CAL Watchdog
SEPT. 6, 2011
By JOHN SEILER
Key California legislators passing an anti-parent bill grabbed campaign financing from the gigantic Merck conglomerate, a CalWatchDog.com investigation revealed. The legislation is AB 499 by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. In the bill’s language, it “authorizes a minor, who is 12 years of age or older, to consent to medical care related to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease.”
Current law allows such care only with a parent’s permission. AB 499 passed both houses of the Legislature and awaits a decision by Gov. Jerry Brown.
AB 499 commonly is called the “Gardasil Bill” because the major drug to be administered to 12-year-old girls — without their parents’ consent — is Gardasil, manufactured by Merck. According to Merck’s Gardasil Web site:
GARDASIL is the only human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that helps protect against 4 types of HPV. In girls and young women ages 9 to 26, GARDASIL helps protect against 2 types of HPV that cause about 75% of cervical cancer cases, and 2 more types that cause 90% of genital warts cases. In boys and young men ages 9 to 26, GARDASIL helps protect against 90% of genital warts cases.
GARDASIL also helps protect girls and young women ages 9 to 26 against 70% of vaginal cancer cases and up to 50% of vulvar cancer cases.
But the drug is not without risk. The Web site itself cautions:
The side effects include pain, swelling, itching, bruising, and redness at the injection site, headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and fainting. Fainting can happen after getting GARDASIL. Sometimes people who faint can fall and hurt themselves. For this reason, your health care professional may ask you to sit or lie down for 15 minutes after you get GARDASIL. Some people who faint might shake or become stiff. This may require evaluation or treatment by your health care professional.
So, your lovely little girl comes home from school, faints, shakes and becomes stiff. And you have no idea why.
Merck Contributions
I cross-matched the votes for AB 499 in the Legislature with Merck Corporate PAC Contributions in 2010 and came up with this list:
Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, $2,000
Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, $2,500
Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, $1,000
Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, $1,500
Juan Vargas, D-Chula Vista, $3,500
Alex Padilla, D-San Fernando Valley, $300
Curren Price, D-Los Angeles, $1,700
Roderick D. Wright, D-Inglewood, $1,500
Lois Wolk, D-Vacaville, $2,000
Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, $1,500
Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista, $1,000
Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, $1,500
V. Manuel Perez, D-Indio, $1,500
Richard Pan, D-East Sacramento, $1,000
Bill Monning, D-Santa Cruz, $1,500
Felipe Fuentes, D-Arleta, $1,500
Holly J. Mitchell, D-Culver City, $2,500
Speaker John A. Perez, D-Los Angeles, $1,500
Ricardo Lara, D-South Gate, $1,000
Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, $1,500
Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, $1,000
Nancy Skinner, D-Oakland, $2,500
Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana, $1,500
Steven Bradford, D-Inglewood, $1,500
Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, $1,000
Total that Merck donated to legislators voting yea on AB 499: $39,500
Read Full Article…
Leave a Reply