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Peggy O'Mara

A Quiet Place

Breastfeeding Action Guide

April 17th, 2012

 

Photo of Coral Charles-Dunne, 91, by Nick Wilkinson


Do you ever wonder what you can do to protect breastfeeding? Are you or do you want to become a breastfeeding advocate? Whether it’s breastfeeding in public, breastfeeding and working, breastfeeding and jury duty, pumping during a medical licensing exam, or the distribution of formula samples to new mothers in hospitals, breastfeeding is the civil rights issue of our time. What can you do?

Write a letter. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Find out the email of the parenting/family editor and ask if you can write an op-ed piece on one of the issues above. Email the family reporter to suggest an article on one of these topics.

Write your Representatives. Ask your US senators and representatives to sign on to the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Research your state breastfeeding laws. Do you have laws protecting breastfeeding in public and  breastfeeding in the workplace? Do they have enforcement clauses? Ask your state senators and representatives to create or improve your laws and to introduce a bill to ban formula samples in health-care facilities in your state.

Join or Start a Breastfeeding Coalition. Most breastfeeding organizations exist to provide information and support rather than to organize social actions. Breastfeeding coalitions in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Oregon, however, have organized to fight hospital formula samples.

Start a Community Action Project. Do some research to determine what the most pressing breastfeeding issue is facing your community. For example, contact your local hospital and ask if they distribute formula samples to new mothers. Ban the Bags offers a complete Ban the Bags Tool Kit.

Organize a Social Action. Consider social action. Nurse-ins have been overused as a tactic and are not as effective as they once where. Look for other, more unique actions, such as a flash mob, a viral campaign or something funny like the Knitted Bosom Project.

Also, sometimes the threat of a demonstration can be as effective as a demonstration. A hospital might reconsider their practice of selling customer names if faced with the possibility of a demonstration, something clearly bad for business.

Timing. Time your letters or actions sensitively. For example, write letters when an issue is in the news. Plan demonstrations for a time when your state legislature or the US Congress is in session.

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Choice is a Red Herring

April 13th, 2012

BUT, IT'S JUST A CHOICE.

Like cigarette smoking, breastfeeding is a public health issue, not a freedom of choice issue. Obviously, US women feel free to choose not to breastfeed; most of them do. If women were actually intimidated into breastfeeding, we would have a breastfeeding culture. Instead, we have a bottle-feeding culture in which 67% bottle feed. Only 33% of mothers breastfeed. If there is, in fact, any social pressure to breastfeed, it certainly is not effective. I would argue, that the social pressure is to bottle-feed.

CHOICE IS A FORMULA TACTIC

The tragedy is that the breastfeeding choice issue is a formula industry tactic. Here’s how it came to be. When, in December 2005, the Massachusetts legislature became the first in the US to prohibit formula sample bags in hospitals, then Governor Mitt Romney pressured the Public Health Council to rescind the ban. The council successfully resisted his pressure until he fired and replaced three members just prior to a vote on the ban; in May 2006 it was rescinded. Less than two weeks later, Romney announced a $66 million deal with Bristol-Myers, the world’s largest formula manufacturer, to build a pharmaceutical plant in Devens, Massachusetts.

In June of that year, Massachusetts state representative Helen Stanley (D-Second Essex) introduced House Bill 2257 to protect a new mother’s right to receive formula sample bags in the hospital. The wesbite, momsfeedingfreedom.com—created to oppose the Massachusetts ban—hosted a petition in support of this bill.

STEALTH WEBSITES

At the time, the website, momsfeedingfreedom.com, was registered to eNilsson, an international web consulting firm whose clients included Romney for President. Now it openly states that it “was made possible by a grant from the International Formula Council. “A mirror site, babyfeedingchoice.org, is copyrighted by the International Formula Council.

INFANT FEEDING IS POLITICAL

The US accounts for half of the $8 billion a year global formula market. The formula industry spent $50 million dollars in one year to undermine the US Health and Human Services Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign (June 2004 to April 2006). In 2006, the formula industry spent $100 million on formula advertising in the Philippines (nearly half of the Philippine Health Department’s entire annual budget of $239 million) to overturn new health department regulations that would have prevented formula companies from targeting children under two with advertising.

LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH.

It is naïve to believe that the formula industry’s distribution of formula to you is an innocent gift. A “gift” of formula is like a “gift” of a pack of cigarettes when you’re trying to quit smoking; it will undermine your resolve. The formula company has bought your name and address from the hospital, without your knowledge, and will now solicit you for sales. Do you really want this commercial intrusion into your life?

