Thread: UK-Only - Is oral sex safe? A documentary about men missing out on essential vaccine

Karl,
After all of the whinging and shit over the funding of the drugs that would stamp this out for wimmin, it seems cold comfort that this should show up in men.
Either wimmin haven't been immunised (or they are lying) or this thing just doesn't work.
We haven't heard a lot about this vaccine over here, mind you not that many wimmin bothered to get it, even though it was FREE.

Same here, thy won't offer it boys for free (it costs £300-£400 for a boy to be immunized) while girls get it for free.. Assuming as many boys ignored the offer of a free vacine as do girls, they could do both groups (of willing folks) for free simply by taking up the unused ones from girls.

Yes, oral sex is sex, and it can boost cancer risk

Yes, oral sex is sex, and it can boost cancer risk – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs

Here's a crucial message for teens: Oral sex carries many of the same risks as vaginal sex, including human papilloma virus, or HPV. And HPV may now be overtaking tobacco as the leading cause of oral cancers in America in people under age 50.

"Adolescents don’t think oral sex is something to worry about," said Bonnie Halpern-Felsher professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. "They view it as a way to have intimacy without having 'sex.'"

Halpern-Felsher and other researchers presented the latest information about the risks of contracting an HPV infection Sunday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.

The latest data suggest that 64% of oropharynx cancers - growing in the middle part of the throat - in the United States are caused by HPV, which is more than tobacco causes, said Maura Gillison of Ohio State University. And as the number of partners on whom you have performed oral sex goes up, the risk of oropharnyx cancer goes up.

About 37,000 people per year receive a diagnosis of oral cancer, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation.

Just about everyone has had at least one of the 130 strains of HPV. The vaccines currently available, Gardasil and Cervarix, only protect against a few of them. But not all of the strains are cancer-causing. Certain types cause warts on the hands and feet that are benign.

About 5% of cancers worldwide are caused by HPV, and some turn up in some surprising places. A University of Washington study found that some men carry HPV 26 under their fingernails, which can lead to a form of cancer called digital squamous cell carcinoma. Proper hand-washing can help prevent this from happening, said Dr. Diane Harper, leading HPV researcher at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

But this isn't nearly as common as HPV causing cancer in other areas of the body, such as the oral cavity and the cervix.

In the countries that have cervical cancer screening, the prevalence of cervical cancer is five times lower than in other countries, indicating that the testing is effective, Harper said.

Why HPV causes cancer in some people and not others is still mysterious. Studies of the cervix have found that 70% of infections resolve by themselves within one year, and 90% within two years. It's that remaining 10% that actually turn into more serious infections, and 5% lead to treatable precancerous lesions, Harper said.

Two well-established mechanisms of prevention in terms of sexually transmitted HPV are condom usage and circumcision, although neither completely eliminates the risk, Harper said.

A large ongoing study called HITCH is examining questions of HPV transmission and infection in greater detail. So far, it's found that couples can "ping-pong" HPV back and forth to each other, which is one reason that the virus may take so long to clear naturally.

As for getting HPV from kissing, that's not clear, and there isn't enough data to say anything about it yet, Harper said.

It's very hard to get teens to listen to abstinence messages about oral sex, or to get them to use any kind of barrier method for these behaviors, Halpern-Felsher said. And since any risk factor under 50% sounds low to a very young person, throwing these precise statistics at them most likely won't make a difference.

But parents should have honest conversations with their teenagers about oral sex, Halpern-Felsher said. Tell them that the consequences of HPV may not happen right away, and while the risks may not be huge, they are significant. Potential long-term outcomes of cancer are quite concerning.

That's a bit of a blow.

Quote from Percy

That's a bit of a blow.

Before you know it, breathing fresh air will give you heart cancer!

I see it as absurd propaganda and the beginning of a scheme to enact anti sex laws.

I spoke about this a couple of weeks back... you should use the search menu now and then. It'll save you pasting it again and again.

If the drug/vaccine works for both boy's or girls,it would make more financial sense to give it to the boy's as there are less of them per population thus saving money and saving lives of both genders,the only group still at risk are lesbian's ?

Quote from conaill

...the only group still at risk are lesbian's ?

which I understand stands at about 2% of the population...

Quote from conaill

If the drug/vaccine works for both boy's or girls,it would make more financial sense to give it to the boy's as there are less of them per population thus saving money and saving lives of both genders,the only group still at risk are lesbian's ?

But how does that prevent girls from getting it due to more natural causes? Cervical cancer isn't caused by oral sex in the main.

As for 'catching' cancer through oral sex, I never knew you could 'catch' cancer. On asking my girls about the vaccination (they're 19 and 21) neither of them got it in the end and neither they or I have heard of HPV. It's something I will need to look at discussing with the boys father fairly soon (eldest lad is 13 this year).

As for getting HPV from kissing, that's not clear, and there isn't enough data to say anything about it yet, Harper said.

Tell [children] that the consequences of HPV may not happen right away, and while the risks may not be huge, they are significant. Potential long-term outcomes of cancer are quite concerning.

Sure, let's stop kissing our lover, stop pleasuring them or being pleasured by them, wrap ourselves in a body-condom and wear gas masks to avoid any chance of infection from other people. That will give us all lovely long lives, right?

Precautions make sense but if abstinence is going to reduce the quality of life, then it is important to balance the loss of enjoyment with the risk of harm.

Quote from Douglas

Precautions make sense but if abstinence is going to reduce the quality of life, then it is important to balance the loss of enjoyment with the risk of harm.

What those petty tyrants are doing is trying to regulate sex out of existence. The name of this sick game is "population control".

I think this is a fearmongering article. I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Quote from samofsons

ill remember that next time I spread the meat curtains and polish the diamond while chainsmoking menthols and taking bars.

And now in English?

I followed you about as far as meat curtains...

Quote from samofsons

ill remember that next time I spread the meat curtains and polish the diamond while chainsmoking menthols and taking bars.

lady

Correct.

viking

Incorrect. The Viking age was just a small sliver of the history of the Norse.

fucker

Sort of incorrect. I won't be able to do that for about nine months.

As an aside, I did understand what you tried to say.