|
||
Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Recent Entries
Trump Considering Starting a Third Party
Mid-Day Quarantine Cafe American Journalism is Back, Baby!: More Wisdom from Our Intellectual and Moral Betters Wyoming State Senator Files to Run Against Neocon NeverTrumper Liz Cheney in Primary Challenge Fox News: Best. Inaugural Speech. Ever. CNN: The Lights At the Lincoln Memorial (That Taxpayers and Corporate Donors Paid For) Are "Almost Extensions of Joe Biden's Arms, Embracing America" Fake President Biden Sworn In By Corrupt Justice Roberts Trump: "We Will Be Back, in Some Form" The Morning Rant Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report - 1/20/21 [J.J. Sefton] Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (1/19/21) Cutting The Cord And Email Security
|
« "Action On All Fronts," Especially The Syrian And Iranian Fronts, Demanded By Rightwing Chickenhawk Warmonger |
Main
| Eric Alterman Wants A "Council Of Bloggers" To Patrol For Bad Blogger-Citizenship »
February 27, 2007
HPV Infects One Quarter of US WomenSexual restraint isn't going to protect you when 25% of the population carries a bug. It only takes one time. Or one marriage, for that matter. More than a quarter of U.S. girls and women ages 14 to 59 are infected with the sexually transmitted human wart virus, which causes most cases of cervical cancer, U.S. health officials estimated on Tuesday. Penile cancers too. Terrific. Since I fear vaginas, the cervical cancer stuff of course bothers me little (the enemy of my enemy is my friend), but now we're talking about my junk. "Behavior has consequences," some say. So it does. But shouldn't the behavior of the US medical/pharmacological establishment -- working diligently to mostly eliminate a cancer caused by a common virus -- have consequences, too? If God granted humans dominion over the animals, for us to hunt and eat, wouldn't He also be in favor of hunting down potentially lethal diseases? Not to engage in cheap shots, but allow me one. It's not meant as a cheap shot, really. Just an analogy. Why is it that some chuckle over the idea of reducing human happiness to save the snail darter, but there's a gut-level reluctance out there to wipe out a murderous virus? I know the argument usually isn't put in that way, that is, affirmatively protecting the natural wetlands habitat of the human papillloma virus, but rather in terms of personal choice and parental authority. Still, I guess I'm still not sure what the real "choice" is here -- choosing between eliminating a cancer risk, or choosing to keep that risk alive? Is that really a choice? I just don't see the easy way out here. One can't say that simply abstaining until marriage will protect one from the risks of HPV (as well as the risks, if any, from the vaccine), given that a quarter of the population carries the virus. The only real non-medical protection isn't sexual restraint, but nearly absolute celibacy -- with testing prior to marriage to determine if either party's been infected, and, I suppose, calling off the marriage if turns out, as is likely, that one party's infected. And then back to the dating circuit hoping for a non-infected lifemate.
That assumes that a virus is fairly difficult to spread -- as HIV is -- simply because it's chiefly transmitted through sex. Not necessarily so. A lot of viruses are extremely easy to catch -- anyone doubt they've been exposed to countless viruses in the past? HIV isn't the "rule." It's an exception. We got, comparatively, lucky on that one -- it's lethal but, thankfully, also rather difficult to transmit. It was also, at least in its breakout period, self-limiting to a degree because it was so lethal -- it incapacitated its hosts with sickness, and then killed them, too quickly for it to spread further. People shouldn't assume that all viruses are similarly courteous enough to be difficult to spread if they're potentially deadly.
| Recent Comments
JoeF.:
"If Mitch is gone--and voters wise up about snakes ..."
f'd: "I would join a Patriot Party whether I though they ..." Carly: "The sooner we do this, the sooner Lil' Marco has t ..." Joe Mannix (Not a cop!): "Needs a better name, but I'm down. Ross Perot *nea ..." It's me donna: "I'm a registered independent, but I vote Republica ..." Rev. Dr. E Buzz Miller, Lesbian: " So the GOP likes vote fraud, because they us ..." Chicago Vota: "Lion or Eagle - better than an ass or an elephant ..." That Guy What Always Says Yeah Buddy TM: "It'll never work...just sayin'. ..." Diogenes : "True fact. The length of a Bluebell custom shiv is ..." Darrell Harris: "Dan Bongino is really, really against a third part ..." runner: "I think reforming the GOP is more realistic. Like ..." Axeman: "I'm 4 patriotism! ..." Recent Entries
Trump Considering Starting a Third Party
Mid-Day Quarantine Cafe American Journalism is Back, Baby!: More Wisdom from Our Intellectual and Moral Betters Wyoming State Senator Files to Run Against Neocon NeverTrumper Liz Cheney in Primary Challenge Fox News: Best. Inaugural Speech. Ever. CNN: The Lights At the Lincoln Memorial (That Taxpayers and Corporate Donors Paid For) Are "Almost Extensions of Joe Biden's Arms, Embracing America" Fake President Biden Sworn In By Corrupt Justice Roberts Trump: "We Will Be Back, in Some Form" The Morning Rant Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report - 1/20/21 [J.J. Sefton] Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (1/19/21) Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Election Projection Federal Review Real Clear Politics Rasmussen Reports Gallup Zogby Sabato/Crystal Ball Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |