Merck's cervical cancer vaccine ads are inaccurate and misleading

Wednesday, March 03, 2010 by: E. Huff, staff writer
Tags: Merck, advertising, health news

(NaturalNews) Several doctors and women's groups in India are lambasting advertisements puts out by drug giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck for their human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine. Objecting to the claims being made that the vaccine protects against cervical cancer, The Sama Resource Centre for Women and Health, Saheli Women's Resource Centre, and a group of doctors are sounding the alarm that the ads are misleading and inaccurate.

Marketed in the United States as Gardasil, the HPV vaccine is being touted by its manufacturers as the greatest thing since sliced bread as far as preventing cervical cancer. Even in India, the marketing campaign for the vaccine has been so successful that pediatricians all over the country are urging parents to have their adolescent daughters vaccinated.

Budev Chandra Das, a professor of biomedical research at Delhi University, and Dr. Sidharth Sahni, a surgical oncology consultant at Artemis Health Institute, have both been questioning the legitimacy of the vaccine, noting that there are many different types of HPV that the vaccine does not prevent and that there are other conditions that cause cervical cancer besides HPV.

The vaccine is allegedly only effective on young girls who have never had sex, another important piece of information that doctors and researchers are saying GSK and Merck have failed to effectively communicate. Rather than divulge the truth of the matter, the two drug companies seem only to be interested in convincing as many people as possible to get the vaccine.

Vani Subramaniam from the Saheli Women's Resource Centre also pointed out that the drug giants have concealed the truth about the many horrific side effects caused by the vaccine. Merck's public list of Gardasil's side effects include headache, fever, vomiting, fainting, breathing problems, seizures, chronic fatigue, chest pains, and stomach pain, just to name a few.

Many young women and girls in the U.S. have developed severe, debilitating conditions after receiving their Gardasil shots. Aside from the known side effects, some girls have become paralyzed while others have developed chronic illness that has left them unable to function properly. Many girls have actually died from receiving Gardasil shots.

The harm caused by Gardasil is obscene, leaving one to wonder how such a dangerous product can continue to be marketed and sold legally with no repercussions on the villains who are perpetrating it on the public. Not only is the vaccine a failure at accomplishing its stated purpose, but it continues to destroy the lives of the next generation of young girls who receive it.

Sources for this story include: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/7694...