Comments on: Oral Sex Linked to Oral Cancer

Oral Sex Linked to Oral Cancer

fenriq — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:24:41 -0800

Oral Sex Link to Mouth Cancer
"Although the risk is small and it is more likely to result from heavy drinking and smoking, scientists have uncovered evidence that oral sex can cause mouth cancer."

Bummer.

By: hackly_fracture

hackly_fracture — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:29:10 -0800

Fist cancer joke.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:31:55 -0800

foot cancer joke.

By: VulcanMike

VulcanMike — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:33:14 -0800

Here's the actual article, rather than the article about the article. This is the Internet, after all.

By: jon_kill

jon_kill — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:33:40 -0800

If anyone actually gives up oral sex....

By: blueshammer

blueshammer — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:35:24 -0800

I heard otherwise.

By: ringmaster

ringmaster — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:35:37 -0800

Scientists discover posession of penis linked to penis cancer.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:41:45 -0800

I hope it's not oversharing to say that until further proof is discovered, I'll continue to take my chances. Until then, my proverbial head remains in the proverbial sand.

By: biffa

biffa — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:43:50 -0800

VulcanMike: You linked to the article about the article! The FPP links the article about the article about the article. The actual article is even referenced in the article you linked!

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:43:54 -0800

"This is a major study in terms of size" heh.

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:43:56 -0800

Okay now, let's everybody sing along with Joe Jackson (you're excused, Migs)...

By: headspace

headspace — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:44:35 -0800

That's a really poorly-worded statement. You can have all the oral sex you want with a person who doesn't have HPV, and are at no risk for oral cancer. It should read "Performing oral sex on persons infected with HPV can increase the chance of contracting oral cancers."

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:45:37 -0800

chicobangs, may I recommend asking your girlfriend to shower after she goes to the beach... proverbially, of course.

By: FreezBoy

FreezBoy — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:58:20 -0800

Researchers had suspected that a sexually transmitted infection that is linked to cervical cancer could also be associated with tumors in the mouth. So does that mean us gay guys are in the clear? Pardon me as I go celebrate.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:00:22 -0800

Wendell, we needn't go into my predilections for beaches or showers or your (accurate and well-intentioned) advice to me in this thread. (Not to brag, but -- actually, I have little to brag about. Never mind.) The article feels like a bit of a nonstarter, as headspace mentioned. It's like saying the odds of dying from a drug overdose are greater among crack addicts than among, uh, people who don't do crack.

By: filchyboy

filchyboy — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:38:44 -0800

Can we please stop the posts about the posts which link to the articles which link to the articles which link to the articles. This is the internet after all.

By: toothgnip

toothgnip — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 13:57:18 -0800

Correlation != causation.

By: shagoth

shagoth — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:10:41 -0800

Ok, so one of the same 3 serotypes of Human Papilloma Virus that's linked as a cause of cervical cancer is associated with cancer on other mucosal surfaces? Not a surprise. For the record, the medical board question answer is serotypes 16, 18 and 31.

By: chrid

chrid — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:22:25 -0800

I heard that driving a car is a bit risky. Also, smoking fucks you up. Being overweight can also kill you, not to mention all the other stuff that can give you a really bad day. I am currently learning to drive, and am giving up smoking, and attempting to live a more healthy lifestyle. Anyone care for some oral sex? I'm rather good at it.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:34:24 -0800

Will Arnie try to ban Plo Chops?

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:36:53 -0800

What's next? Mad Plo Disease? Nothing personal, chico, there are just some straight lines I can't resist responding to... (as anyone on #mefi will testify) And it's just too much work to take the subject of this post seriously... When I read shagoth's comment, I thought he was referring to "stereotypes 16, 18 and 31", and I wondered what list he got them from... And in the interest of full disclosure, here's another of chrid's mad skillz. Funny, but NSFBarbie. (And I'm trying very very hard to avoid making a connection to madamjujujive's picture on Orkut)

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:39:46 -0800

So does that mean us gay guys are in the clear? No. Men can become infected with HPV; heterosexual women contract the virus though contact with infected men. The virus is widespread, and infection is mostly asymptomatic (until, of course, you get the cancer).

By: humbe

humbe — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:56:51 -0800

I'm crying laughing here. Oh and the next CA movement: Save the Plo Chops!

By: synecdoche

synecdoche — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 15:18:52 -0800

Sometimes I think people should spend their time trying to find out just what the heck DOESN'T cause cancer these days.

By: pekar wood

pekar wood — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 15:49:11 -0800

ah blow me.

By: ed

ed — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 16:03:17 -0800

Breathing oxygen causes cancer. Next.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 16:48:39 -0800

And living causes death.

By: Dasein

Dasein — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 17:04:01 -0800

More proof that vague risks of cancer shouldn't prevent one from enjoying life.

By: beth

beth — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 17:35:53 -0800

Speak for yourself. You are talking about risking your own mouth, right, not your partner's? If you're gonna get cancer, mouth cancer is a pretty horrible cancer to get. I see this as yet another reason to avoid giving oral sex.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:05:06 -0800

Research shows that research cause cancer in lab rats. beth: You don't sound like a fun date.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:21:49 -0800

By: spazzm

spazzm — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:27:00 -0800

Hand cancer?

By: Dasein

Dasein — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:41:38 -0800

beth: get a life. Every other day there's some study or other about a new cancer risk. Since most people don't read beyond the headlines, and since most papers don't get into the details, they don't see that these studies rarely prove causation. Correlation is not the same. We're all going to die eventually. Should we starve ourselves of enjoyment in life in the hope of living a year or two longer because we've been scared by some study that correlates a slightly higher risk of cancer with oral sex? If your answer is yes, in addition to being a miserabilist, you are, as spazzm says, not a fun date.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:54:20 -0800

Dasein and Spazzm are assuming the woman who posted this isn't a fun date?

By: trondant

trondant — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:06:04 -0800

can gym socks get cancer?

By: spazzm

spazzm — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:10:18 -0800

Whoa!

By: Dasein

Dasein — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 20:50:01 -0800

Hot damn.

By: MiG

MiG — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 01:50:08 -0800

I can't believe nobody has said "this sucks" yet.

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 03:30:09 -0800

This sucks.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 05:11:45 -0800

Don't we all.

By: beth

beth — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 06:29:08 -0800

Yeesh, some people are so quick to pass judgment on me without even knowing what my *other* reasons for not wanting to give head are. You probably don't know about the bet I have going with angry modem, wherein he'll give me $20 if I forego such activities for a full year. Only 8 more months to go! That $20 is so mine. (Yeah, there are other reasons, too. Like not having an eligible man in my life, for instance. I am doing the spinster thing at the moment.)

By: theora55

theora55 — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:43:19 -0800

In other news, not having oral sex causes divorce. okay, I did a crappy job of finding a supporting link, but you get the idea.

By: croutonsupafreak

croutonsupafreak — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 10:09:01 -0800

If contact with ejaculate caused cancer, one would expect to find higher rates of cancer in, um, some other areas. Are there, for instance, higher rates of vaginal cancer and mouth cancer among sexually active heterosexual women than in sexually active lesbians? I don't know if ejaculate is the only way HPV is transferred, but I do know that cervical cancer has something very close to 100 percent correlation to HPV. No sex=no cancer of the cervix. No sex with infected people=no cancer of the various areas. Some studies suggest that more than half of people having sex have HPV. But not all forms of the virus are linked to the cancer. (< ahref="http://www.ashastd.org/stdfaqs/hpv.html">see for yourself)

By: croutonsupafreak

croutonsupafreak — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 10:10:21 -0800

D'oh. see for yourself.