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Clearing some junks!
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Posted July 16 2009 08:53 AM
Mood: Apathetic
Ppl, I am clearing out some junks in another words I m removing some of 'so called frens whom I have never said hi to or with whom I don't talk to anymore or some.....well it's not worth mentioning'. NO offence but junks are junks.
Cheers
To Gardasil or not to Gardasil?
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Posted February 28 2009 07:56 AM
Mood: Cynical
Currently: picking nose...er I mean brain lol
“I can be one less statistic”, a catchphrase used in the commercial of Gardasil like a national anthem, is what you come across on TV every now and then. The maker of Gardasil, Merck Frosst, has made sure that no stones are left unturned when it comes to marketing. They sure do deserve a round of applause for such aggressive and persuasive campaigns and clever marketing, if not for anything else.
Researching on HPV vaccine called Gardasil was like opening a Pandora box. I had no idea that Gardasil was besieged by such controversies and issues. I realized that all these years I have been oblivious to such a critical matter. Some of the studies that I came across were very overwhelming and actually left me with more questions than answers. First of all, when our government decides to mandate a vaccination program, we automatically assume that it must be safe and that people associated with this drug must have researched it incessantly for a long period of time. As innocent citizens, we trust our government quite considerably when it comes to our health. We live in a health system which is insured by the government;where we pay our taxes to the government and in return they pay our hospital bills. It’s like a mute contract between the two of us. We do not question about how much tax we are paying and they don’t question us about our trip to the hospital (which is not a pleasant trip of course). But when they decided to mandate a HPV vaccine out of blue and spend 300 million dollars, I somehow see this virtual contract being violated. Who made this decision on whose behalf? Of course this vaccine is targeted from girls age 9-26 but it involves every one of us. We live in a very close-knit society where almost every family has a daughter or sister who falls in this range of age and when a decision is being made, the whole family is involved. The family faces a challenging dilemma as to whether to get vaccinated or not. And the information that we have been getting are extremely paradoxical.
On one hand, we have this media pelting us with the propagation of Gardasil and trying to instill an urgency to get vaccinated now or the end is near. Sometimes I ambiguously feel like they are trying to say that the world will come to an end soon when women would be unable to procure because of the cervical cancer. Like HPV vaccine is one and only our gleam of hope, our Moses, our Messiah. Then we have government who actually approved it and not just that, they even mandated it and decided to spend our tax money. And when I say they mandated it, I meant it because we live in a post modern world where everything is euphemistic. People like to sugar or colour coat everything before they hand you down with a dogma. Of course, in a post modern world we don’t have Gestapos breaking down your doors and SS doctors injecting some unknown toxic agents in you system. However, as I said, we live in a post modern world and if our government decides to spend millions of money on a vaccine and announces that girls above 9 years old in school will be getting this vaccine, to me it is mandating. Remember, Gardasil hit the market in 2006 and just after one year in March 2007, the government decided to dispense the vaccine on a mass scale. If the HPV vaccine is to be covered by the Canadian public health budget, it would be a major additional cost for an already overburdened system. And it is not yet clear that the benefit of this vaccine justifies its very substantial cost. As many people have asked before, “Really, what’s the rush?” Is one year enough to decide that the medication should be made available on a large scale? Is one year really enough to not just distribute the medication but to distribute to the whole provincial population of young girls and women?
On the other hand, just few months after the government nodded generously to Gardasil, there were 1,637 reports of adverse reactions of the vaccine reported to FDA and at least three deaths related to the vaccine(more news on death and adverse effects check youtube). Cervical cancer is Canada is not even among the top ten most common types of cancer. Most sexually active people experience an HPV infection. For most women, the body's own defense system clears the virus and infected women do not develop related health problems. Gardasil is a vaccine that offers protection against HPV types 6 and 11which is responsible for 90% of genital warts, and HPV types 16 and 18, which are associated with 70% of cervical cancers and not against types of virus responsible for the other 30% of cervical cancer. The vaccine is most effective before sexual activity begins.
Gardasil covers only four types of virus, two of which are associated with the cervical cancer and we still don’t know how long protection lasts. Hence, in retrospect I ask again, “What’s the rush?” When one finds it hard whom to believe, it is always best to trust yourself. Young girls are required to study and research diligently and decide what they think is best for themselves. After all, it is their health that is on the line.
