Out of every 100,000 women who have a pap test, 5,000 will be falsely diagnosed with cervical cancer. That’s a lot of women who will be told they have cervical cancer when in fact they do not. These women will be scared into believing they are cancer victims, and will undergo further tests and ‘treatments’ for a disease they do not have.
Additional findings suggest this number is a conservative estimate, which only captures part of the bigger picture.
For example, Angela Raffle estimates that 6,800 women out of every 100,000 are referred for abnormalities following a pap test. Andrew Rouse estimates the number as being even higher, and feels women should be told about the “inaccuracy of the Pap test and the disadvantages of being tested” before they undergo screening.
Some women might feel the potential of pap tests to ‘save lives’ is worth the risk of misdiagnosis, but new research indicates screening in general–including pap testing–does not reduce the risk of dying. That’s right: pap testing does not ‘save lives’, according to the newest research, which has found that all-cause mortality remains unchanged regardless of whether or not women screen for cervical cancer.
Women who have pap tests have a fairly good chance of being told they have cervical cancer when they don’t, and the scare of hearing their ‘diagnosis’ is often just the start of the resulting trauma. These women then may experience fear, abuse, unnecessary testing, and may have parts of their cervix removed and/or radiation and/or chemo – for absolutely no reason. In the face of research that indicates screening does nothing to alter a persons’ risk of dying, these risks are exposed as nothing but unnecessary.
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/cancer-screening-has-never-saved-lives-bmj-study-concludes-1
https://www.harding-center.mpg.de/en/health-information/facts-boxes/pap-test
http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/28/women-informed-consent-and-cervical-screening
forwomenseyesonly 
My wife went through this in her 20s and then again in her 30s. Both times after the biopsy and LEEP they found nothing. Women should be told the facts about Pap test and Pelvic exams. After 4 straight pelvic exams that two different Drs thought they felt something which led to four vaginal ultrasounds and two endometrial biospys again they found nothing. At her last Dr visit she declined a pelvic exam and the Dr went nuts on both of us my wife finally agreed to let her do it to calm the Dr down.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7064879
This study was published so long ago. How many doctors ever tell their patients on oral contraceptives to take a good quality multivitamin supplement?
It is also an interesting fact that pregnant women may have abnormalities on paps due to lower folic acid levels. Folic acid supplements are recommended to women who are trying to get pregnant to prevent birth defects. Yet 50% of all American pregnancies are UNPLANNED. So how mamy of these women are taking folic acid or any vitamin supplements?
Have any other studies been done since this was published? I agree that it’s promising, but 47 is not a large sample size. Having hundreds or even thousands of participants would yield more data and stronger conclusions. N=47 really doesn’t hold much statistical power.
See the side bar on the article linked it has other related studies notated. You read too fast.
You can google other articles just as well as me. But of course marketing an unpatentable nutrient is never going to make anyone much money so why fund the research on THOUSANDS of women to get some nice statistics? Just common sense can tells you that good nutrition helps a body kept healthy and heal faster.
Moo, of course it’s common sense. However, recommendations aren’t made based on common sense. They’re made on scientific evidence. All the other related articles are also old, so I was wondering if anything had been done more recently. The most recent peer-reviewed study I could find was published in 1997.
Like I said, the results of these studies look promising, so I’m wondering why the issue has fallen by the wayside. Why don’t more doctors know about it? I know it’s anecdotal, but not once have I had a doctor recommend folic acid for cervical health. They always recommend I take a multivitamin containing folic acid “in case you get pregnant.” I’ve never been pregnant and never want to be, but of course that doesn’t factor into their recommendations.
For the record, the tone of your response to me was unkind. I hope you didn’t intend it to be that way, as this is a forum where we should all be able to “talk” to each other without being rude. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t agree with the information being shared.
I have a degree in science. I just happen to know the “tricks”. Publications of “peer reviewed” articles are a few editors that control what is rejected or accepted. The system works by having small additions to previous works of others published. If a work is deemed redundant then it is rejected. If someone has a very different or contrary view it is often rejected as well.
More importantly one should follow the money. Who is funding the research? Who funds the publication and the editors?
There are all sorts of lies, cover-ups, tricks and misinformation in any screening programme. Every such programme is designed and run by medical bureaucrats and above all is concerned with its own survival, not the health and benefits of the patients.
For example, doctors, labs and Australian Medicare (for non-Australians: it is a government-run medical surveillance, money-distribution and resource-wasting system that is funded by a compulsory tax of every taxpayer in Australia), have long been jointly implementing a trick with the item numbers, using 73055 instead of 73053 for asymptomatic women, thus turning healthy women into cancer victims.
Number 73053 is for “Cytology of a smear from cervix for the detection of precancerous or cancerous changes in women with no symptoms, signs or recent history suggestive of cervical neoplasia…”
While number 73055 is for “Cytology of a smear from cervix, not associated with item 73053,…
(a) for the management of previously detected abnormalities including precancerous or cancerous conditions; or
(b) for the investigation of women with symptoms, signs or recent history suggestive of cervical neoplasia.”
Most people never check or question what is what. Great statistics for those who want to keep telling us a lie about cervical cancer being common or that screening saves lives.
People who are thinking of participating in any screening should also be aware that it often does nothing except advancing the diagnosis. That is benefits from screening and early detection may be nothing more than the lead time bias — the apparent extension in survival period statistics seen when screening advances the time of diagnosis without any change in the actual time of death. In this case, increased survival time merely means longer period of time that the individual was aware of the presence of cancer. I.e. screening did not prolong life, only prolonged the anxiety and suffering.
Dr. Gilbert Welch defined cancer screening as a systematic search for cancer in people who have no symptoms or signs of cancer, and the vast majority of whom will not have the cancer being sought.
