'Ending Cervical Cancer in our Lifetime'
National Lieutenant Governors Association
Wisconsin
Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton will
be speaking at the Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Control
Program 5th Annual Summit, which is scheduled for April 10th. For more
information, go here:
http://www.wicancer.org/summit_2008.html
As part of NLGA's Ending Cervical
Cancer in our Lifetime, Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton will be featured
across her state in this PSA on both Charter Communications and Time Warner
Cable networks. These began in February, 2008 and will run through the end of
the year.
Lawton promotes women's health Superior Telegram - Superior,MN,USA Maria
Lockwood, The Daily Telegram Published Wednesday, December 12,
2007
When the National Lieutenant Governor’s Association launched a cervical cancer
campaign, Wisconsin’s Lt. Gov. Barb Lawton broke with tradition. She sent
brochures about cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine to beauty salons statewide
instead of health care clinics where people might expect to find them. Beauty
parlors, she said, “are the center for the exchange of intelligence among
women.” They are, she said, an obvious place to offer information about the HPV
vaccine. Local businesswomen agreed. “There’s a lot of people, especially young
people, who don’t spend time going to the doctor’s office,” said Sandra Wojtoff,
owner and operator of Billings Park Hair Design.
The national debate over HPV vaccinations got off to an unfortunate start about
a year ago when a few states and elected officials proposed making vaccinations
mandatory.
That immediately engaged the factions in this country's culture wars. The
discussion involves sex, monogamy, disease and values -- just the sort of
ammunition some warriors are all too eager to load into their weapons.
But now that the din of battle has died down a bit, two Wisconsin women are
trying to refocus debate, concentrating on saving lives, not debating values.
They are Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and former Wisconsin first lady Sue Ann
Thompson. They're traveling across the state urging support for a bill that
would require education about and access to preventative care for HPV.
And it's impossible to argue against their shared vision because it's based on
facts, not morals or beliefs:
HPV -- human papillomavirus -- is the most common sexually transmitted disease
in America. About 80 percent of women will contract it by age 50. That's right:
80 percent.
Most people who have HPV are unaware they're infected. But persistent infection
with a high-risk strain of HPV causes 99.7 percent of all cervical cancer cases.
That's right: 99.7 percent.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 12,000 women will contract
cervical cancer this year, and about 4,000 women will die of the disease.
Given those numbers, the risk is clear.
And the solution is just as clear. The vaccination for HPV is almost 100 percent
effective at preventing infection, according to Wisconsin's top doc, chief
medical officer and epidemiologist Jeffrey Davis. Again, you read that
correctly: Almost 100 percent effective.
The only side effects associated with the injection are pain where the shot is
administered -- of course -- and low-grade fever that persists for a few days.
That means that 99.7 percent of all cervical cancer cases could be prevented
with a simple series of three shots.
This is the information Lawton and Thompson are trying to carry to Wisconsin's
women. It's not about culture and not about sex and not about morals and not
about beliefs. It's about saving women's lives.
Young women and girls who are sexually active-or will be-should be vaccinated.
In a 2005 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, half of all high school
students said they had had intercourse, and between 6 percent and 8 percent said
they became sexually active before age 14.
That's why Lawton and Thompson are pushing for passage of a bill -- Assembly
Bill 492 -- that would require all school districts to provide HPV information
to the parents of students in grades six through 12.
The bill doesn't mandate vaccination. It doesn't mandate adding sex ed to the
sixth grade curriculum. It simply says that information about this deadly
disease and how to prevent it must be made available to parents.
"This can be as simple as posting information on the district's Web site,"
Lawton said. "From there, we leave the decisions to parents."
That's where the decision should be made -- at home, by parents and their
children, based upon their own beliefs and values. And based on good, objective
information provided when it's most valuable.
Lawton and Thompson are right. This bill should be passed.
A bipartisan coalition is calling for increased awareness and access to
reproductive health care to prevent cervical cancer.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and Sue Ann Thompson, wife of former Gov. Tommy
Thompson, renewed a call Thursday for legislation to expand education efforts to
prevent the spread of human papillomavirus.
