Inside Cancer

With the vast amount of media attention given to cervical cancer since the introduction of the new HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccines, any female or parent could certainly be forgiven for believing that the risk of cervical cancer is a serious health threat to the female population.

But exactly how serious is the risk, and what percentage of the population is actually affected?

Consider these facts. Cervical cancer only represents a small proportion of all cancer diagnoses and deaths each year. For example, according to the American Cancer Society, American women are 16 times more likely to develop breast cancer than cervical cancer. And once diagnosed, they are 11 times more likely to die from breast cancer than they are from cervical cancer.

To put this in terms of real numbers, U.S.A. estimates for 2007 indicated that of the 11,150 that were likely to be diagnosed of cervical cancer, 3670 were estimated to die. This equates to an approximate risk of 1 in 100,000 (U.S.A. population) chance of being diagnosed with cervical cancer, and an approximate 1 in 1,000,000 (U.S.A.) population chance of actually dying from the disease.

The question every female and every parent or caregiver of young daughters / females must ask themselves is this:

Does this kind of risk warrant a mass recommendation (and in some cases - mandating) of a new drug or medical procedure onto such large sections of the (female) population so soon after its introduction onto the market, - given that the drug or medical procedure itself carries its own risk and potential complications (both in the short and long term), and given that prior to its public introduction, a drug's testing is limited to a clinical trial setting?

The truth is this.

While the risk of cervical cancer has been highlighted (and many would believe - exaggerated) in recent campaigns throughout the world, the fact is that the serious risks associated with the 2 new HPV vaccines said to provide protection against this disease - (Gardasil and Cervarix) - have been seriously down-played, overlooked or deliberately side-stepped.

The introduction of these new vaccines raises many more questions than it answers. Simply put, anyone considering either of these vaccines should be thoroughly aware of the actual risk of cervical cancer, before consenting to a procedure that in itself has been associated with risks and outcomes even more tragic and permanent than an actual cervical cancer diagnosis.