Reefer Madness: Oral sex and marijuana use linked to throat cancer
Oral sex, marijuana use linked to throat cancer - Examiner.com
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - The sexually transmitted virus that causes some cervical cancers can also cause cancer in the upper throat, researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report.The human papilloma virus, more commonly known as HPV, is linked to throat cancers most often in younger, married college graduates, according to the study published in the March 12 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The connection grows stronger with larger numbers of oral sex partners and increasing marijuana use.
Other head and neck cancers are more often associated with smoking tobacco, alcohol use and poor oral hygiene, suggesting they may be a separate disease, said Dr. Maura L. Gillison, associate professor of oncology and epidemiology at Hopkins and lead researcher on the study.
More research will need to be done to clarify the relationship to marijuana use, she said.“It’s possible that other behaviors linked with marijuana use could be the real culprit, and our results will need to be confirmed,” she said. Chemicals in marijuana called cannabinoids could affect the immune system’s ability to fight a virus.
We’ll cover this study with Dr. Earleywine, but it seems to me that this is a warning to those people who have genital warts and perform a lot of oral sex while smoking a bong… and what exactly is the goal here, to get people to give up oral sex and marijuana? Good luck with that one…
