On Friday 2/2/2007, Texas Governor Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring that girls entering the sixth grade be vaccinated for HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. By mandating this via Executive Order, it bypassed the legislative process, and thus bypassed the will of the people, whatever their decision may have been had their elected representatives been allowed to vote on it.

The vaccine that will be administered starting in 2008 will be Merck & Co. Inc's 'Gardasil.' Governor Perry received $6000 from Merck's political campaign action committee during his re-election campaign. One of Merck's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff.

Merck also funds an advocacy group called Women In Government. This group is comprised of female state legislators around the country. Governor Perry's current chief-of-staff's mother-in-law, Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women In Government.

It has been reported that a top official from Merck's vaccine division sits on the Women in Government's business council. Many of the bills around the country have been introduced by members of Women In Government.

Merck spokeswoman Janet Skidmore would not say how much the company is spending on lobbyists or how much it has donated to Women in Government. Susan Crosby, the group's president, also declined to specify how much the drug company gave.

It already looks like the Women In Goverment group is trying to distance itself from being affiliated with Merck. Google's cached Women In Government Business Council Page as of Feb. 2nd listed "Merck Vaccine Division" under the heading "Business Council Members Represent." If you check the Women In Government Business Council Page now, that line has been removed.

I found the name of the Merck official that sits on the Women In Government's Business Council. Hit up the Internet Archive's cache. Her name is Deborah Alfano. She is an advocate of universal vaccination. That is another way of saying she does not believe you should have a choice when it comes to vaccinations.

From the Maternity Care Coalition's website, summarizing Ms. Alfano's Speech "The Value of Vaccines:"

"Barriers to universal coverage in the United States remain. While most states have legislation requiring vaccinations, half of the country allows for philosophical exemptions from vaccinations, making universal vacination virtually impossible in those states.... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]