Currently, there are more than 30 different known forms of sexually transmitted disease in our world. Human papilloma virus (HPV) is just one such sexually transmitted disease and HPV itself involves more than 160 different strains.
HPV can affect both males and females. HPV is not spread through the air or through casual, platonic exposure; it is spread through genital contact of any type with an infected person. Sexual intercourse is not necessary. Further, HPV is not prevented through use of condoms.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in the United States, an estimated 75% to 80% of males and females will be infected with HPV in their lifetime. There are about 6 million new cases of genital HPV in the United States each year. It’s estimated that 74% of them occur in 15- to 24-year-olds. [1]
Many people who have HPV don’t even know it, because the virus often has no signs or symptoms. That means you can get the virus or pass it on to your partner without knowing it. In other cases, HPV causes genital warts.
70% of HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment in one year and 90% after two years. Of the remaining 10% of infections, only half are linked to cervical cancer. The HPV virus does not directly cause cervical cancer – rather, it is persistent HPV infection that can increase the incidence of pre-cancerous lesions leading to cervical cancer. Those risks are doubled by long-term oral contraceptive use in HPV-infected girls/women.
However, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation, HPV has been shown to be linked to an increasing incidence of oral cancers due to the fact that HPV can be transmitted between partners via oral sex. [2]
Most media outlets have described the highly touted Gardasil, produced by Merck Pharmaceuticals, as a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. This is erroneous and has created a very distorted perception in the eyes of the general public. Gardasil is a vaccine against one form of a sexually transmitted disease, not cancer! (Note also that cervical cancer may be caused by factors other than HPV infection as well.)
Gardasil is a vaccine designed to protect against two of the HPV strains which are believed to be linked to cervical cancer (Types 16 and 18) and another two strains which cause genital warts (Types 6 and 11). This still leaves those vaccinated susceptible to another 11 strains which are associated with cervical cancer as well as the host of other HPV strains.
According to the American Cancer Society, the cervical cancer death rate declined by 74% between 1955 and 1992 and continues to decline by nearly 4% annually due to regular PAP tests. The U.S. cervical cancer rate is 8 per 100,000 women. It is one of the most treatable forms of cancer with a death rate of 1.6 to 3.7 per 100,000 cases. [3]
Despite the fact that a number of high profile doctors and nonprofit groups funded by Merck are touting Gardasil as a means of preventing cervical cancer, clinical trials never tested for prevention of cervical cancer. The vaccine was tested for prevention of pre-cancerous lesions associated with just two strains of HPV! Since these lesions can take 12 to 20 years to develop into cervical cancer and the clinical trials lasted less than five years, medical experts warn that the jury is still out on what impact this vaccine might have on cervical cancer rates.
Alarming Facts about Gardasil:
Gardasil increases the risk of cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions by 44.6% in girls who may already have one of the 4 HPV viruses in the vaccine. This is significant because pre-vaccination screening will not detect a specific type of HPV, rendering Gardasil potentially lethal for sexually active girls.
Gardasil contains Polysorbate 80 which is known to cause infertility in mice, anaphylactic shock and immune system problems in humans. Fertility impairment was studied in rats, not humans.
Gardasil may cause unexpected immunological side effects, reducing the body’s resistance to the other types of HPV.
Gardasil has not been tested for efficacy in girls under 15 years old, yet it is recommended for girls as young as nine.
As of January 15, 2011, over 21,000 adverse reactions from Merck’s Gardasil vaccine were reported to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) following Gardasil vaccination including:
147 miscarriages Stroke
Genital warts Guillain-Barre Syndrome
Ovarian cysts Multiple recurring seizures
Cardiac arrest Multiple Sclerosis
Lupus Neural inflammation
Paralysis Menstruation cessation
Blood clots Permanent disabilities [5]
And 91 deaths.
For more information, see the website of Sane Vax, Inc. at http://sanevax.org/.
[1] Centers for Disease Control, Facts about HPV, http://www.cdc.gov/STD/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm
[2] Millette, Rebecca, “Oral sex causing oral cancer rates to rise: studies,” http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/oral-sex-causing-oral-cancer-rates-to-rise-studies/
[3] American Cancer Society, “What are the Key Statistics about Cervical Cancer?” Oct 28, 2009, www.cancer.org
[4] Sawaya, George F., M.D., and Smith-McCune, Karen, M.D., Ph.D., “HPV Vaccination — More Answers, More Questions,” New England Journal of Medicine, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe078060
[5] “Gardasil – One Less … Or One More?” Children of God for Life, www.cogforlife.org