Gardasil and tanning beds

[AdmiralJim]

I come from a medical background and I find an American perspective fascinating with regards to legality, I am from Scotland in the Uk and we have our own independent legal system seperate from the rest of the UK. Something that seems to be unique in our legal system compared to the states, is something called the gillick principle. children if deemed mature enough are allowed to make medical decisions of even a life and death nature. i have seen cases of child cancer where young teenagers have overruled their parents and refused treatment and have been allowed to die.
with regards to this vaccine, I personally feel that it is a waste of money and that is because we have an excellent universal screening system across here. any girl from the age of 20 upwards receive cervical smears - and this screening system is much cheaper than the vaccine - deaths from cervical cancer are incredibly low. as for the vaccine it only protects against a certain form of hpv and there are many types. people are also pointing towards it protecting against other cancers - the link between hpv and other cancers are quite weak, penile cancer is incredibly rare and will probably be even rarer across the pond where there is a high rate of circumscion. it hasn't been properly established whether it increases the risk of anal cancer - as the medical studies which show this link are mostly in homosexual men where other factors may be at work.
so it is a thumbs down for the vaccine for me and i consider it absolutely foolish to stop the universal tuberculosis vaccine across here where a higher rate of immigration is pushing the number of cases up and the consequences of this are far worse considering multidrug resistant TB is also on the increase.
Another point that seems to get missed is the fact that people should be practising safe sex anyway to protect themselves for STI's anyway.

[Josef]

as for the vaccine it only protects against a certain form of hpv and there are many types.

This is actually incorrect. The vaccine protects against at least four different strains of HPV. They are currently testing to determine how many more it may also cover.

And also, who cares if rates of cervical, penile, and anal cancers are low when they could very well be zero if the vaccine is administered?

[Josef]

... one is prevented from ever contracting multiple strains of HPV ... protects you from ever getting it no matter what and therefore you will stand no chance whatsoever of developing these forms of cancer ... a zero percent chance of me ever transmitting a disease that could lead to cancer to my wife, partner, or whatever.

Gardasil only maintains antibody titers for HPV 16 (not 18, not 11, not 6) at five years, making the true long lasting (five years) coverage of Gardasil only for one type of cancer causing HPV.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g- ... 05472.html

Gardasil does not protect against all types of HPV, and [women] are still at risk for cervical cancer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g- ... 05472.html

Until Merck funds a multi-ethnic efficacy study lasting at least fifteen years, the vaccine should be used primarily by women within the first six years of their onset of sexual activity, to gain the most protection possible ... if they choose to be vaccinated. The women can also choose to continue Pap screening for their lifetime.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g- ... 05472.html

Gardasil is associated with serious adverse events, including death. If Gardasil is given to 11 year olds, and the vaccine does not last at least fifteen years, then there is no benefit - and only risk - for the young girl.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g- ... 05472.html

Your info is incomplete here Karma, its also old and out of date for the most part.
Gardasil the vaccine sold by Merck holds patents and is administered to cover HPV 16, however the vaccine itself, not the one licensed and sold under the name Gardasil is still be tested and further strains of HPV have been shown to be protected against by it.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

...further strains of HPV have been shown to be protected against by it.

For how long?

So far, studies show the protection offered by Gardasil lasts at least five years.
http://www.thehpvtest.com/about-hpv/hpv ... ageCheck=1

Research suggests that vaccine protection is long-lasting. Current studies (with up to about six years of follow-up data) indicate that the vaccines are effective, with no evidence of decreasing immunity.
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv- ... -women.htm

They have no frakkin clue because Merck rammed it through the FDA.

There's no way to know if this vaccine will actually lower the numbers until several DECADES have passed and we see the outcome.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

Here's Merck's own Gardasil package insert

The following adverse events have been spontaneously reported during post-approval use of GARDASIL … Blood and lymphatic system disorders: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, lymphadenopathy. Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders: Pulmonary embolus. Gastrointestinal disorders: Nausea, pancreatitis, vomiting. General disorders and administration site conditions: Asthenia, chills, death, fatigue, malaise. Immune system disorders: Autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, bronchospasm, and urticaria. Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders: Arthralgia, myalgia. Nervous system disorders: Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, dizziness, Guillain-Barré syndrome, headache, motor neuron disease, paralysis, seizures, syncope (including syncope associated with tonic-clonic movements and other seizure-like activity) sometimes resulting in falling with injury, transverse myelitis. Infections and infestations: cellulitis. Vascular disorders: Deep venous thrombosis.

