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CLUW Urges Women to Take Steps to Protect Against Cervical Cancer |
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September is Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month and the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is urging all women to take steps to protect against cervical cancer.
CLUW, which has its own cervical cancer awareness program, Cervical Cancer Prevention Works, is joining the “Know the Facts About Cervical Cancer Prevention” campaign sponsored by the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) and the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO).
Susan Ivey, immediate past president of AMWA, says:
There have been exciting medical advances recently in cervical cancer prevention, from an FDA [Food and Drug Administration]-approved test to detect the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, to a vaccine against HPV. We need to make sure that women’s knowledge about how to best protect themselves from cervical cancer keeps up with emerging standards of patient care.
Worldwide, more than 500,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and more than 230,000 women die of this disease. The American Cancer Society estimates that this year, 11,150 U.S. women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,670 women will die of the disease.
Carolyn Jacobson, director of CLUW’s Cervical Cancer Prevention Works, says:
The materials that are available for Gynecological Cancer Awareness Month give unions the opportunity to use them to make sure our members know that there is one cancer that is 100 percent preventable, cervical cancer. By getting this information out to our members and urging them to take advantage of the latest advances to prevent cervical cancer, unions can play a major role in saving lives.
According to AMWA and NCWO, here’s what every woman should do to help prevent cervical cancer:
- Eleven- and 12-year-old girls should get the HPV vaccine, and other girls and women, ages 9 through 26, or their parents, if appropriate, should ask their clinician about getting the HPV vaccine.
- All women should get regular Pap tests, beginning at age 21 or within three years of becoming sexually active, at a frequency recommended by their clinician. The Pap test is the traditional tool for cervical cancer screening and is 50 percent to 85 percent accurate.
- Women, ages 30 and older, should get an HPV test with their Pap test.
Click here for more information about the “Know the Facts” campaign. To download a CLUW flier about cervical cancer for your local union, click here for a PDF version and here for a JPEG version.
CLUW’s Cervical Cancer Prevention Works program grew out of a resolution adopted by the AFL-CIO constituency group’s executive board in March 2003. The resolution called for the FDA to approve annual HPV screenings for all women 30 and over. CLUW also is working to educate union members about this preventable disease and is urging unions to negotiate contracts that:
- Cover all FDA-approved HPV testing.
- Cover annual office visits with an obstetrician or gynecologist for counseling on contraception, sexually transmitted infections, breast and other cancer screenings and, as deemed appropriate by the clinician, cervical cancer screening.
- Protect patient confidentiality.
2 Comments
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Dear Ladies:
There has not been enough study of this vaccination to giv it to their 12 and 13 year old girls. These are the guinea pigs being used to try this out and poor, working class, families are being bombarded with this info from the pharmacuetical company.
THEY WILL NOT EXPERIMENT ON MY BABY!
UMM Makkah
I am not an HPV medical exert, but I try keep up on the research and the commentary by experts about the vaccine. The bottom line is that the theoretical risks far outweigh the known benefits and as a result, I have recommended the vaccine to my family members.
I remind you that as we talk about the vaccine we are talking about eliminating a CANCER that is 100% preventable, as well as preserving our daughters’ ability to bear children, because the effective treatment for persistent high risk hpv – cryosurgery and the LEAP procedure – can compromise child-bearing.
I urge all concerned parents to read the following before deciding whether to vaccinate their daughters:
* The Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety of the World Health Organization was established in 1999 to respond promptly, efficiently, and with scientific rigor to vaccine safety issues of potential global importance.
The Committee held its sixteenth meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12-13 June 2007. Among issues discussed was the safety of human papillomavirus (HPV), vaccines. Following are its conclusions regarding the vaccine:
The current evidence on the safety of HPV vaccines is reassuring. The reviewed data covered local and systemic events in short-term, and long-term events up to 6 years after vaccination, including pregnancy events. A common observation was the occurrence of injection site reaction and muscle pain. During adolescent vaccine campaigns, some mass sociogenic illnesses such as post-vaccination dizziness and syncope have been reported. These events have been prevented by observing adolescents for 15 minutes post-vaccination and encouraging good hydration. No concerns with the safety profile were identified.
http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/topics/hpv/Jun_2007/en/index.html
* Dr. Kevin Ault (Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University School of Medicine), American Social Health Association Message Board Mar 27, 2007 writes:
There is an excellent resource on the web for vaccine safety issues. It is the National Network for Immunization Information at http://www.immunizationinfo.org. In particular the aluminum issue is discussed at http://www.immunizationinfo.org/vaccine_components_detail.cfv?id=61. I thought it was interesting to look at the amount of aluminum in breast milk and formula. Basically a liter of formula contains the same amount of aluminum as one HPV vaccination. There are 11 medical references for this article.
The most up to date information concerning the specifics of the HPV vaccine are available from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/ACIP/default.htm. At the 2-07 meeting,
Dr. Markowitz of the CDC reviewed safety data from the first 2 million doses of the quadrivalent HPV vaccine. Dizziness was more common than in the initial trials. There were three cases of Guillain Barre syndrome and three cases of facial palsy. Dr. Markowitz commented that this rate was less than the background rate. In other words, if you picked 2 million Americans at random and followed them for six months, there probably would be more than three cases of Guillain Barre syndrome.
* Jane E. Brody (medical/health reporter), New York Times
Published: May 15, 2007
How do we know this vaccine will not eventually cause other problems like autoimmune or neurological disorders or lose its protective powers or foster the dominance of other HPV variants?
Actually, we don’t. But we do have at least five years of safety data that include no hints of long-term risks or waning effectiveness. But if the vaccine should begin to lose potency over time, that could easily be remedied by a booster shot.
* CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Questions and Answers Concerning the Safety & Efficacy of Gardisil
http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize/documents/hpvvaxsafetyq&a.pdf
* Questions and Answers about Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine, NYS Dept. of Health, Aug. 2006 http://www.health.state.ny.us/prevention/immunization/human_papillomavirus/
Why should my daughter be vaccinated at age 11 or 12? She’s not sexually active. Can’t we wait?
Many parents have difficulty looking ahead to the time when their children will become sexually active. Ready or not, now is the time to start thinking about the future sexual health of your child. Research has shown that the vaccine is two to three times more effective when given to females aged 9 to 11 compared to females aged 15 to 25. It’s a unique window of opportunity.
Also, for the vaccine to work, your daughter has to be vaccinated before she comes into contact with the virus. Once she is infected with the virus, it’s too late for the vaccine to help. If she is infected with the virus, she could get cervical cancer later in life and cervical cancer kills thousands of women every year. So it’s best to be safe. We don’t plan to get the flu or tetanus, but we get vaccinated so that we know we are protected from these illnesses in the future.
If your daughter isn’t sexually active, she’s protected from HPV infection. However, most teens do become sexually active. The sexual life of your daughter probably isn’t something you will know everything about, but if she is vaccinated you can be sure that:
* If she becomes sexually active, she’ll be protected from the kinds of HPV that cause 7 out of 10 cases of cervical cancer.
* If she is sexually assaulted, she’ll likewise be protected. (Among female high school students nationwide, about 12% report having been sexually assaulted.)