SC

HPV: No Laughing Matter In SC

|| By AMY LAZENBY || A vital area of public health was brought to the fore this week when actor Michael Douglas (above) disclosed that human papillomavirus (HPV), transmitted through oral sex, allegedly caused his stage four throat cancer. HPV is a sexually-transmitted disease that significantly increases the risk of cervical cancer in women…

|| By AMY LAZENBY || A vital area of public health was brought to the fore this week when actor Michael Douglas (above) disclosed that human papillomavirus (HPV), transmitted through oral sex, allegedly caused his stage four throat cancer. HPV is a sexually-transmitted disease that significantly increases the risk of cervical cancer in women and causes between 25-34 percent of oral cancers in women and men (HPV-related oral cancers are most common in heterosexual men in their 40s and 50s).

S.C. Rep. Bakari Sellers (D-Bamberg) has sponsored the Cervical Cancer Prevention Act , which offers – but does not require – the HPV vaccine and educational material to seventh graders in South Carolina through the Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC). Sellers’ bill passed the SC House by a vote of 63-49 on May 22. It was introduced in the Senate on May 28 and is currently residing in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs.

According to the National Cancer Institute, South Carolina ranks ninth in the nation for estimated deaths from cervical cancer, and Sellers’ legislation, a common sense preventative approach that still leaves the decision to get the vaccine for their children up to parents, aims to change that number.

“One thing that I want everyone to understand is that the cost of someone who actually gets cervical cancer when it could have been prevented at an early age is draining. It’s a cost that everyone in the community has to bear,” Sellers has said. “In no way is it mandatory or in no way is it making parents go and get the vaccine.”

Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed a similar proposal by Sellers last year, even though the measure picked up broad support across both sides of the aisle, with a 63-40 House vote and 40-2 Senate vote in favor of passing the initiative. Haley defended her veto by calling the bill unnecessary and a “precursor to another taxpayer-funded healthcare mandate.”

In response to Haley’s veto last year, Sellers called her decision one that “puts her own selfish political ambitions ahead of the people of South Carolina.”

“This bill had bipartisan support and gives optional education and preventative vaccines to adolescents in an effort to thwart cervical cancer,” Sellers said in a statement. “This is a common sense approach to a very serious problem. To call this measure unnecessary is demeaning and insulting to the heroic women who fight this cancer everyday. I am deeply disappointed that politics once again has prevailed over women’s health.”

When Haley was a state representative, she co-sponsored a bill in 2007 authorizing mandatory HPV vaccination for seventh-grade girls. Haley eventually killed that bill on the grounds that it did not include an opt-out for parents, but Sellers’ 2012 version would have given parents this freedom of choice.

“It was a mistake then, I’ve said it’s a mistake now,” Haley said after she vetoed the bill. “Now that I have a 14-year-old daughter, it is something that is very close to my heart in terms of what I’m going to do as a parent and what I want for my child.”

Supporters of Sellers’ bill want the SCDHEC to offer the vaccines and provide brochures to families of middle-school students as a way to stop the spread of a disease, one that is disproportionately high in rural South Carolina.

report released in January in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that while overall cancer death rates are down, there are two increasingly prevalent causes of cancer: obesity and HPV. On of the more surprising parts of the study was its examination of the rate of HPV immunizations in American girls. Immunization numbers are far lower than the government’s targets: in 2010, less than half of American girls aged thirteen to seventeen had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while a paltry 32 precent had received all three recommended doses. In comparison, the United Kingdom and Australia both boasted immunization rates of more than 70 percent.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States and the majority of adolescent children are not getting vaccinated before they are sexually active; Virginia and Washington D.C are the only states that require female students to receive the HPC vaccine before attending middle school and high school.

Those most vulnerable to HPV and cervical cancer are women living in low socioeconomic areas. Cervical cancer rates remain highest for women without health insurance. Unable to afford gynecological exams, these women go without Pap tests, which screen to catch precancerous cells. As reported by a CDC news release, poor and minority teens who begin the three-dose HPV immunization process have lower rates of completing all three doses.

HPV and the cancers it causes are clearly a public health issue that must be addressed in South Carolina, for girls and also for boys. I commend Rep. Sellers for re-introducing legislation that a governor who puts small government politics over the health of South Carolinians vetoed last year. In continuing the fight for evidence-based solutions to this public health crisis, Rep. Sellers shows that he is concerned for the health of this state’s citizens and will not be intimidated by a governor who does not have the best interests of the people of SC in mind.

amy lazenby

Amy Lazenby is a wife, mother of three and small business owner with her husband who splits her time between South Carolina and Georgia. She writes with a liberal world view on most issues, but enjoys exploring where the liberal and libertarian political axes intersect. Follow her on Twitter @Mrs_Laz.

