# i pit a certain fac\[e\]book womens group and thier "awareness campaign"..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243 "2010-01-09T03:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/101 "2010-01-15T08:01:44Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’m planning on asking all men to post what side they “dress” on to promote testicular cancer awareness. On the 23rd. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/102 "2010-01-15T15:26:56Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > 1. The existence of this thread indicates that the above is working. I fail to see how a thread making fun of jerks marginalizing breast cancer is “working” to help either victims or finding a cure. To those of you who think this is a fun game, if breast cancer was a part of your life in some way you would understand why it offends some of us as it does. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/103 "2010-01-15T15:52:23Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > On the 23rd. On the 23rd side? How many legs have you got??? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/104 "2010-01-15T15:57:02Z")
No, I just have to wrap it multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/105 "2010-01-15T16:48:11Z")
> [@emmaliminal](#): > > Hear, hear. > > I just finished chemo and radiation treatments, which followed two rounds of major surgeries, for oral cancer that was probably caused by HPV. Did you (the generic Doper) know HPV is thought to be the leading cause of oral cancer among nonsmokers and people under 55 years old? No? Well, now you’ve had your awareness raised. I did not know that. Can boys even get the vaccination? At my pediatrician’s office, the shot is offered to girls. I have 2 boys and never thought about getting them vaccinated. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/106 "2010-01-15T19:21:40Z")
> [@Velma](#): > > Can boys even get the vaccination? At my pediatrician’s office, the shot is offered to girls. I have 2 boys and never thought about getting them vaccinated. That’s an excellent question, and I don’t know the answer. I’ll go Google a bit and see if I can find out. I will be very surprised if boys actually can’t get the vaccination, as opposed to it simply not being offered or encouraged, but you never know. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/107 "2010-01-15T19:57:02Z")
The FDA says it’s OK to give boys and young men the vaccination. From [here](http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20090909/fda-panel-oks-gardasil-for-boys). [QUOTE=Start of WebMD article] Sept. 9, 2009 – An FDA advisory committee voted to recommend approval of the vaccine Gardasil for males ages 9 to 26 to prevent genital warts. … HPV can cause genital warts and penile and anal cancer in men. [/QUOTE] However: [QUOTE=End of WebMD article] Gardasil is up for FDA consideration only as a way to prevent genital warts in boys – not to prevent cancer in males or to curb transmission of the HPV virus to women. [/QUOTE] I imagine that if you asked your doctor about the vaccine specifically as an oral cancer preventive, the doc might not support it. I do not believe a majority of the non-oral-surgeon/oncologist MDs out there are aware of the HPV-oral cancer connection yet. Also, from [here](http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711125): [QUOTE=A Medscape article] October 21, 2009 — Despite hearing impassioned pleas to protect both men and women from cancer, a federal advisory panel today declined to recommend that a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine be routinely administered to boys to prevent genital warts. Instead, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued a “permissive” recommendation stating that physicians have the option of vaccinating boys with the HPV vaccine Gardasil for genital-wart protection. … In making its recommendation today, ACIP appeared to be swayed in part by published research questioning the cost-effectiveness of routine vaccination of boys with Gardasil. The committee’s decision has far-reaching economic effects because third-party payers typically pay for vaccinations that are recommended for routine use, but not those coming with a permissive recommendation. [/QUOTE] What this means for you is that you can probably get your boys vaccinated, but your insurance won’t pay for it. It is interesting to note that the “published research” that “swayed” the ACIP seems to be [this](http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/339/oct08_2/b3884) British study: “Cost effectiveness analysis of including boys in a human papillomavirus vaccination programme in the United States.” A [_Scientific American_ blog post](http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=is-an-hpv-vaccine-for-boys-cost-eff-2009-10-09) explains that this study did _not_ look at the cost effectiveness of vaccination alone: [QUOTE=Scientific American blog post of Oct 9, 2009] Their calculations, based on trial data, health care and awareness campaign costs, as well as quality of life figures, found that **the cost of launching a massive public health campaign** to reach just as many boys as girls outweighed the economic benefits. [/QUOTE] (My bolding.) This is irritating. I think insurance shouldn’t get to skip paying for the vaccination itself just because a “massive health campaign” would not be cost-effective; no one’s asking them to pay for any massive damn nonexistent campaign. _(sigh)_ The CDC says [here](http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/STDFact-HPV-vaccine-young-women.htm#hpvvac4) that “The retail price of the vaccine is about … $375 for [the] full series.” (It takes three shots spread out over six months.) Gah! Of course, on the other hand, my oral cancer is costing my insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollars – I’ve been scared to add it all up, so it might have topped a million by now. HPV: Gives you genital warts and cancer, and even hijacks discussions of the color of your underwear. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/108 "2010-01-15T20:31:49Z")
I suspect the awareness they were trying to raise is in the women that maybe that lump or whatever not-quite-right situation in their breast could be serious, could be cancer, should certainly be checked. I don’t think anyone’s looking for a cure with their bra colors, but rather to get women to pay attention to what’s in them. That said, I didn’t participate. Isn’t most breast cancer discovered and reported by the women to their doctors? I’ve seen statistics, I believe that’s the case. I assumed it was self-awareness they were trying to promote and see no harm in it. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/109 "2010-01-16T19:45:37Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > I suspect the awareness they were trying to raise is in the women that maybe that lump or whatever not-quite-right situation in their breast could be serious, could be cancer, should certainly be checked. … That’s my suspicion too. I read something related in an article just now [QUOTE=Neighbourhoods that kill. Peter Aldhous. New Scientist vol 205 no. 2743, 16 January 2010, p. 7] Deep down, Diana Garmon-Spears knew something was seriously wrong when she noticed a lump in her right breast, about the size of a peanut. “ **I ignored it,** [emphasis not in original] but then my breast started to deform. I started to form a mass of lumps all around.”, she recalls [/quote] Before I read that my naïve expectation (as a man) was that a woman with a peanut-sized lump in a breast would of course run, not walk, to her doctor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243.md?page=5)