TORONTO, Sept 6 (LSN.ca) - The human papillomavirus, responsible for 90% of all cases of cervical cancer in women, has reached epidemic proportions in Ontario with nearly one in four women 15-24 being infected and one in five teens from 15 to 19 years of age. A study, published in yesterday’s issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal notes that of the 995 women tested, the prevalence rate dropped drastically for older women so that only 3.4 percent of women 45 to 49 years old were found with HPV.
The results are a sign for some that the massive “safe sex” drive over the last twenty years has been more harmful than expected, especially since cervical cancer affects 500,000 women worldwide annually, and it is the second-leading cause of death from cancer among women. The National Post reports that Statistics Canada indicates that approximately 400 Canadian women die from cervical cancer annually, with 1,300 new cases diagnosed each year. “Sexual abstinence would be the only way to prevent HPV,” experts are forced to admit.
LifeSite reported August 4th on astonishingly similar results of a U.S. report that that HPV is the leading STD in the United States.
The National Post issued an editorial today noting that while over 400 women die yearly from cervical cancer, by comparison, only a dozen Canadian women die from AIDS. The editorial asks: Now that HPV has emerged as a deadly, condom-defeating disease, will sex education be adjusted accordingly?
See the study in the CMAJ at: http://www.cma.ca/cmaj/vol-163/issue-5/0503.htm
See the National Post coverage at: http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20000905/389607.html http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20000906/390881.html
See related LifeSite stories at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/aug/000804.html#1 http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/1999/sept/990923.html#3