Sex ed curriculum inadequate and should be withdrawn, doctor says

As a medical doctor and psychiatrist, I am struck by the lack of accurate information in the province of Ontario's new sexual education curriculum.

Ethical practice of medicine requires that risks and benefits be communicated. I believe the same should be true for talking to our teens about sex.

1. Our teens have a right to know the truth about sexually transmitted infections:

the human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical, anal and esophageal cancer;

our HPV vaccine only protects against four types of the virus (30 per cent of cancers are not protected against);

you can contract HPV at your first experience of intercourse while using a condom;

anal intercourse carries the greatest risk of sexually transmitted infections;

silent chlamydia infection can cause infertility.

The curriculum is silent on all this.

The curriculum is misleading about HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus), saying "with treatment, the damage that HIV does to the body's immune system can be slowed or prevented," and that with early treatment, people with HIV "have the opportunity to live a near-to-normal lifespan."  (more...)

Sex ed curriculum inadequate and should be withdrawn, doctor says

H/T to Parents As First Educators