The Washington Post on Monday examined the "clash" between health advocates and social conservative groups over an experimental cervical cancer vaccine that could reach the market in 2006 (Stein, Washington Post, 10/31). Merck earlier this month announced that its experimental HPV vaccine Gardasil was 100% effective in preventing transmission of HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. Merck said it will seek FDA approval of Gardasil this year and could begin marketing the drug late next year. GlaxoSmithKline's experimental HPV vaccine Cervarix has shown to be 100% effective in preventing transmission of strains 16 and 18 in early clinical trials, and the company plans to submit an application for approval in Europe and elsewhere in 2006, according to GSK CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier. GSK said it plans to recommend Cervarix for girls as young as age 10, while Merck has said it might lobby states to require the vaccine for all 12-year-old children before they can enter school. Some parents and health officials object to standardized HPV vaccinations for teenagers and are concerned that children would interpret them as permission to have sex (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/28). Merck and GSK have been meeting with conservative advocacy groups to try "to assuage their concerns" and "hea[d] off a confrontation" over the vaccine, officials said. The "jockeying" between the drug companies and the groups "reflects the growing influence that social conservatives" have gained under the Bush administration, according to the Post. The Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group, and the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, Texas, which advises conservative groups on sexuality and health issues, are scheduled to convene separately on Wednesday to discuss the issue (Washington Post, 10/31).