Last year the FDA approved Gardasil, a vaccine effective against four strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause 90 percent of genital warts and 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer. Virginia soon made the vaccine mandatory for girls entering sixth grade (leaving parents the right to opt out), but a similar effort in Texas was derailed by arguments that the vaccine would encourage promiscuity. More than 20 other states began debating whether the vaccination should be mandatory.
Since then the vaccine has only become more controversial—especially after The New England Journal of Medicine published results on May 11 showing that the vaccine may not be as effective as was hoped. Now some lawmakers want to make it mandatory, some scientists think that's premature, some parents don’t want it anywhere near their daughters, and—at $360 a pop—many people can’t afford it.
How do we know HPV causes cervical cancer? ...
