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I don't know Perry's ultimate motivation for the move to mandate the HPV vaccine, but it can and does prevent cancers and save lives. Before condemning Perry for trying to see to it girls were vaccinated for it, consider the following;

My area of expertise involves having to know about pathologies like HPV. It is actually a huge group of different strains of "wart" viruses, although the most dangerous strains do not make visible warts. They are easily transmitted by skin contact--and not necessarily only sexual contact. These viruses are very common. More than 50% of the population will have one or more of the strains including oral infections at any given time. Usually a healthy person will throw off most of the strains given time, but some strains are not so easy to overcome and can go on to cause cancer. The strains covered by the vaccine are the most likely to cause these cancers of the cervix, external pelvic areas, AND the mouth and throat.

The oral/throat cancers are showing up in people in their 20's and 30's at an increasing rate. One oral pathologist whose seminar I attended last year reported his research indicated a 300% increase. Throat cancers caused by HPV are surpassing smoking as a primary cause. This is still not well known among physicians who may not discuss the oral cancer link with patients. The throat cancer can be difficult to detect until it is well advanced. The treatment is often a combination of surgery, chemo, and radiation with fairly good prognosis if caught in time. But, chemo and rad have lasting side effects that can be serious.

I personally know patients who developed tonsillar cancer from one of the HPV strains (HPV 16) covered by the vaccine. I assure you they would run like the wind for that vaccine if they could go back in time before they were exposed.

We get vaccines for many things that are frankly less life threatening than cancer. The hysteria over the HPV vaccine was blown way out of proportion because of the lack of good public education about the real dangers of HPV. It became associated with the idea we were sort of accusing little girls of needing protection from a VD and Perry only wanted them vaccinated for his own gain. The true value of it got lost in all the uproar. Making this vaccine a political hot potato during the election is making the public aversion to it even worse. It will make doctors even less likely to recommend it due to the perceived risk of malpractice or alienating patients. My own physician sees it this way. These are stupid reasons not to be protected by it. The decision should be made on medical facts alone.

Who knows for sure if Perry was motivated by some lust for money from the company making the vaccine or political payback. But being briefed on the facts, it also may be he clearly understood it is truly an important vaccine that could save many lives not to mention the considerable cost of treatment and suffering. It is now just as important for boys to receive . Originally, the focus was just on cervical cancer, but now we are seeing a higher rate of HVP-related throat cancers in men than women. It is not just a woman's concern any longer.

If anyone is interested in further info, here are good sites;
http://www.hpvhealth.net/blog/category/hpv-vaccine/
http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/fac ... avirus.htm
WARNING, the following site has graphic pictures of oral cancers;
http://www.entusa.com/hpv_&_oral_cancer.htm

Oops
Corrected. That's what happens when I get too riled up.

I'm voting for Perry (corrected typo) not because I love Perry, but because he is preferable as someone else stated.
As others have pointed out;
1. He's a democrat whom I do not believe would actually do anything about the border problem (sanctuary city).
2. He would suck up to Obama's agenda. He didn't meet with him when he came to Texas solely as a tactic to avoid looking like he supports him before the election.
3. He belonged to Bloombergs's group and did indeed support their agenda for years. He dropped out only to increase his electability. I highly doubt his heart has changed.
4. He marched in the recent Dallas Gay Pride Parade. I personally do not want the Gay Right's agenda of same sex marriage, etc to take any further foothold here in Texas. I'm sick of it being shoved down our throats from every angle already.

Grammy wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

brazosriver wrote:I normally vote republican, but can anyone give me Bill Whites position on the current or future guns laws in Texas.

Here's an indirect piece of info: He claims in his ads that he wants to secure the borders, but as mayor of Houston, he ran it as a sanctuary city. Where do most "sanctuary city" mayors sit on gun rights versus gun control?

I agree with you.

I saw a poll this morning that said there was only one point separating them, I find that hard to believe.
Jim

You forget most of the people in our state who have their hands out vote democrat, and there are quite a lot. The projections of who is increasing in number and who isn't in our fair state clearly predicts Texas will turn blue in the coming years. I just hope they are all wrong. The idea White could not possibly win is a dangerous one.