Gardasil In The News -- Sorta

Moron More on Gardasil...

I'm sure you've heard about Michelle Bachmann stepping in it again, this time taking one individual and unverified comment and making the claim that "Gardasil led to mental retardation." I won't jump to Bachmann's defense; but, as usual, I continue to harbor more than reservations about the vaccine -- how can you ignore deaths?

But there's more to the story... Check it out at my other blog: In Which Gardasil & I *Almost* Make The News (Or, Ethics In Medicine & Media).

It's Not Like I Didn't Warn You

I've warned you about Gardasil, now Dr. Mercola says, "Don't Give This to Your Daughter - Despite What Your Doctor Says."

The word is out: despite what the CDC would have you believe, Gardasil's safety record is in serious question. As of September 28, 2010, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) has more than 18,000 Gardasil-related adverse events listed in it, including at least 65 deaths.

As a vaccine used in the developed world, the science speaks for itself: Gardasil can't – and never will -- replace Pap smears, which are the reason that the incidence of cervical cancer is so low in the United States after decades of including pap smears in routine medical care for women.

Today, cervical cancer is not even in the top 10 cancers that kill American women every year.

As a vaccine for children, it doesn't make sense to vaccinate to try to prevent an infection that is cleared from your body without any negative effects within two years in most healthy persons, and is not transmitted in a school setting like other airborne diseases that are easily transmitted in crowded conditions.

Gardasil is designed to prevent only two of at least 15 strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer in those who do not clear the virus from their body within two years and become chronically infected.

There is also some evidence that Gardasil-induced immunity may wane after about five years. Pre-licensure clinical trials did not follow young girls or women for decades to find out if the vaccine does, in fact, prevent cervical cancer.

You can -- and should -- read more about the science vs. the politics of the Gardasil fiasco; especially if you either weren't listening to me before or somehow missed those of us who had raised our ire and eyebrows regarding the vaccine.

What interests me most now is how Dr. Mercola's article supports what I've been saying about the new eugenics in this country. From Dr. Mercola's article:

[C]ertain populations in the US are more prone to getting cervical cancer. According to CervicalCancerCampaign.org:

"Cervical cancer occurs most often in certain groups of women in the United States including African-American women, Hispanic women, white (non-Hispanic) women living in rural New York State and northern New England, American Indian women, and Vietnamese-American women.

• Hispanic women have twice the rate of cervical cancer compared to non-Hispanic white women. African-American women develop this cancer about 50 percent more than non-Hispanic white women".

These disparities are due, in part, from poor access to health care. The women who are most at risk for the disease are women who do not have regular check-ups that include pap tests.

Official reports from the CDC and WHO estimate that between 11,000 and 12,000 women in the US are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and 3,800 to 4,100 die from it.

About half of these women had never had a pap smear before they discovered they had cervical cancer. The majority of the others had not had a pap smear within the previous five years.

According to the CDC's report on HPV to Congress in 2004:

"Cervical cancer is an uncommon consequence of HPV infection in women, especially if they are screened for cancer regularly with pap tests and have appropriate follow-up of abnormalities.

The purpose of screening with the pap test is to detect cervical abnormalities that can be treated, thereby preventing progression to invasive cervical cancer, and also to detect invasive cervical cancer at a very early stage. If detected early and managed promptly, survival rates for cervical cancer are over 90 percent."

A study published in 2000 in the Archives of Family Medicine also showed that in the US, women who are elderly, unmarried, and uninsured are more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage of cervical cancer.

I Hate To Be Right When Girls Die

Seems my continual skepticism and concern regarding Gardasil isn't unwarranted; the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has called for the immediate suspension of the cervical cancer control vaccination program after after four deaths (and complications among 120 girls) in the program were reported.

You Know Sex Ed Is Really Bad When...

Cosmo can't even get it right. In their instructions for Sex Position of the Day: Sensual Shower, their diagram for how to achieve erotic thrills literally misses the mark -- the genitals don't even line up.




I guess the abstinence folks will start distributing this sort of diagram to prevent copulation; but I'm sure, in their frustration, people will just assume the missionary.

For more help in accurately discussing sex with your kids, check out the marvelous Beyond The Birds & The Bees.

Help!

I've been crying all day...

I just learned that in eight states and Washington, D.C., insurance companies are legally allowed to blame victims of domestic violence by denying them coverage -- claiming that it's a "pre-existing condition."

