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Gardasil

Fast-Tracked and Flawed

Spinifex Press Pty Ltd

Kristin Clulow

I predict that Gardasil will become the greatest medical scandal of all times because at some point in time, the evidence will add up to prove that this vaccine, technical and scientific feat that it may be, has absolutely no effect on cervical cancer and that all the very many adverse effects which destroy lives and even kill, serve no other purpose than to generate profit for the manufacturers.

— Bernard Dalbergue Health Impact News (2014)

"It just breaks my heart," lamented Kristin Clulow. In May 2008, the 26-year-old Australian woman received the first of the three shots of Gardasil, one of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines on the market. Two weeks later, the fit young woman fell and broke her left foot and although perplexed at the ease at which she had incurred her fracture, she didn't think the two events were connected. In August 2008, she dutifully turned up at her doctor's office for her second shot of Gardasil. But shortly after this injection, Kristin's health began to unravel. It started with a temporary loss of vision and mobility problems that made it impossible for her to run, jump, dance or wear her beloved heels. Then her handwriting failed her: "Handwriting just doesn't suddenly go," she cried. Worse was to come when Kristin's speech became slurred: "They thought I'd had a stroke."

Her doctors insisted that these devastating symptoms were due to stress. They even had the nerve to claim she was making it all up! With the medical system unable or unwilling to help her, Kristin and her concerned parents went to see a neurologist. She was given the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis although tests did not confirm this. The prescribed treatment was methylprednisolone, commonly given to sufferers of this debilitating neurological disease. When the corticosteroid drug failed to relieve her symptoms, Kristin was referred to another neurologist. This specialist took one look at the sick young woman and straight away asked if she'd had any vaccines recently. When she told him she'd been given two shots of Gardasil, he replied "that will be it" for he'd recently treated 15 other girls with similar signs and symptoms.

One would have hoped at this point that this neurologist would have spoken out publicly against the vaccination program calling for caution. But instead all he could do for the sick woman was to give her more methylprednisolone after which Kristen continued to deteriorate and develop hallucinations and tremors — her right-sided weakness now extending to her left. This was in early 2009 and as Kristin recalls:

The next five months saw my health deteriorate further. I had blackouts, hallucinations, and struggled to do simple, everyday tasks. I couldn't sleep. I was constantly sick. I worked full time, attended physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. When my symptoms extended to encompass my left side, my medical team went back to the drawing board (Clulow, 2012).

Finally, Kristin was given a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, a procedure similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that is able to show up the non-functioning parts of the body. In Kristin's case it was her cerebellum, the region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control. This vital part of her brain had ceased to function properly; she had severe damage to her nervous system and her immune system was so adversely affected that she succumbed to every infection going around.

The suggested treatment this time was immunoglobulin or human plasma prepared from the serum of between 1,000 and 15,000 donors per batch. Immunoglobulin is acquired from CSL Ltd which, interestingly, manufactures vaccines and is the Australian and New Zealand distributor of Gardasil.

Over the next 12 months Kristin received numerous treatments with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG): I was in hospital every 28 days to receive intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. A great deal of this was sponsored by the Australian Red Cross, who I am forever grateful to. IVIG is the 'peacekeeper'. It is human autoimmune and helps to restore the body. The thing is it can only do so much. The rest is up to you. I underwent intense physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and hydrotherapy (Clulow, 2012).

As to what was causing her suffering, Kristin was told that she had acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), an immune-mediated inflammatory demyelinating condition that predominately affects the white matter of the brain and spinal cord (Brenton, 2016).

In February 2010, after almost two years of ill health, Kristin was able to return to Newcastle University where she began her Masters of Secondary Teaching Degree. Kristin continued working on returning her body to health with physiotherapy, gym work and of course the ongoing medical visits. And finally, in November 2011, she was given a repeat PET scan which showed her cerebellum "was coming back to life" (Clulow, 2012).

Kristin cares deeply about all the other girls who suffer ill health after Gardasil injections, and is furious that so many of them are not able to access the doctors, the diagnostic tests and the treatments they require. In her case, it had taken three years for her doctors to acknowledge that her symptoms had started after the Gardasil vaccinations and to treat her properly. "You need money and connections to get this help," a passionate but now very strong, young woman told me (Clulow, 2013).

Kristin has given an update on her progress in 'My Road to Recovery Post-Gardasil.' She writes that at a time when she "had reached a plateau", she heard from another 'Gardasil Girl' and found out that Melbourne homeopath Dr Isaac Golden who specialises in vaccination injuries was treating girls who had been adversely affected by Gardasil. According to Kristin: "His remedy does not reverse the effects of Gardasil. Instead, it helps the body in breaking down the barrier that Gardasil has created, allowingthe body to recover itself" (2014). As a result of receiving this natural treatment, Kristin has noticed among other things an improvement in her mobility and a lessening of her tremors. A mineral analysis of her hair showed that her body was high in aluminium (2014). Aluminium is a neurotoxin. Aluminium compounds in a vaccine containing aluminium, added to boost immune function, can migrate and accumulate in the brain (Mercola, 2011). Each dose of Gardasil contains 225 micrograms of the neurotoxin.

