The Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) vaccine called Gardasil can protect from the infection of four types of the HPV virus. Two of these types cause up to 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer.

Recommendations were released by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) regarding the use of Gardasil. The FDA approved Gardasil in June 2006.

The role of ACIP is to advise the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about vaccine usage and vaccine-preventable diseases.

The recommendations published by the ACIP:

• Recommended age for routine vaccination of girls is 11-12 years.
• The vaccine can be given to girls as young as 9 years.
• Catch-up vaccination is recommended for girls and women between the ages of 13 and 26 years who were not vaccinated previously or who did not complete the full vaccine series (the vaccine is administered in three separate doses).
• Routine cervical cancer screening remains important following vaccination.

The ACIP's recommendations can influence policy and practice, but are not directly linked with school and daycare entry laws. These laws are made by individual states.

Come September 2008, 11 and 12-year-old girls in Texas entering the sixth grade will receive three shots of the Gardasil vaccine used to prevent cervical cancer.

Texas is the first state to require that young schoolgirls receive the cervical cancer vaccine, approved for use by the FDA in June and proven to protect against the most common strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV) -- the cause of most cervical cases cervical cancers.

Texas governor Rick Perry (R), who just signed an executive order making this mandate official, believes the high cost of treating diseases and ensuring the health and well-being of our population justifies the vaccine requirement.

Perry, who has been met with opposition from those concerned that HPV vaccination of young girls promotes premarital sex and interferes with parental rights, will allow parents to opt out of the vaccination requirement with documentation citing religious or philosophical reasons. But he hopes most will comply with the cervical cancer vaccine he believes is no different than immunization against diseases such as polio.

Gardasil drugmaker Merck stands to make billions if the vaccine is made mandatory across the country. The series of three necessary shots cost $360.

Perry, who received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign, has other ties to the company. His former chief of staff is one of Merck's three lobbyists in Texas, and his current chief of staff's mother-in-law is state director for Women in Government -- a group active in introducing bills across the country that affect women.

Given the danger of tobacco use as a known cancer risk, is there any redeeming value to the tobacco plant? Dr. Franconi of Checkbiotech believes there might be and has been conducting experiments with transgenic tobacco in developing cervical cancer vaccines. Using crude plant extracts, genetically engineered plants and plant viruses, mice immunized with crude extracts of transgenic tobacco displayed strong immune responses and about 40 percent of the animals were protected from HPV-induced tumors. Ultimately, this avenue of research might one day offer the possibility of using plant extracts as edible vaccines.

The benefits to using plants in the development of cancer vaccines are obvious. Freeze-dried leaf has a long-term stability and shelf life, making the availability for the production of vaccines more dependable; plants demand for solar light, water and minerals are simple and make plants an economic system for production of cancer vaccines. There are still kinks to work out in making this a safe and effective alternative in creating cancer vaccines, and research is continuing in the perfection of production of these vaccines. However, it is interesting work being done with a plant associated with so much despair and damage to health. To read more indepth information about the research and progress researchers are making in developing cervical cancer vaccines using transgenic tobacco, go here.

Photo credit: Checkbiotech greenhouse research facility