PS: There is another HPV vaccine called cervarix that will be hitting the market soon.by the way Merck & Frosst is currently working on HPV vaccine for boys and they are hoping to see it hitting the market very soon.
PSS: There is also a controversy surrounding the company Merck & Frosst. According to Toronto Star Merck Frosst Canada Ltd., "the maker of Gardasil, hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty's office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman."
Being educated: What the 'bleep' does it mean anyways?
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Posted January 28 2009 04:41 PM
Mood: Cranky
Currently: usually calm as Gandhi
Before I begin I need to do something first. *gets her head clobbered by Jackie chen's new fist of fury and yells her lungs out Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!*
Ah, I feel tad different. Well, let me put it this way, I feel nasty from nastier.
Listen to this story before I begin to tell my woe.
Once upon a time, there lived a scholar who had mastered many languages, the ancient scriptures, including the Vedas, arguably the oldest surviving texts in the world, epic literary works and so on. He was well known and was very proud of himself.
One day, he was sitting on a boat while the boatman was rowing and minding his own business. Sneering silently at the boatman's lowly profession, the scholar asked him, "Have you ever studied the Vedas?"
The boatman said, "No, I am not educated and I cannot read or write".
The scholar snickered, "Oh, you have wasted one-fourth of your life time by not knowing the Vedas!"
Not content to end it there, the scholar continued, "What about the great epics then? Have you ever listened to them?"
The boatman replied, "I have no time to read the epics as I leave for work very early in the morning to ferry people across the river and return home very late".
To this the scholar said, "Oh, you have wasted half of your life time by not listening to the great epics"
The scholar continued, "Have you at least known languages other than your mother tongue?"
To which the boatman said he never travelled outside his native land and hence, had no opportunity to learn other languages. The scholar said, "Oh, then you have wasted three-fourths of your life time".
By this time, the boat was in the middle of the river. The boatman noticed that water was entering through a small hole in the boat.
He asked the scholar, "Do you know swimming?"
The scholar replied, "I have no time to waste in learning swimming. I can just pay a small charge and cross the river at any time."
The boatman said, "Oh respected scholar!By not knowing swimming, you have wasted your whole life time. The boat is going to sink very soon. I'm exhausted from rowing and only have the strength to swim to the bank myself?"
Thus saying this the boatman jumped into the river.
Moral of the story =>
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall
This is an old story from Panchatantra. The reason I am telling this is because I had to endure a very irksome and vexing discussion with the most condescending and presumptuous earthling who was glorifying constantly about his academic achievements (I don't want to go in details about this fella). I must admit that initially, I was very peeved and I blew my top. Later, I realised I could use this as an impetus to say my piece for the first time.
Seriously, what is education anyways? You can graduate universities after universities. You can read scholarly books after books and burn the mignight oil after oil. But really what is the use of all this when all you do is look down on people just because you think you are an omniscient and that you have answers to all the questions in the world. It's even more pathetic to see such intelligence go in waste. You spend aeons of your life in the process of so called 'educating yourself' and yet you forget the vey basic principle that humility is the first chapter in the book of being educated or knowledgeable. In fact, humility is the hallmark of a genuine and true learned man.
I remember an incident that took place when I was in Nepal. I was going somewhere in a cab and i remember I was getting late. I was not in a good mood that day for some reason. The cab driver was lifting his hands in the air from time to time. Seeing this I got more agitated and gave him an ugly look in the mirror from the backseat. I asked, "Is that some kind of a trademark move that you are trying to impress me with?" He looked up int the mirror smiled and said gently, "No sister, I am doing this cos its very hot today and my palms are getting sweaty on the steeringwheel." Since I was not in an affable mood so I replied, "You should get your feet up in the air too while you are at it." At this the cabby laughed his head off and said, "Sister, my feet are ugly and my hands are sweaty, I am so sorry." This man had such a child like laughter and full of innocence that I felt ashamed of myself for being so boorish and impertinent. Sometimes it takes a normal cab driver to give you some sweet lessons of life. This guy made me think and wonder. Does educaton mean having couple of degrees or diplomas under ur belt? Education is vast and infinite. It is not something that is limited to the acquisition of some certificate signed by some white collared officials. Education is not something that emanates from brain only. It is something that not only lights up your soul but others too. And this I learned from a cabby with a hearty laughter  .
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