By employing an executive order, Govenor Rick Perry has bypassed the state Legislature by mandating that all schoolgirls in Texas entering the 6th grade are to receive Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomvirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, his former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government. The governor also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee
during his re-election campaign.
With at least 18 states debating whether to require Merck's Gardasil vaccine for schoolgirls, Merck has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.
This news provides a vivid example of government corruption involving pharmaceutical lobbying, bribing and manipulating health care policy decisions.
Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit stating that he or she objected to the vaccine for religious or philosophical reasons.
The question is, will our constitutional checks and balances continue to let our executive branch of gevernment make new laws?
One has to wonder, why are parents ready to put chemicals into little girls bodies without a full understanding of what harm those chemicals could cause in the short and long term?
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