S.A.N.E.Vax, Inc.
France says the award winning advertising campaign for Gardasil is false and misleading. The Sanevax Team wants to know – Where was the press coverage when this happened? Why did no one break the news to the public?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Jan 04, 2011 – Amidst all of the media hype surrounding HPV vaccines, the traditional press has remained silent on many critical issues, not the least of which occurred on the 31 of August 2010 in France. As of that date, Merck’s marketing partner for the HPV vaccine Gardasil, Sanofli-Pasteur, was officially prohibited from advertising Gardasil for cervical cancer prevention in France.
According to public documentation, the Director General of the French Agency for Safety of Health Products (AFSSAPS) found the sponsor of several Gardasil ads to be in direct violation of the French public health code.
These violations included, but were not limited to:
* Claiming longer efficacy than was actually proven: The ads stated an 8.5 year efficacy period when, in fact, “the only data of validated efficacy of GARDASIL in the WMA is limited to a maximum assessment of the effectiveness of 4.5 years…..”
* Making false claims: The ads in question replaced the officially approved use of Gardasil for the “prevention of low-grade lesions (cervical dysplasia and vulvar)” with statements indicating Gardasil be used for “the prevention of premalignant genital lesions (cervical uterus, vulva and vagina), cancers of the cervix and external genital warts…..”
*More false claims: According to the French Committee on Immunization Practices (CTV) and the High Council of Public Health (HCSP), “the vaccine’s impact on the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer will only become apparent in the long term, in fifteen to twenty-five years….”
With these and other violations in mind, the Director of AFSSAPS stepped up to the plate and prohibited Sanofli-Pasteur from advertising Gardasil as a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer in France.
The SaneVax Team would like to formally thank the French government for examining the situation and taking appropriate action. We sincerely hope governments around the world follow your example and prohibit pharmaceutical companies from continuing to mislead medical professionals and consumers by distorting data and making claims of facts where none exist.
The SaneVax Team would also like to know why this story was not covered by any of our traditional press counterparts. Where are all of the investigative journalists in the world? One has to wonder.
(Note: Traditional media has ignored this story to such an extent; it took the SaneVax Team some time to confirm the rumor. We had to resort to contacting colleagues working with the Association for those Affected by HPV Vaccines, in Spain to track down official records of the incident. On behalf of medical consumers the world over, SANE Vax, Inc. thanks them for their assistance.)
For more info on AAVP, visit http://www.aavp.es/
# # #
Thank you for this excellent article. Sanevax does impressive and admirable work!
It is comforting to note that the French Agency for Safety of Health Products appears not to be influenced by the pharmaceutical industry.
There are many unanswered questions regarding the advertising situation. One is as stated why the case about advertising in France was not widely referred to in the media both there and elsewhere.
Here in Norway one cannot help but wonder why precisely the same arguments for promoting the vaccine, with the same wording and statistics, are presented to the public in the media by both the manufacturer’s representatives and the health authorities!
The most blatant false claim is that the vaccine is marketed as a “cancer vaccine”. This is not only misleading, it is directly untrue.
We have also observed in information meetings for parents of school children here that doctors and nurses use the term cancer vaccine. The media here also use it frequently. Why do we not read corrections to the media from the authorities?
Representatives from the manufacturer no doubt observe that the vaccine is frequently and incorrectly portrayed as a cancer vaccine, but it probably pays them to turn a blind eye.
It is not surprising that parents and children “buy” the idea of vaccinating when they’re informed by the medical establishment and the media that it is a vaccine which protects against cancer.
The honest information which could be given would be to explain to the public, including parents and children, that it has not been proved that the vaccine decreases the risk of cancer. It removes a few of the many virus strains which may cause HPV infection – and that these may, but may not, decrease the risk of cancer, if the infection persists for many years.
Virologists claim that replacement may occur, where the removed strains may be replaced by more aggressive and possibly cancerogenic strains. This is apparently a normal phenomenon in virology.
It is not known whether any of the ingredients will in time increase the risk of cancer.
It is ironic that the vaccine is termed a cancer vaccine when it may actually increase the risk of cancer. Incredibly, the product documentation states that it has not been tested for cancerogenicity. This should surely be a requirement stipulated by the FDA.
Once again, is the FDA asleep?
Thank you Sandy for your support – and valuable information and insights you add to articles we post.
The SANE Vax Team