In April 2007, Australia introduced the Gardasil vaccine for Australian girls aged 12–16 years. Gardasil is a vaccine purported to act against four strains of HPV, two of which are said to be associated with the development of cervical cancer. Yet there are more than 100 strains of HPV and it is well known that around 80% of people acquire the virus at some point in their lives. It is also a fact that most of these infections clear up naturally and that in about 90% of cases this happens within 2 years (World Health Organisation, WHO, 2016b).

SaneVax, the website of an international group of concerned individuals (some of them whom lost their daughters after Gardasil injections), provides information and awareness about vaccination practices. They report that there have been over 50,000 adverse events from vaccination with HPV vaccines including 315 deaths (SaneVax, Inc. 2017b). However, these statistics are far from accurate. According to the U.S. National Vaccine Information Center (2017b) it is estimated that only 1% to10% of adverse vaccine reactions are ever reported. Unfortunately we are looking at much higher figures of injured girls and boys.

As noted above, developed nations such as Australia do not have high levels of cervical cancer. Since the National Cervical Screening Program began in 1991, the number of deaths from the disease have halved (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, AIHW, 2012–2013). Nevertheless, in 2007, the Australian Government added HPV vaccines to its immunisation program with the result that children who are most unlikely to develop cervical cancer within the period that the vaccine remains active in their bodies which is said to be about 5 years, are injected with these drugs. It is not currently known if booster shots will be needed (The Dijene HPV Test, 2017). Other nations are to be congratulated for questioning their HPV vaccination programs. On June 14, 2013, the Japanese Health Ministry issued a nationwide notice that the so-called 'cervical cancer' vaccinations should not be recommended for girls aged 12 to 16 (The Asahi Shimbun, 2013). This precautionary move followed reports of 1,968 cases of possible adverse effects including body pain, numbness and paralysis. Anna Fifield, writing for the Washington Post, reports that Japan is finding it difficult to resume its recommendation for the vaccines. She quotes Miyako Hagiwara whose daughter became ill after she was vaccinated in 2013. "I forever regret having my daughter get her vaccination. I wish I could suffer for her," she said (Fifield, 2015). The Japanese government is undertaking an investigation into the HPV vaccines with a view to decide whether it will continue its current stance or resume recommendation for vaccination (Paras, 2016).

Unlike Japan, Australian health authorities have not taken any action to ensure the safety of its young girls. Not only has Australia failed to take similar action, in 2013, the government-subsidised vaccination program was extended to 12-and 13-year-old boys, supposedly to provide protection against genital warts and cancers of the penis and rectum, and to reduce transmission of HPV to girls. At the very least like Japan, Australia should cease its promotion of HPV vaccines and warn young people of adverse effects that may arise if they agree to be vaccinated with Gardasil. We really need to know why medical practitioners such as the neurologist who recognised Kristin's symptoms as related to Gardasil have not spoken publicly about what is happening to girls (and now boys) who have been injected with HPV vaccines. Such doctors are obviously aware of the extreme side effects and yet appear reluctant to speak out. Australian health professionals and the public are able to report an adverse event occurring after the use of a particular drug on the Database of Adverse Event Notifications found on the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) website.

Although our mainstream media remains silent about the problems emanating from this vaccination program, some doctors are reporting the adverse effects on young women's health. In the BMJ (British Medical Journal) Case Reports authors Deidre Little and Harvey Rodrick Grenville Ward of Australia reported the case of a patient with amenorrhoea who had noticed that her usual regular menstrual cycle had changed, becoming irregular and then scant after her HPV vaccinations (Little and Ward, 2012). The authors explain that it is very rare for the condition known as premature ovarian failure to occur at such an early age and that the annual incidence is 10 per 100,000 between 15 and 29 years of age. Premature ovarian failure is a serious health event for young girls and one that adversely affects their ability to have children (Little and Ward, 2012).

We can hope that there are many more conscientious medical practitioners and researchers who go on to report their findings on the problematic nature of this vaccine.

This story of Gardasil will probe the reasons for the introduction of the HPV vaccine. Many questions come to mind but an important one is how and why this vaccine program was implemented when deaths from cervical cancer in Australia and other industrialised nations were already in steep decline, thanks to regular Pap smears, and improvements in general health, nutrition and sexual hygiene.

