Bang Head HERE

The Health section of the New York Times online is down right now, so my rant on the inaccurate information in an essay debating the FDA's wisdom in approving Gardasil for females between the ages of 9 and 26 is incomplete.

The summary version of the rant is this:

• Crucial information about the FDA's guidelines for administering the vaccine was left out of the essay, leading the reader to believe that FDA wants all 9 year old girls to be vaccinated.
• She seems to lack a basic understanding about the different strains of HPV and how Gardasil works.
  
• She has a cavalier attitude towards the 10,000 women each year who are diagnosed with cervical cancer.
• She has an equally cavalier attitude about the additional tests a woman with a positive screen must go through to determine whether cervical cancer is present. If I recall, she calls the additional testing a "little discomfort" or some such bullshit.
  
• After giving a nod to right-wing conservative religious groups about preaching celibacy, she goes on to state that the transmission of HPV can be prevented through the use of condoms. NOT TRUE. Protection against HPV (and Herpes) via condom usage is only effective when the condom COVERS THE INFECTED AREA. It is not the most common sexually transmitted disease because it is difficult to catch.

I have no more words (or bullet points) for this kind of stupidity.