***

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60 comments

Smirks June 3, 2013 at 9:46 am

“Cervical cancer rates remain highest for women without health insurance.”

B-but, no one dies from lack of health insurance! You can just go to the ER and they’ll wave their magic wand! Our health care is the best in the world (for those who have access to it)! Preventative care doesn’t save anyone!

Reply
Smirks June 3, 2013 at 9:46 am

“Cervical cancer rates remain highest for women without health insurance.”

B-but, no one dies from lack of health insurance! You can just go to the ER and they’ll wave their magic wand! Our health care is the best in the world (for those who have access to it)! Preventative care doesn’t save anyone!

Reply
? June 3, 2013 at 9:54 am

How long until 9″ comes here making the case for everyone sucking cock? lol

Reply
9" June 3, 2013 at 10:37 am

I’m having a rough Monday,and have thought about cock sucking for only 3 or 4 hours today…

Reply
? June 3, 2013 at 9:54 am

How long until 9″ comes here making the case for everyone sucking cock? lol

Reply
9" June 3, 2013 at 10:37 am

I’m having a rough Monday,and have thought about cock sucking for only 3 or 4 hours today…

Reply
keepingemhonest June 3, 2013 at 9:57 am

There are many deadly viral diseases that vaccines prevent; however, the anti-science crowd rallies against vaccines for the stupidest of reasons (spurious and disproved links to autism, claims of mental retardation ala Michelle Bachmann, belief that HPV is only from sex and that their children would never do the Nasty before marriage, etc.)

Chief among the the non-believers? Catherine Templeton. That’s right… Haley’s hand-picked leader of the health agency has never had her children vaccinated against even the most common children illnesses choosing to believe that they are immune because other children get vaccinated. So how effective will the agency be at combating another viral disease even if Sellers can push this legislation through?

Reply
A Friend June 3, 2013 at 9:59 am

Wait. The leader of DHEC doesn’t vaccinate her kids? WTF?!

Reply
Smirks June 3, 2013 at 10:45 am

People who don’t vaccinate their kids are the worst kinds of people, not just because they expose their children to unnecessary risks, but because they have the potential of doing real harm to children who for whatever reason couldn’t take vaccinations.

HPV is a bit different than MMR or other vaccines at least, but there’s still quite the movement against vaccinations in general. Thank god people were more sensible back when polio and smallpox vaccines were created, otherwise we wouldn’t have relegated polio to third-world countries or eradicated smallpox.

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So June 3, 2013 at 1:00 pm

One would hope that the agency would still enforce the law (if it passes) by administering the program despite the DHEC director’s personal beliefs.

Reply
dwb619 June 3, 2013 at 8:03 pm

You can’t be serious?

Reply
keepingemhonest June 3, 2013 at 9:57 am

There are many deadly viral diseases that vaccines prevent; however, the anti-science crowd rallies against vaccines for the stupidest of reasons (spurious and disproved links to autism, claims of mental retardation ala Michelle Bachmann, belief that HPV is only from sex and that their children would never do the Nasty before marriage, etc.)

Chief among the the non-believers? Catherine Templeton. That’s right… Haley’s hand-picked leader of the health agency has never had her children vaccinated against even the most common children illnesses choosing to believe that they are immune because other children get vaccinated. So how effective will the agency be at combating another viral disease even if Sellers can push this legislation through?

Reply
A Friend June 3, 2013 at 9:59 am

Wait. The leader of DHEC doesn’t vaccinate her kids? WTF?!

Reply
Smirks June 3, 2013 at 10:45 am

People who don’t vaccinate their kids are the worst kinds of people, not just because they expose their children to unnecessary risks, but because they have the potential of doing real harm to children/adults who for whatever reason couldn’t take vaccinations.

HPV is a bit different than MMR or other vaccines at least, but there’s still quite the movement against vaccinations in general. Thank god people were more sensible back when polio and smallpox vaccines were created, otherwise we wouldn’t have relegated polio to third-world countries or eradicated smallpox.

Reply
So June 3, 2013 at 1:00 pm

One would hope that the agency would still enforce the law (if it passes) by administering the program despite the DHEC director’s personal beliefs.

Reply
dwb619 June 3, 2013 at 8:03 pm

You can’t be serious?

