Sunday, May 21, 2006
Merck cancer vaccine faces Christian-right scrutiny
Merck & Co. Inc.'s vaccine to prevent the world's most prevalent sexually transmitted infection sailed through a panel of U.S. health experts, despite early fears of opposition from the Christian Right that it might lead to promiscuity and a false sense of security.
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The drugmaker's efforts to educate Christian groups while touting the vaccine's top selling point -- prevention of cervical cancer -- helped win them over.
But Merck (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) may ultimately find itself at loggerheads with those same groups as it seeks to make the vaccine mandatory for school admission, a step considered key for widespread acceptance and one that many of the groups oppose.
The vaccine, known as Gardasil, with an estimated $2 billion U.S. market potential, targets four types of sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts.
"We don't think it should be made mandatory for school attendance," said Peter Sprigg, vice president of policy at the Family Research Council, who attended the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel meeting on Thursday.
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-05-21T161451Z_01_N21244842_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-BIZFEATURE-MERCK-VACCINE-DC.XML
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Thursday, May 18, 2006
Sign the "no more political diversions" petition
Dear Members of Congress:
We the undersigned have heard that some of you are working to revive the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment. Right now our country faces REAL PROBLEMS and REAL ISSUES, yet you choose to pander to extremists purely for politcal gain. If you will not pursue solutions to our nation's problems, then it is clear that you are another of those problems.
http://www.petitiononline.com/nmpd1/petition.html
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We the undersigned have heard that some of you are working to revive the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment. Right now our country faces REAL PROBLEMS and REAL ISSUES, yet you choose to pander to extremists purely for politcal gain. If you will not pursue solutions to our nation's problems, then it is clear that you are another of those problems.
http://www.petitiononline.com/nmpd1/petition.html
How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! MessengerÂ’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Immigration debate splits Christian right
Religious conservatives bared their internal struggles over immigration Thursday at an unusually frank public debate, demonstrating that the most powerful faction of the Republican Party is as divided as the party itself on the issue.
Torn between the values of Christian compassion and a disapproval of lawbreaking -- with an undercurrent of angst about cultural change -- social conservatives and their political allies squared off in the face of internal polls that show their "values voters" overwhelmingly prefer strong border security.
The Family Research Council, which sponsored Thursday's debate, surveyed its members earlier this month and found that by a ratio of 9 to 1, they believe illegal immigrants should be "detected, arrested and returned to their country of origin."
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of Sacramento, head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said he was concerned by a new Pew Hispanic Center poll released Wednesday that found two-thirds of white evangelicals consider new immigrants to be a burden and a threat to American culture.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/28/MNGAJIGCAL42.DTL
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Torn between the values of Christian compassion and a disapproval of lawbreaking -- with an undercurrent of angst about cultural change -- social conservatives and their political allies squared off in the face of internal polls that show their "values voters" overwhelmingly prefer strong border security.
The Family Research Council, which sponsored Thursday's debate, surveyed its members earlier this month and found that by a ratio of 9 to 1, they believe illegal immigrants should be "detected, arrested and returned to their country of origin."
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez of Sacramento, head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said he was concerned by a new Pew Hispanic Center poll released Wednesday that found two-thirds of white evangelicals consider new immigrants to be a burden and a threat to American culture.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/28/MNGAJIGCAL42.DTL
New Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC and save big.
