Merck Targets Low Income and Minority Women in HPV Vaccine Study.

[Guest guest]

Merck Targets Low Income and Minority Women in HPV Vaccine Study Thursday, September 25, 2008 by: Joanne Waldron

http://www.naturalnews.com/024325.html

(NaturalNews) Merck, manufacturer of the controversial Gardasil vaccine, has awarded a research grant of $79,000.00 to two Indiana University Kelley School of Business professors to study the effect of two interventions on acceptance of the HPV vaccination among low-income and minority women, according to a press release by the university. One professor, Dena Cox, will examine how consumers make health care decisions. Another professor, Anthony Cox, will explore how consumers evaluate the risk factors involved when considering medical treatments.Researchers are Business Experts, Not Medical DoctorsEli Lilly Fellow Dena Cox, who will serve as the principal investigator on the study, was previously a microbiologist before receiving a doctorate in marketing from the University of Houston. Anthony Cox, co-investigator for this study, has a Ph.D. in marketing from Indiana University. Note that neither of these researchers are medical

doctors. According to the press release, it is their job to "seek the most effective ways to present HPV vaccine risk and benefit information to low-income Hispanic, African-American and White women, so that they can make informed HPV vaccination decisions."How Does One Convince Low Income/Minority Women to Get HPV Shot?One may wonder what Merck's idea of an "informed HPV vaccination decision" is. Given Merck's marketing campaign for Gardasil has included ad spots during televisions shows like American Idol and the Oprah Winfrey Show and during movies like Sex in the City, one can only presume that an "informed HPV vaccination decision" is one in which the women in question agree to allow themselves to be given the Gardasil jab. This is why the study is being conducted by marketers and not medical doctors. Make no mistake about it. The purpose of the study is to determine the best ways to convince these low income and minority women to

get this vaccine.Public Starting to Question VaccineIf the vaccine is so great, why does Merck have to spend so much money marketing the vaccine and hiring researchers to determine the best ways to encourage young women to get it? The CDC still insists that the Gardasil vaccine is safe and effective. Why isn't the public buying it?The truth is that Gardasil has been in the news quite a bit lately, and the press has not been good. Parents and young women are questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and rightly so. When there are constantly news stories running about Gardasil linked to things like paralysis, death, and pancreatitis, it is no small wonder that Merck is busy getting business experts to study how to push this vaccine on low income and minority women.Thousands of Families Sue Over Vaccine Link to Autism Thursday, September 25, 2008 by: David Gutierrez(NaturalNe ws) The U.S. Court of Claims is

hearing a series of arguments from parents who charge that vaccines gave their children autism.The claims court is considering arguments from 4,900 parents who say that the vaccines produced autism or neurological problems in their previously normal, healthy children. While the disorder normally develops before the age of three, many of the parents claim that their older children only developed the condition after being vaccinated.In order to deal with the large number of claims, the court's Office of Special Masters ordered lawyers for the families to select three test cases for each of the three vaccine-autism arguments that have been put forward.The group currently being heard claims that autism was produced by a preservative thimerosal, which contains mercury. The vaccine caused mercury to build up in children's brains, the lawyers say, reversing their normal mental development when brain cells became chronically hyperactive

in order to try and purge the metal.Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that is known to cause a variety of developmental and brain problems, especially in children. "In some kids, there's enough of it that it sets off this chronic neuroinflammatory pattern that can lead to regressive autism," attorney Mike Williams said.In the past, many children's vaccines were made with the thimerosal. Although the FDA denies that the thimerosal in vaccines is dangerous, it ordered the chemical phased out of childhood vaccines in 1999. It is currently found only in adult vaccines and in certain multi-dose flu vaccines that are also given to children.Another group of parents, which went before the court in 2007 and has yet to hear a verdict, argued that autism was produced not only by thimerosal, but also by the measles-mumps- rubella (MMR) vaccine, which does not contain the chemical. A third group, to be heard in September, alleges that

only the MMR vaccine produced autism in their children.