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I REFER to the article, 'Drug firms told to stop running 'educational' adverts' (May 5). The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) felt the advertisement by GlaxoSmithKline on cervical cancer played on emotions and used fear as a tactic, while not providing information on the symptoms of cervical cancer, other risk factors and the importance of pap smears. It also criticised drug companies for being too creative and not providing enough factual content. I would like to know how the HSA, in evaluating individual advertisements, arrives at these conclusions. Is this a formal process performed by a qualified team, or is it left to subjective evaluation by a few individuals?
A large part of my work is in the area of cervical cancer prevention and, in the course of my work, I see thousands of women every year who need to be investigated or have treatment to prevent cervical cancer. The vast majority do not know the disease is caused by a virus, and that is the most important fact that needs to be conveyed to them. All other interventions or prevention strategies stem from this fact.
The information in the GlaxoSmithKline ad was factually accurate and there was no suggestion of 'thin veiling' to sell any product. Because the relationship between the virus infection and cervical cancer is complex, it is not possible to explain all this in a simple print advertisement.
Cervical cancer has no symptoms in the early, detectable stages, so there is little to be gained from educating the public about them.
Similarly, with risk factors, the HSA suggested women should be told that having sex with a partner infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) puts them at risk of cervical cancer. The fact is, this virus is extremely common in both men and women who are sexually active, and in the vast majority of cases, the virus will be cleared from the body spontaneously without any problems. It is therefore not possible to know whether your partner is infected with HPV or not.
With safe and effective vaccines against the most common types of HPV that cause cancer, we can drastically reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. This is not a replacement for other screening tests like the pap smear but should be added to existing prevention strategies.
The statistic that one case of cervical cancer is diagnosed every two days or so in Singapore is a tragedy because this is a cancer that can be almost completely prevented. If it takes a little creativity and a small dose of 'scare tactics' to achieve that goal, the end justifies the means.
Dr Quek Swee Chong
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