Health

NPR not Allowed to say "genital warts" ?

by ChristophrHiestr | July 19, 2007 at 07:38 am

1512 views | 10 Recommendations | 9 comments

Whatever happened to the journalist's obligation to inform the public? I listened to this interview conducted by NPR's Linda Wertheimer with Dr. Jeanne Santoli of the CDC and came away stunned at how they could omit the two most obvious and important points of the whole story.

1) There is a vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus, also known as HPV, also known as "genital warts" or "warts". However, neither woman uttered the word "warts" or "genital" at all. It went like this:

WERTHEIMER: Now, HPV is spread by sex, right?
SANTOLLI: Yes, it is a sexually transmitted disease.

That was it. One of them could have added, for the benefit of less informed listeners, that it is also known as warts or genital warts, but they didn't. I could sense they were going out of their way not to say those words.

The public needs to know that kids who get this vaccine will virtually eliminate their chances of getting genital warts later in life when they become sexually active. If people heard it expressed this way, they would be more likely to get the vaccine, which would improve public health in general, as genital warts are believed to be linked to cervical cancer in women. Is the puritannical religious right influencing NPR? Or worse, causing them to self-censor to avoid complaints from fundamentalist groups?

2) There was a discussion about how some people are against all vaccines, however, Wertheimer never asked the expert WHY people are against vaccines? Obviously a story about vaccines that mentions that people are opposed to vaccines for their children should explain why those people feel that way and why they're willing to put their children's health and lives at risk by not giving them vaccines.

Three new vaccines help to protect pre-teens against whooping cough, meningitis and human papilloma virus. Dr. Jeanne Santoli of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, speaks with Linda Wertheimer.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Michelle Says So

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 07:44 on July 19th, 2007

That's pretty funny because the other day I was listening to the AM Talk Radio Show with Neil Boortz, and he said the word "dildo"! I couldn't believe it!? I'm glad my son wasn't in the car. Dildo is way worse than genital warts. Give me a break!

Actual News Geezer

at 07:50 on July 19th, 2007

oops - I'm sure you weren't aware of this but don't you guys realize that NowPublic frowns on the use of the expression, genital warts?

Actual News Geezer

at 09:00 on July 19th, 2007

Of course I was just funning. Even though I personally frown on genital warts, generally.

ChristophrHiestr

at 09:35 on July 19th, 2007

Whew! That's a relief. I'll go ahead and submit the story about oozing, pus-filled syphilitic chancres the size of silver dollars.

Michelle Says So

at 09:52 on July 19th, 2007

If you are going to do that, please include pictures! lol..

Kaitlin

at 10:18 on July 19th, 2007

The reasoning behind them not mentioning genital warts specifically might have had less to do with warts and more to do with the fact that HPV is actually an umbrella term for many forms of STDS:

Papillomaviruses are a diverse group of DNA-based viruses that infect the skin and mucous membranes of humans and a variety of animals. Over 100 different human papillomavirus (HPV) types have been characterized. Some HPV types cause benign skin warts, or papillomas,
for which the virus family is named. HPVs associated with the
development of such "common warts" are transmitted environmentally or
by casual skin-to-skin contact. [Wikipedia]

So yes, warts are part of it, but it's not the whole story. To just say "genital warts" might be more of a misnomer, because then people might just be looking for warts and not know that they have another form of HPV. Women especially need to know more about this, since HPV is linked to cancer in women; however, men can also transmit HPV.

Michelle Says So

at 10:45 on July 19th, 2007

Men are carriers of HPV and are not affected by the virus. Only women are affected. I don't know the exact statistics, but I know that HPV is up there as one of the most common STDs in the U.S. That is why they made a vaccine for it. To my knowledge the most common strands of HPV have no detectable symptoms and can only be detected through a pap smear.

ChristophrHiestr

at 14:51 on July 19th, 2007

According to the CDC web site, HPV affects both men and women. Furthermore, their site unequivocally refers to it as "Genital warts." Here's a snippet:

Genital HPV infection
is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is caused by human
papillomavirus (HPV). Human papillomavirus is the name of a group of
viruses that includes more than 100 different strains or types. More
than 30 of these viruses are sexually transmitted, and they can infect
the genital area of men and women including the skin of the penis,
vulva (area outside the vagina), or anus, and the linings of the
vagina, cervix, or rectum. Most people who become infected with HPV
will not have any symptoms and will clear the infection on their own.

Some of these viruses are called "high-risk" types, and may cause
abnormal Pap tests. They may also lead to cancer of the cervix, vulva,
vagina, anus, or penis. Others are called "low-risk" types, and
they may cause mild Pap test abnormalities or genital warts. Genital
warts
are single or multiple growths or bumps that appear in the genital
area, and sometimes are cauliflower shaped.

Also, the vaccine is only for the strains of Genital Human Papilloma Virus.

Kaitlin

at 15:56 on July 19th, 2007

I think we're dealing with semantics. Read carefully, this is from your quote to me:

"Some of these viruses [...] are called "low-risk" types, and

they may cause mild Pap test abnormalities or genital warts."

So HPV, the virus, which was being discussed may cause genital warts. But HPV is not genital warts in and of itself.

Just to be 100% certain about this, I called a local youth clinic (Pine Clinic, Vancouver) and asked a nurse there. She said the following:

"Certain strains of HPV might cause genital warts. But the two are not mutually exclusive."

I think you should change your story to reflect the possibility that the NPR reporters may not have discussed genital warts because they were talking about the larger issue of HPV as a whole. Your story implies that they didn't discuss it because they were forbidden or declined to. This might be considered liabelous.