Merck and GSK Fan Fear of Cancer and Warts in Men to Sell HPV Vaccines

by Heidi Stevenson

8 April 2010

Apparently not satisfied with pumping their deadly HPV (human papilloma virus, or herpes) vaccines into girls, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have turned their sights onto men. While they run their pseudo-science trials, they're drumming up fears of a range of cancers and warts. Their primary focus is gay men, but it appears that their goal is to convince doctors that everyone should get a jab of Gardasil or Cervarix.

The cancers they're trying to convince men could be prevented with their vaccines include anal, penile, oral, and throat. There's just one catch: Not one of these cancers has been shown to be caused by herpes papilloma viruses. Of course, that didn't stop them from pushing their deadly toxicants for cervical cancer—or for governmental agencies to refuse approval, in spite of being aware of the lack of demonstrable connection.

Merck's Gardasil is already approved for use against genital warts. The pesky little detail that no one seems interested in telling the public is that genital warts normally are healed permanently in healthy people within two years—as is true of other HPVs. They are not the life-long curse that the fear mongering would have you believe. Of course, fear must be engendered to make people willing to submit to a vaccine that has killed and maimed people.

Lack of Legitimacy on Study of Gardasil and Cancer

Merck has been promoting a trial, which they appear to have controlled, at conferences—though it hasn't been published. This should serve as a warning to anyone considering the study's legitimacy. It means that we're supposed to trust the claims of the company that wants to profit from the results.

Elements of manipulating the trial to get the desired result are clear. The trial was stopped early. This has historically proven to be a flag for hiding undesirable results. In this case, the 3-year trial was halted 3 months early. One must wonder why the trial wasn't completed. Surely, three months isn't that important to a corporation as big as Merck.

There were other flaws. Its results are being used to promote HPV vaccines to gay men, yet only 17% of the participants (608 of 3463 subjects) were homosexual. Some of the placebo takers were suddenly recalled and given Gardasil, and the reason was unexplained. These factors obviously skew the results.

Diane M. Harper MD, who was involved in HPV clinical trials in women, stated,

The study would have to continue for a couple more years before the placebo arm accumulates enough cases to be able to tell if there is truly any prevention of cancer precursors, and hence cancer, in this group.

In other words, the study was too brief for its results to be meaningful. It seems highly likely that the reason for stopping the trial a little early was to gather the best possible data. When this has been done in the past, it has been to hide negative results that would have shown up if the control subjects had been kept on placebo.

Merck says that there are about 2,000 annual cases of anal cancer in men in the US, that 80-90% are "HPV-related", and that 73% of all anal cancers are "associated" with HPV 16. That sounds impressive, until a close analysis of the wording is noted. The terms, "HPV-related" and "associated" are misleading. No cause and effect connection has been documented.

Cause and Effect

The cause and effect issue can easily be illustrated with this claim:

98% of all people in prison started on mashed potatoes.

In the literal sense, that may be true—however, to intimate that mashed potatoes cause crime is obviously absurd. Yet, that's the logic being used to claim that HPV causes cervical—or any other—cancer.

As noted in HPV Testing Does Not Help Identify Cancer Risk, though unintended, the latest study on the issue demonstrates that cause and effect probably does not exist between HPV and cervical cancer.

Nonetheless, Merck plans to take this flimsy data derived from pseudoscience to the FDA and ask for approval to market Gardasil to men. We've already seen what it can do to girls and we have information to show that the basis on which it was originally approved is false. Yet, that doesn't stop Merck.

Meanwhile, the maker of Cervarix, GSK, is trying to do the same thing, but with an even flimsier connection. They're saying that Cervarix can prevent oral and neck cancers with the same tricks, but with a little twist. Not only does GSK have its own pet scientist doing research to show a connection between HPV and oral/neck cancers, but he's written an "editorial" in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) fanning the flames of fear to doctors.

Hisham Mehanna, the lead author of this piece of propaganda presented as the thinking of BMJ's thinking, is the director of Institute of the Head and Neck Studies and Education at University Hospital in Coventry, UK, which is funded by GSK.

In the paper, the claim is made that:

HPV related oropharyngeal carcinoma seems to be a new and distinct disease entity.

Note the use of the word, "related", again. No cause and effect has been noted. Yet, the authors are pushing HPV vaccines, and using the fear of a new epidemic of oropharnygeal cancers to boost vaccines as a preventive measure.

Fear Mongering When It's Convenient

The result of all this is fear mongering in the news media. Cancer is a word that scares most people—but most people don't fixate on a particular kind until they're exposed to it via news media. Reuters has recently produced one of these scare stories. Don't be surprised if you start seeing and hearing more about HPV "related" cancers, especially if it looks like the FDA will approve Gardasil and Cervarix for them. They've already approved them for cervical cancer prevention, though there is no evidence showing that they accomplish that goal—and plenty of evidence that they cause great harm, even death.

The known deaths and disabilities of girls caused directly by the vaccines is treated as unimportant, while fear mongering centers on a discredited link to a type of cancer that is usually treatable.

Yet again, we're seeing that the real interest of Big Pharma and its pseudo-regulating lackeys is profits, not the well-being of people prodded to panic so they can be poked with poisons.

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