Merck, maker of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, is backing off its lobbying campaign following pressure from medical groups and parents who believe the vaccine should not be mandated as a school attendance requirement for adolescent girls.

The public outcry that caused Merck to announce its stop order on Tuesday stems from the fact that the vaccine protects against the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. School-mandated vaccines are typically for diseases spread through casual contact, such as measles and mumps.

Merck's medical director for vaccines, Dr. Richard M. Haupt says, "We're concerned that our role in supporting school requirements is a distraction from that goal, and as such have suspended our lobbying efforts," adding that the company will continue providing information about the vaccine upon request.

Gardasil, launched in June and the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, has inspired controversy since day one. There's the cost -- $360 for three required shots -- and all sorts of insurance concerns and conservative groups who worry the vaccine encourages premarital sex and interferes with parental rights. Even those in support of the vaccine -- like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Practitioners -- question Merck's quick push to market this drug, especially in light of the company's withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

"I believe that their timing was a little bit premature so soon after (Gardasil's) release, before we have a picture of whether there are going to be any untoward side effects," says Dr. Anne Francis, who chairs an American Academy of Pediatrics committee.

Legislatures in 20 states have taken steps to mandate the vaccine for young girls. And with the exception of Texas governor Rick Perry's February 2 executive order requiring Texas girls entering the sixth grade in 2008 get vaccinated, nothing has been made official so far.

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.

It is a they said, she said lawsuit of family against family as the children of Darrell Wayne Perry, a Nashville songwriter with credits that include Tim McGraw's Not a Moment Too Soon; Lorrie Morgan's What Part of No; Toby Keith's A Woman's Touch, I Only Miss You, and Every Promise I Ever Made; accuse their evangelical preaching aunt Darlene Bishop, and sister to the deceased, of causing the death of Perry by promising to cure him with prayer after his throat cancer diagnosis in 2003.

Perry's children say Bishop claimed she was cured of cancer through prayer and promised to cure her brother in the same way. According to news reporting, in her book Your Life Follows Your Words, Bishop wrote that faith and prayer cured her of her cancer and her brother Perry of his cancer. In a deposition, she is said to have admitted she was never diagnosed with cancer by a physician, even though she believed she had the disease.

After Perry's death from cancer, Bishop became the executor to his estate. According to the children, Bishop has not given them any of their inheritance, estimated at $750,000 dollars. The children are suing their aunt for wrongful death, clergy malpractice and fraud. Bishop denies all allegations.

The level of grief and the depth of sadness felt when losing a family member to cancer is without measure. You would think that nothing worse could possibly happen. This turn of events following the cancer diagnosis and death of Perry, however it turns out, and wherever the truth is to be found, has reached a new depth in an abyss of empty darkness.

There is something to be said for the power of prayer. On the morning the lump in my breast was removed, a friend rallied more than 80 friends from our local MOMS Club to say a prayer for me -- at the exact time I was wheeled into an operating room. I know nothing of the prayer they said for me, but I do know I emerged from surgery with my breast intact and with the knowledge that my cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes.

I don't know for sure what role prayer played in my good fortune -- but I don't discount that it is in some way responsible for the fact that I am alive today.

But there are other obvious factors responsible for my survival -- like chemotherapy, radiation, physical therapy, targeted drug therapy, and counseling. So I don't think prayer alone saved me. I think it took a balance of varied forces to save my life -- a balance one Ohio man was not able to achieve.

The children of Darrell Perry are filing suit against their aunt, Darlene Bishop -- Perry's sister and an evangelical preacher -- who claims both she and Perry were cured of cancer through prayer.

Perry was not cured and died a year and a half ago from throat cancer. And Bishop now reveals she was never diagnosed with breast cancer -- like she claimed at one time -- but was merely worried she may have had the disease. Yet the message in her book Your Life Follows Your Words speaks loud and clear in its message -- that prayer can cure cancer.

Perry's children says their aunt is lying and exploiting their father for her own financial gain. They have filed two suits -- one accusing her of mismanaging and misusing Perry's estate and the other alleging wrongful death for convincing Perry to pray rather than seek medical help.

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton announced on Thursday -- via his publicist -- that he will miss the beginning of the band's upcoming tour and will rejoin the band in mid-October once he has fully recovered from radiation treatment for throat cancer.

Hamilton, 55, just completed seven weeks of radiation and plans to rest and heal in the company of family. In his absence, David Hull -- a longtime friend and former member of the Joe Perry Project -- will fill in as bassist. The Aerosmith tour -- Route of All Evil -- will begin on September 5 in Columbus, Ohio.