My Man Dan has some good info and news on the whole “oral sex = oral cancer” business…

“”Researchers believe,” reports New Scientist, “oral sex may transmit human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus implicated in the majority of cervical cancers,” and the virus lodges in the throat, where it can cause cancer. Study subjects infected with HPV were 32 times more likely to develop throat cancer; folks who tested positive for one highly aggressive strain of the virus, HPV-16, were 58 times more likely to develop throat cancer. Smoking, previously believed to be the culprit behind most throat cancers, only triples a person’s risk. But before we panic—it’s just one study—let’s put throat cancer in perspective. Despite the fact that nearly all Americans engage in oral sex, throat cancer accounts for a tiny percentage of the roughly 1.5 million cases of cancer diagnosed every year. According to the Cancer Facts & Figures report released by the American Cancer Society in 2007, we will see 35,000 cases of oral cancer this year—that’s tongue, mouth, pharynx, and “other oral cavity.” That compares to 271,000 cases of digestive-system cancers, 229,000 cases of respiratory cancers, 220,000 cases of prostate cancer, and 180,000 cases of breast cancer.”

Dan Savage on Oral Sex and Oral Cancers

“up to now the mainstream media have refrained from calling the right’s opposition to the HPV vaccine what it is— delusional, psychotic, homicidal—because up to now only women’s lives were at stake. That’s about to change. Here’s the headline from my morning paper: ” HPV Factors in Throat Cancer: Study Could Shift Debate About Vaccine.” You bet it will; it already has shifted—because it’s no longer “just” the lives of 4,000 American women that are on the line, but the sex lives of 150 million American men. Now that straight men can get cancer from eating pussy, the HPV vaccine is going to go from controversial to sacramental faster than you can say, “Suck my dick.” ”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Gay Health, Gay News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.