that there have been no tests of the vaccine’s effectiveness on girls under the age of 15. The drug may not be effective on younger girls, and it may have unforeseen side effects or interactions with other vaccines given at that age. Nonetheless, the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended it for ages 9-26.
“Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment,” Harper said. “To mandate now is simply to Merck’s benefit, and only to Merck’s benefit.”
The HPV vaccine produced by Merck protects against two strains of the virus that have been identified as responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. But with the way the drug is being marketed, Harper is concerned that vaccinated women may decide that they are immune, and forego their yearly Pap smear testing.
Harper also warned that the vaccine is ineffective if given to someone who is already infected — and because HPV is spread by skin-to-skin contact, a person does not have to be sexually active to contract it. For this reason, Harper suggests giving the vaccine only to those who test negative for the targeted HPV strains.
The HPV test is conducted by vaginal swab, which Harper says is inappropriate for children.
Finally, Harper warned that not enough research has been done to know how long the vaccine lasts, or at what age a booster may be needed. This means that even if the vaccine is effective in young girls, it may have worn off by the age at which they are most susceptible to cervical cancer.
“The push for mandatory vaccination is based on marketing, not science,” added Mike Adams, author of numerous articles that oppose mandatory vaccination policies. “It’s nothing but a clever Big Pharma scheme to sell more drugs to yet more people who don’t need them.”
There’s been a lot of talk here at BlogHer about Gardasil, over the past year or so. I wrote about it a year ago, trying to articulate my feelings on it as a mom to a daughter who would soon be eligible for vaccination. Catherine Morgan has kept her finger on the pulse of the matter with multiple posts, including pointing out that several young girls have died within hours of receiving the vaccination.
My initial optimism was, perhaps, premature.
In the meantime, various states have been discussing mandating the vaccine, or trying to, with varying levels of success. (Check out Vaccine Awakening for a good explanation of what recently happened in the Virginia legislature.)
The Right To Reproductive Health: Why don’t all women have it? - by Catherine Morgan
See this video of a local woman that support the Planned Parenthood Clinic…
Depending on where you live in this country, you may or may not have the right to the services provided by Planned Parenthood, and every women deserves the right to quality reproductive health care. Women’s rights should not be denied anywhere in this country. That is why it is so important that a Chicago court allow the Aurora Planned Parenthood to open and serve it’s surrounding communities.
I touched on this issue in a previous post, and now Planned Parenthood is at a Federal Court in Chicago, in an attempt to open their Aurora location. You can read LIVE BLOGGING of this hearing at Planned Parenthood Aurora.
Since my original post on the controversy surrounding the Gardasil vaccine, I have already added three updates. Recently I was made aware of new information released by the FDA regarding the more serious adverse reactions to this vaccine. Most upseting is the fact that at least three young girls have died within hours of receiving this controversial vaccine.
(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. Three deaths were related to the vaccine. One physician’s assistant reported that a female patient “died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine.” Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting. — read full article
As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities.
Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures. — – read full article
What troubles me the most about this is; Parents understand that with all vaccines there will be a very small percent of people (in this case young girls) that will have an adverse reaction ending in death. The major difference is that vaccines like the MMR vaccines (given to our children to prevent Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) are essential in saving many lives from these highly contagious and often fatal diseases. So, the benefits of these vaccines most definitely outweigh the risks…(the small percent of serious adverse reactions with MMR vaccine is still only a tiny fraction of the amount of deaths we would see without this vaccine).
Unfortunately this is not the case with the HPV vaccine. I think if a parent thought that their daughter might die from a vaccine that has limited protection against a treatable (non life-threatening) virus, they might not see a benefit that outweighs that risk.
Something very disturbing has been happening. Pharmaceutical companies are manipulating us with fear. It was bad enough when these companies began advertising prescription drugs on television. But now they have taken this tactic a step further; and began using fear for the life of our children, to persuade us that we need to get the HPV Vaccine for our daughters. This is the most sinister of abuse…using the love parents have for a child, to manipulate them through fear…for profit.
I will not be trying to convince anyone to get or not to get the Merck HPV Vaccine (Gardasil). What I will try to do with this post is address the facts surrounding the controversy, so all parents can make an informed decision about whether or not to get this vaccine for their child. I’ll begin with my personal opinion…Never make a major decision for yourself or your child out of fear. – Please see my full post at BlogHer Health and Wellness
UPDATE: Dr. Larry Norton (on the View today) – DO NOT USE ANY PRODUCT WITH ESTROGEN to treat symptoms of menopause — That includes natural products that stimulate the estrogen receptors. If you are on prescription of Estrogen, talk to your doctor before you discontinue…..there are many other medications that do not have estrogen that you doctor can prescribe for symptoms of menopause.
This is a one minute video that demonstrates what is currently happening to unused frozen embryos from fertility clinics. The senate will be voting this week to either support Stem Cell Research, or to put more restrictions on it. Please go to my political site “INFORMED VOTERS” to see more information, and to send an Email to the Senate asking them to support Stem Cell Research.
Are You Happy With Your Doctor? — by Catherine Morgan
As patients, we all know that we are not always treated with the respect and dignity that we deserve. There is a site called RateMDs.com, and I recommend that EVERYONE (whether you are sick or not) go to this site and rate both your good and your bad doctors. It is very easy to do, and it is the only way that doctors will begin to realize that they can’t just treat us as numbers and dollars, we are human beings, and they work for us. And if they do a bad job, we are going to tell. It is also a good place to check and see if a doctor you are considering going to has a good rating or not.
I can not recommend this activity enough, the internet is a great tool for consumers, and a great way for patients to take their power back. So, go to RateMDs.comand give your good doctors the credit they deserve…..and “tattle” on all those bad doctors who have mistreated and been disrespectful to you. And then pass this information on to your friends and family.
[The drugmaker had been criticized by parents and doctors’ groups for quietly funding the campaign via a third party to require 11- and 12-year-old girls get the three-dose vaccine in order to attend school.] — see full article at MSNBC
Merck launched Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, in June.
Sales totaled $255 million through the end of 2006, according to Merck.
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