Ms Paula Byrne:

I thank the committee for allowing me to speak today. All the information I present is based on published articles by established scientists writing in recognised peer-reviewed medical journals, and it is referenced in the material that I have previously submitted to the committee.

Despite the current economic climate, we are spending €10 million per year on a vaccine against cervical cancer which has not been proven in any part of the world to work. In the words of Dr. Charlotte Haug of the Norwegian Medical Association, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine about HPV vaccines, we cannot base costly decisions on unproven assumptions. Dr. Haug is one of the many clinicians and scientists around the world who have raised serious concerns about HPV vaccines. With more than 20 years of experience in health care fields, and currently studying for a master's degree in health economics, I became concerned about Gardasil while researching an article that was published in The Irish Times. In France, Gardasil is prohibited from being promoted as protective against cervical cancer because it is clear the impact of the vaccine is unknown.

There are three important questions to ask here. Is it necessary? No, it is not. Is it effective? We do not know. Is it safe? Again, we do not know. Against this backdrop, we are vaccinating 12 year old girls, 99.9% of whom are unlikely to ever develop cervical cancer. For the 0.1% who do develop it, on average it will be in 30 years' time. Dr. Diane Harper, one of the lead scientists working on the development of the vaccine, has stated that if Gardasil is given to 11-year-old girls, and the vaccine does not last at least 15 years, then there is no benefit, only risk, for these young girls. Does this make sense? Does it not make more sense to put our limited resources into strengthening screening programmes that cannot cause harm and whose effectiveness we know? In Ireland, the HSE leaflet promoting the vaccine states on its front cover that the HPV vaccine protects us from cervical cancer. This is plainly untrue. When the State makes a strong recommendation to its citizens about a health intervention, the information should be based on fact, not conjecture. It is up to the parent of each child receiving this vaccine to make this informed decision and they can only do so if they have the correct information. By exaggerating the benefits of the vaccine, parents are unable to make accurate and informed decisions. The marketing of this vaccine has been criticised, and an article in the American Journal of Bioethics noted on Gardasil that pharmaceutical lobbying is a poor substitute for well-reasoned public health debate. Consent for a medical procedure in Ireland must legally be full, free and informed. I doubt if anyone here is comfortable with actively misinforming the public. I ask the committee to ensure this leaflet and promotional material are changed to represent the evidence.

For politicians, getting the best value for money is crucial. All of the members here today are at the coalface of budgetary restrictions and every day they deal with the fallout for constituents whose front-line services are being cut. It is vital that our scarce resources are spent only on evidence-based medical interventions. During previous Dáil debates on this issue it has been stated that failure to introduce this vaccine could result in the unnecessary deaths of women. This sort of emotive statement makes it very difficult for politicians to tease out the scientific facts, but this is what I am asking the committee to do.

This vaccine is unproven and represents a massive waste of valuable resources. My recommendations to the committee are that the programme should be discontinued based on the current facts and, at the very least, parents must not be misled and this promotional material should be changed so it is truthful. I put these issues before the committee because I believe, and I am sure members do too, that politicians have a duty of care to the people to defend their right to make informed choices for their children.