[toufka]

Just to clarify some science. The link between HPV and cancer is direct, strong and without dispute. It's one of the rare cases where we can pinpoint exactly how a disease/cancer works.

HPV wants its own DNA to be replicated properly - but a particular protein (P53) in humans impairs the virus' ability to replicate. So the virus has evolved the ability to shut down that human protein. The problem is that P53 also serves another role in humans other than helping to stop viruses - it is a DNA repair protein. So the virus, by shutting down the ability of the cell's ability to repair its own DNA it becomes much more susceptible to DNA-damaging events like smoking, UV light and old age generally.

There are a handful of proteins responsible for keeping your cells from becoming cancerous. P53 is the name of one of these control proteins. HPV has evolved to actively destroy P53. So once a person is infected with HPV, their own P53 proteins are compromised and can no longer repair their DNA as efficiently as someone who is not infected with HPV.

The HPV vaccine is one of the very clearest lines of causality from atomic resolution biology through public policy. It's an amazing feat of society.