Free formula samples are a social justice issue because they involve the exploitation and objectification of women, the very issues that feminism resists. These are issues around which all women and all thinking citizens should be united. When one spouts the choice issue while, at the same time, feigning support of breastfeeding, one becomes an unwitting pawn of the formula industry. Does it really need any more help?

And, don’t forget to sign the Public Citizen petition. Nearly 13,000 have signed it so far.

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Sign the Public Citizen Petition

April 9th, 2012

Formula was directly advertised to consumers for the first time in 1989. Prior to that, formula was marketed only to health care professionals who, in turn, prescribed it to their patients. Prescription drug use has increased 71% since drugs were first advertised to consumers, and likewise, formula feeding increases when formula is marketed directly to new moms.

Most new moms want to breastfeed; 75% give it a try. While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all US babies be exclusively breastfed for six months, only 13.3% are. One of the obstacles to continued breastfeeding for many moms is the relentless marketing of formula; nearly two-thirds of new mothers receive free formula samples. 

Most of the 3300 US maternity hospitals distribute industry sponsored sample packs of formula to new mothers, regardless of whether or not they are breastfeeding. A study in Pediatrics showed that only 28% of these hospitals were sample free in 2010, up from 14% in 2007.

Research shows that formula marketing undermines breastfeeding. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have called for an end to formula samples in hospitals. The WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes monitors formula advertising internationally because 5000 babies a day die from lack of breastfeeding.

In 2005, Massachusetts became the first state to ban the distribution of formula samples to new mothers in health care facilities. The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition, co-founded by Marsha Walker, worked for eight years to get this legislation passed and also launched a national campaign, Ban the Bags, to eliminate the distribution of formula discharge samples.

The Massachusetts governor at the time was Mitt Romney, who pressured the Public Health Council to rescind the ban. The council successfully resisted his pressure until he fired and replaced three members just prior to a vote on the ban; it was rescinded in May 2006. Less than two weeks later, Romney announced a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb, the world’s largest formula maker, to build a $66 million pharmaceutical plant in Devens, Massachusetts. Nonetheless, many Massachusett hospitals upheld the ban voluntarily.

In 2007, Portland, Oregon became the first city in the US to become “bag-free” and in November 2011, Rhode Island banned formula sample giveaways in healthcare facilities.

Public Citizen, the premier consumer advocacy group founded in 1971, has taken up the cause of banning formula sample bags. In March, the organization wrote to 2600 US hospitals urging them to discontinue the distribution of commercial infant formula discharge bags.

On April 9th, Public Citizen launched a petition demanding that Abbott, Mead Johnson and Nestle stop distributing samples of infant formula in health care facilities; over 12,000 have signed it so far. According to the petition, “the immediate end of this practice would be a crucial initial step to become fully compliant with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.”

Does the hospital in your town distribute free formula samples to new moms? Here’s a list of bag free hospitals and here are the hospitals that received Public Citizen‘s letter. In her Ban the Bags article for Mothering, Marsha Walker suggests a letter of complaint to the CEO and other officials of the hospital as a first step. Here’s a sample letter from Ban the Bags.

Check out the Ban the Bags Tool Kit.and other Action Ideas. If Public Citizen doesn’t get any response from the hospital in your area, consider social action. Start a thread in Lactivism or Finding Your Tribe to encourage others to join you.

Sign the petition today.

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Michel Odent Conference in Hawaii

March 29th, 2012

If you saw The Business of Being Born, you will well remember the charming French physician, Michel Odent, who spoke eloquently of the connection between our capacity to love and our earliest imprinting. Odent originally became known for his pioneering work at the Pithiviers hospital in France. (1962-1985). He authored the first article in the medical literature about the use of birthing pools. (The Lancet, 1983) and introduced the idea of birthing pools and home-like birthing rooms to maternity units.

Odent is the author of 12 books in 22 languages, including Birth Reborn, The Caesarean, The Functions of the Orgasms, and Childbirth in the Age of Plastics and co-author of five academic texts. He reminds us that, like all animals, we want privacy during birth: a birthing women needs to feel safe and free from dogma. For more of Odent’s writing, see his website Womb Ecology and search the Primal Health Research Databank that he created.