Notice that on this list, there are no less than 8 conditions that are potentially fatal.

[Josef]

Here's Merck's own Gardasil package insert

The following adverse events have been spontaneously reported during post-approval use of GARDASIL … Blood and lymphatic system disorders: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, lymphadenopathy. Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders: Pulmonary embolus. Gastrointestinal disorders: Nausea, pancreatitis, vomiting. General disorders and administration site conditions: Asthenia, chills, death, fatigue, malaise. Immune system disorders: Autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, bronchospasm, and urticaria. Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders: Arthralgia, myalgia. Nervous system disorders: Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, dizziness, Guillain-Barré syndrome, headache, motor neuron disease, paralysis, seizures, syncope (including syncope associated with tonic-clonic movements and other seizure-like activity) sometimes resulting in falling with injury, transverse myelitis. Infections and infestations: cellulitis. Vascular disorders: Deep venous thrombosis.

Notice that on this list, there are no less than 8 conditions that are potentially fatal.

Its called liability. Nearly every prescription drug or vaccine is loaded with this stuff so the companies that sell them can legally cover their backsides. This isnt a surprise, nor is it at all disturbing.

[Josef]

They have no frakkin clue because Merck rammed it through the FDA.

They do have a clue and Merck didnt "ram" it through the FDA. Its very prominent in other countries as well. The FDA has actually been quite conservative with it.
Merck wanted to sell it so they started selling it once it had been approved for HPV 16. This doesnt mean that the doctors who actually developed the vaccine (who do NOT work for Merck) didnt know the vaccines ultimate potential. They actual know it quite well and have known for several years.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

the companies that sell them can legally cover their backsides. This isnt a surprise, nor is it at all disturbing.

Really. Google Bruesewitz vs. Wyeth.

EDIT: http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/24/b ... -vaccines/

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

Its very prominent in other countries as well.

Super duper.

Spanish health authorities have withdrawn tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine against cervical cancer after two teenagers who received the shots were hospitalised, regional authorities said on Tuesday.

A batch of nearly 76,000 doses of the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) was withdrawn from market, a government statement said, after two girls in the eastern Valencia region fell seriously ill hours after receiving them.

"One of the girls got out of intensive care this weekend and the other is still there. Both are in stable condition," a Valencia health department spokeswoman told AFP.

The two girls were vaccinated last week as part of a vast government vaccination programme targeting adolescents.
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/13 ... _from_Jabs

[Josef]

Its very prominent in other countries as well.

Super duper.

Spanish health authorities have withdrawn tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine against cervical cancer after two teenagers who received the shots were hospitalised, regional authorities said on Tuesday.

A batch of nearly 76,000 doses of the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) was withdrawn from market, a government statement said, after two girls in the eastern Valencia region fell seriously ill hours after receiving them.

"One of the girls got out of intensive care this weekend and the other is still there. Both are in stable condition," a Valencia health department spokeswoman told AFP.

The two girls were vaccinated last week as part of a vast government vaccination programme targeting adolescents.
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/13 ... _from_Jabs

People love scary stories.
They always talk about the bad and never the good. We can find examples of individuals who have side effect experiences with any drug or vaccine but that doesnt change the fact that the extremely vast majority do not experience the symptoms or side effects.
The NIH and National Cancer Institute give much more balanced representations of the vaccine than sensational articles that are written to make money just like Merck.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

Merck didnt "ram" it through the FDA.

