Deaths Associated with HPV Vaccine Start Rolling In, Over 3500 Adverse
Affects Reported

By John-Henry Westen

TORONTO, September 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews. com) - As Canada, in large part
due to aggressive behind the scenes lobbying, rolls out the
not-comprehensively -tested Merck HPV vaccine for girls as young as
nine, a
look at developments on the vaccine south of the border should cause
Canadians serious concern. In the United States a similar lobby
campaign by
the same company launched the mass HPV vaccination of girls beginning in
June last year.

In just little over a year, the HPV vaccine has been associated with at
least five deaths, not to mention thousands of reports of adverse effects,
hundreds deemed serious, and many that required hospitalization.

Judicial Watch, a U.S. government watchdog, became concerned while noting
large donations to key politicians originating from Merck. A freedom of
information request from the group in May of this year discovered that
during the period from June 8, 2006 - when the vaccines received approval
from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - to May 2007 there were
1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine reported to the FDA.

Three deaths were related to the vaccine, including one of a 12-year-old.
One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood
clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine." Two other
reports, on
girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood
clotting.

As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported
to the
FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371
serious reactions. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while
pregnant,
18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal
abnormities.

Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential
pain,
fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed,
77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to
vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include
paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.

Judicial Watch informed LifeSiteNews. com that a subsequent request for
information on adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine, covering the period
from May 2007 to September 2007, found that an additional 1800 adverse
reactions have been reported, including more deaths. Exactly how many more
deaths occurred will be released in the coming days, Judicial Watch's Dee
Grothe informed LifeSiteNews. com.

The LifeSiteNews. com report on the moneyed lobbying efforts of Merck
in the
U.S. was reported in February. (see
http://www.lifesite .net/ldn/ 2007/feb/ 07020204. html )

However the Canadian lobby effort by Merck's Canadian affiliate Merck
Frosst
Canada has been underway using powerful lobbyists with close
connections to
the politicians who have signed off on massive government funded
vaccination
programs.

The Toronto Star recently reported that Merck Frosst Canada Ltd hired
public
relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using
some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy
adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with
Premier Dalton McGuinty's office; and Jason Grier, former chief of
staff to
Health Minister George Smitherman.

Harper's Conservative Government approved Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil in
July and later announced a $300 million program to give the vaccine to
girls
from ages 9-13. That of course is only the beginning of what Merck likely
hopes will be a much larger vaccination of all potentially sexually active
women in Canada who are not already HPV infected. In August, McGuinty's
Ontario Liberals, on the advice of his Health Minister George Smitherman,
announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.

One of the major complaints by physicians is that the HPV vaccination
program has been implemented before adequate testing has been completed.
Long-term effects of the vaccine remain unknown. Many are asking why the
seemingly reckless rush?

At least one answer to that question comes from the fact that Merck
currently is the sole provider of an HPV vaccine with its Gardasil
product.
A competing HPV vaccine, Glaxo Smith Kline's Cervarix, is set to hit the
market in January 2008. As more children are vaccinated with Gardasil,
fewer
will be able to later receive the necessary repeat boosters of a
competing,
incompatible vaccine. Merck is in a race to capture as much of the
market as
it can, consuming many millions of taxpayer dollars.

U.S. sales of Gardasil are expected to reach $1 billion in the first
year of
its availability.

Read Previous LifeSiteNews. com coverage:

The reports from the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detailing
the three previous deaths are available here:
http://www.lifesite news.com/ ldn/2007_ docs/GardasilVAE RSDeath.. .
<http://www.lifesite news.com/ ldn/2007_ docs/GardasilVAE RSDeaths. pdf>

The reports detailing all 1637 adverse effects are here:
http://www.lifesite news.com/ ldn/2007_ docs/GardasilVAE RSRepor.. .
<http://www.lifesite news.com/ ldn/2007_ docs/GardasilVAE RSReports. pdf>