Catholic school apparently bans cervical cancer vaccine

A Roman Catholic high school in Bury, Greater Manchester, has decided to not permit its students to be vaccinated against the papilloma virus on its premises. Now the report (from the Manchester Evening News) is purely about a letter, not yet sent to parents, about the decision, and nobody from the school has commented directly on the report, so it is only preliminary.

Now I would defend, vehemently, the right of the school to make this decision. It is the school's property, and parents have the choice whether or not to send their daughters to the school. Furthermore, as the vaccine is taxpayer funded, there should be other options to obtain the vaccination if parents so choose. I do not object to the right to withhold it. This is a libertarian stance - asserting private property rights.

However, as an objectivist, I find the stance itself based on irrational and immoral grounds. It has been reported that the letter announcing the reasons for withholding permission
"points out that the vaccine protects against only 70 per cent of cervical cancers, and gives details of possible side-effects to the jab".

Only 70%!! As opposed to all those vaccinations derived from the Vatican, which has done wonders in fighting cancer over the years. Now the side effects are logical to advise about, but that should then be a question of rational trade off.

The real problem the school has is with sex. "Morally it seems to be a sticking plaster response. Parents must consider the knock-on effect of encouraging sexual promiscuity. Instead of taking it for granted that teenagers will engage in sexual activity, we can offer a vision of a full life keeping yourself for a lifelong partnership in marriage".

So dramatically reducing the risk of a cancer that at best could mean a lengthy period of medical treatment, at worse death, is "encouraging sexual promiscuity". Well then by extension there should be NO vaccinations, indeed there shouldn't even be any drugs or treatment for people with STDs or HIV should there? The threat of cancer discourages sexual promiscuity.

So presumably the school and the church regards those girls who get cervical cancer as sinful, and deserving of their fate - because after all, they should have not sinned because, somehow, that protects you completely from the papilloma virus and cervical cancer. As usual, the wisdom of celibate men on these matters

Is anyone delivering the message that "get this vaccine and you can shag without protection happily"? Of course not. The message is more a case of, here is a vaccine that could possibly save your life. Nobody is saying that the risk of pregnancy has gone or the risk of HIV or other STDs. Who thinks that girls go "hold it, I might get the papilloma virus, I will wait till I'm married". Most who do wait do so for a host of reasons which are emotional and rational, none of which celibate men are really in a place to understand well. Much as they understand a "full life keeping yourself for a lifelong partnership in marriage" - an ideal I think is rather lovely, if it is sustained genuinely rather than by altruistic sacrifice.

However it is more serious than that. Women can get cervical cancer from the papilloma virus without having been sexually promiscuous. Indeed people can get HIV without having been sexually promiscious as well. Yet the school, and by implication the Roman Catholic Church cares not about that. Death apparently isn't so important that the achievements of medical science should be as widely available as possible to delay it.

Moral? Hardly. It is one thing to frighten young girls into fearing an eternity of agony and damnation if they dare wander off a certain path, it is another to deliberately deny them a means to prevent the onset of a fatal disease, so that the threat of that disease can be hanging over them if they wander off that path. So not only do they risk being punished in this life, but having that life shortened as well.

The school has every right to do this, but that does not make it immune from criticism for its apparent motives.

Number 21...

Bugger. down from a hat trick of 18, but the competition is heating up. Going to Ireland for five days completely away from net access had an effect on post, but even with my traffic going up, it is clear many leftwing blogs are coming to life. Of course I'm hardly objecting to healthy competition!

However, many have said it before and I can only reiterate a very warm thank you to Tim Selwyn for the excellent work, I am sure it spurs some of us to work harder at attracting audiences - rather like having radio ratings - except none of us has inane competitions to attract punters!

Four more unlikely Labour MPs

Continuing my rather peculiar review of the chances of Labour candidates. Starting at the bottom of the list, it's fair to say this lot wont get in on the list, but any chance at all of being electorate MPs?

Raj Thandi – number 77 – list only. “My ambition in life is to be successful in work and my personal life. I would like to be a positive role model and leader for the Indian community” not being elected to Parliament will help with that, being an MP is hardly high up the list for being a positive role model. No chance

Carol Devoy-Heena – number 76 – Bay of Plenty. “Demography suggests that Labour voters in this electorate should now be the majority” she says. What if they are not? So bloody arrogant. Given Tony Ryall won it last time with 57.8% of the vote and a 13584 majority, and National got 57.2% of the party vote against Labour’s 28% it puts paid to her claim that “I feel I can provide the impetus to achieve the political change necessary for this area, whilst supporting core social democratic values.” No chance.

Hugh Kininmonth – number 75 – Coromandel. “I am standing to ensure that the development of our nation as a world leader continues” in what?? What can you "ensure"? Then there is “Labour stands for equality of opportunity and fairness for all. The alternative is to turn the clock back to the 1990s” Imagine if everyone had the same opportunities, what sort of ironed flat, everyone the same hellhole that would be. Sandra Goudie got 53% of the vote last time, the Labour candidate 23.6%. She also pulled in 44.2% party vote for National, with Labour on 31.7%. Hugh has a website, so give him credit for that, as putting some effort into the campaign. He’s a public sector health manager, and he still believes in it. No chance.