Ina May Gaskin

This fall, Odent is hosting a conference in Hawaii. The Mid-Pacific Conference on Birth and Primal Health Research will be held at the Honolulu Convention Center October 26-28, 2012.; Odent calls this conference The Honolulu Great Wake-Up Call. It follows the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Conference, which attracted 1250 participants from 39 countries. The purpose of this conference is to present an overview of current technical and scientific advances in childbirth and, in response, to ask new questions about its future.

The conference program will bring together an impressive group of speakers, including Michael Stark, MD, considered to be one the most influential surgeons of our time and “father” of a simplified cesarean technique; Kirstin Uvnas-Moberg, MD, professor of physiology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and author of The Oxytocin Factor; and Susan Wickham, RM, PhD, founder  of Midwives Information and Resource Center (MIDRS) and editor of Essentially MIDRS, a monthly midwifery journal.

Sarah Buckley

Several Mothering contributors and experts will also be presenting: Robbie Davis-Floyd on Birth Across Cultures; Ina May Gaskin (and Michel Odent) on Unusual Routes to Midwifery and Obstetrics; Cathy Daub and Elizabeth Davis on Transcendant Emotional States in Childbirth.

I will participate in a roundtable on Writing about Mothering with Jan Tritten from Midwifery Today and  Sarah Buckley, Australian obstetrician and author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering.

The conference is $220. It would be great to see you there.

 

 

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We Need More Midwives

March 21st, 2012

 

Our beloved Ina May Gaskin, midwifery pioneer, was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now Monday, March 19th. Ina May is alarmed about the rising rate of maternal and infant mortality in the US. According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention ( CDC ) US infant and maternal mortality failed to improve between 2000 to 2005. This plateau represents the first time since the 1950s that infant mortality has seen no improvement. Ina May started The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project to commemorate the US mothers who have died in childbirth.

WHAT IS A MIDWIFE?

The word midwife comes from the Old English “mit wif,” which literally means with women. A midwife is a health professional who provides care to low-risk women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. Many midwives also provide primary “well-woman” care. Though they are specialists in low-risk pregnancy and childbirth, midwives are trained to both identify and address high risk situations.

HOW MANY MIDWIVES ARE THERE?

In the US approximately 10,000 midwives attend just 10% of births, or 430,000 a year. If midwives attended 75% of births in the US, as they do in New Zealand—a country with better infant mortality than the US—we would need 75,000 more midwives.

Scientific evidence suggests that women with normal pregnancies should be cared for by midwives. On a global scale, a lack of midwives is a healthcare emergency. According to WHO, UNICEF and other groups, maternal mortality is the “highest health inequity in the world.”

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF US MIDWIVES?

Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM): A registered nurse with two years postgraduate work in caring for pregnant and birthing women in a certified CNM program. Certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB). Most practice in hospital setting.

Certified Midwife (CM): A midwife whose education is through apprenticeship and/or midwifery schools. Certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB). Most practice in hospital setting

Certified Professional Midwife (CPM): A midwife whose education is usually through apprenticeship, midwifery school, training programs, and out of hospital experience. Certified by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). Most practice in home or birth center setting.

State Licensed Midwives: Twenty-six states in the US license, certify, register or grant permits to midwives. In these states, CPMs must have a state license in addition to their national credential.

ARE MIDWIVES COVERED BY INSURANCE?

Insurers are required by law to cover the services of CNMs and most cover CPMs as well. Most major health insurers contract with birth centers for reimbursement. In addition, midwifery practices and birth centers often offer sliding scales for those who are uninsured or not covered by Medicaid.

A 1998 study at San Diego Birth Center showed that midwife/birth center collaborative care saved parents 21 percent as compared with hospital birth. A study published in 1999 in the Journal of Nurse-Midwifery on the cost effectiveness of home birth revealed that the average, uncompicated vaginal birth costs 68 percent less in a home than in a hospital.

WHAT ARE THE LAWS?

Effectively, one can practice midwifery legally in 39 states; in 12 states one cannot. Twenty-six states license or certify midwives. In nine states, midwifery is legal by judicial interpretation. An additional four states do not regulate, but also do not prohibit midwifery. Nine states plus the District of Columbia actually prohibit midwifery and in another two, midwifery is legal but there is no certification process. The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) keeps active statistics on the legal status of midwives.

HOW CAN I BECOME A MIDWIFE?

Here are some resources for those who are considering midwifery as a profession:

For an aspiring midwife FAQ, see Midwifery Education Accreditation Council.

For information on Certified Professional Midwives, see The National Association of Certified Professional Midwives.

