FLORIDA – Possible pressure from right wing religious groups is believed by many to be behind a recent gubernatorial veto that effectively halted Florida’s ability to study the effects of an experimental vaccine under development that could protect children against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) later in life.HPV is the most common sexually transmittable disease (STD) in America, infecting 50 to 75 percent of all sexually active adults and 80 percent of all sexually active women at some point in their lives. Current figures estimate that as many as 20 million people in the United States likely have the virus, with 5.5 million being added to that group annually. Some strains of HPV can lead to cervical cancer in women, which is the second most common cancer experienced by women worldwide.

Two vaccines are currently in clinical trials and require inoculation of individuals who have not yet been exposed to the virus. In order for the vaccines to work effectively and prove most beneficial to the general public, they should be administered to children or adolescents. It is this that has caused members of religiously conservative groups, who have long depended upon fear of STDs in order to encourage abstinence, to take umbrage and oppose the vaccine on principle. Their opposition comes in spite of the fact that a University of Texas study conducted during March, 2005, showed that 64% of parents queried would give the vaccine to their children if it became available.

In May of this year, Florida governor Jeb Bush trimmed $30,000 in administrative costs from a task force budget that would have allowed state health officials, doctors, a registered nurse, and a member of the legislative women’s caucus to study the treatment and prevention of HPV in the state, in addition to the implications of the vaccine, which could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year. Bush’s spokesman insists that the decision to cut funding to the task force was not a result of opposition lobbying by groups such as the Family Research Council (www.frc.org) but, rather, a purely fiscal one. State Rep. Anne Gannon thinks otherwise.

Gannon, who learned about HPV after a hysterectomy, believes that the state had an opportunity to end cervical cancer but allowed religious right forces to maintain the status quo.

“It’s so discouraging to have to fight this right-wing stuff on what should be a public health issue,” Gannon confessed.

The fact that the task force was created two years ago but given no money likely colors Gannon’s conclusions. After requesting $100,000 and being granted $30,000 by the Legislature, Governor Bush vetoed the expense. Spokesman Russell Schwiss explained the decision by pointing out “the money was earmarked for administrative expenses. He didn’t feel they needed $30,000.”

Bridget Maher, an analyst with the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian lobbying group, insists that her group does not oppose development of the vaccine but insists that administering it to minors “shouldn’t be mandatory,” and opposes distributing it to children.

In addition to cervical cancer, HPV often causes genital warts and can be tricky to protect against with condoms due to the fact that infectious areas can exist away from areas covered by latex. Given the wide distribution of the virus among the general population, the medical field contends that opposition to the vaccine stems from a lack of understanding concerning the nature of the exceptionally common virus.

Paull Hull, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy for the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society is unconvinced by Bush’s claims of budget consciousness.

“It’s hard to imagine that ($30,000) was a budget buster,” he observes. “We look at cervical cancer as a public health issue. It’s not a moral issue.”

Gannon has vowed to once again seek funding for the task force in 2006.