Cervical Cancer

There were persistent rumours in the presidential palace that Juan Perón could not stand the odours emanating from his wife's dying body. Some of his aides reported that he entered her room very rarely and when he did he kept a muslin mask over his face, like a bee keeper.

— Llana Löwy, A Woman's Disease: The history of cervical cancer (2011, p. 20)

In 1949, the 30-year-old wife of Juan Perón, the President of Argentina, was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Eva, the actress and passionate political activist had little patience for illness and ignored the constant pain and bleeding along with the advice from her doctors. But denial can only last so long and soon the malignancy spread to her ovary at which point there was little hope of survival.

As a nurse I have cared for women with advanced cervical cancer, an awful terminal disease. Often it is a gradual decline towards death accompanied by the indignity and nuisance of foul vaginal discharge. Measures such as frequent baths and the topical use of aromatherapy help to mask unpleasant odours and provide a necessary distraction from the failing body, the once strong self.

While stories about breast cancer victims are plentiful, it is rare to read the tangible accounts of women with cervical cancer, particularly stories of older women with the disease. This is surprising when, according to researchers at Keele University in the UK 20% of cases of cervical cancer and almost half of the deaths occur in women aged over 64 (The Guardian, 2015).

Eileen, who had a family history of cancer, was diagnosed at 64 years of age with cervical and uterine cancer after experiencing episodes of heavy bleeding. The mother of three's treatment consisted of radiation and chemotherapy followed by a total hysterectomy and oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries). She is now cancer-free and urges other women to avail themselves of preventative testing (Centers for Disease Control, CDC 2014).

Cervical cancer is a malignant tumour arising from cells of the cervix — the lower, narrow section of the uterus — that have undergone changes, first causing a pre-cancerous condition called cervical dysplasia. Cervical dysplasia is usually symptomless with the condition picked up when a woman has a Pap smear (WebMD, 2017). While it is not cancer, it is referred to as a pre-cancerous condition (Macmillan, 2015). Most cases of dysplasia, also known as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), do not progress to cancer. There are three stages of CIN indicating the severity of the disease. CIN 1 is mild dysplasia and may go away on its own without treatment. It may be judicious to have follow up smears just in case. The second stage of dysplasia is known as CIN 2 or moderate dysplasia. The third stage is CIN 3 and classified as severe dysplasia. CIN 2 and 3 are usually treated by removing the abnormal cells (Macmillan, 2015).

The stage from the development of abnormal cervical cells to the development of cervical cancer can take years and may depend on the health of the particular woman (Dyson, 1986, pp. 13–16). Linda Dyson, author of Cervical Cancer: A book for every woman, suggests that the manner or speed at which the disease progresses may be influenced by factors such as a woman's "immunity to disease, or other factors such as whether she smokes or uses an oral contraceptive" (1986, p. 16).

There are two types of cervical cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common cervical cancer and accounts for over 70% of cervical cancers. A less prevalent form of the disease, adenocarcinoma, arises in the glandular cells and is more difficult to diagnose than squamous cell cancer. The risk factors for cervical cancer are many and include smoking, a weakened immune system, multiple pregnancies, a family history of the disease, the prolonged use of birth control pills and, more recently, HPV, the human papilloma virus (Cancer Council Victoria, 2015a). The daughters of women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant — commonly called DES daughters — have around a 40 times higher risk of developing clear cell adenocarcinoma of the cervix than women who did not take DES. This equates to around 1 in 1,000 DES daughters whodevelop this form of cervical cancer (National Institutes of Health, 2011).

In the nineteenth century, 80% of all cancer fatalities in women were from breast or uterine cancer, with cancer of the uterus being responsible for most of these deaths (Löwy, 2011, p. 29). Prior to the development of surgery, belladonna, hemlock, strychnine, lead and even mercury were applied to the lesions in the hope that they would rid the body of the "cancerous poison" (p. 31). Once surgery became available, treatments such as cauterization were used to address horrific complications which can occur in advanced cervical cancer; one of these was the formation of a fistula, a hole "between the vagina and urethra and/or rectum" (pp. 40–43). Such an unfortunate condition was accompanied by incontinence. For these affected women there was loss of "blood, urine and faeces" accompanied by despair. Understandably they experienced their ill health as "a fate worse than death" (pp. 41–42). Today the most common treatment for cervical cancer is surgery and/or a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy (Cancer Council Victoria, 2015b). These days most women who are diagnosed early with cervical cancer or cancer in situ can be effectively treated and cured. In Australia the five-year survival rate is 72% (Cancer Council Australia, 2016a).

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Excerpted from Gardasil by Helen Lobato, Renate Klein, Pauline Hopkins. Copyright © 2017 Helen Lobato. Excerpted by permission of Spinifex Press Pty Ltd.
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