For information on Certified Midwives and Certified Nurse Midwives, see The American College of Nurse Midwives.

See if your community college offers midwifery education. Southwest Tech in Fennimore, Wisconsin is a model community college midwifery program.

Midwives are the health professional of the future. We need more now!

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Take Off Your Shoes

March 16th, 2012

 

Simply taking off your shoes before coming inside can reduce indoor pollutants by 85%, according to Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, executive director and CEO of the non-profit, Healthy Child Healthy World (HCHW). I heard Sarnoff speak at a breakfast last week hosted by Nordic Naturals at the Natural Products Expo. HCHW is currently working with Campbells to phase out BPA in their cans and with the FDA to encourage regulation of GMO food.

Sarnoff pointed to the fact that the IQs of children have increased as lead has decreased in the environment. And, while environmental insults can seem overwhelming, HCHP’s message is simple: “Noone can do everything, but everyone can do something.” Taking your shoes off is one of five steps she suggests for getting more healthy:

1. Avoid Pesticides.

2. Use non-toxic products.

3. Clean up indoor air.

4. Eat healthy food.

5. Be wise with plastics.

Here are some resources for taking these steps:

1. Avoiding Pesticides means limiting your exposure to pesticides in several environments. Eating organic food helps eliminate your intake of pesticides in food. Look for alternatives to toxic products used on lawns, to kill bugs and pests, and use fish emulsion instead of chemicals to feed indoor and outdoor plants. Healthy Child Healthy World has some great tips on avoiding pesticides and suggestions for alternatives.

2. Use non-toxic products. A recent study tested over 200 consumer products for endocrine disruptors and asthma-associated chemicals. Many so-called natural products tested high in these chemicals. Here are the 11 products tested that had no detectable target chemicals and some Tips for Greening your Cleaning and Personal Care Products. 

There are simple, effective, and inexpensive cleaners that can be used at home. I use white vinegar for most things. Mixed with water, it’s great to clean windows. I also use it to clean toilets and surface tops. I use Bon Ami cleanser for sinks, Lemon Oil with Bees Wax for oiling furniture and wood surfaces and Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds for dishes and washing the floor. A few drops of Oil of Oregano and/or Tea Tree Oil can be used as antibacterials if needed.

For personal care products, one really has to read the labels. You can put your products into the rating system of EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database to check their level of toxicity.

3. Clean-up Indoor Air is where taking your shoes comes in. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a very detailed Guide to Indoor Air Quality.

4. Eat Healthy Food means eating more organic food. Start some sprouts in a jar in your kitchen. Plant tomatoes in a container outside. Grow a garden. Plant a fruit tree. Shop at the Farmer’s Market. Shop at your local co-op. These are the fruits and vegetables that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests we buy organic as they are the most commonly contaminated: apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, nectarines, grapes, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries, lettuce, kale, collard greens. Refer to the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

5. Be Wise with Plastics has to do with becoming aware of our reliance on plastic. I use glass containers with glass lids to store my food in the refigerator. I buy organic milk that comes in glass bottles. I use waxed paper bags instead of plastic to store food, like cheese, in the refrigerator. And, I re-use the plastic bags I get at the grocery story. Stainless steel containers can be a good alternative to plastic, especially for water.

Otherwise, I get confused about plastic. I know, of course, that I want to avoid BPA and phthlates in plastic, but I just try to avoid plastic as much as possible. Here is a Smart Plastics Guide from WHO and the EPA, and a Guide to Safer Children’s Products from the Oregon Environmental Council.

What’s one step you are taking with your family to move in a more natural direction?

 

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Are we Abandoning Families with Autism?

January 25th, 2012

On June 19, 2002 I attended the congressional hearing, “The Status of Research into Vaccine Safety and Autism” in Washington DC. This hearing was part of the oversight investigation of the Committee on Government Reform, headed at the time by Congressman Dan Burton (IN-REP).

According to the background material presented to the Committee by Congressman Burton, “When the Committee began its oversight investigation in 1999, autism was thought to affect 1 in 500 children.” In 2002, when the hearing was held, autism was thought to affect 1 in 250 children. CDC data from 2010 indicates that 1 in 110 children have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

As I was leaving the hearing, I saw a woman standing outside holding a sign detailing the $30,000 a year it cost to care for her autistic child.  According to a 2007 study by Michael L. Gantz, MS, PhD, “The Lifetime Distribution of the Incremental Societal Costs of Autism,” autism costs our society “upwards of $35 billion in direct (both medical and nonmedical) and indirect costs to care for all individuals diagnosed each year over their lifetimes.”