The FDA approved the marketing of Gardasil on June 8, 2006, after a six-month priority review process reserved for products with the potential to fill an unmet medical need. New cancer treatments or medications are often fast-tracked by the FDA, as well as treatments for AIDS, HIV, and other serious ailments. Most vaccines take at least ten months to review and process. While the FDA is not required to approve fast-tracked vaccines and medicines, it apparently did so due to support for the vaccine from both Merck representatives and recommendation from FDA advisory panels, as well as the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that recommended Gardasil in June 2006 for females between the ages of 9 and 26.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/ ... ecords.pdf

Gardasil is such a new drug that it is impossible to say at this point how beneficial it may be. Most scientists, including Dr. Diane Harper, agree that booster shots will be needed, and guess that the original vaccine will be effective for at least five years. It is important to emphasize that regardless of how effective Gardasil is, it does not protect against all HPV strains and it will never eliminate the need for regular testing and Pap screening.

Gardasil’s safety for the general public is a serious concern. While no drug is ever completely risk-free, a careful analysis must be made as to whether the benefits are worth the costs. HPV, though potentially devastating, is quite often completely harmless. Most HPV infections, even ones caused by high-risk strains, go away on their own and never develop into cancer. Even when they do, in most cases it takes years for cancer to occur and it is easily preventable as long as the HPV infection is detected early. Even without Gardasil, cervical cancer deaths have decreased drastically in the past several decades. The American Cancer Society estimates that deaths from cervical cancer declined 74% between 1955 and 1992, and that the rate continues to decrease by about 4% each year. Also, most cases occur in women in their forties.

With these statistics in mind, one might ask whether Gardasil vaccination is absolutely necessary, especially for children. At this point in time, we do not know if it will prevent cancer, or whether it will have unforeseen consequences. The American public must ask themselves if Gardasil is really worth the risk. Fast-tracking drugs and vaccines before their safety has been fully evaluated is unethical and dangerous, and until more tests have been completed on Gardasil no vaccination mandates should be established.

• Gardasil has not been tested thoroughly enough to know whether it will be safe or effective in the long term.
• Even if it shown that the Gardasil vaccine is effective, it is still unknown how long the vaccine lasts or if there will be a need for booster shots.
• Regardless of its potential to help prevent HPV and cancer, Gardasil should never be administered without a prescreening for HPV since it has the potential to make existing cases worsen.
• It is important that people remember that this vaccine will not eliminate the need for regular Pap screening. No vaccine is 100% effective, and Gardasil is designed to protect against only four strands of HPV.
• While Gardasil may be an important medical advance, it is unwise to compromise the health and safety of the American public, especially children, by mandating or marketing it before sufficient tests are concluded.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/ ... ecords.pdf

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

...sensational articles that are written to make money just like Merck.

Kind of like the above report by Judicial Watch or this one by the Huffington Post?

What The Tea Party -- And Everyone Else -- Missed On Gardasil®

Has broadcast news been subconsciously bullied, compromised by the large amount of ad dollars pharmaceutical companies have pumped into their shrinking flagship programs?

Or was it just too hard to resist focusing on another Michele Bachmann gaffe instead of the most important thing she, or just about anyone has had to say in the Republican campaign for president: that the government should not mandate vaccinating our daughters with the controversial drug, Gardasil®.

In 2008, The New York Times raised some of the first serious questions about the safety and efficacy of the drug, Gardasil®, exposing Merck and Co's marketing slight of hand to peddle the new cervical cancer vaccine to girls age 9 to 26.

Since then, the number of girls (and some boys) who have taken the triple-dose vaccine has doubled -- 35 million doses have now been administered in the U.S. with millions more in Canada and around the world.

With their early call to action so widely ignored, it was somewhat ironic that The New York Times found such a strange bedfellow in Michele Bachmann who, in the middle of the televised Tea Party debate, blasted her Republican opponent Rick Perry for signing an executive order in Texas to mandate the controversial vaccine for all girls in his state.

Unfortunately, instead of shining light on a health issue certainly worthy of a presidential-level debate, Rep. Bachmann only succeeded in muddying the already murky waters when she appeared on the "Today Show" and spoke about a random mother who had just shared an (unvetted) story how her daughter suffered "mental retardation" after a Gardasil® injection. (It is important to note that there has been no evidence that there is an association between Gardasil® and cognitive or behavioral disorders.)

