Posted 2/02/2007 05:24:00 PM by Douglas

Cancer vaccine soon to become Texas law.

Gov. Rick Perry signed an order today making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

By issuing an executive order, Perry apparently sidesteps opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents' rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way parents raise their children.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade will have to get Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

This story is baffling for a number of reasons. First off, if it needs to be administered before the girls are sexually active, are we sure sixth grade is soon enough? Secondly, do those that oppose it really think that one shot is going to turn their daughters into whores overnight? Obviously parents would want to know the side effects and weigh the options, but who in their right mind would turn down an opportunity to (allegedly) prevent a type of cancer in their children? This is the part that I have trouble with:

Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.

At the stroke of his pen, Perry just made a Kazillion dollars for Merck & Co. Maybe that decision is in the best interest of the State, but if it's not, it looks really bad. And a political nightmare if we find out in three years from now that Gardasil has some horrible, irreversible side effect, like turning all these girls into Democrats.