The Judgment Call
Think of the Texas Governor as your Dad and Merck, the giant pharmaceutical company, as your Mom. You are a 9 year old girl. Mom and Dad structure your life including balancing health risks and disease prevention. Earlier, there had been a proposal between Dad and Mom, followed by a happy union and Mom Merck's adoption of Dad's right-hand man, Mike. Dad gained Mom Merck's where with all to make powerful things happen. They did.
Now the gig is up. The Texas Governor is not your dad. Merck is not your mom. Mike Toomey is not your brother and your not nine.
Perry snubbed his nose at the legislature last week when he made an executive order that requires injection of every female with Gardasil vaccine before entering sixth grade public school, effective September 2008. Perry placed the burden on parents to obtain an exemption from the otherwise required mandatory compliance.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a common virus. It's nothing new and most of the time our own defense system rids our body of it. Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine, marketed by Merck as Gardasil, requires three injections over a six-month period to help guard against cervical cancer and genital warts.
The HPV vaccine passed muster with the FDA after only six-months of testing. The study period was not long enough for cervical cancer to develop and the hypothesis that it is effective prevention is arguably speculative.
Gardasil may not fully protect everyone, does not prevent all types of cervical cancer, and does not protect against diseases caused by many types of HPV. Merck warns that persons allergic to Gardasil ingredients and pregnant women should avoid the vaccine. Side affects include pain, swelling, itching, and redness at the injection site, as well as fever, nausea, and dizziness. Only a doctor or healthcare professional is able to decide if Gardasil is medically right for each candidate.
The Texas Governor has taken the parens patriae position with all Texas girls who enter the public school system in the sixth grade. Notwithstanding the National Women's Health Resource Center finding that HPV causes cancer of the penis, boy children are destined to play by different rules.
Perry's motive is suspect given the fact that his former Chief of Staff is now the Merck lobbyist and the Merck empire made contributions that helped re-up Perry another term. Merck will take home about $126,000,000 of hard-earned Texas dollars from Perry's program.
The Governor compares the HPV vaccine to the polio vaccine. Polio is a highly contagious virus which is passed through the mouth and strikes the nervous system. An epidemic occurred in the U. S. in 1916, then repeated in the 1950's. Polio vaccination didn't began until 1955.
During 2006, there were only 391 cervical cancer deaths in Texas. That figure falls short of the 6,000 polio deaths and 27,000 polio paralysis victims in 1916 and the 20,000 new polio cases each year during the pertinent era of the 1950's.
Perry's method of enactment assured the legislature could not hinder his program, but he cannot finagle the judicial branch. There still exists a check and balance system in Texas.
In 1973, Leo Itz filed a lawsuit to challenge a statute which required immunization as a prerequisite for admission to public school. Among other things, Itz claimed the statute interfered with his religious freedom, denied due process of law, and interfered with parental control. He referenced immunization as a physical assault upon children. The Texas Supreme Court held the statute constitutional on the basis that immunization under the facts presented was a proper exercise of the State’s police power to protect the health and safety of it’s citizenry.
Whether Perry's executive order will be court challenged is yet to be seen. If it is, the Itz Court reasoning may be modified in light of the fact that the contest will focus on an executive order as opposed to a statute enacted by traditional legislative law-making.
Oncology pharmacist Joyce Horton of Dallas summed up aspects of the controversy. "I see the devastating results of cervical cancer and genital warts. We give multiple vaccines to young children who probably will never come in contact with the disease. However, we do it because of the consequences if they do. Vaccination against the multiple hepatitis strains came with similar controversy with the introduction of each one. That vaccine has proven to significantly reduce infection. Gardasil is yet another prove-with-time vaccine. Are you going to withhold the vaccine because the side-effects or risks haven’t been tested? That’s a judgment call."
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
Now the gig is up. The Texas Governor is not your dad. Merck is not your mom. Mike Toomey is not your brother and your not nine.
Perry snubbed his nose at the legislature last week when he made an executive order that requires injection of every female with Gardasil vaccine before entering sixth grade public school, effective September 2008. Perry placed the burden on parents to obtain an exemption from the otherwise required mandatory compliance.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a common virus. It's nothing new and most of the time our own defense system rids our body of it. Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine, marketed by Merck as Gardasil, requires three injections over a six-month period to help guard against cervical cancer and genital warts.
The HPV vaccine passed muster with the FDA after only six-months of testing. The study period was not long enough for cervical cancer to develop and the hypothesis that it is effective prevention is arguably speculative.
Gardasil may not fully protect everyone, does not prevent all types of cervical cancer, and does not protect against diseases caused by many types of HPV. Merck warns that persons allergic to Gardasil ingredients and pregnant women should avoid the vaccine. Side affects include pain, swelling, itching, and redness at the injection site, as well as fever, nausea, and dizziness. Only a doctor or healthcare professional is able to decide if Gardasil is medically right for each candidate.
The Texas Governor has taken the parens patriae position with all Texas girls who enter the public school system in the sixth grade. Notwithstanding the National Women's Health Resource Center finding that HPV causes cancer of the penis, boy children are destined to play by different rules.
Perry's motive is suspect given the fact that his former Chief of Staff is now the Merck lobbyist and the Merck empire made contributions that helped re-up Perry another term. Merck will take home about $126,000,000 of hard-earned Texas dollars from Perry's program.
The Governor compares the HPV vaccine to the polio vaccine. Polio is a highly contagious virus which is passed through the mouth and strikes the nervous system. An epidemic occurred in the U. S. in 1916, then repeated in the 1950's. Polio vaccination didn't began until 1955.
During 2006, there were only 391 cervical cancer deaths in Texas. That figure falls short of the 6,000 polio deaths and 27,000 polio paralysis victims in 1916 and the 20,000 new polio cases each year during the pertinent era of the 1950's.
Perry's method of enactment assured the legislature could not hinder his program, but he cannot finagle the judicial branch. There still exists a check and balance system in Texas.
In 1973, Leo Itz filed a lawsuit to challenge a statute which required immunization as a prerequisite for admission to public school. Among other things, Itz claimed the statute interfered with his religious freedom, denied due process of law, and interfered with parental control. He referenced immunization as a physical assault upon children. The Texas Supreme Court held the statute constitutional on the basis that immunization under the facts presented was a proper exercise of the State’s police power to protect the health and safety of it’s citizenry.
Whether Perry's executive order will be court challenged is yet to be seen. If it is, the Itz Court reasoning may be modified in light of the fact that the contest will focus on an executive order as opposed to a statute enacted by traditional legislative law-making.
Oncology pharmacist Joyce Horton of Dallas summed up aspects of the controversy. "I see the devastating results of cervical cancer and genital warts. We give multiple vaccines to young children who probably will never come in contact with the disease. However, we do it because of the consequences if they do. Vaccination against the multiple hepatitis strains came with similar controversy with the introduction of each one. That vaccine has proven to significantly reduce infection. Gardasil is yet another prove-with-time vaccine. Are you going to withhold the vaccine because the side-effects or risks haven’t been tested? That’s a judgment call."
© Coninc., TheDownsideUp.Com 2007
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