The cervical cancer vaccine gardasil is causing a bit of controversy in the Milwaukee medical community.

Gardasil is a vaccine given to girls and young women, and it prevents some forms of cervical cancer, but some church leaders and local ethicists believe there are real problems with the vaccine.

Gardasil is a relatively new vaccine. It protects against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

Some church leaders are opposed to the potentially life saving vaccine because they fear it could lead to girls becoming sexually active.

That angers local doctors.

“I think they need to be informed and not base it on moral values. I think they need to see realities of the vaccine, what it does to prevent cancer. It's not promoting sexual activity,” Dr. Wendi Ehrman said.

Merck manufactures gardasil. They have the exclusive rights to the vaccine, and some medical ethicists believe Merck is scaring hundreds of thousands of parents into getting the shots for their teenage daughters.

Ethicist Marissa Beffel says: "frightening parents is not the way to go. Merck is using the vulnerability of parents and taking advantage of them."

Four-thousand U.S. women die of cervical cancer each year. This vaccine can be an important tool in that battle.

Parents just need to do their research and then make a decision.