Cervical cancer fear mongering is easily adjusted to accommodate drug sales

I can’t let this topic go today without sharing a very revealing quote.

It’s from The New York Times. Here’s how one health official described the thinking behind the new Pap smear guidelines…

“HPV in women under 30 is highly prevalent but also highly transient. Women under 30 may get infected with HPV. But they have a high likelihood of clearing that infection on their own, and it not causing any long-term change to their cervical tissue.”

See what they did?

They want to make the annual Pap smear sound like it’s unnecessary. So they tone down the rhetoric about HPV dangers.

But a couple of years ago, it was so different. When “experts” were pushing Gardasil, they jacked up the scare headlines. They made cervical cancer fatalities sound as common as car accidents.

Anyone surprised? Hardly. They easily adjust cervical cancer fear mongering to accommodate Gardasil marketing.

Sources:
“New Guidelines Advise Less Frequent Pap Smears” Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times, 3/14/12, well.blogs.nytimes.com