History: 2008
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- History: 2008
Projects undertaken in 2008
Some of the projects undertaken in 2008
Pointing out a few facts about the HPV vaccine
M&CC wrote to the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, asking her to reconsider her decision to approve the Gardasil HPV vaccines in light of shocking evidence showing that at least 18 deaths have been linked to the shots in the US alone. The Minister had announced use of the vaccines for Irish 12-year old girls, saying the measure would prevent the sexually transmitted HPV virus from causing cervical cancer.
M&CC’s media alerts led to press and radio coverage, where M&CC said they were appalled that the Minister had failed to make herself aware of the recent public revelations regarding death and life-threatening adverse reactions caused by the HPV vaccine was now being scheduled to be injected into the bodies of Irish children.
Controversy had arisen regarding HPV vaccines since documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act in 2008 that show the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received reports of up to 20 deaths associated with Gardasil since September 2007, and 140 "serious" reports of adverse reactions, including 27 "life threatening" cases, and 6 cases of the debilitating Guillain-Barre Syndrome since January 2008.
(Note: 2009 FDA documents showed that since its release in 2006, the vaccine has now been linked to 47 deaths. In 2008, the FDA documented 6,723 "adverse events" related to Gardasil; 1,061 were considered "serious," and 142 considered "life threatening" according to the FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS.) The reported side effects included Guilliane-Barré Syndrome, lupus, seizures, paralysis, blood clots and brain inflammation, among others.)
Dr Muiris Houston writing in the Irish Times on 06/08/2008 confirmed that in the US, a possible association between HPV vaccination and Guillian-Barré Syndrome (a rare but acute neurological condition) is being investigated.
Mrs Niamh Uí Bhriain of M&CC said she also wished to draw the Minister’s attention to the warning issued by Canadian epidemiologist, Dr. Abby Lippman of McGill University, who wrote in the August 28, 2007 edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal: “A careful review of the literature, including that submitted by the manufacturer with its application for approval of Gardasil reveals a sufficient number of unanswered questions to lead us to conclude that a universal immunization program aimed at girls and women in Canada is, at this time, premature and could possibly have unintended negative consequences.”
Parents For Children
Parents for Children and the Mother & Child Campaign made a submission to the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children. In their submission, they highlighted the dangers of undermining the status of the family as the best and safest place to rear children and the likely unwillingness of voters to have that status changed.