Changes to cervical cancer screening can increase the risks, incidences and deaths

January is cervical cancer awareness month, to raise awareness and funding for cervical cancer charities and research (WHO, 2024).
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There have been a number of major changes to screening for cervical cancer in recent years which will make you wonder why they were made as they actually increase the risks of cervical cancer, and will make you wonder why anyone would give any donations or support to so-called cancer charities.

The issues I have with the various changes to cervical cancer are listed below:

Change to Pap smears being replaced with CST testing:
In 2017, the Qld Cancer Council announced that the National Cervical Screening Program of pap smears for women every 2 years was replaced by the new Cervical Screening Test (CST) (Cancer Council, 2017). In recent times since 2022, women can still get the CST test done via their GP or also now from a home testing kit. This article will explain why the CST test isn’t as good as the pap smear tests, and why the home test kit is next to useless and can actually be very dangerous for women.

The previous pap smear tests checked for abnormal cervical cells by a trained pathologist. But the CST will only check for the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), which is just one alleged cause of cervical cancer. The HPV testing in the CST is only done via computer. And the CST will only be required every 5 years instead of 2 years for the pap smear test.

The CST will still require the same uncomfortable procedure to obtain cervical cells as the pap smear, just less frequently. Only if the HPV virus is found will someone actually visually check your pap smear for abnormal cells.

The issues here are several:
- The CST test is only looking for ONE possible causative factor of cervical cancer, being the HPV
- The CST ignores all other possible causes of cervical cancer, so if you don’t have HPV, the cervical cancer will not get picked up until it becomes much more developed and serious and presents with serious symptoms.
 
Increased duration for recommended testing:
The less frequent testing (being a money saving measure, in my opinion), from every 2 years for a pap smear to 5 years now, is a major concern that will increase the risks of increased development and progression of cervical cancer.

I’ve had female patients who have gone from a negative test to CIN 2 or 3 cervical cancer within the 2-year repeated tests. But now it’s a 5 year duration in retesting...

If you are female and have a family history of female hormone or sex organ related cancers, or who have had cervical cancer in the past, you can and should retest much more regularly than 5 years apart. Even if there is no family history of cervical cancer but for ongoing health and prevention, you can and should test more frequently than these organisations say.
 
Home testing for cervical cancer:
Since 2022 the at-home testing kits for cervical cancer have been available (Cancer Council, 2024), but as you can see from the infographic of this article, the swab doesn’t even get close to the cervix for obtaining any worthwhile cervical cells (or cancer cells) to actually test. It’s just a vaginal test and not a cervical cancer test. It’s next to useless. Or worse, it can be very dangerous (and even deadly) if a woman actually has unknown cervical cancer, and tests her vaginal cells instead of the cervix, and the cancer remains unknown after the at-home test kit. Then because of the cost-cutting measures of the Cancer Council and government health budgets, the woman waits another 5 years to test again – so the cervical cancer can develop and progress much further and become far more serious, or deadly.

Women should continue to see their GP or Gynaecologist for a proper and accurately taken cervical swab, as well as other testing I suggest here.
 
No other testing recommended for cervical cancer:
Having the HPV virus and testing positive for this in the CST test, isn’t the only cause or factor for the development and progression of cervical cancer.

Research suggests that an HPV infection alone is NOT sufficient to cause cervical cancer! (Spurgeon et. Al., 2017). Cervical cancer, and other reproductive cancers in women, are related to female hormones and often an imbalance between the hormones oestrogen and progesterone. The same research also suggests that an immune system dysfunction and chronic inflammation are also equal causative factors in the development and progression of cervical cancer. This study says these other factors are mandatory for the development of cervical cancer. So pap smears or the new CST are simply not good enough screening tests for this type of cancer.

As a better preventative for cervical cancer, or other female cancers, or in fact ANY cancer, you can (and SHOULD) get your immune system function checked, inflammation levels tested, and female hormone levels tested regularly for a much better picture for the prevention of ALL female reproductive cancers, and for your overall health.
 
Summary:
I believe all of these changes to cervical cancer screening will in fact put more women at risk of cervical cancer, and developing more severe cancer due to less frequent testing, and will likely kill far more women as a result. More regular, more accurate, and more holistic testing is needed for the prevention of cervical cancer.

More women need to be informed of these changes to cervical cancer screening and the likely increased risks to cervical cancer. The more women are aware of these issues, and that additional testing is needed too, the less cervical cancer we may see due to prevention, or at least to catch it earlier. Please share this information to your female friends and groups to let them know!

Stay healthy!
 
References:
Cancer Council. (2024). Self collection and the cervical screening test. Retrieved 12th November 2024 from https://www.cancer.org.au/cervicalscreening/i-am-over-25/do-i-need-the-test/self-collection-and-the-cervical-screening-test

Spurgeon, M.E, den Boon , J.A., Mark Horswill, M., Barthakur, S., Forouzan, O., Rader, J.S., Beebe, D.J., Roopra, A., Ahlquist, P., & Lambert, P.F. (2017). Human papillomavirus oncogenes reprogram the cervical cancer microenvironment independently of and synergistically with estrogen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114 (43):E9076-E9085. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1712018114.
 
WHO. (2024). Retrieved 13th January 2026 from https://www.emro.who.int/noncommunicable-diseases/campaigns/cervical-cancer-awareness-month-2024.html