As a survivor of domestic violence, I find this appalling, unacceptable, immoral, and intolerable. Even if I had not lived it, did not still struggle with the impact and effects upon myself and my family, I'd still be horrified.

Why do we, as a country, go on talking about those "bad men" in other places who impose sexist rules and prohibit their women from the same rights afforded to men, but allow the victimization of American women & children with such foul practices disguised as legal business practices? Why do we condone and sanction victim blaming?

Insurance industry executives will be appearing before a House subcommittee hearing this Thursday to testify on insurance industry practices like this one -- will you join me in asking the subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Kucinich, to demand answers from them about this policy?

It's easy online -- just use this form. Or you can make phone calls to your representatives. Please be sure to address the issue of domestic violence coverage, that the institutionalized victim blaming is flat-out unacceptable.

I used the form and made phone calls.

But I'm still crying -- what country is this?!

Fashion's All The Rage

Since the wonderful Elizabeth is talking about the horrific fashions for girls, I feel compelled to point out my earlier post about such things (including horrible things for boys & infants!) and to point out my questioning ode to The Golden Age of T-Shirt Iron-Ons. Also see Slip of a Girl's battle with the school over a bra strap.

My Reviews Are Honest, How About Yours?

All my reviews, no matter where they are published, are honest.

But I'm so sick of hearing about & being suspicious of "blog-ola," paid postings, and other forms of payola -- why can't people & companies just be ethical? that I ranted.

The biggest offenders are the ones complaining about FTC involvement -- they should worry.

Who Will Guide The Light?

CBS has canceled the 72 year old soap Guiding Light, the longest-running scripted program in broadcasting history, because CBS didn't care to face the realities of today's audience and their media viewing habits.

They did try a few things to "save" the show, most notably reducing the quality by switching to hand-held digital cameras, lights and microphones (which was horrid), but they sure didn't give it the old Springfield try.

It's a shame too. Guiding Light wasn't just a show I grew up with, it had produced some quality actors including Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson and Julianne Moore along the way -- a testament to the production quality it once had.

Sure, I'll admit I've stopped watching it. First I reduced to one or two times a week because I work at home (emphasis on work at home) and my day is not conducive to breaks scheduled around TV shows. Once the digital crap hit, I was less interested in making the effort. And the more time you spend away from soaps, the more effort you need to put into figuring them out. So you resist.

Some would argue that Guiding Light has a smaller audience because it's an older audience; I disagree. I bet the audience is older -- but that's the very reason why it should succeed! If only producers would work to serve the audience.

The number one thing that hurts the show is the time. Why not consider something that people can commit to? Put it on later, when I can sit and watch it -- and that's not right before milk & cookie time. I'm struggling to get my stuff done for when the kids come home. And five days a week? My sister who travels isn't going to come back from Hong Kong and watch 2 - 6 weeks of any TiVo'd shows. But prime time soaps thrive. So why not consider completely different scheduling based on the realities of working families? Hey, that Friday night death slot might just be the ticket... We're home. Nothing else is on... especially if Dollhouse and The Sarah Connor Chronicles will be leaving us.

According to The New York Times:

A spokeswoman for P.&G., Jeannie Tharrington, said the company would seek to place “Guiding Light” elsewhere. “We’re looking at all our options,” she said. “This show started as a 15-minute radio show, and then it was a half-hour television show, so it has adapted over the years.”

I hope P&G at least puts forth effort to really find ways to adopt and adapt the show to today's audiences. We're here; we're just not living the lives our moms or even we ourselves once did.

I'm available for consultation.

I Hate My Coke Rewards So Much

The coupons you print on the site (which I originally thought was a "hooray, it's green!" move) are not accepted by my local grocers.

So now, it's all just a cluster-fuck unless you want to use your points to buy Coke advertising premiums.

Since some of you are Coke collectors, I suppose that's fine. Me? I just want free (or, grudgingly will accept, discounted) pop.

There are two results of this:

1) I continue to ween myself off of Coke products. (Totally what you wanted with your loyalty program, right Coke?)

and 2) I will be ridding myself worth of months of Coke points. (Details to be announced at Things Your Grandmother Knew; stay tunned there.)

My Coke Punishments

As you know, I grudgingly use My Coke Rewards.

Coke has made some changes to the program. The good news is that they finally let you print your coupons rather than wait for (and have the added cost & wastes of) mail. The bad news is that they have ended the one free 12-pack for 100 points.

Now you need 200 points to buy one 12-pack, get one 12-pack free. That sucks. Or, it's 35 points for $1 off. Which also sucks.