To encourage healthy individuals to participate in screening and medical surveillance, the System needs to heighten their sense of cancer risk. The language often used is “we need to raise the awareness”, the meaning of which is “we need to introduce a dis-ease” or raise the levels of fear of the cancer in question.
Any cancer screening programme must involve many to potentially benefit a few. The harms of screening (worry, fear, false positives, overdiagnosis and overtreatment) are more certain than its benefits. This is why screening must be a personal choice, not a public health imperative.
I stumbled across this site a few years ago and would just like to comment here as to how much I appreciate these posts and reading the comments from all of you who share the same views as I do. The misinformation out there about cancer screening in general appalls me and I am so grateful to all of you for sharing such empowering, important and truthful information. I can recall reading post after post and just being amazed that the information that I was reading was completely in line with my thoughts and views about cancer screening. I thought I was alone in thinking this way but for the last few years have felt validated and comforted by reading these posts, knowing that what my gut had been telling me for all these years (that cancer screening is a profit generating “business” that misinforms and scares people into complying) is actually shared by so many others. Thank you to all, and please….keep the posts coming!
Can the military force an officer to get a pap smear?
NO it’s as simple as that! Whatever state your private sexual parts of your body are in, it is nout to do with them and will not stop you from performing your duties! Please never forget that this is “Optional/Elective” and if anyone forces you that is plain wrong! You have the power and the right to just say NO.
Article on CNN. Here’s a lovely falsehood, taken directly from the article:
“We have a vaccine which can eliminate cervical cancer, like polio, that is currently available, and only 40% of girls age 13 to 17 have been vaccinated,” said Farley, co-author of the editorial.”
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/health/cervical-cancer-death-study/index.html
I noticed this part too:
The data showed that the racial disparity seen in cervical cancer death rates for black and white women was underestimated by 44% when hysterectomies were not taken into account. The risk of dying from cervical cancer might be much higher than experts previously thought, and women are encouraged to continue recommended cancer screenings
A majority of hysterectomies are not as a result of screening but are of other issues.
Thank you for that link. Totally incorrect wording I see Re the HPV vaccine:
“Eliminate” – nothing can eliminate cervical cancer other than a hysterectomy. Once again in the hope of increasing uptake by spouting the lies.
I also noted this part:
“1,868 men in the United States, about 45% had genital HPV infections and only about 10% had been vaccinated.”
“Male HPV vaccination may have a greater effect on HPV transmission and cancer prevention in men and women than previously estimated,” the researchers wrote in that study.”
It is about time men took some responsibility for HPV instead of resting all the blame on women! However I’m still not convinced of the vaccine, it’s use or side effects.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/16/hpv-vaccine-effectiveness.aspx :
“According to Merck’s own research before Gardasil was licensed, if you’ve been exposed to HPV strains 16 or 18 prior to receiving Gardasil vaccine, you could increase your risk of precancerous lesions by 44.6%.
Judicial Watch has received previously withheld documents from the DDHS, which reveal that the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has awarded $5,877,710 to 49 victims for harm resulting from the HPV vaccine!”
“Other health problems associated with Gardasil vaccine include immune-based inflammatory neurodegenerative disorders, suggesting that something is causing the immune system to overreact in a detrimental way—sometimes fatally.
•Between June 1, 2006 and December 31, 2008, there were 12,424 reported adverse events following Gardasil vaccination, including 32 deaths. The girls, who were on average 18 years old, died within two to 405 days after their last Gardasil injection
•Between May 2009 and September 2010, 16 additional deaths after Gardasil vaccination were reported. For that timeframe, there were also 789 reports of “serious” Gardasil adverse reactions, including 213 cases of permanent disability and 25 diagnosed cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome
•Between September 1, 2010 and September 15, 2011, another 26 deaths were reported following HPV vaccination
•As of May 13, 2013, VAERS had received 29,686 reports of adverse events following HPV vaccinations, including 136 reports of death,6, as well as 922 reports of disability, and 550 life-threatening adverse events”
Thanks again.
I ran across a youtuber dressing as a dol living in Japan. This girl looked about 18 and said she was from Canada. One of her blogs was going to a gun I in Japan. She said she wanted to have cancer screening done and get birth control. She keep harping on how it was important even if your abroad to keep up with your health cheeks. I feel like throwing up . They put her in a chair that went up in the air and spread the legs. She described the pap as not uncomfortable but scratchy. It just triggered me. I feel so iratated. This young girl thinks she needs Pap smears. It also seemed like she went out of the way to seek this doctor out. As it didn’t seem like it was standard of care in Japan to do these exams and they also did a vaginal ultrasound as part of the cheek up too. It seemed even more over the top than American well woman exams. Sorry but I had to vent I regret watching it this video it almost gave me a panic attack.
Omg I was just watching the real housewives of the over and they were talking about a woman on the show that had a mastectomy for preventing cancer. One of the lady’s chimes in and said “like when you have and abnormal Pap and they are pre cancerous cells. All four lady’s at the table said they have had that happen. That is very telling . This is an American show. That means most woman who have Pap will be pushed into treatments. It’s times like these I’m glad I avoided the gym. I am 33 and I don’t talk about .
Sorry it was the real housewives of the OC.
Hello everyone!
Long time no speak! I hope you are all well. I continue to post wherever I can on this issue and was wondering, would anyone be interested in posting on the following:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5068659/Smear-tests-cut-three-lifetime.html?offset=10&max=100&jumpTo=comment-255580627&reply=255580627#comment-255580627
I am running into a bit of a brick wall despite some initial promise!
Maria x
Hiya AQ! I’ll have a plug away at it this evening. Smoke coming out of my ears at the sheer crap being spouted! I loved all your points…x