David Coates – number 74 – Selwyn. “My focus is on making our communities safer and better places to live - even better than they are under Labour today.” The planet he is on is what?? “Public commuter transport is something else I believe needs further investigation from “sleeping suburbs”. Removing the single-occupant vehicles from the roads must be a plus for all. Less pollution, less congestion, less fuel usage.” What’s this obsession with transport? So he wants to remove single occupancy vehicles from Selwyn roads?? Oh please, control freak. Selwyn is a new seat, with rural and dormitory towns around Christchurch combining parts of Bank’s Peninsula and Rakaia. It should be National seat, Amy Adams should have a good chance of entering Parliament, but it isn't a sure thing. Low chance for David Coates.

Mbeki steps down - and about time

The blood stained hands of Thabo Mbeki will no longer be landed on the desk of the President of South Africa.

I have blogged enough about this anti-science thug, whose legacy to South Africa is the growing epidemic of HIV - which he once thought was a conspiracy.

He shook the hand of his murdering mate Robert Mugabe, and has done more than anyone outside Zimbabwe to bring that country to its knees, through sheer inertia, cowardice, denial and explicit support for Zanu-PF's thieving murdering kleptocrat bullies.

Good riddance to a very stupid, palpably ignorant, gutless friend of evil.

My posts related to Mbeki here, his appeasement of Mugabe, being a friend of fascism, continuing being an accessory to bloodshed in Zimbabwe, his hypocrisy, his fawning over Mugabe, the pathetic pointless man, his desire for compromise after a stolen election, his recent explicit support for Mugabe, other countries condemning his ambivalence about Mugabe.

So now Jacob Zuma, who is a serial polygamist, with four wives (one who killed herself), three fiances and has bred 18 children, thinks having a shower after sex protects from HIV, will lead South Africa. The only thing that can be said is he has been more critical of Mugabe than Mbeki - small blessings huh?

Cyclists should pay for their own bridge

You see the current bridge was paid for by motorists paying tolls, and more recently maintained by motorists paying fuel taxes and road user charges. There isn't a cycling lane or public walkway because of a deal done by Auckland local authorities at the time protecting the ferry operations and the local government owned bus services.

So, as cyclists don't pay a cent into the National Land Transport Fund they have no right to demand motorists pay for an exorbitantly expensive NZ$42.8 million new lane. $42.8 million is NZ$4 million more than the Wellington Inner City Bypass, $1 million more than the Avalon Drive Bypass in west Hamilton on State Highway 1. It's an expensive project.

Furthermore, what the hell is the ARC Transport Chairwoman Christine Rose doing supporting the illegal cycle protest from Sunday? The Auckland Harbour Bridge is part of the Northern Motorway - cycling on motorways is a traffic offence because motorways are not designed to handle slow traffic.

This silly bint - apparently responsible for so much of Auckland transport (except the motorways and indeed your cars) said according to the NZ Herald "I'd like to know why it isn't safe, why can't you cycle across, and who organised that".

Being even more banal she also said that "walking and cycling across the bridge was an equity issue and "a human right"". Great, you go do that, every day Christine - maybe Aucklanders will be better off with you walking the motorways, getting taken into court or maybe, perish the thought, run over. If you don't know what the hell a motorway is, then you shouldn't be chairing transport at the ARC.

I notice also the Police, ever keen to catch a speeding driver who presents next to no harm to anyone else (like me doing 108 km/h on a straight empty highway in Canterbury) didn't fine the cyclists because "there was no harm done". There you go, a $250 fine avoided - perfect chance for more Green protestors to clog up Auckland's motorways. By the way motorists pay for the Police to do traffic enforcement through the National Land Transport Fund too - good to see the cops not doing their job then.

The illegal protest drew support from Labour and Green candidates apparently.

My view is simple - the bridge should be sold. The new owners should toll it to fund the expansion of the Victoria Park viaduct and a duplicate crossing if they deem it commercially worthwhile, and can choose to install cycling/pedestrian ways if they so wish. Meanwhile, those who haven't paid for something shouldn't moan because they can't use it - it's called life. Cyclists get full use of almost all roads in the country, even though they pay nothing to use state highways, and only pay towards local roads as ratepayers. If they want better facilities, they ought to cough up the money themselves or do some fundraising.

UPDATE: Brian Rudman has a rush of blood to the head, and is against the cycleway clipon in the NZ Herald. On the various proposals he says "there is no evidence to suggest building either will lead to widespread use. All we get is faith, argued on the basis of what is said to happen elsewhere".

He recalls this issue from decades past when the truth was that hardly any cyclists really cared "If I wanted to call the lobbyists' bluff, I'd lay on a trial shuttle between Northcote and Shelley Beach Rd and see how many takers there are. Even the cost of providing this as a free shuttle would be cheaper than commissioning another report. Thirty years ago, after a similar clamour, several shuttle trials were conducted. The first month-long trial carried 25 bike/passengers a day. A subsequent three-month trial shuttle carried fewer than 10 return travellers a day. A final year-long trial in 1983 averaged under 20 users a day.

The cyclists argue that shuttling or catching a ferry mid-journey forces them to a timetable and restricts their free-as-a-bird independence.

But surely they owe the public purse a better justification than pure faith, before asking for $43 million."

Indeed Brian - but the Green Party transport policy IS pure faith.