The Dangers of Gardasil: Is it Deadly?

The FDA is following up on a recent rash of claims that the drug has been causing more serious, potentially deadly problems.

WASHINGTON, DC (Inside Catholic) - News outlets are abuzz the last couple of days with reports that Gardasil, a vaccine against the human papillomavirus, is causing serious side effects including blood clotting, seizures, and paralysis.

Drug maker Merck stands by its product, claiming that it is both effective and -- minor side effects common to many vaccinations aside -- safe.

The FDA is following up on a recent rash of claims that the drug has been causing more serious, potentially deadly problems, but both it and the CDC have also issued statements standing by the drug's safety.

Most of the reports I've seen and read refer to the drug most prominently as a "vaccine against cervical cancer," fudging or simply omitting the fact that it is a vaccine against HPV (which can cause cervical cancer): a disease transmitted by sexual activity.

Middle-school girls are loaded up with the stuff by their progressive-thinking parents -- a modern mother-daughter rite of passage, I guess, on par with getting the first Pill prescription and, later, a trip to the Clinic -- in preparation for having sex.

The parents, doctors, and school health teachers sprain something congratulating themselves on their responsibility, and the 12-year-olds in their care exchange a chunk of innocence for an imporant lesson: sexual self-control is neither to be expected nor valued.

No wonder, then, that the media treat Gardasil like the chicken pox vaccine. And no wonder that federal watchdogs seem blasé about the harm it may be causing. As with the IUD or RU-486, why should a few health concerns stand in the way of the tools of sexual self-expression?

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