Conflict of interest claim hits Cervarix maker

MINISTERS have been accused of misleading schoolgirls over the anti-cervical cancer jab. Leaflets tell pupils it is safe to take oral contraceptives and also receive the Cervarix injections, but the literature fails to mention that long-term use of the pill has been shown to quadruple the risk of contracting the disease.

Critics are now pointing to a conflict of interest involving Cervarix's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The company, the UK's largest pharmaceutical, also produces two brands of birth control tablets - Elogen and Zerogen - which are marketed in India.

Eileen McCloy, of parents' campaign group Not With My Child, claimed the omission in Scottish government leaflets may have been designed "to spare the blushes of Glaxo".

"This is a huge money-making exercise for the drug companies, she said. "How can parents give informed consent for their children to get this injection if they are only getting half the information?"

Jackie Fletcher of safer-vaccination support group Jabs branded the leaflets "inadequate", adding: "This was a perfect opportunity to give girls and parents the facts. Girls need to be educated through teachers and their parents to manage their own sexual health, and they can't unless they are provided with all the information."

The government's £64 million mass immunisation programme began in September and thousands of girls are being inoculated every month.

Every female aged between 12 and 17 will be offered the course of injections over the next three years. Parents of under-16s are invited to give consent on behalf of their daughters, but the law allows medics to go ahead regardless of parents' wishes if the child is deemed to have understood the issues involved.

Cervarix offers temporary immunity to two strains of the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV) which cause 70% of all cases of cervical cancer. A course of three injections is effective for around six years, though not against existing infections.

Six million women in the UK have HPV, though cancer only results in around 0.1% of incidences where the virus persists for a decade. Cervical cancer killed 959 women in the UK in 2006.

But studies have shown that simple lifestyle changes can slash the chances of the bug surviving - stopping smoking and eating healthily have been found to halve the risk of long-term infection.

In 2002, the International Agency for Research on Cancer claimed that women who take oral contraceptives over several years are four times more likely to be affected. But official leaflets given to girls aged 16 and above - and still available online at the government's website about the vaccine - make no mention of the studies, despite raising the subject of birth control.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said the literature was "intended to provide clear information about the HPV vaccine, not detailed advice on sexual health or the risks or otherwise of using the contraceptive pill".

She added: "The information materials were not influenced in any way whatsoever by GlaxoSmithKline."

A GSK spokesman said: "Although alcohol, smoking, the oral combined contraceptive pill and frequent childbirth have been identified as risk factors in relation to cervical cancer, it is caused by a persistent cancer-causing infection with a common virus, HPV.

"Vaccination, combined with regular screening and a healthy lifestyle, offers women the best possible protection against cervical cancer."