http://www.medhelp.org/doctor_profiles/show/30098

I think Edward is a knowledgeable person in the field, I'm not saying he is right in everything and I do not think Brian is right in everything, but we should not see everything in black and white, but look vulnerable to a diskusition.




http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Oral-HPV-Transmission-Question/show/1137937

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/HPV-transmission/show/1239679

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Oral-Sex-Performed-on-High-Risk-HPV-Girl/show/1423318

Forum Monitors comment: These last three links state the very things that we have stated on these forums so often that they are only being put here, because you clearly haven't read them. HPV is the most common sexually transferred infection in the US. The good news is that 99.1% of the people that are exposed to it have an immune system that defends them against it, so it is not of major concern and should not dictate sexual behavior.

In the United States, it is widely known there is a link between passive tobacco exposure (second hand smoke) and the development of disease. My mother-in-law has emphysema most likely as result of living with my father-in-law who smoked for many years. I hate to throw gasoline on the fire here, but, who knows how much or in what ways years of concentrated passive tobacco smoke exposure compromises a person's long term health. Maybe, it is the culprit or an accessory to the crime in more diseases than we are aware.

I am thankful to Brian Hill for founding the Oral Cancer Foundation. His position is not merely an occupation but a vocation and a passion. While no one wants their calling to a vocation to be born of cancer, Brian's came in that way. He took one of the biggest negatives anyone could have been given, and not only survived but turned it into perhaps the biggest positive anyone could hope to achieve. To be that strong, that altruistic, and that dedicated to a cause is a priceless gift to countless people who have turned to the OCF for support. It is a life-defining work. It is an example to which many other people and organizations would do well to aspire.

Malin, I have read your profile. Your life has been touched by oral cancer. I am so sorry. I am thinking it is the basis of your passion and the driving force behind your educational pursuits? Welcome to this community. Sending positive thoughts to you and the one who you care about regarding tongue cancer.

Sandy

Malin. I cannot fathom your intentions. But enough already. You are suggesting that the world's most published authority on HPV and oral cancer is a fraud or incorrect, or biased towards vaccines perhaps, because she took research dollars from Merck early in her career? Then you must condemn every researcher there is, as they all at some point in time get funding from commercial entities, even if not directly, through grants to their universities. Really, do you also believe that the experience in the US is the same as the experience in your country, or perhaps India? They are all different, and the data collection mechanisms are equally so.

You have clearly misunderstood the reason for the message boards, and these kinds of discussions about something your clearly have opinions on, but have not properly explored, are a waste of time. Of course we have a cancer registry, we have the SEER database, and we know the numbers. Do you think the researchers who publish from this country do not have their work reviewed by their peers and are not held to the strictest standards of scientific inquiry? So you don't even know these basic things about the issue, and you are posting all these opinions?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts. Until you learn some more, and quit posting one particular study as the answer to everything, (when hundreds contribute to the final conclusions), perhaps you should not engage so passionately in the world of opinions. If you had read the foundation's web site, and my other postings you would clearly know that neither are anti-sex, neither are about prohibition of any behavior, nor about creating fear in anyone�they are about giving them the best information to make good decisions from.

This "debate" is not productive as the facts that we know today are drawn from hundreds of articles, and to post a clipping from one out of hundreds of them that happens to disagree with the rest, only confuses the patients here, and is not productive.

I do not wish to be rude, but I am at a conference this weekend lecturing, and I cannot continue this dialog with you, nor let you confuse the issues (and new patients that are just getting their minds around some of this information and their situations) with half truths and speculations on the forum.