Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States and most commonly associated with cervical cancer.116-117 It is not a single infection, but multiple persistent infections that cause cervical cancer.118 Most HPV infections occur without any symptoms and go away without any treatment over the course of a few years.119 Some HPV infections even persist for many years without causing cell abnormalities.120 It is the persistent infection, not the virus that determines the cancer risk.121
HPV is transmitted by sexual contact.122 The increased number as well as the lifetime history of sexual partners increases the risk for HPV infection.123 The surest way to prevent HPV infection is abstinence or monogamy.124
There is only one HPV virus and this is the virus that causes cervical cancer, right? Wrong! The non-cancerous types of HPV are types 6 and 11.125 The high-risk cancerous types of HPV are types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68, 69, 73, and 82.126
Merck’s new HPV (Help Payback for Vioxx) vaccine, Gardasil® is being touted as one of the first “anti-cancer vaccines.” The vaccine contains HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18.127 Types 6 and 11 do not cause cancer, only “cervical cell abnormalities.”128 According to the CDC “Type 16 is the cause of approximately 50% of cancers worldwide, and types 16 and 18 together account for about 70% of cervical cancers.”129 Notice these statistics are for cervical cancers “worldwide.” The CDC goes on to say that in the U.S., “Most cases and deaths from cervical cancer can be prevented through detection of precancerous changes within the cervix by cervical cytology using the Pap test.”130 These prescreening measures are already in place in the U.S., but third world countries have little if any screening measures for cervical cancer. So why would the CDC lump all the U.S. cases in with the rest of the world? It’s like comparing apples to cows.
According to the 2004 U.S. Cancer Statistics report, 11,892 women in the U.S. were diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,850 women that same year died due to cervical cancer.131-132 The report also cited that from 1996 to 2004 the incidence rates for all women for cervical cancer had decreased 3.7 percent per year. During the same years the death rate for all women for cervical cancer had also decreased 3.7 percent.133 Thus, cervical cancer rates are already on a decline before the introduction of the Gardasil® vaccine.
Based on the information from the U.S. Cancer Statistic report, the new cases and deaths from cervical cancer are decreasing at a rate of 3.7 percent per year. This means that in 2008 there will be 10,132 new cases of cervical cancer and 3,280 women will die from cervical cancer. Seventy percent of these cases are related to HPV types 16 and 18. This further reduces the number of cases and deaths to 7,092 and 2,296, respectively. What are the potential risks for the vaccine?
According to Merck’s vaccine package insert, there were 102 serious adverse reactions out of 21,464 participants, and these are Merck’s own clinical trials.134 The most common adverse reactions were headaches, gastroenteritis, appendicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease and 17 deaths.135 The target market for Merck’s Gardasil® vaccine is women and children ages nine through twenty-six,136 or 37 million women and children.137 According to Merck’s own clinical studies, if they were to vaccinate the entire target population, their vaccine will create 175,827 serious adverse reactions and an astronomical 29,304 deaths! This is 24 times the number of yearly cases of cervical cancer and nearly thirteen times the amount of deaths from cervical cancer. Not to mention all the revenues that will be made from the side effects of the vaccine. Is it starting to make sense how the pharmaceutical companies create sickness and disease only to turn around and make money off the very same people?
