|
©Unknown
|
Nebraska Beef announced last month its decision to recall more than 5 million pounds of beef that the company produced between May 16 and June 26 after a federal investigation reached the conclusion that the products released by Nebraska Beef led to an E. coli outbreak in several states. On Friday the company decided to recall an additional 1.2 million pounds of beef that Nebraska Beef produced on June 17, June 14 and July 8. The products have been linked to illnesses in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illlinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Associated Press reported.
Comment: Since Merck developed the cervical cancer vaccine, their first-quarter profits nearly doubled in April 2008.
The New England Journal of Medicine editorial can be read here. Researchers point out that:
[..]the real impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer will not be observable for decades. [..]
Although it was licensed for use in the United States in June 2006, the first phase 3 trials of the HPV vaccine with clinically relevant end points - cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grades 2 and 3 (CIN 2/3) - were not reported until May 2007, first in the Journal2 and 1 month later in the Lancet.3,4
[..] will the vaccine ultimately prevent not only cervical lesions, but also cervical cancer and death? How long will protection conferred by the vaccine last? Since most HPV infections are easily cleared by the immune system, how will vaccination affect natural immunity against HPV, and with what implications? How will the vaccine affect preadolescent girls, given that the only trials conducted in this cohort have been on the immune response? The studies with clinical end points (i.e., CIN 2/3) involved 16- to 24-year-old women. [..]
In other words, people who are getting the vaccine now are guinea pigs. This applies especially to younger girls.