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Merck Halts Lobbying Effort For Cervical Cancer Vaccine

Bowing to pressure from some parents' groups and doctors, Merck & Co. is immediately suspending its controversial lobbying campaign to get state legislatures to require 11- and 12-year-old girls to get the three-dose vaccine of Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.

The groups objected because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted disease--human papilloma virus--which causes cervical cancer. Last month, the AP reported that Merck was channeling money for its state-mandate campaign through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators across the country.

Conservative groups opposed the campaign, saying it would encourage premarital sex, and parents' rights groups said it interfered with their control over their children. Even two of the prominent medical groups that supported broad use of the vaccine--the American Academy of Pediatricians and the American Academy of Family Practitioners--questioned Merck's timing, according to Dr. Richard M. Haupt, Merck's medical director for vaccines.

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