Group pushes to wipe out cervical cancer

Physicians say numbers can certainly go lower, particularly if the vaccine is introduced, but doubt disease can be eliminated completely.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Feb. 21, 2005.

Myer Bornstein, MD, a gynecologist in Taunton, Mass., doesn't diagnose cervical cancer very often these days. When he does, it means one thing: The patient is one of the few women in the state who hasn't had recent screening.

"The only ones we see who have cervical cancer are those who don't come and get Pap smears," said Dr. Bornstein.

With the widespread use of Pap tests and, more recently, the introduction of tests for the presence of human papillomavirus, rates of cervical cancer have plummeted from 7.7 per 100,000 women in 1969 to 2.7 per 100,000 in 2001, according to data from the National Cancer Institute.

A women's group now says these numbers may represent significant progress, but it's not enough.

Women in Government, a bipartisan Washington, D.C. -based organization of women in state government, is challenging every state to take action to bring cervical cancer rates down to zero.

The group launched this campaign last month with the first in a planned series of annual reports. "A Call to Action: The 'State' of Cervical Cancer in America," ranks each state in efforts against the disease.

"This is the first cancer that we have the opportunity to truly eliminate," said Susan Crosby, the group's acting executive director and president. "We know what causes it. We know what can be done to prevent it."

Dr. Bornstein's home state of Massachusetts topped the organization's list because of legislation mandating coverage for Pap smears from both private and public payers. More than 86% of the state's women have been screened within the past three years. The state also has a cervical cancer commission and leads the way in using cancer prevalence data to track prevention efforts.