One Less at What Cost

"One Less", is a chant that has been heard countless times in many American homes. The image of smiling young girls proclaiming that they will be "One Less" female diagnosed with cervical cancer due to HPV (Human Papillomavirus). The commercial for the Gardasil vaccine is sure to get anyone pumped up about a preventative treatment for cervical cancer. Recently the makers of Gardasil, Merck, have gotten the US government eagerly proposing to make the vaccine mandatory for young girls upon entering the 6th grade. Initially the idea seems great, but after careful analysis of the deeper affects, it proves to be more damaging than helpful. The Gardasil vaccine became FDA approved in June of 2006, after only two years of testing; since that time there have been 3 reports of death and 1,637 reports of adverse effects associated with the Gardasil vaccine documented to VAERS the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (Judicial Watch). The number may seem low, but as time passes and the vaccination is more pervasive, the number will most likely increase exponentially. Due to the short period of time that the vaccine has been approved and the rather short testing trial, there is no known evidence of the long-term effects the vaccine may have. Making the Gardasil vaccine mandatory, especially at such a young age, without the knowledge of its long-term effects is more for financial gain than the well being of the youth and women of America.

Human Papillomavirus or more commonly known as HPV according to Gregory S. Henderson, "is not actually a single virus: rather a family of virus ranging from no noticeable disease to typical warts to flat warts to cancer" (13). In an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association Lawrence Gostin and Catherine DeAngelis points out that