Bring back the free stuff, you bastards. I pay plenty for my Dt. Coke as it is -- & am punished with your slow flash site for participating in your points program. You make more than enough profit; just let me get a free 12-pack every 10 purchases.

Or I'll switch to another product. Maybe even tap water. You make nothing off that.

Withdrawal Ain't Pretty; Insurance Companies Are Uglier

I've been trying to quit smoking -- again.

This time, I'm down to 2 packs a week-ish (one pack for 3 days is probably more accurate). I've done this by breaking some of the habits, such as changing when and where I allow myself to smoke, chewing sugarless gum, etc. But I'm still stuck. "Addicted."

I asked about possible meds to help with the last bump, hoping for something to take the edge off the need. Patches didn't work past the first few days. Perhaps it is because I am now smoking less than the patch 'steps'... I don't know. The point is, I asked for some chemical assistance with a chemical addiction.

I must say here that I realize this is somewhat like 'trading' one thing for another, and maybe not the healthiest choice in that regard, but I am trying. In my discussion with the doctor, I mentioned this as well as how much more difficult quitting is for women than it is for men because tobacco etc. winds itself about and insidious inserts itself within our hormonal system.

We talked at great length about the options and eventually decided that Chantix would be a good option. (Interestingly, this was also the med recommended by the pharmacist at Wal*Mart when I was talking with him about the lack of success with the patch.)

I got my script, and off I went. To Wal*Mart. Where I was told my insurance would not cover it.

At $200+ (for the first month) I wasn't going to be able to cover it either.

If I was addicted to an illegal drug, say heroine (which, by the way, is documented as easier to quit than nicotine), then boy, I'd sure have insurance-covered options. Not just my prescription would be covered, but so would my counseling, my housing, my return to college (as part of my vocational rehab) -- and I'd be allowed lovely spa visits. Yeah, they'd be called rehab on the insurance forms, and I'm sure the emotional & other work there is a bitch, but they get prepared meals to help with withdrawal & cleansing, a personal trainer, maid service, no bathrooms to clean... Where's my freakin' Betty Ford clinic for smokers?

In a society where smokers are regulated like more than criminals, where our civil liberties are diminished, where children are encouraged to nag their parents, where we are the damned to be openly judged and lectured -- all for a legal substance which has no documentation supporting it impacts our abilities to function like alcohol or other drugs -- you'd think that we leper-addicts would be allowed actual medical treatment for our problem.

But we aren't.

If tobacco is the giant cancer causing menace, and my medical insurance company is supposed to be about my health claims; if all the regulations and limitations put upon me as a smoker are supposed to exist to protect 'the innocents' near me; wouldn't it make more sense to really help me quit rather than just finger-point and accuse?

So pissed at it all, I naturally light-up a cigarette.

Great job, BlueCross BlueShield. Are you sure the 'BS' in BCBS isn't for 'Bull Shit'?

Mean Companies: The CBS Edition

According to the AP, Autism Group Demands Apology From CBS.

As I began to read the article for my husband, I got no further than the headline before he blurted, "Oh, for Boston Legal, huh."

Which surprised me because I am a huge Boston Legal fan and watch it every Tuesday -- which means he has seen nearly every episode as well. So I said, "Really? You'd think of Boston Legal? I find the characters to be treated very warmly, created with integrity. Sure, they have funny quirks, but they are high-functioning & interesting, certainly not treated or created in 'ick'. And, besides, Boston Legal is ABC."

(I'd also like to hereby state that the matter of 'warm, interesting, high-functioning characters created with integrity and warmth' is a problem afflicting many shows, regardless of any connection to Autism.)

Anyway, back to the news story.

The complaint with CBS is over a recent Big Brother episode.

On that episode, a contestant named Adam, who claims to work for an autism foundation, said he would spend his winnings on a hair salon for people with developmental disabilities "so retards can get it together and get their hair done."

His partner, Sheila, told him: "Don't call them that."

Adam responded: "Disabled kids. I can call them whatever I want. I work with them all day, OK?"

Isn't that the fear of any parent, any family member? That some jack-ass is going to take the pay and be snide and heartless as they walk away? I wonder just how Adam does deal with the kids each day...

I doubt that CBS can be held liable for 'contestants' on reality shows... I'd think the whole freedom from a script thing combined with the nature of such games would have some sort of contracts with riders protecting themselves from just such stupidity. But CBS ought to do something in responsible response.

