A.Rahman
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 4,727
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
Cervical cancer is one of the commonest cancers affecting women in the western world, in third place following cancers of the breast and lung. In the UK, 3000 new cases are diagnosed each year and there are 1500 deaths. Scientists concur that the overwhelming majority of cases are due to subtypes of the human papilloma virus (HPV).
Cervical infections with HPV are almost exclusively sexually transmitted and are extremely common. It usually has no symptoms and clears by itself. However, if it remains around the cervix it causes changes in the cells that can eventually lead to cancer.
Due to the screening programmes that have been introduced in much of Europe, the rate of detection of cancer or precancerous cells has increased and the number of deaths has decreased. Unfortunately, it is still a major killer of young women.
It has long been believed that a vaccine against HPV could be produced which would prevent infection with HPV and that this could massively reduce the rates of cervical cancer. Two pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Co and Sanofi Pasteur, have completed the clinical trials on a working vaccine called Gardisal. Research has shown that this vaccine is most effective when given to girls before they become sexually active.
The vaccine is now set to be administered to girls at the age of nine throughout the UK. It has been strongly resisted in other countries, most notably the US, as being a ââ¬Ågreen-lightââ¬Â for girls to engage in under-age sex.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said ââ¬ÅOur concern would be that this vaccine is seen as giving the green light to promiscuity on the grounds that the vaccine protects young people from developing the virus that is the main cause of cervical cancer.ââ¬Â
Currently every woman in the UK has a cervical smear test every three years to screen for signs of cervical cancer. If the vaccine was successful, it could obviate the need for screening by almost wiping out this common form of cancer. This would, in the long run, save many lives and of course be much cheaper for the department of health.
Are these moral objections to its administration reasonable? Are the danger of HPV infection, and the development of cervical cancer, currently holding back the floodgates of promiscuity and under-age sex?
Most nine year old girls will not have heard of HPV, or understand the threat of cervical cancer. When wondering whether to embark on a life of promiscuity, they are more likely to consider the dangers of pregnancy or HIV than cervical cancer. Neither of these will be prevented by this vaccine. In all likelihood, the administration of this vaccine will have no effect on the rates of under-age sexual activity that has been steadily increasing unabated in the Western world over the last 50 years.
However, the vaccine will probably save the lives of thousands of women.
The Catholic Church and US congressmen opposing this vaccine are using it as a proxy for an entirely different problem. Like Muslims, they do not believe in sex before marriage.
Under-age sex and promiscuity are common due to the ideas prevalent within society, not due to vaccines or diseases. The prevalent ideas common in the Western world are that sex requires ââ¬Åconsentââ¬Â, but not marriage, that the reason for sex is pleasure and that the purpose of life is to be happy which is achieved for most through self-gratification. These ideas are supported by a media completely obsessed with sex and what it can sell.
These ideas, prevalent within western societies drive forward the engine of promiscuity and what that leads to. These ideas are found in all secular capitalist democracies as they are inextricably linked to notions of freedom and secularism.
Islam does not hold these values. In Islam, the purpose of life is tranquillity through the worship of one creator, Allah (swt) by performing what He (swt) has commanded and avoiding what He (swt) has forbidden. By doing this, human beings find their place in the ordered universe that Allah (swt) has created and by fulfilling their true purpose in life, tranquillity is achieved.
Therefore, in Islamic societies, children do not grow up with the ideas that lead them to seek under-age sex or promiscuity. Some will reject the prevailing ideas, as in any society, but most will be affected by them.
What Allah out of his mercy doth bestow on mankind there is none can withhold: what He doth withhold, there is none can grant, apart from Him: and He is the Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom. (Surat al Fatir 35:2)
Cervical cancer is not the only cancer related to lifestyle choices. Accepted risk factors for breast cancer are long periods on the oral contraceptive pill, having few children, not having children young and not breast feeding, all lifestyle choices becoming dominant in the Western world. Smoking causes lung cancer; alcohol and hepatitis B (transmitted by sexual intercourse or intravenous drug use) cause liver cancer and high salt diets are believed to cause stomach cancers. There are many lifestyle choices that either cause or increase the risk of different cancers. Some will be affected by the ideology prevalent within the society and some have no ideological link at all.
Islam is a message to all of humanity and is a mercy for mankind. If promiscuity is plaguing Western societies due to the values those secular societies hold, are the children and teenagers to blame? If they engage in such activities should they be punished by disease and death?
The causes of promiscuity are the values dominant within Western societies. Those who wish to change behaviour will find the ideas within Islam that can change those behaviours. The only immorality in the HPV vaccine would be to prevent it from being given when it could save lives. If the ideas within society were to change then, perhaps the vaccine could be curtailed.
