Tampon cancer test confusing

A tampon-based test which allows women to self-check for very early signs of cervical cancer will only confuse and stress those who use it, specialists say.

The Tam Pap company has been advertising a DNA test in which women use a tampon as a swab to check for the human papillomavirus (HPV) which causes most types of cervical cancer.
The tampon is then posted to a pathology company for testing.

The launch of the $50 product has been delayed in Australia while the Therapeutic Goods Administration investigates regulatory issues with the test.

Disease specialists have voiced their opposition.

They argue that testing for HPV will unnecessarily stress and alarm women. This is because the virus is extremely common - with one in four young women carrying it - but in 95 per cent of cases it clears up naturally.

"So we'll have all these women testing positively for a so-called cervical cancer causing virus and extremely worried they've got the disease," said gynaecological oncologist Dr Gerry Wain, from Sydney's Westmead Hospital and the NSW Cervical Screening Program.

"In reality they are extremely unlikely to have any problems at all."

According to the company website, the test is not designed to replace standard pap smears which test for the abnormal cells that indicate longer-term and more serious HPV infection.

The federal government does not recommend screening for HPV alone to detect cervical cancer and Professor Ian Frazer, whose research was used to develop the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, has described Tam Pap as "not clinically useful".

Family Planning Australian research director Dr Edith Weisberg said she was "appalled" at the prospect women could soon be relying on such a test.

But the Tam Pap website states that the test, "Australia's first painless and accurate self collection method", must not be viewed as a replacement for regular smear tests.

Director Nick Diamond has said Tam Pap is "just another weapon" in the fight against cervical cancer.