The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a report that may make people want to hold off on casual oral sex, especially if they’re the type of person who can’t help but think about throat cancer when they’re sexually aroused. Michelle Fay Cortez explains why on Bloomberg.com:
A study in 300 adults found that those infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, who had oral sex with more than six partners, were three times as likely to get throat cancer. The research was included in a package of studies and commentary on the virus in today’s issue of the journal.
Cortez quoted the researchers as saying that the results of the study “provide a rationale for HPV vaccination in both boys and girls.”
Makes sense to me, if these findings hold up. But I’m sure conservative-Christian groups–in their zeal to promote the “Virginity or Death!” cause–will work to see that widespread vaccination doesn’t happen.
(Editor’s Note: Dan Savage writes more about this in the May 17 issue of the Weekly.)
This article appears in May 10-16, 2007.
The study found that people with oral infections of HPV had the increased risk, right? If I recall correctly, oral infections with the virus are significantly less common than genital infections, which makes me think that the risk of cancer might not be quite as high as it sounds. Interesting research, though; I’m curious to see how Gardasil and other vaccines affect cancer rates.
From what I understand, the risk of throat cancer goes up significantly if you smoke a cigarette and have oral sex simultaneously.
This is a classic case of the “two times zero is zero” fallacy. What’s the base rate of oral cancers? Without knowing that (and look it up: it’s miniscule) a 3X increase is meaningless.
Sleestacked, so it’s like the increased risk of cancer when combining tobacco with alcohol. In fact, even carrots have problems: beta-carotene is bad for the health when combined with the chemicals in smoking products.
In fact(!) they even have Smoker’s Vitamins now that deliberately don’t include the elements harmful to smokers — look at this: article on the vitamins. No snickering.
That sucks. But what kind of cancer will I get If I walk around with my head up my ass?
Takes a while for these things to develop, so perhaps you’ll have an answer for us soon.