Boys are having more oral sex and it’s increasing their risk of throat cancer

Scientists are calling for boys to be given the HPV vaccine to prevent them from throat cancer later in life. The risk of these cancers in young British men is rising exponentially, largely thanks to more and more couples having oral sex.

Professor Mark Lawler, a scientist at Queens University Belfast, says: “If we want to eradicate male throat cancers – which are soaring in numbers – we need to act speedily and that means giving them the HPV vaccine we now give to girls.”

The main cause for the increased risk, says Peter Baker, the campaign director for HPV action, is going down on girls. “Smoking and alcohol add to risks”, he explained “But the fact that couples are having more and more oral sex is the main factor.”

Currently girls are immunised against HPV at 12 or 13 years old, before they become sexually active, to protect them from developing cervical cancer later in life. But researchers say the vaccine should now be extended to boys to protect them from head and neck cancers – as rates of tonsil cancers and cancers at the base of the tongue, both caused by HPV, have risen dramatically. Tonsil cancers alone have tripled in numbers since the 1990s.

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