Just not another one of those PSAs which suck. Do something real & meaningful for Pete's sake.

If not, then it makes me wonder if CBS has some sort of impairment which affects their ability to perceive and deal with emotions...

Naw, it's just a sign of being mean, heartless and money-grubbing.

My Coke Rewards: A Lot Of Cardboard Lying About The House

I drink a lot of Diet Coke, and the price of cola sure has increased in the past few years -- even the generic (yuck) cola is expensive. So I gave in and decided to use My Coke Rewards.

Here's my 6 Lines Or Less (Yeah Right) Review:

You enter the codes printed inside the cardboard boxes, which means you have a lot of cardboard lying about the house until you do so, and the site only allows you to enter up to 10 codes per day, which means you have a lot of cardboard lying about the house (until, one imagines, you catch up).

The site is in a I'm-so-cool-I-use-flashy-scripts that I cannot access or use it with my own PC (I am on Linux, with Firefox), so I have to use hubby's; which means I have a lot of cardboard laying about the house while I wait for chances to use his PC.

The great news is that I'm not stuck turning my points into "Coke Collectibles" but rather can redeem them for an "award" of Coke products (100 points for a 12-pack of pop).

But the bad news is that you cannot select multiples of each reward, so with 500 points to redeem for 5 packs of pop I have to go through the same motions 5 times, including finding the item (4-5 clicks depending upon the number of rewards in that category), and the annoying address/post information requiring the manual entry of my phone number each time as the widget doesn't save it -- all of which is is annoying and makes me put off entering the codes and so I have a lot of cardboard lying about the house.

The odd thing, especially for the ultra-slick-flashy-script-site is that Coke sends you the coupon for the free 12-pack via the mail not email, which means you not only have a several week wait for a reward which could easily be emailed & printed, but Coke has the added expense of paying for paper, envelopes and postage (now I know why the prices have increased so much, thank you), which is also not very green.

Perhaps this isn't all that bad and shouldn't warrant the 'bad companies' label... While it's not too annoying to use, it sure could be better.

Floor Bacon

Traveling over the holidays we stopped at a McDonald's & at the counter we spotted this floor bacon.
It wasn't busy either, so I don't know why they didn't pick it up...


I had to take the photo for some reason.
I know the dogs knew anyway.

Are There Still Bargains At Goodwill?

I remember, in what now seems a lifetime ago, when I started selling on eBay, making the rounds at thrift stores -- especially when the summer ended, taking those yard sales with it. I always went to Goodwill last, and only when desperate for a fix, because it seemed too high-priced. And I never bothered with clothing there. Seems Miss Sniz is heading in that direction too.

I understand that thrift stores wan to turn a buck from their donated goods, so I accept the glass cases with antiques priced beyond my reach (and likely for more than I would have gotten on eBay too); but when clothes are priced too high, they really should reconsider...

Because when it comes to thrift shop clothing, the thrift shop customer is also part of the community they are serving -- and that's how those donate see what they are doing. If you price clothing too high, then what's the point?

Kraft Pizza: An Inconvenient Truth

Clearing out my photos I found these horrid reminders of the first night after the kids started school. I had decided to make pizza because it's fast and easy on a night which is hectic enough as it is. So the Sunday before, we had bought pizzas at Wal*Mart and I thought I was on top of things.

But I wasn't.

Upon opening a Jack's Pizza (Canadian Bacon), I discovered that well over one inch of the crust was not covered in sauce and toppings.



Flipping the frozen pizza over I discovered two other things: One, the pieces of meat were not attached and they slid onto the cardboard (with about as much vitality)...



and two, that on the edge opposite the bare crust there was a ring of frozen sauce and cheese.



It was like the sauce and cheese were a separate frozen layer which was supposed to be set atop the frozen crust and then re-frozen to set, like cement, into 'one thing'. 'One thing' I was supposed to cook for my family as a convenience meal. But this 'one thing' was crooked.

Now that the sauce wasn't all on top I knew I was going to have a gooey mess which would smoke, if not burn, in my oven -- if I could cook it at all. For no where on any of the packaging was that sticker with the directions, ingredients etc.

Now I was not pleased.

This was the only dinner food-stuff I had and it was almost dinner time.

Any one with kids knows that they are all howling with hunger at this time of day -- along with tired and ornery from the first day at school. Not the best time to discover I did not have dinner well in hand.

So I called Kraft.

To their credit, I got a human right away.

