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Vaccine 100% Effective Agnst Cervical Cancer. Who's Against it? Clue: _eligi_us r_g_t
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| occrider |
| quote: |
Debate rages on use of cervical cancer vaccine
While almost 100% effective, some contend use condones teen sex
Rob Stein, Washington Post
Monday, October 31, 2005
Washington -- A new vaccine that protects against cervical cancer has set up a clash between health advocates who want to use the shots aggressively to prevent thousands of malignancies and social conservatives who say immunizing teen-agers could encourage sexual activity.
Although the vaccine will not become available until next year at the earliest, activists on both sides have begun maneuvering to influence how widely the immunizations will be employed.
Groups working to reduce the toll of the cancer are eagerly awaiting the vaccine and want it to become part of the standard roster of shots that children, especially girls, receive just before puberty.
Because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted virus, many conservatives oppose making it mandatory, citing fears that it could send a subtle message condoning sexual activity before marriage. Several leading groups that promote abstinence are meeting this week to formulate official policies on the vaccine.
Officials from the companies developing the shots -- Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline -- have been meeting with advocacy groups to try to assuage their concerns.
The jockeying reflects the growing influence social conservatives, who had long felt overlooked by Washington, have gained on a broad spectrum of policy issues under the Bush administration. In this case, a former member of the conservative group Focus on the Family serves on the federal panel that is playing a pivotal role in deciding how the vaccine is used.
"What the Bush administration has done has taken this coterie of people and put them into very influential positions in Washington," said James Morone Jr., a professor of political science at Brown University. "And it's having an effect in debates like this."
The vaccine protects women against strains of a ubiquitous germ called the human papilloma virus. Although many strains of the virus are innocuous, some can cause cancerous lesions on the cervix (the outer end of the uterus), making them the primary cause of this cancer in the United States. Cervical cancer strikes more than 10,000 U.S. women each year, killing more than 3,700.
The vaccine appears to be virtually 100 percent effective against two of the most common cancer-causing HPV strains. Merck, whose vaccine is further along, plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year for approval to sell the shots.
Exactly how the vaccine is used will be largely determined by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel of experts assembled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The panel issues widely followed guidelines, including recommendations for childhood vaccines that become the basis for vaccination requirements set by public schools.
Officials of both companies noted that research indicates the best age to vaccinate would be just before puberty to make sure children are protected before they become sexually active. The vaccine would probably be targeted primarily at girls but could also be used on boys to limit the spread of the virus.
"I would like to see it that if you don't have your HPV vaccine, you can't start high school," said Juan Carlos Felix of the University of Southern California, who leads the National Cervical Cancer Coalition's medical advisory panel.
At the ACIP meeting last week, panel members heard presentations about the pros and cons of vaccinating girls at various ages. A survey of 294 pediatricians presented at the meeting found that more than half were worried that parents of female patients might refuse the vaccine, and 11 percent of the doctors said they thought vaccinating against a sexually transmitted disease "may encourage risky sexual behavior in my adolescent patients."
Conservative groups say they welcome the vaccine as an important public health tool but oppose making it mandatory.
"Some people have raised the issue of whether this vaccine may be sending an overall message to teen-agers that, 'We expect you to be sexually active,' " said Reginald Finger, a doctor trained in public health who served as a medical analyst for Focus on the Family before being appointed to the ACIP in 2003.
"There are people who sense that it could cause people to feel like sexual behaviors are safer if they are vaccinated and may lead to more sexual behavior because they feel safe," said Finger, emphasizing he does not endorse that position and is withholding judgment until the issue comes before the vaccine policy panel for a formal recommendation.
Conservative medical groups have been fielding calls from concerned parents and organizations, officials said.
"I've talked to some who have said, 'This is going to sabotage our abstinence message,' " said Gene Rudd, associate executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations. But Rudd said most people change their minds once they learn more, adding he would probably want his children immunized. Rudd, however, draws the line at making the vaccine mandatory.
"Parents should have the choice. There are those who would say, 'We can provide a better, healthier alternative than the vaccine, and that is to teach abstinence,' " Rudd said.
The council plans to meet Wednesday to discuss the issue. On the same day, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, Texas, which advises conservative groups on sexuality and health issues, is convening a one-day meeting to develop a position statement.
Alan Kaye, executive director of the National Cervical Cancer Coalition, likened the vaccine to wearing a seat belt.
"Just because you wear a seat belt doesn't mean you're seeking out an accident," Kaye said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c...MNG2LFGJFT1.DTL
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Wow. No other group is so unwavering in amazing me with their stupidity. The sad part is that their stupidity actually affects me. :( |
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| Renegade |
Religious Right. What do I win?
(Please don't say cervical cancer. I don't want that. :() |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Renegade
Religious Right. What do I win?
(Please don't say cervical cancer. I don't want that. :() |
Very well, you win a life time supply of human papilloma virus :). Or some fundies. Please take the fundies. They're everywhere here. They're really not that bad. They make excellent objects of ridicule ... I bet you could spruce up Australia real good with some! |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| Imagine the reaction if there were an HIV vaccine. These people wouldn't want to make that mandatory either. Religious ideals > human lives. |
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| Renegade |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Very well, you win a life time supply of human papilloma virus :). Or some fundies. Please take the fundies. They're everywhere here. They're really not that bad. They make excellent objects of ridicule ... I bet you could spruce up Australia real good with some! |
Well, speaking of fundies, the fastest growing religious demographic in Australia is the "Pentecostal" demographic (that is, for all intents and purposes, the "Supply-Side Jesus" demographic). I don't know what the "human papilloma virus" is, but I reckon that I'll gladly trade an epidemic of that for the congregation of the Hillside Pentecostal Church any day of the week... |
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| Renegade |
John Digweed was ing awesome tonight, btw.
Speaking of Digweed, the Religious Right can feast upon my engorged phalllus, imo. |
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| Renegade |
| quote: | Originally posted by Renegade
phalllus |
= Super-Phallus.
[/derail of occrider's awesomely fantastic thread, imo] |
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| tathi |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
... I bet you could spruce up Australia real good with some! |
We have the church of Hillsong around Sydney, they are complete fruitloops. The most sold CD in australian history is a hillsong CD with gospel music on it, they have these concerts full of christian rock and i swear it looks like they're peaking
Digweed was ing incredible in Sydney, best set i've ever heard. chunky as |
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| MrSquirrel |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Very well, you win a life time supply of human papilloma virus :). Or some fundies. Please take the fundies. They're everywhere here. They're really not that bad. They make excellent objects of ridicule ... I bet you could spruce up Australia real good with some! |
They don't need the fundies, they have Pauline Hanson and her cronies.
:p
MrS |
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| DJ Shibby |
Good... so HPV will finally be eradicated from mankind, except for among the loonie christians!!
A fitting punishment for the millennia of regression they've gifted the world with.
So let's watch Darwinism take effect, mwahaha. |
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| Moongoose |
| I actualy think that it would be better if it wasnt mandatory. I mean just think about it, this could mean tens of thousads of future foundies removed from the gene pool before they are unleashed into the world. Now we just need something that cures cancer that kills males that the religious lot will oppose to and in a few generations hopefuly they will die out. A guy can dream right :D |
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