Not being able to use little US girls as guinea pigs, Bush goes after immigrants
Think Progress just discovered that the Bush Administration is forcing HPV vaccines on immigrants :
In July, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services quietly amended its list of required vaccinations for immigrants applying to become citizens. One of the newest requirements? Gardasil, which vaccinates against the human papillomavirus (HPV). From the agency’s press release:
CDC’s revised Technical Instructions to Civil Surgeons for Vaccination Requirements require the following age-appropriate additional vaccinations to adjust status to legal permanent resident:
* Rotavirus
* Hepatitis A
* Meningococcal
* Human papillomavirus
* ZosterThis regulation goes directly against the advice of Dr. Jon Abramson, chairman of the CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices. In Feb. 2007, Abramson said that he and other committee members advised that Gardasil should not be mandatory because HPV is not a communicable disease like chicken pox.
Hey Amanda, am way head of the curve on concerns of Gardasil becoming the next vaccine use "the market" as their guinea pig. Actually, it was 2 YEARS AGO I voiced my concern about Gardasil (against the flow of the Feminist blogging community) in "Somebody needs to smack the head of the FDA : How is Gardasil safe for minors but not Plan B?". One year ago I was praising Bill Richardson for his prudent veto of making it a mandatory vaccines : I support Bill Richardson's decision to veto Gardasil legislation.
From 1994-1997 I worked at Colgate-Palmolive as the communications "developer" for their Consumer Affairs Department. I had to create an electronic copy of their reference manual in a proprietary markup language for an intranet that the representatives of the company used. This was the bible they needed for managing "consumer contacts" online, on the phone or through mail to answer personal injury or property damage complaints among other things.
It's due to my work there and the research I had to do through their legal and R&D that I became privvy of the shenanigans pharmaceutical companies can get away with thanks to the FDAs deregulation in the 1990s. The minimum mandatory testing of a drug that's going to market here in the US would never pass testing standards in Europe or Canada. That's how lax we've become.
Yet this is another reason why more black and latina feminists need to go on regular TV and the MSM to re-frame Choice as a issue of personhood that only has abortion as part of the equation. It's about having the right to "own your own body" and to not have "the government control our bodies by claiming surrogate ownership", be it for any reason, be it public health or national security.
Go read, "Whereas I proceed to tear into the Palin faux feminist memes on CNN", to revisit my thoughts on this subject. Choice is more than just choosing to reproduce. It's intrinsic to the concept of not allowing the possibility of reproductive or biological slavery.
Yeah, you read it right : Slavery.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
Civil Rights | Feminist | Health | Immigrant Rights | slavery | Vaccines | Immigration | Women | Women of Color
I must say, i am torn on
I must say, i am torn on this. I live with a disease that requires a significant amount of medicine to survive. I have been a guinea pig in order to improve my life because of lack of funds and numerous other reasons. I have also suffered from abnormal paps (when I can afford to get them.) The problem is complicated. It is admirable and risky to treat disease, but it should never be done when you know the meds used are harmful. Risk differs from harmful---a new treatment as a last resort or as a breakthrough is not intentional malice. Because of my patient history, it is hard for me to imagine that a mandatory vaccine results in biological slavery WHEN NOT DONE FOR PROFIT AND WHEN IT'S THROUGHLY RESEARCHED. HPV proves such a difficult condition to recognize if you do not break out in warts and safe sex practices do little, if anything, to prevent the transmission. So why shouldn't we clear it up when the alternative is possible infertility or cancer? I see the other side, too---I agree with assisted suicide and making one's own biological choices. But if you sleep with a man who slept with a woman who refused to be vaccinated and you contract a dangerous strain of HPV, how does that help women?
But all that is separate from a proven faulty medication being released on the public. I know this happens quite often. I have been asked to participate in some very dangerous brain scans that did not really assist in the treatment of my condition and the only reason for companies to do them is for research acclaim and money. Look at the meds given to Dennis Quaid's children (confusing labels but the drug company refuses to acknowledge that as an issue so they can save money on a recall); meds used to treat Type II diabetes; the cost of meds and the lack of medical assistance. Drug companies play a major role in all of these horrors. We need to follow the examples of Europe and Canada.
And if they are giving them to poor people or immigrants knowing they will be harmed because they view them as expendable and want to make money, it is really disgusting and they deserve to be in prison.
Plan B should be.
Thank you for sharing this article because I am going to research this vaccine and the immigrant issue now. Please keep us aware of any developments.