What is the Cause of Cervical Cancer?
The cause of cervical cancer is unknown. Infection with two types of human papilloma virus’ (HPV) is strongly associated with cervical cancer and is said to be the primary risk factor. HPV is found in nearly 80% of cervical carcinomas ( http://www.oncologychannel.com/cervicalcancer/)
Just because HPV is found doesn’t mean that HPV is the cause. If it were truly the cause, wouldn’t you find it in every cervical cancer case? This virus could be merely opportunistic in an already weakened host.
90% of all HPV infections go away within 2 years.
-Journal of American Medical Association, Vol. 297, No. 8, February 28, 2007: 813-819
Is the Vaccine the Answer?
Gardasil is the world’s first vaccine against certain types of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The vaccine, marketed by Merck & Co. in America, is designed to prevent infection with HPV types 16, 18, 6, and 11. HPV types 16 and 18 are correlated with about 70% of HPV-related cervical cancer cases. HPV types 6 and 11 are correlated with about 90% of genital wart cases.
That means that 30% of cervical cancers have no known cause and are not associated with HPV. The real key is that most HPV infections clear on their own by the bodies own immune defenses. The FDA says, “The duration of immunity following a complete schedule of immunization with GARDASIL has not been established.”
The real risk is that research scientists do not yet know what the potential long term side effects of the HPV vaccinations could be. The vaccine has only been in use for less than one year and it is possible that we’ll have to wait decades before the true ramifications are fully known and understood.
Merck’s marketing strategy for HPV vaccine includes enlisting patent-holding scientists and paid Merck consultants to market it as a lifestyle vaccine that should be administered to every pre-adolescent girl in the country…and are now starting a campaign to give it to boys. The reasons being: “Just in case he/she forgets to wait until he/she gets married to have sex”; or “the guy she marries has had sex”; or, apparently, “just in case the guy she marries has sex with someone else while he is married to her”. Can this marketing strategy get any more annoying? We can’t wait to see the marketing schemes for the AIDS vaccine that is currently in the pipeline and close to market.
How Many Lives Are At Risk?
This year cervical cancer will represent just 1% of the 679,510 new cancer cases and 1% of the 273,560 anticipated cancer deaths among American women. By contrast, some 40,970 women will die of breast cancer and 72,130 will die of lung cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, “Between 1955 and 1992, the number of cervical cancer deaths in the United States dropped by 74 percent.”
Much of the mass media reports hang on a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association, Vol. 297, No. 8, February 28, 2007: 813-819. The only portion of the study pointed out in the media was that HPV has infected about 27 percent of women between ages 14-59. This is far more women than most experts assumed.
What they neglect to report is that only 2 percent of the patients in the study were infected by the kinds of HPV that put them at high-risk for developing cervical cancer. Only 3.4 percent were infected with the types of HPV that Gardasil was concocted to prevent. AND…About 90 percent of all HPV infections go away within two years (Association of American Physicians and Surgeons March 1, 2007).
What you must know is the most important risk factors of HPV are marital status, age of sexual activity, women who smoke, women who use oral contraceptives longer than 5 years, and the number of sexual partners.
Prevention
What you must know is that the most important risk factors of HPV are age of sexual activity, women who smoke, women who use oral contraceptives longer than 5 years, and the number of sexual partners.
- A woman’s immune system is often strong enough to clear this on it’s own.
- Cancer prevention is not as simplistic as taking a vaccine.
- Keep the immune system strong.
- Use a variety of organic fruits and vegetables.
- Practice routine supplementation with anti-oxidants such as Vitamin A, C, E, and CoQ10.
