Science over ideology

Editorial

A federal advisory committee's unanimous recommendation last week could save countless young women from facing cervical cancer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has urged all girls and women ages 11 to 26 to receive a new vaccine that prevents most cases of cervical cancer. Now, the federal government and individual states must ensure that vaccine is accessible by those who can least afford it.

The unanimous recommendation, like the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the vaccine, Gardasil, last month, signals a too-rare triumph of science over ideology. The vaccine prevents infection from four strains of the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, the human papillomavirus.

The virus can cause cervical cancer, which is the second-most common cancer in women and, worldwide, is estimated to cause over 470,000 new cases and 233,000 deaths each year.

Because the vaccine will not be required before a child can enroll in school, states and public health departments must vigilantly educate the public about the benefits of the three doses over six months. If the Department of Health and Human Services abides by the committee's recommendation, as it should, the federal government would spend an estimated $2 billion to vaccinate poor girls and teenagers.

Vaccine opponents stress abstinence-only to prevent HPV. They say the vaccine would encourage promiscuity, an argument that values chastity over survival and ignores the fact that women who never have sex outside of marriage could contract the virus from their husbands. The vaccine can prevent women from paying a penalty for their husbands' past behavior.

The advisory panel's recommendation reflects the reality that not all youngsters will delay intercourse and other risky sexual behaviors until they're married. The panel correctly focused on the public and individual health benefit of living disease-free. Their aim was prevention of a deadly virus, not preservation of virginity.

The FDA acted quickly in approving the vaccine after overwhelmingly successful clinical trials. Moral arguments about sexual behavior could have clouded the medical debate about public health. By aiming to prevent potentially fatal cervical cancer, the advisory group of experts kept the emphasis where it belongs: on saving lives.

<< Palm Beach Post -- 7/6/06 >>

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