Minneosta legislation requiring HPV
vaccinations for girls was introduced in St. Paul Feb 1, 2007: SF 243
[Chief authors: Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth]/ HF 530 [Ruud, DFL-Brooklyn
Center].
Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon
Rep. Maria Ruud
February 3, 2007
[Also see,
"
Vaccine Center Issues Warning," Washington Times, Feb 3, 2007:
" The National Vaccine Information Center yesterday warned state
officials to investigate the safety of a breakthrough cancer vaccine as
Texas became the first state to make the vaccine mandatory for school-age
girls. Negative side effects of Gardasil, a new Merck vaccine to prevent
the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, are being
reported in the District of Columbia and 20 states, including Virginia.
The reactions range from loss of consciousness to
seizures."]
Merck Payola Pays
Off:
Texas Governor Orders STD Vaccine for ALL girls
This morning's news from America provides a vivid example of
government corruption involving pharmaceutical lobbying, bribing and
manipulating health care policy decisions.
Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, has issued an order to vaccinate
ALL Texas girls with Merck's STD vaccine without a thought about the
possible adverse side effects that may pose serious risks to these
girls--especially their reproductive function.
Not so long ago, hormone replacement therapy was widely prescribed on the
basis of CLAIMS that turned out to be false. HRT was supposed to reduce
breast cancer, stroke, and heart attacks--not only did it fail to deliver
on these promises, HRT increased ovarian cancer.
A science teacher who learned about the order wrote to us this morning:
"I am so bothered by the speed by which adults are ready to put
chemicals into little girls bodies without a full understanding of what
harm those chemicals could cause in the short and long term. Is there any
kind of campaign against this being waged?" The Governor of
Texas clearly has given no consideration for the potential harm that his
order might cause the girls.
Noteworthy are the ties that bind the Governor to Merck and to Women in
Government, the group that Merck paid to lobby for this mind-boggling
order. The Associated Press reports that one of Merck's three lobbyists
in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff. His current chief
of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White
Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.
The governor also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee
during his re-election campaign.
Also noteworthy is that under then governor George W. Bush, TMAP, the
pharmaceutical manufacturers' cash cow to mega-billion dollar cash
transference from the public purse to Big Pharma, was launched. TMAP
(Texas medication algorithm project) is the vehicle that catapulted
psychotropic drugs--in particular patent protected antidepressants and
antipsychotics--to blockbuster status despite lack of scientific evidence
that the drugs work to improve mental health, and despite evidence that
these drugs wreak havoc on both the mental and physical health of
consumers.
Health care policy under the influence of Big Pharma is illustrated by 13
year old Aliah Gleason of Texas who was prescribed 12 psychotropic drugs
--many simultaneously--without her parents' consent. See: Waters, R.
Medicating Aliah, Mother Jones, May/June 2005. [See
here for complete story.]
Governor Perry, does your order to vaccinate all 11 year old girls mean
that you are eliminating parental rights? What if parents refuse to give
consent to vaccinate their daughter?
AUSTIN, Texas - Bypassing the Legislature altogether, Republican Gov.
Rick Perry issued an order Friday making Texas the first state to require
that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus
that causes cervical cancer. By employing an executive order, Perry
sidestepped opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents'
rights groups ...
Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country
mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its
lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in
Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around
the country.
Perry tied to Merck Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug
company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief
of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican
state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in
Government. The governor also received $6,000 from Merck's political
action committee during his re-election campaign.
The order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the
Legislature has no authority to repeal it, said Perry spokeswoman Krista
Moody. Moody said the Texas Constitution permits the governor, as head of
the executive branch, to order other members of the executive branch to
adopt rules like this one.
Legislative aides said they are looking for ways around the order for
parents who oppose it.
"He's circumventing the will of the people," said Dawn
Richardson, president of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education, a
citizens group that fought for the right to opt out of other vaccine
requirements. "There are bills filed. There's no emergency except in
the boardrooms of Merck, where this is failing to gain the support that
they had expected."
Opt-out option for parents Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an
affidavit objecting to the vaccine on religious or philosophical reasons.
Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say such
requirements interfere with parents' rights to make medical decisions for
their children.
The federal government approved Gardasil in June, and a government
advisory panel has recommended that all girls get the shots at 11 and 12,
before they are likely to be sexually active.
The New Jersey-based drug company could generate billions in sales if
Gardasil - at $360 for the three-shot regimen - were made mandatory
across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which
has been shown to have no serious side effects. Merck spokeswoman Janet
Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or
how much it has donated to Women in Government. Susan Crosby, the group's
president, also declined to specify how much the drug company
gave.
A top official from Merck's vaccine division sits on Women in
Government's business council, and many of the bills around the country
have been introduced by members of Women in Government.
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Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon
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Rep. Maria Ruud