The link between oral sex and mouth cancer is to be tackled by the BBC in an hour-long film presented by the actress Jaime Winstone.
The investigation tackles the link between oral sex and rising numbers of mouth and throat cancer cases among young Britons – described this weekend as ‘an emerging epidemic’ by an expert.
Rates of oral cancers have gone up by 50% in men since 1989 and are rising by 3% a year in women, even as smoking, once thought to be the major cause, declines. Oral cancers now kill 1,800 people a year.
Vaccination of schoolgirls against HPV should ultimately reduce the level of infection, she added, but condom use is already proven to lessen the risk.
Is Oral Sex Safe? is on BBC3.
For more information about mouth cancer, visit www.mouthcancerfoundation.org.