For families this translates into direct medical costs estimated at $29,000 a year; direct non-medical costs of between $38,000 and $43,000 a year; and indirect costs, such as lost wages for parents, of $39,000 to $130,000 a year. Read one family’s story, “The High Cost of Autism” by Theresa Wrangham.

With these sobering numbers in mind, shock waves are reverberating through the autism community because of recent news of proposed changes in the definition of autism. The American Psychiatric Association is in the process of editing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and their expert panel is currently reassessing the definition of autism. It is expected that the panel will tighten this definition and thus reduce the rate of diagnosis.

Proponents for the change contend that the vagueness of the current DSM definition of autism may have contributed to the increase in the diagnosis of autism. Opponents fear that families will be left out in the cold. Changing the definition of autism could effectively end the autism epidemic, according to Fred. R. Volkmar, PhD, director of the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine and author of a new analysis of the negative effects of the proposed changes. Quoted in the New York Times of January 20, 2012, Volkmar said, “We would nip it in the bud–think of it that way.”

Writing in The Health Care Blog, Anne Dachel says, “…these children aren’t going away regardless of what we call them…there will be lots of very angry parents who rightly feel that their children mean nothing to the medical establishment whose only aim is to make them disappear.”

Lisa Sykes, founder of CoMeD and mother of a son with autism says, “Deciding to count only some but not all of the children on the autism spectrum is no different than deciding to count some but not all of the children who get hit by a car.  It doesn’t mean they aren’t injured; it just means that we as a society are turning away from the victims and their very real needs.  This manipulation of the autism rates should unite advocates for children and for the disabled to challenge this change in the DSM-V.”

The New York Metro Chapter of the National Autism Association urges families, caregivers, and professionals affected by autism to contact the American Psychiatric Association and other organizations:

American Psychiatric Association

1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1825

Arlington, Va. 22209-3901

1-888-357-7924

apa@psych.org and dsm5@psych.org

Comment on their Facebook page.

 

 

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SOPA, PIPA and Online Communities

January 17th, 2012

 

 

Today, January 18, 2012, several major internet sites, including Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing, are dark to protest two new pieces of federal legislation, SOPA and PIPA.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), House Bill 3261, would allow copyright holders to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Proponents of the bill hope to stop the illegal copying of movies and music. Opponents say it would require websites to police their members as well as seriously limit freedom of expression on the internet.

The Senate version of SOPA is The PROTECT IP Act (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011) or PIPA, Senate Bill 968. A vote on PIPA is scheduled for January 24, 2012.

The bills are supported by The US Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, among others and are opposed by the Mozilla Corporation, Facebook, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Yahoo, Google, reddit, American Express, Reporters Without Borders, eBay, Google and others.

How would these laws affect us here at Mothering? We routinely publish photos, links and videos uploaded by our community members. While we are always diligent in removing anything that represents a copyright violation when it comes to our attention and include cautions about this in our User Agreement, we might not catch everything. According to opponents of these bills, our entire domain could be taken down due to something erroneously posted by me, another blogger or a member of our forums.

Wikipedia has a good overview of these bills, once the site is viewable again on January 19th. Below are four non-profit sites where you can learn more. Three of the four sites below will also be black today in protest of SOPA and PIPA but their sites will link you to political action tools.

Center for Democracy and Technology

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Reporters Without Borders

Stop the Wall

Whether it’s identity security, as highlighted by this week’s hacking into Zappos customer accounts; personal privacy, as illustrated by the new hit TV series, A Person of Interest; or commercial property vs. personal liberty, as dramatically juxtaposed in SOPA and PIPA, the new frontier is the internet. We need to understand the implications of these and other internet laws and act to protect ourselves and our liberties.

 

 

 

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Vaccines for Pregnant Women?

December 7th, 2011

 

I’ve been receiving unsolicited emails from a neighbor telling me where I can get the flu vaccine. Last week when I went to Walgreen’s there were signs up all over the store urging me to get vaccinated. The excessive marketing of the flu vaccine can make it hard to know your own mind.

This is especially true for pregnant women. Up until recently pregnancy was a contraindication to the flu vaccine; now it is recommended for pregnant women. Generally when we are pregnant we want to refrain from ingesting drugs or receiving invasive procedures. The current flu recommendation can seem contradictory.

