Friday, 7 January 2011

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Jaime Winstone: Oral cancer can be caused by blow jobs

Actress Jaime Winstone explores the causes of oral cancer for new documentary

Jaime Winstone hopes more people will think about the consequences of oral sex

Jaime Winstone will be fronting a documentary about the dangers of oral cancer next week and she has some shocking news.

The programme aims to raise awareness of the aggressive disease and the gob-smacking fact that it's linked to oral sex.

'HPV is something in the skin, so oral cancer can be caused if you're passing bodily fluids through any type of oral sex, such as blow jobs...also kissing,' the 25-year-old actress tells Now.

'80% of us have HPV, but 1 in 10 of us don't have strong enough immune systems to fight it.

'For me, this documentary is about educating and understanding about the vaccine available, and looking at why young girls are offered it, but young men aren't.'

Jaime's intention is not to stop people from having oral sex - which would be a pretty tough challenge - but she does hope the programme, aired on Monday on BBC3, will make people think.

'I don't know if a 15-year-old boy would be like, "Right, I'm not
going to have oral sex"- that's completely unrealistic,' she accepts.

'Oral sex happens and I
think if people were more educated, then they would protect themselves more.'

This is a topic close to Jaime's heart because she recently lost one of her best friends to cancer.

'I dedicate the programme to Paul,' she explains, 'because he was an amazing inspiration on my life and I wanted to give something back.'

Is Oral Sex Safe? is on BBC Three on Monday 10 January at 9pm.