Canavan (Maine Rep) resigns post to protest drug firm (Merck)

[mhatrw]

http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3675836.html

One of Maine's directors of Women In Government resigned from the organization Friday, citing ethical concerns in connection with a womens' cancer vaccine and the pharmaceutical industry.

Human papilloma virus, or HPV, is a sexually transmitted disease known to cause cervical cancer. Women In Government has mounted a nationwide lobbying effort to enact mandatory inoculation using the Gardasil vaccine, which can prevent HPV.

"It seems to me that we're moving too fast with this, and I get the impression somehow that the pharmaceutical industry is driving it," Rep. Marilyn Canavan, D-Waterville, said in describing her decision to quit.

As reported in The New York Times, Women In Government does receive funding from the Merck & Co., the global pharmaceutical company that developed the vaccine. Merck & Co.'s Gardasil was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2006. The speed and urgency with which Women In Government is pushing for mandatory inoculations is unusual, according to Sharon A. Treat, executive director of the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices.

[Mnemosyne]

1. K and R, to keep it out there. n/t

[crim son]

2. I'll kick it too.

I agree with Ms. Canavan.

[Vidar]

3. K&R.