Reply
tomstickler June 3, 2013 at 10:06 am

Countdown until GrandTango quotes “the wages of sin is death.”

Reply
Simple Simon June 3, 2013 at 10:31 am

Damn you called that one almost perfectly!

Reply
GrandTango June 3, 2013 at 11:20 am

Thanks Simon. Not too many on here, get it…

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GrandTango June 3, 2013 at 11:00 am

That Guilt is a Bitch, ain’t it…
Why not repent and change your life. instead of always wiping feces off your face, when the septic tank, where you live, inevitably blows back on yall???…

But I guess as long as it’s somebody else experiencing H#!! is OK to use for more promotion of deadly liberal politcs…You are Nice-caring- people, for sure…

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CorruptionInColumbia June 3, 2013 at 11:26 am

I enjoy muff diving too much to repent.

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GrandTango June 3, 2013 at 12:20 pm

Remember: Every muff you dive is like performing a penis-semen swallow by proxy on all the penises that have been there before you..So don’t be surprised at what that resideue and pollution does to your system (See Douglas)…NASTY…

PS: Jerry Sandusky enjoyed child molestation too much to repent. Sadly you will likely end up like him…

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tomstickler June 3, 2013 at 10:06 am

Countdown until GrandTango quotes “the wages of sin is death.”

Reply
Simple Simon June 3, 2013 at 10:31 am

Damn you called that one almost perfectly!

Reply
9" June 3, 2013 at 10:18 am

Approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV. About 14 million people become newly infected each year. HPV is so common that nearly all sexually-active men and women will get at least one type of HPV at some point in their lives.
This is true even for people who only have sex with one person in their lifetime.

Most people with HPV never develop symptoms or health problems. Most HPV infections (90%) go away by themselves within two years. But, sometimes, HPV infections will persist and can cause a variety of serious health problems.

Reply
9" June 3, 2013 at 10:18 am

Approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV. About 14 million people become newly infected each year. HPV is so common that nearly all sexually-active men and women will get at least one type of HPV at some point in their lives.
This is true even for people who only have sex with one person in their lifetime.

Most people with HPV never develop symptoms or health problems. Most HPV infections (90%) go away by themselves within two years. But, sometimes, HPV infections will persist and can cause a variety of serious health problems.

Reply
GrandTango June 3, 2013 at 10:19 am

What a nasty Confluence to show the Hideous flaws of Liberalism and Libertarian…

First liberals: Who Declare: Aw let ’em do it. We can’t stop em, so let’s buy children government condoms to show how much we care. They demand that We don’t preach a against their debauchery, lest we are like a religious snake-handling, Bible-thumping prude. We must get w/ the times, like the hip-cool liberals are…

Yet you ere Cowards when your promotion of immorality inflicts Cancer on the little girls and boys your hideous degenerates were supposed to be protecting from the perverts. The lecherous LOVE leftwing politics that allows the assault of our innocent children…Take a bow…you are a disgrace.

Second: Free-for-All, Everything-Goes Liberal-Tarians: You want government out of our lives. Sin is fun, and no one has any right to protect little girls or boys. Let us have at them, to do as we please…

Yet now: when your FILTH manifests in the deadly disease wrought from your ugly sin: you Demand Government come in and absolve your guilt, that you have dis-avowed as you lustily ate, as you proclaimed flesh as your god…Disgusting.

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Simple Simon June 3, 2013 at 10:33 am

Tax the churches!

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Frank Pytel June 3, 2013 at 1:24 pm

I wouldn’t tax them all. I wouldn’t tax very many at all.
I’d sure as hell start with Shandon on Forest and First Baptist downtown. They push a lot of politics. All the movers and shakers go there.
The 9 member church on marleybellumpstufusss in bumperstumpnowhereville are people that just want to praise their god/GOD and leave the rest behind. The former are Christians from 9-10 every Sunday GOD Bless’em

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GrandTango June 3, 2013 at 2:20 pm

What about Rev. Jeremiah Wright or AME…but the people who tell your ignorant @$$ how to think are A-OK w/ those…because they worship the same gods of hate and immorality, like you and FITS…
You’re not for seperation of church and state…just seperating moral people from the right to express themselves…you ignorant Dumb@$$…You ar the reason we have Hitler part II in DC.

Reply
Frank Pytel June 3, 2013 at 2:31 pm

Negative T. I am definitely all about the separation of state from church. But this is a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. I think as a nation we should get back to those principles.

dwb619 June 3, 2013 at 8:09 pm

Damn it ,Frank, that’s TWICE in one thread I have agreed with you.