The long-abandoned, cringe-inspiring term, "mental retardation," was enough on its own to invite a backlash. Unfortunately, too many journalists focused on the moment's "gotcha" than the broader truths about the drug.

As a result, we the American public are no better informed of Gardasil®'s risks, benefits or effectiveness than before. Equally bothersome: Many of our favorite TV docs piped in to assure us that 35 million doses is proof Gardasil® must be okay. Sadly, I believe that the current debate is still a farce.

What I Found Today On The Website Of The Centers For Disease Control

The CDC manages something called The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) which is supposed to serve as an early warning system to help the CDC and FDA detect possible side effects after vaccinations, or adverse events not identified during clinical trials. The public, including vaccine recipients, parents, other family members, doctors, health-care workers -- even vaccine manufacturers -- are all encouraged to report online.

This is what's currently online about Gardasil® :


Reports to VAERS Following Gardasil®
As of June 22, 2011, approximately 35 million doses of Gardasil® were distributed in the U.S. and VAERS received a total of 18,727 reports of adverse events following Gardasil® vaccination ... 8 percent were considered serious.

Deaths
As of June 22, 2011 there have been a total 68 VAERS reports of death among those who have received Gardasil®. There were 54 reports among females, three were among males and 11 were reports of unknown gender. Thirty-two of the total death reports have been confirmed and 36 remain unconfirmed due to no identifiable patient information in the report such as a name and contact information to confirm the report. A death report is confirmed (verified) after a medical doctor reviews the report and any associated records. In the 32 reports confirmed, there was no unusual pattern or clustering to the deaths that would suggest that they were caused by the vaccine and some reports indicated a cause of death unrelated to vaccination.
Merck maintains Gardasil® is safe and effective, and the illnesses and injuries reported to VAERS are consistent with what you would find in a general population of girls that age.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reiterated their support for Gardasil® last week calling its safety record after 35 million doses "excellent."

How do they know? The CDC says that VAERS data cannot be used to form any conclusions between the vaccine and any of the 17,000 reports of adverse events; it's not designed to help determine if the adverse event is coincidental or was caused by the vaccination.

One of the biggest critics of VAERS is Diane Harper, one of the original lead researchers for Gardasil®. In 2009, she published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) revealing most of the adverse reports on VAERS were in fact, get this, supplied by Merck:

The majority of the reports (68 percent) were submitted by the manufacturer (Merck & Co), which the authors say compares with a rate of 40 percent from manufacturers of other vaccines. But for nearly 90 percent of these reports, Merck & Co. would not provide the CDC with any follow-up information to investigate possible statistical causality link. As the authors pointed out in the article, this is unusual behavior for a pharmaceutical company, Dr. Harper comments. During the same reporting period, manufacturers reported only 14.5 percent of the adverse events associated with Menactra (a meningitis vaccine from sanofi pasteur) and only 7.5 percent of the adverse events associated with Adacel (a tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis booster vaccine from sanofi pasteur), she points out.
"Why would Merck make a concentrated effort at reporting nearly 70 percent of the adverse events for Gardasil if they did not want to control the information?" Dr. Harper comments. "Legislation needs to be enacted to require adverse events reported to pharma to include medical and contact information for potential follow-up by the CDC."

Dr. Harper, who is also professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, says "HPV vaccination is generally safe for most girls or women," but she and her co-authors also call the adverse events reported: "quite significant," noting fainting and blood clots occurred at greater rates than other vaccines and at a higher rate than reported in Gardasil®'s clinical trials. There is also a fair share of reports about Guillaume-Barre syndrome, but again, with little or no follow-up.

