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Approximately 3,670 women in the U.S. will die from cervical cancer by the end of this year, according to the American Cancer Society. PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, reports that the second most common cancer in women across the globe is cervical cancer, which is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are more than 100 different types of viruses under the umbrella of HPV, all of them without a cure, and about one-third of those types cause cervical cancer.

These startling statistics should prompt us to proactive measures to not simply seek early detection of cervical cancer but to prevent it whenever possible. Regular Pap tests can detect abnormalities in the cervix before cancer develops and can detect most cervical cancers at an early stage, but the CDC admits that regular Pap tests and follow-up cannot prevent or detect all types of cervical cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends the vaccine Gardasil for not only the prevention of cervical center but also for abnormal and precancerous cervical lesions, abnormal and precancerous vaginal and vulvar lesions and genital warts. "The vaccine is effective against HPV types 16 and 18 which cause approximately 70% of cervical cancers, and against HPV types 6 and 11 which cause approximately 90% of genital warts," according to the FDA. Despite the effectiveness of Gardasil for these HPV types, it does not protect against certain other types of HPV which can cause cancer, and no vaccines are 100% effective. Therefore, the FDA recommends regular Pap tests in addition to Gardasil.

Some opponents to the vaccine are aghast at the FDA's approval of administering it to girls as young as nine years of age. This does not appear to be an admission by the FDA that the average nine-year old girl in the United States is engaged in sexual activity, but the FDA seems to be stating simply that the vaccine is safe enough to be given to girls at that young age and why not protect them as soon as possible.

The best prevention, of course, would be abstinence from all sexual activity, and some opponents to Gardasil have suggested that this is the primary issue at hand-the proper teaching of abstinence, or, rather, the lack thereof. While I agree with the fact that abstinence is the best preventative medicine, it is unrealistic to assume or even hope that all of our daughters

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