tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090441192101088227.post2370334745687032651..comments2023-08-19T07:24:57.187-05:00Comments on Moral Philosophy and Current Events: Oral Sex Linked to Rise in Men's Throat CancerDr. J. P. Huberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06310093961506119843noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090441192101088227.post-71366688625536443432010-10-25T12:39:20.713-05:002010-10-25T12:39:20.713-05:00The Oral Cancer Foundation argues these points rou...The Oral Cancer Foundation argues these points routinely and is pushing for the CDC to make some pro vaccination comments that the public will pay attention to as this argument relates to oral cancers. But the science community at large needs to get behind this issue if we are to reduce the rapid escalation of HPV16 caused disease in our world, now that we have a tool to do so. OCF is just finishing a prospective look at the rapid ramp up of these cancers in the next ten years with statisticians from the NCI. We have not even seen the peak of the ramp up yet, and will not for another 5 years. There is nothing we can do to turn this around in our adult population. This is a typical viral spread, and not to be compared to lifestyle modification like tobacco cessation that would change that portion of the oral cancer incidence rate. The best we can do now is screen to find early stage disease when morbidity from treatments will be lower, and the death rate reduced. Combining that with protecting our children and grandchildren from even dealing with this are paths that we need to take. BRH for the OCF. www.oralcancer.orgUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16264091637700348695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090441192101088227.post-41490800273821342872010-10-25T12:38:43.590-05:002010-10-25T12:38:43.590-05:00We have three main issues to deal with. The compan...We have three main issues to deal with. The companies most likely to benefit from a long-term study, are not going to spend the money to prove benefit in head and neck cancers. I deal with them both, and that is off the table, even though the business model makes sense. It is a long term very expensive process. Merck started a study proposal with Maura Gillison at Johns Hopkins, and then their stock holders opted to cancel that in favor of spending the money to buy another pharma company. <br /><br />The FDA is not going to allow expanded marketing claims without a study. Sot this is a catch 22. It is going to take the scientific community to push for this "off label" indication for use and get the public to understand the benefits. <br /><br />In the US there is a huge anti-vaccine (not just HPV) movement that is gaining ground as urban myth runs rampant through the Internet, and truth and scientific fact have never been part of their agenda. They are young parents, many with autistic children that blame vaccines for much. They are too young to remember how many people smallpox killed how may were taken with polio, or numerous other diseases that are now absent from our landscape that are poised to return if their lack of logic prevails. Then you have the push-back from the conservative religious right, who are afraid their sons and daughters will engage in sex earlier in life if they get vaccinated for HPV. The lack of logic in this is monumental. We already vaccinate for other sexually transferred diseases (hepatitis) and when we give our kids tetanus shots, you don't see them running outside to step on rusty nails to try out their protection.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16264091637700348695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090441192101088227.post-57856151571980032072010-10-25T12:37:18.345-05:002010-10-25T12:37:18.345-05:00We have three main issues to deal with. The compan...We have three main issues to deal with. The companies most likely to benefit from a long term study, are not going to spend the money to prove benefit in head and neck cancers. I deal with them both, and that is off the table, even though the business model makes sense. It is a long term very expensive process. Merck started a study proposal with Maura Gillison at Johns Hopkins, and then their stock holders opted to cancel that in favor of spending the money to buy another pharma company. <br /><br />The FDA is not going to allow expanded marketing claims without a study. Sot this is a catch 22. It is going to take the scientific community to push for this "off label" indication for use and get the public to understand the benefits. <br /><br />In the US there is a huge anti-vaccine (not just HPV) movement that is gaining ground as urban myth runs rampant through the Internet, and truth and scientific fact have never been part of their agenda. They are young parents, many with autistic children that blame vaccines for much. They are too young to remember how many people smallpox killed how may were taken with polio, or numerous other diseases that are now absent from our landscape that are poised to return if their lack of logic prevails. Then you have the push-back from the conservative religious right, who are afraid their sons and daughters will engage in sex earlier in life if they get vaccinated for HPV. The lack of logic in this is monumental. We already vaccinate for other sexually transfered diseases (hepatitis) and when we give our kids tetanus shots, you don't see them running outside to step on rusty nails to try out their protection. <br /><br />The Oral Cancer Foundation argues these points routinely and is pushing for the CDC to make some pro vaccination comments that the public will pay attention to as this argument relates to oral cancers. But the science community at large needs to get behind this issue if we are to reduce the rapid escalation of HPV16 caused disease in our world, now that we have a tool to do so. OCF is just finishing a prospective look at the rapid ramp up of these cancers in the next ten years with statisticians from the NCI. We have not even seen the peak of the ramp up yet, and will not for another 5 years. There is nothing we can do to turn this around in our adult population. This is a typical viral spread, and not to be compared to lifestyle modification like tobacco cessation that would change that portion of the oral cancer incidence rate. The best we can do now is screen to find early stage disease when morbidity from treatments will be lower, and the death rate reduced. Combining that with protecting our children and grandchildren from even dealing with this are paths that we need to take. BRH for the OCF. www.oralcancer.orgB RHhttp://www.oralcancer.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090441192101088227.post-14586366877793225732010-10-25T12:36:20.939-05:002010-10-25T12:36:20.939-05:00A well presented article, but some of the points a...A well presented article, but some of the points are missing. The reason that we are not seeing this so much "down under" isn't because it is not happening, it just isn't routinely being tested for at the time of diagnosis, (as it is increasingly being done in the US) since at the current time, the treatments for HPV+ oral cancers and those not HPV related are the same.<br /><br />HPV 18 is not a component of the rise in oral cancers, it is the realm of HPV16, which is now also starting to replace Epstein-Barr virus in nasopharyngeal cancers as well. <br /><br />As to Dr. Cullen not thinking there has been behavioral changes in developed countries since the 60's, he obviously is not involved in the world of sociology, or is too young to have been part of the "flower generation". That there was a sexual revolution in the 60's was obvious, and highly reported on in the media. It was a time of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. We never went back to the days of Ozzie and Harriet after those times. 60 minutes did a piece on high school aged kids who all admitted that in their teens that they engage in oral sex. Girls maintain their virginity, and they do not view it as sex, but "heavy petting." That kind of routine teenage sexual contact was not part of sexual behaviors 40 years ago. We have change as a people in developed countries. In third world countries tobacco is still the primary causative etiology.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16264091637700348695noreply@blogger.com