VAERS doesn't exactly promote transparency. If you're looking on their site to find the most recent reports of side effects in 2011, this is what you'll see:

415263,HPV4,MERCK & CO. INC.,0644Z,1,IM,LA,HPV (GARDASIL)
416885,HPV4,MERCK & CO. INC.,0992Z,0,IM,LA,HPV (GARDASIL)
416898,HPV4,MERCK & CO. INC.,1437Z,0,IM,RA,HPV (GARDASIL)
417329,HPV4,MERCK & CO. INC.,1099Y,1,IM,UN,HPV (GARDASIL)

If you want more details, you'll have to file under the Freedom of Information Act as did the consumer watchdog group, Judicial Watch. Here is what one individual case looks like, part of the larger report they published in 2008:

FDA Freedom of Information Distribution
Case received from the Health Authority on 17-JUN-2009 under the reference number PEI 2009012220. The original reporting was done by an alternative healer (non-medical practitioner). It was reported that a 12-year-old female patient was vaccinated with a first dose of GARDASIL (lot # 1050U, batch # NH32130, IM, injection site not reported) on 09-JAN-2009. One day post vaccination the patient developed asthenia, headache and sleepiness which improved the following day. A few days later symptoms recurred and subsequently worsened. Pediatric, neurological and cardiac examinations were carried out and a mild pericardial effusion was diagnosed. Three weeks post vaccination the patient was very weak especially gait, posture and the left arm more than the right arm. GUILLAIN-BARRE syndrome was suspected. At the time of reporting to Health Authority on 25-FEB-2009 the patient had not recovered. Health Authority coded also myasthenia. GUILLAIN-BARRE syndrome, asthenia, headache, sleepiness and pericardial effusion were reported as other important medical event. Other business partner numbers include E2009-05040. No further information is available. File closed.

No Conditions, Not Serious

Not serious? No further information available?

Judicial Watch uncovered a half a dozen cases of Guillane-Barre syndrome plus reports containing symptoms such as "anaphylactic shock," "foaming at mouth," "grand mal convulsion," "coma" and "now paralyzed. "

The document also reveals the case of an 18-year-old woman who was vaccinated with Gardasil, found unconscious that evening and died. Another woman, 19, was vaccinated and then found dead in her bed the next morning.

Before We Argue "Is It Safe?" Shouldn't We Know If It's Effective?

The Gardasil® package warns the protection of the vaccine "may wear off." A document on their website "prescribing information" was updated in April to add: "Vaccination with GARDASIL® may not result in protection in all vaccine recipients."

Why don't they know for sure?

The drug barreled through the FDA for approval in a record six months, before it could be tracked for five or 10 years like most vaccines. It is likely that boosters for Gardasil® will be needed every seven to 10 years as do most aluminum-based vaccines, like Gardasil®. This certainly adds to the cost which, in some areas, already reaches $1,000 for the three doses prescribed.

Is Gardasil® Even Necessary?

I, for one, have come to believe Gardasil® has never been about great health care, it's about great marketing. In 2008, Merck's Gardasil® team swept the Pharma industry awards winning honors for Best Branded TV, Best Branded Print and Best Integrated Campaign.

Merck was also named Marketer of the Year at the awards show. Agency of the Year went to DDB, whose New York office handles consumer advertising for the Merck HPV vaccine.

The award-winning commercials flooded the market, often appearing in high-profile films like "Sex & the City."

Another part of the marketing campaign, lower profile but just as aggressive, included recruiting and training of hundreds of doctors to give talks about Gardasil® for $4,500 for a lecture, with some earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Politicians were wined and dined, lobbied to legislate against this global killer. And former state officials, such as Texas Governor Rick Perry's chief of staff, were recruited to lobby former colleagues.

At the time of the Gardasil® roll out, I wondered why the sudden hysteria about cervical cancer -- one of the slowest growing cancers, and certainly among the easiest to detect with an annual pap smear.

Even if you have a false negative one year, next year's pap test will catch it in plenty of time as it takes those abnormal cells about a decade to turn into cancer. I have many friends whose abnormal cells were scraped, lasered or frozen into oblivion after a simple pap test.

But suddenly, with the marketing of Gardasil®, I believe that cervical cancer became a new generation's boogie man.

We learned that the human papollomavirus (HPV), strains of which can cause cervical cancer, affects 75 to 80 percent of sexually active men and women during their lifetime, although most clears on its own.

And we heard this scary statistic resonating throughout the Gardasil® marketing campaigns: Cervical cancer is the second top cancer killer of women.

