Saturday, April 16, 2005

So Much Wrong Don't Know Where To Begin

You'd think that a vaccine against cancer - CANCER - would be welcomed with open arms. Specifically, you'd think people would jump at a vaccine for Human Papiloma Virus, which is essentially ubiquitous at this point. And you'd be wrong, you atheistic communist secular humanist activist judge:
In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV,"

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.

"We found that some Asian women in Britain are afraid even to get tested for HPV infection, because they say if it is positive they will be killed, never mind that their husbands probably gave it to them," says Szarewski. She feels that such attitudes may mean that HPV vaccination may be a non-starter in such communities.

Once licensed, the vaccine should be given to younger girls, he says. "But people will say 'My girl is very virtuous, why vaccinate?' It will be a real challenge, not like other vaccines."

Last but not least is the cost. Ganguly is trying to arrange for an HPV vaccine to be produced cheaply in India. But there are fears India's new patent laws will make licensing deals difficult.
So, between religious objections and intellectual property laws, all we've managed to do is create a new category of "preventable deaths." Fan-fucking-tastic. Human civilization should be proud. It's not often that stupidity is so widely seen to cross cultural, class, and national barriers. Kudos to us!

1 comment:

Vicki said...

RRRAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!
I say, let's give HPV to all the naysayers and see if they like THEM apples!

"Oooh, 'I'm a virtuous person, I don't need a vaccine' they said"; "'My morals are better than yours' they said." Weeelllll, LOOK who's laughing now, godboy!