Cervical cancer prevention begins and ends with diligence…no vaccine necessary

Catching flies with vinegar

Here is a headline that many doctors and Merck executives hope you never see…

“Fighting Cervical Cancer With Vinegar and Ingenuity”

That’s a New York Times headline for a article that examines an inexpensive and highly effective way to prevent cervical cancer. And nowhere in the article will you find the words “Gardasil” or “vaccine.”

It’s Merck’s worst nightmare.

The only way to go

The procedure was originally developed here in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Medical School about 15 years ago, and in 2010 it was endorsed by the World Health Organization.

And it couldn’t be simpler.

When vinegar is brushed on a woman’s cervix, precancerous spots turn white. The spots are immediately frozen with a metal probe cooled by carbon dioxide.

Inexpensive. Safe. Easy. Done.

And it works.

Five things you can’t say about the so-called cervical cancer vaccine.

The technique is currently being studied in Thailand among 6,000 women. In 11 years not a single woman who has been treated has gone on to develop full-blown cervical cancer.

This procedure is being tested in Thailand because it’s one of those emerging nations where state-of-the-art healthcare isn’t available in many areas. This test and treatment combination is ideal for low-tech clinics, or temporary field clinics.

In more advanced countries — like the US — where lab testing is easily accessible, a doctor takes a pap smear, sends it to a lab, and test results reveal cervical cancer status.

Soon, women all over the world — from Times Square to rural Thailand — will have access to one of these two highly effective methods of cervical cancer prevention. And that’s something every woman needs to be aware of, because diligence is the only way to arrest this disease.

This is very encouraging. It’s not very often we can say that we’ve figured out a cancer and found a safe way to sideline it and save countless lives.

You know, it was the hardest decision I ever made in my professional life — the decision to share my personal story about cervical cancer when I first spoke out about Gardasil.

But after keeping it to myself for almost 20 years, I felt I had to speak out. Because I know first-hand there is a safer, healthier way to beat cervical cancer.

Unfortunately, many women who get the Gardasil HPV vaccine will fall for the absurd hype and believe that they’ve received a cervical cancer vaccine. So it’s easy to imagine that many young teens who get a Gardasil shot today will think they don’t need cervical cancer testing in years to come.

This idea that Gardasil is an effective way to prevent cervical cancer is one of the most dangerous misconceptions in modern medicine.

The pro-HPV vaccine types will tell you that all they want to do is prevent cervical cancer deaths. But if that were their genuine primary objective they would be spending their advertising dollars begging women to get checked for HPV and cervical cancer every year, not getting them to sing and jumprope with a false sense of security.

It’s time for the medical mainstream to recognize the Thailand study and let go of this enchanting notion that a vaccine can wipeout cancer. Maybe someday someone will develop a true cancer vaccine. But today is not the day, and Gardasil is not that vaccine.

We have much better, safer ways to prevent cervical cancer. I know. And it all starts with a small smear.

Please make sure the women in your life — sisters, daughters, friends, wives — get checked annually so they, too, will be here 20 years later.

Sources: 
“Fighting Cervical Cancer With Vinegar and Ingenuity” Donald G. McNeil, Jr., New York Times, 9/26/11, nytimes.com