[Peace-discussion] Paid Green Media Guru Scott McLarty on International Womyns Day

[henry duke]

Patriarchy is safe in the national office of the GPUS!

This press release calls for delay rather than rejection of a proposal to
mandate vaccination injections into womyn's bodies -- a little bizarre
released by the paid Green Media person on international womyn's day.

Patient autonomy and non-compulsion with confidentiality are fundaments of
medical ethics.

Under what conditions should we say that the government can EVER mandate
sterilization or any therapy upon the bodies of womyn?

International Womyns Day and the national staff office paid Green is
promoting delay rather than deny the governments right to force womyn to
take injections that, while as a doctor I might recommend, it is not ethical
in any way to tolerate a mandate upon womyn's body that they get an
immunization -- especially when the long-term safety and non-harm are not
completely known or established.

Sexism and racism: we need to continue to struggle against these cancers.

-henry "hank" duke

-----Original Message-----
From: DC Statehood Green Party [mailto:dcsgpnews2@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 1:24 PM
To: dcsgpnews2@yahoo.com
Subject: DC RELEASE Statehood Greens urge delay on DC bill mandating HPV
vaccination

THE DC STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

For immediate release:
Thursday, March 8, 2007

Contact:
Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green Party Media
Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org


DC Statehood Greens urge delay, hearings on bill
mandating HPV vaccination


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- DC Statehood Green Party leaders
are asking D.C. Council to delay voting on a bill that
would require girls to receive a vaccine promoted by
Merck, which is promoting the vaccine for the
prevention of cervical cancer.

"Council should take no action on this legislation
until a number of important questions about the HPV
[Human Papilloma Virus] vaccine have been answered,"
said Mai Abdul-Rahman, candidate for the D.C. Board of
Education in District 2 (Wards 3 and 4).  "Until then,
the bill is an expensive giveaway to Merck that places
young women in D.C. at risk."

"We urge Council to hold public hearings on the HPV
vaccine legislation, to seek a range of opinion from
public health experts and advocates, and to hold off
on a vote at least until the Wards 4 and 7 seats on
Council are filled in the May 1 special election,"
added Statehood Green Party member Erica Madrid.

The legislation, B17-0030 "The HPV Vaccination and
Reporting Act of 2007"
<http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/images/00001/20070126124422.pdf>,
would mandate "that the parent or legal guardian of a
female child enrolling in grade 6 for the first time
submit certification that the child has received the
HPV vaccine."  The bill is currently in Council's
Health Committee, led by Council member David Catania;
Mayor Adrian Fenty supports it.

"I am a mother," said Mary Pat Rowan of Brookland,
D.C.  "And I insist on my right to consult with my
husband and my child and our doctor to decide whether
and when to have the HPV vaccine administered.  If I
decide to wait for better data on safety; if I decide
that the sixth grade is not the appropriate time for
this vaccination; if I cannot in good conscience trust
Merck or Big Pharma with my daughter's well-being,
that's the end of it.  The Council has no place
intruding into my family's decisions about such
intimate issues."

Statehood Greens cited several concerns about the
bill:

. Since the vaccine is still in the experimental
phase, the required vaccination puts D.C. girls at
risk by making them laboratory subjects.

. The bill doesn't include a clear 'opt-out' provision
for parents who don't want their daughters to receive
a vaccine whose effectiveness remains in question.

. Local public health advocates have questioned the
compensation available to D.C. residents in the event
of adverse effects from the vaccine.

. The vaccine is more expensive and less effective in
preventing cervical cancer than regular pap smears and
condom use; Merck itself has acknowledged that the pap
test has already led to the decline of cervical
cancer.

. The vaccine has been aggressively advertised as
Gardasil and is manufactured by Merck Pharmaceutical
Co., which as lone distributor under the proposed
legislation stands to make huge profits from its use. 
Merck is also the maker of the infamous painkiller
Vioxx, which was pulled off the market after it was
shown to increase the risk of heart attacks and
strokes.  Merck faces 27,000 lawsuits resulting from
the use of Vioxx, and was ranked among the top 10
worst U.S. companies in 2004 by the Multinational
Monitor because of its role in the Vioxx scandal
<http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2004/122004/mokhiber.html>.
 Merck has also been ordered to pay billions in back
taxes in the wake of tax evasion charges: the firm has
swindled the U.S. for billions of dollars and
falsified IRS tax documents.

. Like Vioxx, the HPV vaccine has not been thoroughly
tested.  The drug was tested on 500 women over the age
of 18, not on 6th grade girls, and the tests were
conducted by Merck itself instead of an impartial
scientific body.  No data has been published showing
effectiveness of the vaccine for viral strains
prevalent in D.C. or for women of different
ethnicities, a major concern for a city with an
African-American majority.

. Public health advocates have asked how much
influence Merck has had in the drafting and
introduction of the legislation in D.C. Council;
according to the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. 
Pharmaceutical firms, including Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), have
donated extensively to the 2006 campaigns of several
Council members, as well as the Fenty campaign
<http://ocf.dc.gov/index.shtm>.


MORE INFORMATION

"Questions about the HPV vaccine to answer before it
becomes mandatory"
Testimony by Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture before D.C.
Council
City Desk, The Progressive Review, February 9, 2007
http://prorev.com/2007/02/questions-about-hpv-vaccine-to-answer.htm

"Texas to acquire poorly tested vaccine"
City Desk, The Progressive Review, February 5, 2007
http://prorev.com/2007/02/texas-to-require-poorly-tested-vaccine.htm


~ END ~







 
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