Hidden Health Risk For Women No. 3

If you’re in the habit of popping a Tylenol or two in your mouth every time you have a headache, a hangover or some muscle pain, you need to be more careful.

According to a report in Harvard Women’s Health Watch, “Each year, overdoses of acetaminophen (sold as Tylenol and other brands) account for more than 56,000 emergency room visits and an estimated 458 deaths from acute liver failure.”

The publication acknowledges that the drug is not harmful when the proper directions are followed. However, experts also warn acetaminophen users to be careful about combining the drug with other over-the-counter or prescription drugs. They also say that it should never be taken with alcohol, or when alcohol is still in the bloodstream, like when you have a hangover.

Interestingly, there is something even more common that you likely ingest every day that could be a major hidden health risk.

Planned Parenthood takes advantage of women, taxpayers

The president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic bemoans the current bills of U.S. reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind.; Christopher Smith, R-N.J.; and Joe Pitts, R-Pa., stating that they undermine women’s health and access to health care.

What is blatantly missing from this opinion piece is that nationally, Planned Parenthood receives $350 million annually from various federal, state and local taxes and made a profit of $21,773,569 in 2009. As a matter of fact, the writer receives more than $300,000 annually in salary and personal benefits for her role at PPHP. While playing on our emotions by attempting to make it seem these bills care little about women, she fails to mention the lack of concern by Planned Parenthood itself for minor girls, as evidenced by the recent release of a number of undercover videos by a group called “Live Action.” These videos show seven Planned Parenthood facilities throughout the country, including one in New York, protecting child sex trafficking. An earlier video also shows Planned Parenthood protecting purported child rapists who impregnated underage girls.

Americans are finally learning the truth about Planned Parenthood instead of believing what they say. Actions speak louder than words. Planned Parenthood has:

• Opposed laws that would give parents the right to know if a minor daughter (even as young as 12 years of age) is about to undergo a potentially dangerous abortion “procedure.”

• Opposed laws that would require abortion facilities to give pertinent information to women before they consent to an abortion.

• Terminated more than 325,000 pregnancies in the first and second trimester last year alone (while the national abortion rate has steadily declined, the rate of abortions at Planned Parenthood facilities has rapidly increased) and supports unrestricted abortion throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy.

• Gives lip service to sexual abstinence for teens while promoting a philosophy in its teen resources that any consensual sexual activity is valid for teens. While Planned Parenthood tries to promote itself primarily as a health agency, it is actually promoting an extremely radical, left-wing ideological shift in traditional American values in regard to family, the value of human life and sexuality.

Planned Parenthood would like us to believe reps. Pitts, Smith and Pence have no regard for women and are determined to cut off health care to those who cannot afford it, as if Planned Parenthood was a savior for women. Strange coming from an organization that remains silent when women are hurt or even die from what it continues to call “safe, legal” abortions.

I hear no outrage in this Community View over the events in the undercover videos, a failure to immediately report illegal activity involving minor girls, or the fact Planned Parenthood gave instructions on how to beat the system and even advice as to what sexual acts the minors could continue to perform the two weeks following abortion when they are unable to have intercourse.

Planned Parenthood plays on our sympathies. The writer calls to mind the poor rural women for whom, she says, Planned Parenthood is their only source of health care. But she obviously has no sympathy for women who are hurt as a result of abortion or for girls who are returned to their abusers because of a failure to report the sexual abuse of minors to authorities.

Reps. Pitts, Pence and Smith care for women enough to expose the deceit and lies of Planned Parenthood. They are heroes to many women who have experienced the harm of abortion and to children whose abusers are protected instead of them, and they know most Americans do not want their tax dollars paying for abortion. As the group’s actions continue to be exposed, I have no doubt more Americans want to stop funding them. That is the real motivation for the calls to defeat these bills. During a time of out-of-control and questionable governmental spending, frightening deficits and burdensome tax increases, the last thing Americans want to see is having their hard-earned tax dollars funneled to a dubious organization such as Planned Parenthood. The attempt of congressional members to defund Planned Parenthood does absolutely nothing to restrict abortion. It simply puts the group on an even playing field with all other nonprofits.

HOUSE CALL: Yearly exam important in detecting cancer

SAN ANGELO, Texas — According to the American Cancer Society, in 2010 the United States reported 12,200 new cases of cervical cancer and just over 4,200 deaths related to this disease.

These numbers have decreased more than 50 percent over the last 30 years, due in large part to the availability of cervical cancer screening tests, also known as the Pap smear. The methods of cervical cancer screening have progressed significantly over the last few years, with advances in Pap smear testing and the addition of HPV DNA tests. Screening and treatment guidelines have changed as well.

Routine Pap smear and/or HPV DNA testing can greatly decrease a woman’s risk for developing cervical cancer. It is important for all women to know these screening guidelines, risks for developing cervical cancer as well as ways to protect themselves from this preventable disease.

Cervical cancer is linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is found in sexually active women. The risk of transmission of HPV is directly related to the number of sexual partners that a woman has in her lifetime. A woman having only one sexual partner can still be at risk for cervical cancer, depending on her partner’s past sexual activities. There are multiple strains of HPV, and a persistent infection with specific high risk strains of this virus is crucial to the progression to cervical cancer.

While all sexually active women are at risk for contracting HPV, not all infections will lead to cervical cancer. It is estimated more than 50 percent of all young sexually active women are infected with HPV at any given time. The body’s immune response plays an active role in clearing the virus from the cervix, and most women will clear the HPV infection within two years. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing cervical cancer.

There are now two available immunizations that help build the immune system against the more common types of HPV. One immunization, Gardasil, is recommended for all males and females ages nine through twenty-six, preferably before the onset of sexual activity, although everyone should consider the immunization series regardless of past sexual activity.

New cervical cancer screening guidelines recommend that Pap smear testing begin at age 21, with HPV DNA testing, with or without Pap smear, beginning at age 30, as endorsed by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG). Frequency of testing depends on age, sexual activity, health status, and previous pap testing results. Even though pap testing is not recommended until the age of 21, all sexually active women should be seen by a health care provider to talk about the risks of sexually transmitted infections, contraception and other gynecologic issues. Treatment guidelines for abnormal Pap smear testing have changed, as well, and depend on age, sexual activity, health status and previous pap testing results. These guidelines can be discussed with any health care provider that offers gynecologic exams.

While the number of cervical cancer cases has greatly decreased over the last several years, there are still too many preventable deaths associated with this disease. Women need to take control of their gynecologic health and find out how to prevent developing cervical cancer. All women should talk to their gynecologic health care provider to discuss risks and the current guidelines regarding cervical cancer testing.