Posted on 03/02/2003 9:48:51 AM PST by miltonim
“It’s a sad thing. STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)
impact almost every patient I come in contact with,”
notes Susan Bostock, M.D., a family practice physician
who works in an inner-city hospital clinic in Newark. “In the
patients I see, greater than 80 percent give a history of having
an STD. It is rare when I have a patient who doesn’t have a
history of STDs or is not currently infected with one.”
Teen sexual activity comes with a huge price tag. When
a young person becomes sexually active they have immediately
put themselves at risk — and at risk not only for
becoming pregnant (as 19 percent of sexually active teens
do), but also for sexually transmitted diseases and emotional
and social consequences. And in the future, many
will find themselves grappling with infertility.
Apart from teen pregnancy, the devastating effects of
teen sexual activity are not appreciated by the general
population, but physicians deal with them daily. The current
adult population, for the most part, is familiar with
two serious STDs — syphilis and gonorrhea — both bacterial
and both treated with antibiotics. Today, there are
over 30 significant STDs and like HIV, half are viral, have
no cure and have life-altering consequences. Two-thirds
of those who acquire an STD are under age 25.
Sexually active teens have about a one in four chance
of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease each year.
Many diseases can be transmitted without intercourse,
through hand or mouth contact with intimate areas. And
many people who carry and transmit STDs are not aware
they are infected or may falsely believe (as with herpes
and human papillomavirus) that they are only contagious
when lesions are present.
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Teen Sex, Alcohol and Drug Use
Are Linked Behaviors
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There is so much at stake for teens that the New Jersey
Physicians Resource Council (NJPRC) is advocating that
health providers and educators present adolescent sexual
activity for what is really is — a “risk activity.”
In fact, there is a very clear relationship between alcohol
and drug abuse and teen pregnancy and STDs. Teens
who drink are seven times more likely to have sexual intercourse
and twice as likely to have four or more partners.
Teens who use drugs are five times more likely to have sexual
intercourse and three times more likely to have sex with
four or more individuals.
For sexually active teen girls there is a clear link to emotional
trauma. Studies show that they are over six times
more likely than their peers to attempt suicide, almost 18
times more likely to run away from home and 10.4 times
more likely to try marijuana. Clearly, there is a correlation
between risk behaviors and teen sexual activity — and the
consequences of sex for teens can be just as damaging, or
more so, as alcohol and drug use.
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What About “Safer Sex?”
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New Jersey has been in the forefront of sex education
since comprehensive sex education was mandated
statewide in the late 1970s. Although New Jersey health
teachers do talk about abstinence in the classroom, it is
within the context of comprehensive sex education —
just one of the options for contraception.
Between 1960 and 1997, the percentage of
unwed teen mothers grew from 17.2 percent to
90.1. New Jersey ranks 18th in the nation in
teen pregnancy and 44th in the teen birth
rate. However, New Jersey is one of only
three states that has not experienced a
decline in teen abortions. In fact,
teen abortions rose in the state by
11.1 percent, giving it the third
highest teen abortion rate in
the country. Nearly six in 10
(58 percent) teen pregnancies
end in abortion.
The teen population
is in the
throes of an epidemic
of sexually
transmitted diseases,
half of which are viral and life-long. In the face
of this epidemic, sex education curricula has been offering
condoms. But how effective are they against these
diseases?
Studies: No Proof of Condom
Effectiveness for Many STDs
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In a June 2000 conference (“Scientific Evidence on
Condom Effectiveness and STD Prevention”) all the available
peer-reviewed clinical research on condom effectiveness
for preventing STD transmission was evaluated.1 One
year later, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) released the results of this study. For two of the
eight sexually transmitted diseases studied, condoms were
seen to prevent infection. When used correctly and consistently,
condoms were found to reduce the HIV transmission
rate by 85 percent and “could reduce the risk of gonorrhea,”
but only for men.2 For the other six STDs — genital
herpes, human papillomavirus, syphilis, trichomoniasis,
chlamydia and chancroid — there is no clinical proof of
condom effectiveness.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common
STD today and is known to cause 99.7 percent of all cervical
cancer.3 It affects an estimated 20 million Americans
and kills 5,000 U.S. women each year. More women die
from HPV than die from AIDS.
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Dr. Tom Coburn, the former Oklahoma congressman
and medical doctor who had called for the HHS to evaluate
condom effectiveness said, “This report finally exposes the
‘safe’ sex myth for the lie that it is. Who can ever know the
true toll in human lives and health care costs that have
resulted from the misinformation that has been propagated
by the CDC, Planned Parenthood and the rest of the
‘safe’ sex lobby?”
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Condoms were originally intended to prevent pregnancy.
With the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases, the
purpose of condoms was expanded and the message was
conveyed that they were also an effective means for protection
from disease. Over time, they have become the primary
tool to prevent sexual disease transmission.
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“When federal findings reveal that the studies are
‘inconclusive’ as to the effectiveness of condoms in preventing
disease it is mandatory that we do not continue to
prescribe a form of prevention which has not proved its
efficiency,” says Richard A. Watson, M.D., NJPRC cochairman.
“To do so would be unethical. We must take an
honest look at the health data and respond appropriately.
The studies that were evaluated in the CDC report contain
no new information. In no other area of medicine do we
promote risk-reduction techniques as the primary message
over and above risk elimination. Condom use has
been taught with the assumption that it would be a successful
tool to help preserve sexual health. Instead, we
have found ourselves in the midst of a sexually transmitted
disease epidemic. When we look at our primary
source of defense we can see that its failure could have
been predicted.”
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The New Jersey Physicians Resource Council is
mounting a campaign to promote an accurate health message
regarding teen sexual activity — one that presents a
health model that will completely protect against STDs.
They plan to meet with representatives of governmental,
educational, health care and nonprofit entities to emphasize
this message and to gain cooperation in the effort to
protect the health of New Jersey teens.
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The NJPRC will encourage public and private institutions
that interact with teens to:
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promote abstinence as the primary public health
message;
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categorize teen sexual activity as a risk-taking
behavior;
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alert the public that cervical cancer is a sexually
transmitted disease caused by human papillomavirus; and
n provide full disclosure of condom failure.
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For more information about the risks of teen sexual
activity, please contact the New Jersey Physicians
Resource Council at 800-653-7204.
Endnotes
1The review panel was comprised of the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) and non-governmental consultants.
2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report on condom effectiveness
released July 20, 2001, Executive Summary, p. 2. HIV transmission
rate, p. 14.
3 Walboomer, J.M., et al., “Human Papillomavirus Is a Necessary Cause of
Invasive Cervical Cancer Worldwide,” Journal of Pathology, September
“In no other area of medicine do we promote
risk-reduction techniques as the primary message
over and above risk elimination.”
– RICHARD A. WATSON, M.D., CO-CHAIRMAN, NEW JERSEY PHYSICIANS RESOURCE COUNCIL
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