The reality check: 95 percent of women who die of cervical cancer live in developing countries without access to the pap smears (and in countries where the cost of an HPV vaccine would be prohibitive.) In the U.S. there are about 3,600 deaths a year, many in concert with HIV infections.

Cervical cancer in America does not even rank in the top 10 deadliest cancers.

After the 2008 NYT expose, the chairman of Merck wrote a letter to the editor arguing that the paper minimized the risks of HPV which, he re-emphasized, kills 10 American women a day. He also asked why not one quote was offered from a cervical cancer survivor, widower or motherless child.

Maybe they couldn't find anyone willing to join Merck's marketing campaign. You see, Gardasil® does not prevent cervical cancer. When it is effective, the vaccine prevents the transmission of certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), strains which cause 70 percent of cervical cancer.

Just 70 percent? Yes, women are still advised to get annual an annual pap smear regardless of having the vaccine.

New Competition, New Applications, Old Marketing Strategies

Besides Merck & Company, GlaxoSmithKline markets its own HPV vaccine, Cervarix®. Last month, the National Institutes of Health reported the results of a study of more than 4,000 women in Costa Rica between 18 and 25 who were given the drug and followed for four years. Press releases said Cevarix prevented 62 percent of anal cancers and 77 percent of cervical cancers caused by HPV infection compared with rates in the general population. Headlines focused on the success fighting anal cancer.

The FDA recently approved Gardasil® to also be marketed for prevention of anal cancer, a cancer even more rare than cervical cancer with just over 5,000 cases diagnosed each year. And again, a pap test is often used to detect anal cancer.

Today, you can follow the spread of marketing for the HPV vaccines, specifically with the increasing amount of people suggesting the HPV vaccines for boys.

As a side note, the cost of a mass HPV vaccination project just for girls is estimated to equal the entire budget for vaccinating Americans for measles, influenza, polio and other life-threatening diseases that can turn into an epidemic by the most passive exposure -- sneezing on a bus, wading in a public pool, sitting in a classroom.

On a personal note: I am not against vaccines and was among the first to spot the British wacko who falsified his scientific data and scared the world about a link to autism. I get flu vaccines every October and many other vaccines as recommended. With that disclosure, I issue this appeal to all anchors, political reporters and TV docs who have missed the real story about Gardasil in 2008 and now:

Please don't move on so fast after the fun of a candidate's misstatements. Wake up and smell the coffee, then click on to any one of these YouTube links and take a peek at the postings of some mothers, random health care workers and a bunch of young girls who, after all, are the ones bearing all the risks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shelley-r ... 68860.html

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

Again, I have given you a mountain of reason, logic and evidence. All you have are your own statements backed up by nothing, such as "I know a guy", "bullshit" and "conspiracy wackos".

[Josef]

Again, I have given you a mountain of reason, logic and evidence. All you have are your own statements backed up by nothing, such as "I know a guy", "bullshit" and "conspiracy wackos".

Not at all true.
What you have given are sensationalized articles and youtube videos. Judicial Watch and HuffPo clearly have always had political and social objectives, its comical that you would try to present them as objective and free of bias. I have given you actual information about the vaccine along with references to other places you can go to get legitimate info ( NIH and NCI ).
Your accusation is baseless, just like your "evidence".
Sorry.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

Neener.

[AdmiralJim]

Nangwa you haven't refuted all of my points. my main points were we do not know if it will actually protect against the cancers you are suggesting it does because the medical evidence is weak. plus woman will still need cervical smears anyway because there is no 100% certainty any vaccine, it isnt cost effective and i do care about that because it wastes resources for other patients. i think this is another case of people looking stuff up on google and thinking that they can equal my medical degree, so i will probably waste my time by posting this. and your statement regarding other cancers is illogical, it is a bit like sprinkling gold dust around your house to keep tigers away when there arent any anyway. as i said most studies studying anal cancer and the link to hpv are poorly constructed. in the uk there are advocates that the screening system be scrapped after introduction of the vaccine, this would be disastrous and cervical cancer deaths that could have been avoided will increase!