Lawton and Thompson's stop at the State College of Beauty Culture in Wausau was
part of a four-city tour that also called for increased public awareness about
the group of viruses, responsible for causing almost 98 percent of cases of
cervical cancer in the United States.
Better efforts to prevent HPV infection could help 110,000 to 120,000 Wisconsin
women and girls avoid contracting the disease each year, Lawton said. Half of
all sexually active adults carry the virus; by age 50, 80 percent of women will
have had it.
"This is where women come to take care of themselves," Lawton said, calling
salons the "centers of intelligence" where women exchange information.
Doctors diagnose about 11,000 cases nationwide of cervical cancer each year, and
about 3,600 women die of the disease, Thompson said. Recent studies suggest
minority women and those with lower educational and socioeconomic levels are
disproportionately affected by cervical cancer.
Although abstinence remains the best way to prevent HPV infection, it isn't a
viable lifelong strategy, Lawton said.
The Gardasil vaccine can play a significant role in reducing cervical cancers
caused by certain strains of the human papillomavirus, said Dr. Jeffrey Davis,
the state's chief medical officer and epidemiologist for communicable disease.
It protects against two strains of the virus that cause 70 percent of cervical
cancers and two other strains that cause 90 percent of genital warts.
The three hope improved education and prevention efforts could spare the 360,000
girls and women ages 10 to 19 in the state the agony of abnormal screening
tests, or worse, treatment of precancerous conditions or cancers.
Lawton said the state Legislature soon will take up the HPV education bill.
Beauty
salons across Wisconsin are playing an important role in
the fight against cervical cancer.
Lt. Governor
Barbara Lawton and former Wisconsin First Lady Sue Ann
Thompson are visiting several salons and spas as part of
a statewide effort to raise awareness of cervical cancer
and the virus that causes it, HPV.
Lawton says salons are the hub of information for
many women and a good way to share information with them
about prevention and early screening. Thompson says it's
important to get the message out to as many women as
possible, because cervical cancer rates have been
climbing and the HPV vaccine offers women the hope of
preventing it.
HPV, the Human Papiloma Virus, is the cause of
cervical cancer. A vaccine currently on the market helps
prevent the strains of HPV most often linked to cancer
cases. The Lt. Governor says part of their tour is about
encouraging women to have their teenage daughters
vaccinated, which can greatly reduce their risk of every
contracting the virus.
Local news briefs Wausau Daily Herald - Wausau,WI,USA
Beauty college set for high-profile visit
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and former Wisconsin first lady Sue Ann Thompson will
stop in Wausau on Thursday to raise awareness of cervical cancer and the human
papillomaviruses vaccine.
The visit will be part of a two-day, four-city tour.
Wisconsin Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Davis also will join the tour.
Lawton and Thompson will be at the State College of Beauty Culture, 1930 Grand
Ave., at 2 p.m., according to a press release.
August 28, 2007 – Offc. Lt. Governor web page
Later in the day, Lt. Governor Lawton and Senator Lena Taylor held a joint press
conference in Milwaukee to discuss the Cervical Cancer Education and Prevention
Bill. The bill,
Senate Bill 252, is designed to provide
extensive information about the benefits and possible risks of HPV vaccines to
parents and legal guardians of students enrolled in grades 6-12.
If left untreated, HPV can cause
cervical cancer—currently the second most common type of cancer among women in
the United States. Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with
HPV, and about 80 percent of American women will have acquired genital HPV
infection by age 50. The
Cervical Cancer Education and Prevention Bill
will arm individuals with the information needed to take aggressive action
against HPV.
Lt. Governor Lawton shared her
personal stake in the issue – some 20 years ago, she had a positive Pap test
that showed precancerous cell changes. Though her health is good now – “strong
as a horse,” as she told a Wisconsin Public Radio reporter – she also called the
experience “as frightening as can be.”
'Ending Cervical Cancer in our Lifetime'
Beauty
salons across Wisconsin are playing an important role in
the fight against cervical cancer.