O mankind! there hath come to you a direction from your Lord and a healing for the (diseases) in your hearts,- and for those who believe, a guidance and a mercy. (Surat an-Nasr 10:57).
Cervical infections with HPV are almost exclusively sexually transmitted and are extremely common. It usually has no symptoms and clears by itself. However, if it remains around the cervix it causes changes in the cells that can eventually lead to cancer.
Due to the screening programmes that have been introduced in much of Europe, the rate of detection of cancer or precancerous cells has increased and the number of deaths has decreased. Unfortunately, it is still a major killer of young women.
It has long been believed that a vaccine against HPV could be produced which would prevent infection with HPV and that this could massively reduce the rates of cervical cancer. Two pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Co and Sanofi Pasteur, have completed the clinical trials on a working vaccine called Gardisal. Research has shown that this vaccine is most effective when given to girls before they become sexually active.
The vaccine is now set to be administered to girls at the age of nine throughout the UK. It has been strongly resisted in other countries, most notably the US, as being a ââ¬Ågreen-lightââ¬Â for girls to engage in under-age sex.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said ââ¬ÅOur concern would be that this vaccine is seen as giving the green light to promiscuity on the grounds that the vaccine protects young people from developing the virus that is the main cause of cervical cancer.ââ¬Â
Currently every woman in the UK has a cervical smear test every three years to screen for signs of cervical cancer. If the vaccine was successful, it could obviate the need for screening by almost wiping out this common form of cancer. This would, in the long run, save many lives and of course be much cheaper for the department of health.
Are these moral objections to its administration reasonable? Are the danger of HPV infection, and the development of cervical cancer, currently holding back the floodgates of promiscuity and under-age sex?
Most nine year old girls will not have heard of HPV, or understand the threat of cervical cancer. When wondering whether to embark on a life of promiscuity, they are more likely to consider the dangers of pregnancy or HIV than cervical cancer. Neither of these will be prevented by this vaccine. In all likelihood, the administration of this vaccine will have no effect on the rates of under-age sexual activity that has been steadily increasing unabated in the Western world over the last 50 years.
However, the vaccine will probably save the lives of thousands of women.
The Catholic Church and US congressmen opposing this vaccine are using it as a proxy for an entirely different problem. Like Muslims, they do not believe in sex before marriage.
Under-age sex and promiscuity are common due to the ideas prevalent within society, not due to vaccines or diseases. The prevalent ideas common in the Western world are that sex requires ââ¬Åconsentââ¬Â, but not marriage, that the reason for sex is pleasure and that the purpose of life is to be happy which is achieved for most through self-gratification. These ideas are supported by a media completely obsessed with sex and what it can sell.
These ideas, prevalent within western societies drive forward the engine of promiscuity and what that leads to. These ideas are found in all secular capitalist democracies as they are inextricably linked to notions of freedom and secularism.
Islam does not hold these values. In Islam, the purpose of life is tranquillity through the worship of one creator, Allah (swt) by performing what He (swt) has commanded and avoiding what He (swt) has forbidden. By doing this, human beings find their place in the ordered universe that Allah (swt) has created and by fulfilling their true purpose in life, tranquillity is achieved.
Therefore, in Islamic societies, children do not grow up with the ideas that lead them to seek under-age sex or promiscuity. Some will reject the prevailing ideas, as in any society, but most will be affected by them.
What Allah out of his mercy doth bestow on mankind there is none can withhold: what He doth withhold, there is none can grant, apart from Him: and He is the Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom. (Surat al Fatir 35:2)
Cervical cancer is not the only cancer related to lifestyle choices. Accepted risk factors for breast cancer are long periods on the oral contraceptive pill, having few children, not having children young and not breast feeding, all lifestyle choices becoming dominant in the Western world. Smoking causes lung cancer; alcohol and hepatitis B (transmitted by sexual intercourse or intravenous drug use) cause liver cancer and high salt diets are believed to cause stomach cancers. There are many lifestyle choices that either cause or increase the risk of different cancers. Some will be affected by the ideology prevalent within the society and some have no ideological link at all.
Islam is a message to all of humanity and is a mercy for mankind. If promiscuity is plaguing Western societies due to the values those secular societies hold, are the children and teenagers to blame? If they engage in such activities should they be punished by disease and death?
The causes of promiscuity are the values dominant within Western societies. Those who wish to change behaviour will find the ideas within Islam that can change those behaviours. The only immorality in the HPV vaccine would be to prevent it from being given when it could save lives. If the ideas within society were to change then, perhaps the vaccine could be curtailed.
O mankind! there hath come to you a direction from your Lord and a healing for the (diseases) in your hearts,- and for those who believe, a guidance and a mercy. (Surat an-Nasr 10:57).
