Feminist Peace Network

The Center for Media and Democracy has posted the first 3 of 4 parts of Judith Siers-Poisson’s excellent series, The Politics and PR of Cervical Cancer.  This series thoughtfully and thoroughly addresses many of the issues that I raised in an article last winter. The subject has also been discussed several times on this blog, most notably here.

In the first part of the series, Siers-Poisson covers the history of HPV and Gardisil and asks,

“Merck is pushing hard for a drug that in their ideal world would be given to every middle-school aged girl and would be mandated by each state. The FDA is assuring us that this drug is safe and effective for mass vaccination of young girls. With their combined track record, shouldn’t we be concerned?”

She also gives some good information to about the reality of the cost of the drug for girls who do not have insurance or cannot afford the drug.  Bottom line–it’s not as rosy a picture  as Merck and its lobbyists would like us to believe.

In the third part of the series Siers-Poisson confirms what I concluded in last winter’s article, namely that Women in Government isn’t some kick-ass legislative group that is looking out for the best interests of women.  She writes,

“In March 2007, I interviewed Susan Crosby, the President of WIG. Crosby first served on the board of WIG and then joined the staff as Deputy Executive Director in 2002. Crosby was a Democratic member of the Indiana House of Representatives for 12 years prior to her tenure with WIG. In 2005 Crosby’s total compensation package from WIG was $123,925.

When asked what WIG offers its members, Crosby noted that besides the networking opportunities, WIG itself serves as a resource in several ways, including, “having legislators be able to call in and get totally unbiased information … to be able to make decisions that are the best for their state.” She continued, “That’s one thing that we at Women in Government have always tried to do, is try to give them the full picture, the balanced picture – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because nothing’s worse than to give a legislator, a woman legislator in particular, part of the story, and have her go back to her state, standing up at the mike, proposing something, and all of a sudden this question comes flying out of left field and she has no idea what it was.”

But is WIG dedicated to giving women legislators unbiased, balanced information, or in giving WIG’s corporate contributors access to the legislators that can significantly help or harm their interests at the state level? In 2004, more than 20 WIG funders were pharmaceutical companies or entities heavily invested in health care issues that could come before state legislators. A short list includes both Merck & Co., Inc and Merck Vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline (which will soon have the second HPV vaccine on the market), and Digene Corporation (which manufactures an HPV test). Other drug interests listed as donors to WIG include Novartis, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb (both the company and their foundation), and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, also known as PhRMA, one of the largest and most influential lobbying organizations in Washington representing 48 drug companies.”

I’m not sure when the 4th part of this series will be online, but this is a significant piece of research that should be read by every woman, every legislator every gynecologist and pediatrician.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Sheroes