One of the contradictory things about the flu vaccine is that it must be created newly every year in anticipation of the upcoming flu season so it is, by nature, not that effective. The CDC says that the influenza vaccine is 60% effective for all age groups combined. The swine flu vaccine only has an overall efficacy of 40 to 45%.  In addition, 80% of illnesses that appear to be flu are not, in fact, flu and of the 20% that are, most resolve on their own.

Another concern for pregnant women considering the flu vaccine are its additives. Flu vaccines still contain mercury in the form of the preservative thimerosal, which has been taken out of vaccines for children due to health concerns. In addition, flu vaccines can contain adjuvants, an additive that primes the immune system. Adjuvants have not been tested on pregnant women and many contain squalene (shark liver oil), implicated in autoimmune disease in animals and/or polysorbate 80, implicated in infertility in animal studies. In addition, flu vaccines are recommended for pregnant women after 14 weeks because of fear of possible miscarriage.

I’m old fashioned and want to inform pregnant woman. I asked Jennifer Margulis, who wrote The Vaccine Debate, to investigate flu vaccines for pregnant women. We’re featuring her hard hitting, exclusive article, What You’re Doctor Isn’t Telling You About the Pregnancy and the Flu Vaccine in a Vaccination Special Report that includes other articles and resources.

Some of you may have already gotten the flu vaccine; others may still be debating. As long as you are informed about your options, whatever decision you make will be right. I hope that you find our new article helpful in making your decision.

 

 


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HPV Vaccines for Boys?

October 31st, 2011

On October 25, 2011, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that all 11 to 12-year-old boys get vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV). According to the CDC press release, “The HPV vaccine will afford protection against certain HPV-related conditions and cancers in males, and vaccination of males with HPV may also provide indirect protection of women by reducing transmission of HPV.”

First licensed in 2006, the HPV vaccination, branded as Gardasil or Cervarix, has previously been recommended only for girls. With this new recommendation, private insurers will be able to pay for the vaccine for boys. The vaccine is expensive, costing more than $300 for the three-shot series.

The HPV vaccine has been controversial for reasons other than its cost. Parents have been reluctant to give their pre-adolescent children a vaccine to protect them from sexually transmitted disease (STD).

The HPV vaccine for boys is also controversial because its benefits are not consistent. For example, Gardisil has been shown to prevent genital warts, but only in heterosexual men. There’s no evidence that Gardisil protects homosexual men from genital warts. Similarly, Gardasil has been shown to prevent anal cancer precursors in homosexual men, however these precursors rarely progress to anal cancer in heterosexual men.

A further rationale for the male vaccine is that preventing genital warts in heterosexual men will help reduce infection in women. However, this is only so if the vaccine is efficacious for a very long time. Every vaccine has a duration of efficacy. According to the Immunization Action Coalition(IAC), the HPV vaccine lasts five years.

Diane Harper, MD

However, Diane Harper, MD, the leading international expert on HPV, says that HPV antibody titers in the blood are detectable for only two years after HPV vaccination. Regardless of whether HPV is efficacious for two or five years, a child will need an HPV booster before he or she becomes sexually active.

Even with a booster, the efficacy of the HPV vaccine is questionable. According to Harper, “The cost modeling data indicate that with 50% female vaccination, vaccinating up to 50% of boys will provide some protection for females if and only if Gardasil lasts for a lifetime of duration. This modeled prevention of disease in females by vaccinating males does not exist if Gardasil loses efficacy earlier than 20 years.” Currently less than 50% of girls have had one shot and each shot lasts just two to five years.

It will take decades for the US population to be protected by the HPV vaccine alone and we will not see a substantial decrease in cervical cancer from vaccines until 70% are fully vaccinated. Until we reach that level of HPV vaccine saturation, STD screening alone is at least as effective as STD screening with vaccines in preventing HPV infection.

Controversy over the HPV vaccine erupted in the press earlier this year when Michelle Bachmann claimed that someone had become mentally retarded in one week from the HPV vaccine. While her statement has been widely discredited, more than 18,000 reports of adverse events associated with the HPV vaccine have been made to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) since 2006, including 72 deaths.  In fact, the risk of adverse events associated with the HPV vaccine is 7 events per 100,000 vaccinated, while the risk of cervical cancer in the developed world is 3 cases per 100,000.The story of Gabby Swank, who reportedly died from complications of the HPV vaccine, is documented in the new film The Greater Good, streaming live on mercola.com until November 5th.

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