A University of Minnesota survey shows less than half (48 percent) of parents who share this view support the use of the vaccine. Overall, however, 87 percent of Minnesotans surveyed support the vaccine use. The survey findings were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The vaccine to immunize young women against the human papillomavirus, a sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, has not received the warm welcome public health advocates had hoped for.

Results of the FDA pivotal clinical trial for the LightTouch Non-invasive Cervical Cancer Detection Device conducted by Guided Therapeutics, Inc. (GT), indicated that the current system for diagnosing cervical disease missed the same amount of disease as a landmark study carried out by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In the new LightTouch study, 32% of cervical precancers and cancers were missed by the current method of human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and colposcopy.

According to the Wichita Eagle, the operating funds of the Kansas Early Detection Works program, which provides uninsured low-income women in the state with breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings at no cost, have depleted, resulting in a delay of almost all cancer screenings until July 1. The program officials have, however, reserved some funding for women who display symptoms of breast or cervical cancer. Apart from receiving about $2.3 million per annum from CDC, the program receives some funding from the state and the Mid-Kansas affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.