Frank Pytel June 4, 2013 at 5:24 am

You’ll get there :)

TontoBubbaGoldstein June 3, 2013 at 4:38 pm

we have Hitler part II in DC.

B-b-b-but, i thought Sadaam was Hitler II.

Hitler was a (repeat after me) a National Socialist.

While Our Dear Leader is certainly socialist…..he is far, FAR from being a nationalist.

dwb619 June 3, 2013 at 8:08 pm

I find you can’t go wrong if you follow BILLY GRAHAM!

A Friend June 3, 2013 at 1:22 pm

Once again, T displays how he doesn’t live in the real world with the rest of us. Must be lonely down in that basement.

Reply
GrandTango June 3, 2013 at 1:55 pm

So you’r’e like Douglas, FITS and Lizenby…and think sticking your tongue in palces that have hjeld Lord know what is a helathy proactice???
If that real-wold experience, you can have it all…
I’m just saying, why do you all come running to the public trough to pay to cure your immoral and filthy behavior…after you told us how “great it was gone be,,,

Reply
A Friend June 3, 2013 at 2:08 pm

I don’t ignore reality or science in favor of some ridiculous ideology, especially when doing so has proven to be harmful. You do. I’d tell you to get an education, but it’s painfully clear from your comments that it’s too late for that.

Reply
dwb619 June 3, 2013 at 8:06 pm

You sure you ain’t a clone of Telli Savalas character in “The Dirty Dozen”?
YOU BETCHA!
YOU BETCHA!

Reply
Finius Nullis June 4, 2013 at 10:14 pm

Well, look at it this way: his character was named MAGGOT, and are we really sure he didn’t impregnate one of the whores? DWB, you may have solved a mystery!

Reply
Ever Notice? June 3, 2013 at 12:40 pm

“It was a mistake then, I’ve said it’s a mistake now,” Haley said after she vetoed the bill. “Now that I have a 14-year-old daughter, it is something that is very close to my heart in terms of what I’m going to do as a parent and what I want for my child.”

Funny thing, Rebublicans only “get it” when it hits close to home. Stem Cell Reasearch, Medical pot, Gay Rights…

Reply
Ever Notice? June 3, 2013 at 12:40 pm

“It was a mistake then, I’ve said it’s a mistake now,” Haley said after she vetoed the bill. “Now that I have a 14-year-old daughter, it is something that is very close to my heart in terms of what I’m going to do as a parent and what I want for my child.”

Funny thing, Rebublicans only “get it” when it hits close to home. Stem Cell Reasearch, Medical pot, Gay Rights…

Reply
Bart June 3, 2013 at 1:44 pm

It’s irrelevant regarding this health story but most people are surprised to learn that the Douglas family is Jewish. I admire both Kirk and Michael as outstanding actors. Michael is also a great producer — Cuckoo’s Nest is one of the greatest films ever made. He’s also a really nice human being.

Wikipedia:

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch, Russian: ????? ???????????; December 9, 1916) is a retired American film and stage actor, film producer and author. He is one of the last surviving actors from Hollywood’s “golden age”.

Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, the son of Bryna “Bertha” (née Sanglel) and Herschel “Harry” Danielovitch, a businessman. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Gomel (now in Belarus but then in Russia), and the family spoke Yiddish. His father’s brother, who emigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas’ family adopted in the United States. In addition to their surname, his parents also changed their given names to Harry and Bertha.

His 1988 biography paints a memorable picture of his family in the early years in America. After noting that his father was denied work in the carpet mills, the town’s largest employers, because he was Jewish, Douglas writes:

So my father, who had been a horse trader in Russia, got himself a horse and a small wagon, and became a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, and junk for pennies, nickels, and dimes. . . . Even on Eagle Street, in the poorest section of town, where all the families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman’s son.

Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the Navy during World War II.

Coming from a poor family, as a boy Douglas sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread. Later, he delivered newspapers and worked at more than forty jobs before becoming an actor. He found living in a family of six sisters to be stifling, stating, “I was dying to get out. In a sense, it lit a fire under me.” During high school, he acted in school plays, and discovered “The one thing in my life that I always knew, that was always constant, was that I wanted to be an actor.”

……………

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won four Golden Globes, including Cecil B. DeMille Award, and two Academy Awards; as producer of 1975’s Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Other performances include The Game, Wonder Boys, Traffic and Falling Down. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009. He is the eldest of actor Kirk Douglas’s four sons.

…..

