Comment from: Elizabeth (Aust) | 12/11/2011 6:33:56 PM

One way to help these women is to immediately change our harmful and excessive pap testing program, always excessive, but now more than a decade behind the evidence. You can hardly say you understand how difficult this testing is when you're happy to seriously over-screen women which leads straight to sky high rates of over-detection (false positives) and potentially harmful over-treatment. Take a look at other countries who make some effort to contain the harm to the more than 99% of women who can never benefit - this cancer is rare, always was and was in natural decline before testing began...no woman needs a ridiculous 26 or more pap tests. It's harmful... Our lifetime risk of referral - a whopping 77% to cover a cancer with a lifetime risk of 0.65%...and after you take out false negatives, fewer than 0.45 could possibly be helped...there are far better ways of dealing with this rare cancer. Other countries like the Netherlands and Finland offer 5 to 7 pap test programs and have self-test kits and now a self-test HPV kit - the pap test program is 5 yearly from 30 to 50/60 - and the Finns have the lowest rates of cc in the world and send the fewest women for biopsies. (fewer false positives) The Dutch have the same program, but are about to move to 5 hrHPV PRIMARY HPV triage tests offered at age 30, 35, 40, 50 and 60 and only those positive will be offered a 5 yearly pap test (not before age 30 and only up to 7 in total) - those negative and monogamous or no longer sexually active might choose to stop all testing and revisit the subject if their risk profile changes. If negative and active with more than one partner or for women who'd like continued reassurance - they can follow the 5 hrHPV schedule and the self-sample HPV test is already in use in the Netherlands - the Delphi Screener. These options are closed off to Aussie women - we're offered a harmful and excessive program that leads to massive over-treatment. So, to suggest those who control this screening actually care about women is a cruel joke - our program maximizes harm and worry for NO additional benefit - of course, over-screening and over-treatment is highly lucrative for doctors, labs, pathologists, specialists etc It is disgraceful that self-interest keeps this harmful program in place. It's time for Aussie women to walk away from this program and protect themselves from harm - our doctors have deserted us - all silent and collecting target payments for knowingly over-screening their patients and risking their health. If you want to test, demand a reduced schedule and self-test options. (if you prefer) Without some pressure, the groups that benefit from this excessive program will pocket the profits and harm women for as long as they can get away with it. I've always rejected our program - look to the Finns, Dutch, the UK and the Nordic Cochrane Institute for balanced and complete information. In my opinion, Papscreen is a political group there to protect the over-screening program, not women. Women under 30 don't benefit from pap testing, but produce the most false positives - testing does not change the tiny death rate in young women. Our doctors know all of this, but they simply don't care... You'll find the facts at Dr Joel Sherman's medical privacy forum under women's privacy issues - see research by Dr Raffle. Be VERY careful with any "information" or "statistics" provided by screening authorities or those with a vested or political interest. We have a legal right to make informed decisions about ELECTIVE cancer screening, but for some outrageous reason these programs have always provided biased and incomplete information and virtually demanded we test, counting us like sheep to achieve their screening target, using scare campaigns and other unethical tactics, with no regard for our legal rights or individual risk profiles. Men are not treated in this way...time to change an unethical and paternalistic program controlled by and for the benefit of self-interested groups. Don't allow these people to over-screen and harm you! Screening is your decision - get to the facts and make up your own mind...