"Nearly every country in the world has a Coke or Pepsi bottling operation."

Procedure May Save Women In Third World From Cancer
By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR.
Published: March 25, 2003
The New York Times

     Sometimes biotechnology does not involve tons of expensive equipment or radical, involved procedures. Sometimes all it takes is ingenuity in putting readily available materials to work, as I wrote about in my post about O.H.I. (11/11/07). This article, published in the New York Times on March 25, 2003, highlights another case that showcases the ability to provide extremely inexpensive treatments for huge problems plaguing developing countries.

     Cervical cancer affects 470,000 new women every year in poor countries such as Africa, South America, and Asia. 225,000 of these women die from it every year. It used to be the leading cancer killing American women, but with the development of the Pap smear, it has been demoted to the seventh cancer killer. Unfortunately, once again, this life-saving technology available to people in developed countries is simply not available to residents of the Third World due to the cost and necessary technology.

     Thankfully, this disparity will not cost residents of developing countries much longer. Doctors from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, led by Dr. Paul D. Blumenthal, worked with a prominent hospital in Thailand to conduct a 6,000-women study of a new procedure to detect and eliminate possible precancerous lesions on the cervix. The cervix is washed with 5% acetic acid - just common store-bought vinegar - which turns any potentially precancerous lesions (which may take 10 years or more to actually develop into cancer) white, and then looked at with a flashlight, or even the light from a bright window. Any white areas spotted are frozen with liquid carbon dioxide, which “kills cervical cancer virtually at birth.” In the study, 707 women were found to have visible white spots. Of “those who received cryogenic treatment on the spot and who returned for a one-year follow-up visit, 94 percent had no lesions a year later. None had a complication requiring hospitalization, 98 percent found the pain only mild or moderate, and more than 95 percent said they were satisfied with the procedure.”

     This procedure is remarkable and perfect for implementation in Third-World countries because it requires only one visit for both detection and treatment (which is ideal for poor residents living in rural areas), and requires only inexpensive materials. The technique was fine-tuned to suit the needs and the resources of developing countries specifically. As the article states “He [Dr. Blumenthal] even adapted it to use carbon dioxide as a freezing agent instead of the nitrous oxide used in the West. Carbon dioxide is much cheaper, gets almost as cold, and is readily available from any soda bottling plant, he said. Nearly every country in the world has a Coke or Pepsi bottling operation.” And most importantly, it is effective. Although the HPV vaccine has become available in the United States, it will take years before a cost-effective version reaches developing countries. This study proves that good biotechnology does not always produce the most advanced treatment, but the most applicable and available treatment for the target population, and that even the most simple procedures conducted with simple materials can save thousands of lives.