Chupacabra report

News that gets my goat..

The Marketplace program on NPR had a story today from the Journal of the American Medical Association about the marketing of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, which has been given to millions of teen-aged girls to protect them against the human papillomavirus.

“Yesterday, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that there are side-effects from the vaccine. Nothing terribly unusual. But the Journal did find something unusual in the marketing of the vaccine. The article says three professional medical associations, or PMAs, talked up the benefits of Gardasil and downplayed the side effects, just like Merck's own marketing campaign to introduce the vaccine. The mission of PMAs is really education, writing guidelines. Not just promoting a product. That's what happened here was this blurring that went on.

“A Merck spokesperson declined to be interviewed for this story. The company acknowledges putting up the money for educational materials. Though Merck says there were no strings attached, and it never told the medical associations what to say. But the article's authors say that's still a conflict of interest.”

-Conflict of interest? JAMA could have found that in Texas two years ago when Governor Rick Perry ordered that all sixth-grade girls in Texas get the shot. He went the executive order route knowing that he could never get such a bill past the trogs in his Texas Legislature, even with a parental preference/religious (loon) opt-out included. Why would no-choice, no-stemcell, no-CHIP expansion Perry suddenly be so proactive on a public health issue? Would it be because Gardasil manufacturer Merck hired his ex-chief of staff Mike Toomey as a lobbyist? Or was it because Merck PAC made a $6,000 contribution to Perry’s campaign fund?

At least he didn’t give them a boatload of cash from his Texas Enterprise (slush)Fund.