The Brockovich Report

Don't forget about Gardasil if I don't talk about it every week. They won't talk about it in Australia, either. Hundreds of Australian girls have experienced paralysis, dizzy spells and seizures and more. Australian records are not to my knowledge made public as they are in the US.

Gardasil is a vaccine that claims to be partially effective against some strains of HPV, some of which may cause cancer. Look at all of that equivocation: partially effective against some strains which might...

Weigh that against the ad campaign about wanting to be one woman less who has cancer.
There's a huge leap between partially effective against some...especially when there's some indication that taking the vaccine may be related to Acute Demyelinating Encephalomyelitis. Don't believe it? Look up "Brittany bell" and Gardasil.

How did MERC push its way thru the FDA approval process and get put on the market before it had completely complied with U.S. protocols and procedures? We know at least one reason why: they were in a rush to beat a competitive European product before it hits the US. Market.

Before you jump in with all four feet defending this vaccine as a cancer preventative, please remember that drug companies are NOT all about protecting our daughters. They are all about selling products. The vaccine has not been fully tested. No one has been studying it long enough to know what the LONG TERM consequences are. They don't even know how long the vaccine is effective or how frequently it will require boosters. How can anyone be talking about requiring ALL our young girls to be vaccinated with such an unknown quantity? What about the side effects? What are they?

Before my daughter ingests or is exposed to any chemical, I want to know it has been fully tested and is judged completely effective as well as completely safe.

After 5758 documented complaints of adverse reactions and up to 8 DEATHS, I believe a safety check is warranted. Individuals with Lyme disease, for example, had especially adverse reactions; and there are a lot of undiagnosed cases of Lyne disease out there.

And frankly, even if it is safe, it is NOT effective. *"Protective efficacy of this vaccine against different types of human papillomavirus was very low and the protection may be because of sub-clinical infection with human papillomavirus or antigenically related viruses." Pendru Raghunath, Senior Research Fellow.

And why is it not approved for use in males? Males get HPV, even if they do not get cervical cancer. Is it possible that marketing it to boys would remind people that the vaccine is not really a cancer preventative but a partially effective measure against a sexually transmitted disease?

The National Vaccine Information Center issued a press release that Gardasil MERCK'S GARDASIL VACCINE NOT PROVEN SAFE FOR LITTLE GIRLS National Vaccine Information Center Criticizes _FDA for Fast Tracking Licensure. The issues include flawed science, marketing strategy, and a need to show apparent results in a race for research grants.

Shades of Orwell and Doublespeak.

Are those the drug companies claim to be helping today actually tomorrow's victims?

I have said before that being Green has philosophical meaning. Of course philosophy is purely theoretical, and our approach to living Green can not be limited to the philosophical. It has to be purely realistic. We don't live in a philosophical world. We live in a real world. Being Green, Living Green, and making Green choices are not some theoretical thought processes which only affect our minds. These are choices that affect life. Not just our life, but life around us, and the life that is to come after us.

I get a lot of mail from people who share my concerns about how our increasingly contaminated environment increasingly threatens our health.

Just imagine we if we all addressed the issues, we would probably have lower health insurance rates, but who wants that?

Recently I got an email from Mike Cushman, a Canadian who is a prime example of someone who is getting involved. He too has become alarmed by the connection between toxic environment and illness. He read a book by Dr. Devra Davis Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology. Combined with Davis's book, Mike's research and his own family history, Mike had a wake-up call:

• Illness and the contaminated environment are connected.
• Greening the environment should be top priority for us all.

Mike Cushman took advantage of the Freedom of Information Act. He did as we all should; he informed himself, and then he took it on himself to make a noise, and inform other people.

Being Green is not and should not be just another trend for people to make money. It can not be a cause of the week for us to make a so so effort and then move on to the next fad.

Being Green is an imperative.

We must look at all contamination in all its facets. Air. Water. Earth.
We must clean up the contamination in all its facets. Air. Water. Earth.

There is no magic reality. A clean-up won't just happen spontaneously. It won't ever happen if we look the other way. We can not close our eyes. There is only one option for us, and that is to face the issue: we have runaway contamination. It is killing us.

How can we clean it all up?

We must heal the dysfunction of the EPA. We must inform the our public agencies who daily, yearly look the other way and make them do their jobs.

I see the power of Industry; Industry has the funds to clean up after itself. But it does not.
Therefore it is the EPA's job--it is my job--your job--everyone's job--to hold industry accountable.

Thirty years ago, the federal government funded 75% of the costs of maintaining a clean water infrastructure and now its support is down to 5%. One possible solution could be a Clean Water Enforcement Trust Fund. What about a dedicated trust fund that would be used exclusively to keep Industry accountable for cleaning up its own mess? This backed with a two-sided accountability: Industry Accountability AND Administrative Accountability. Americans will NOT tolerate waste, fraud or abuse. There MUST be an effective firewall for this trust fund. Funding must be held to its original intent.

We must all become active participants in Greening the world. Our future generations deserves a greater legacy from us than a ruined planet.