Nicotinenazis Might Have To Rethink Smoking Ban

One of the reasons given to ban smoking is that it puts a an extra burden on medical resources. Logically then the same criteria should be used to ban oral sex. It would be interesting to see how many people have oral sex compared to how many people smoke and which the greater burden.

Oral sex linked to throat cancer: study

Updated Thu. May. 10 2007 1:53 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Oral sex has been linked to throat cancer in a new study by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Human papillomavirus (HPV), which can be transmitted during oral sex, is the main cause of oropharyngeal (throat) cancer, researchers found. The study is the first to prove the link.

Researchers compared 100 men and women who were recently diagnosed with oral cancer with 200 similar people without the disease.

They found that participants who reported having oral sex -- fellatio or cunnilingus -- with six or more partners were at the highest risk (8.6 times more) of develping throat cancer.

"It's the human papillomavirus that drives the cancer," Dr. Maura Gillison, the lead author of the study, told The Globe and Mail.

Gillison, an assistant professor of oncology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., said the more oral-sex partners an individual has, the greater the risk is of getting oral cancer.

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