In February, 2012, following his return to the character of financial criminal Gordon Gekko, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a public service announcement video of Michael Douglas calling on viewers to report financial crime.

In 2009 Douglas joined the project Soldiers of Peace, a movie against all wars and for global peace.

Douglas lent his support for the campaign to release Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman, who after having been convicted of committing adultery, was given a sentence of death by stoning.

Reply
Bart June 3, 2013 at 1:44 pm

It’s irrelevant regarding this health story but most people are surprised to learn that the Douglas family is Jewish. I admire both Kirk and Michael as outstanding actors. Michael is also a great producer — Cuckoo’s Nest is one of the greatest films ever made. He’s also a really nice human being.

Wikipedia:

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch, Russian: ????? ???????????; December 9, 1916) is a retired American film and stage actor, film producer and author. He is one of the last surviving actors from Hollywood’s “golden age”.

Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, the son of Bryna “Bertha” (née Sanglel) and Herschel “Harry” Danielovitch, a businessman. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Gomel (now in Belarus but then in Russia), and the family spoke Yiddish. His father’s brother, who emigrated earlier, used the surname Demsky, which Douglas’ family adopted in the United States. In addition to their surname, his parents also changed their given names to Harry and Bertha.

His 1988 biography paints a memorable picture of his family in the early years in America. After noting that his father was denied work in the carpet mills, the town’s largest employers, because he was Jewish, Douglas writes:

So my father, who had been a horse trader in Russia, got himself a horse and a small wagon, and became a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, and junk for pennies, nickels, and dimes. . . . Even on Eagle Street, in the poorest section of town, where all the families were struggling, the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman’s son.

Douglas grew up as Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the Navy during World War II.

Coming from a poor family, as a boy Douglas sold snacks to mill workers to earn enough to buy milk and bread. Later, he delivered newspapers and worked at more than forty jobs before becoming an actor. He found living in a family of six sisters to be stifling, stating, “I was dying to get out. In a sense, it lit a fire under me.” During high school, he acted in school plays, and discovered “The one thing in my life that I always knew, that was always constant, was that I wanted to be an actor.”

……………

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won four Golden Globes, including Cecil B. DeMille Award, and two Academy Awards; as producer of 1975’s Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Other performances include The Game, Wonder Boys, Traffic and Falling Down. Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009. He is the eldest of actor Kirk Douglas’s four sons.

…..

In February, 2012, following his return to the character of financial criminal Gordon Gekko, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a public service announcement video of Michael Douglas calling on viewers to report financial crime.

In 2009 Douglas joined the project Soldiers of Peace, a movie against all wars and for global peace.

Douglas lent his support for the campaign to release Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman, who after having been convicted of committing adultery, was given a sentence of death by stoning.

Reply
Jay Ellington June 3, 2013 at 2:31 pm

Not sure why, but I can’t see a picture or read a story about Bakari Sellers and not think C. Thomas Howell in Soul Man.

Reply
The Ghost of Fat Greg Dulli June 3, 2013 at 2:31 pm

Not sure why, but I can’t see a picture or read a story about Bakari Sellers and not think C. Thomas Howell in Soul Man.

Reply
Fandango June 3, 2013 at 8:32 pm

Guy walks into bar, sits and orders a drink.
He notices fellow sitting at end of bar, not talking or making conversation. He later notices the fellow leaving with most gorgeous woman there.
A few days later, enters same bar sits and orders a drink.
Sees the same fellow sitting, having a beer. The guy never approaches any women or has conversation.
This goes on week after week.
Guys curiosity finally gets the best of him and he calls bartender over.
I see that fellow week after week. He sits has a drink, never talks to anyone and leaves with best looking babe in the place, night after night.
Whats the deal with him?
Bartender says, you know beats me too. Comes in orders a beer, never says a word, justs sits licking his eyebrows.

Reply
Fandango June 3, 2013 at 8:32 pm

Guy walks into bar, sits and orders a drink.
He notices fellow sitting at end of bar, not talking or making conversation. He later notices the fellow leaving with most gorgeous woman there.
A few days later, enters same bar sits and orders a drink.
Sees the same fellow sitting, having a beer. The guy never approaches any women or has conversation.
This goes on week after week.
Guys curiosity finally gets the best of him and he calls bartender over.
I see that fellow week after week. He sits has a drink, never talks to anyone and leaves with best looking babe in the place, night after night.
Whats the deal with him?
Bartender says, you know beats me too. Comes in orders a beer, never says a word, justs sits licking his eyebrows.

Reply

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