I told him I had a complaint, describing the pizza and even telling him I had taken photos to show him -- was there a place on their website to send such things? I was told that wouldn't be necessary. Then gave him the store info from the Wal*Mart receipt. This was too easy, I thought.

Next he asked for some information on the wrapper -- the expiration date, which was supposed to be on some white box-thing on the label.

"There's no sticker. Like I told you, no cooking instructions at all," I said.

"No, no. It's a white box on the packaging."

"Yes, I know what a 'white box' is, and I know what 'packaging' is," I said getting very frustrated. "Let me read to you the only text which appears on any packaging -- which is the top paper, with the photo or image of a pizza on it--"

"There's no white box?"

"No, there's not."

Now he sounds annoyed, "Are you sure?"

So I begin to read to him everything on the packaging. He interrupts.

"No white box?"

:sigh:

"No, none. No boxes of any kind. And before you ask, there is nothing on either side of the cardboard, nothing on the plastic wrap."



"OK, maybe it's on the back of the paper with the pizza image," he says, getting creative.

I check, again, and tell him no.

Now he's feeling really creative, "Get a scissors and cut the paper... sometimes the tag is between papers."

"Between what papers? I have only one paper here," I say feeling stupid but cutting where he says anyway -- and growing angry that I'm doing the stupid thing he asks me to. And I'm no closer to dinner, thank-you-very-much.

Well, glory be, there's no discovery. No white box, no white bit of paper, just the original paper with lines cut into it.

Then it hits me.

"So, we have no idea when this pizza expired...?" I ask.

"Not without the white box," he says.

I'm beginning to feel this white box is rather like the little black box on a plane -- and we need that data to clear up this mess.

"So, this could be a very bad pizza to eat -- not just messy, but food poisoning bad..."

"We don't know that--"

"Would you eat it? Without a date and in this state? Which, by the way, can you tell me how this happens to a pizza?"

"Improper handling," he says. Which isn't good enough.

"I'm no food manufacturing pro, but it suggests to me that at some point this pizza became unfrozen -- just enough to slide the top layer to one side and loosen the pieces of meat... Which, if this is so, also implies a possibility of temperatures changing allowing for bacteria or other nasty things, right?"

"That could be, there's really no way of knowing at this point," he courteously replies.

Very Customer Service 101.

Only this makes me wonder, what good is my call doing anyway...? I imagine a room full of people trying to take all the data and track pizzas, from Kraft Kitchen to trucking, to Wal*Mart & other retailer check-ins. Only they can't with this pizza because information is incomplete.

They can't learn from this information, this mistake -- and I'm no closer to dinner. On a school night. The first night of school yet. :sigh:



"Well, would you eat this 'improperly handled' pizza without an expiration date?" I ask him.

Silence.

"Well, would you? Would you feed it to your kids?"

"No, I probably wouldn't," he admits.

"So, what are you -- what is Kraft going to do for me because of this?"

"I'll need your information, your name and mailing address, so that we can send you a coupon," he says, secure on normal ground now.

"A coupon? For what?"

"For a replacement pizza."

"A replacement pizza. A replacement pizza? Are you serious?"

"Well, we at Kraft are very sorry for your unhappy experience and we hope that with this coupon you'll give us another try," he says -- straight off his paper.

"Do you understand that this isn't just a pizza -- not just a food product? This was my family's dinner tonight. The first dinner after the first day back to school, no less. A very hectic day. A day I had prepared for by purchasing your pizza because, it is, you understand, not just 'a meal' but that I am, in fact, paying for the convenience of a meal. A supposedly nutritious meal, though without your product label I can't really vouch for that. Or cook it. And now I need to go to the store, buy another meal, bring it back home and cook it -- all after our usual dinner time -- all of which is anything but convenient."

Silence.

"And you're telling me that all Kraft is going to do is send me a coupon?"

"Yes."

Arrrrg.

When the coupon arrived, it came with a canned letter from Kim McMiller, Associate Director, Consumer Relations, Consumer Relations Group, which is supposedly part of Kraft, but who can tell for sure... The only real connection is the Kraft logo at the top of the letter and "For Food & Family Ideas Visit Our Website at www.kraftfoods.com".

Did I use the coupon? Sure. Why should I be out the money on top of everything else. Will I continue to buy Jack's pizzas? Sure, when I feel like playing dinner roulette.



Will we or won't we eat? Will we or won't we eat on time? Oh, let's open the mystery packaging on the Kraft pizza and see...