Gardasil is approved by the FDA, and they say that it fights some forms of the virus that gives women some kinds of cervical cancer.  It doesn’t prevent all cervical cancer but does attack four of the seven known strains of it, which reportedly affect about 70 % of all of these types of cancer.  It has also been proven effective in preventing the spread of genital warts and HPV.  It is not a magic bullet for all cases of these kinds of cancers and other diseases, but it gives women a better chance to survive.  Cervical cancer used to be considered a death sentence because the symptoms were hard to diagnose and there was no specific treatment that had much of a success ratio.  Now, at least, this gives woman a chance to beat the odds, that they will contract it at some point in their lives.  If my daughter was young, I would want awhile to see what happens with it over a five year period, but if she was about to be sexually active, I would ask how she felt about it, talk to the doctor, and then, WE would decide.