North Carolina’s new cervical cancer prevention law will help ensure that parents get the information they need about the disease, its causes and related vaccines, Sen. Katie Dorsett said today.

“It is our responsibility to make sure that families have the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their children’s health,” Dorsett said. “I am confident that this law will help prevent cancer through better awareness and education.”

Senate Bill 260 requires that information about cervical cancer, cervical dysplasia, human papillomaviris and vaccines available to prevent the disease be made available to public schools, private religious schools, qualified nonpublic schools and home schools.

The legislation, which was sponsored by Dorsett and received overwhelming support in the General Assembly before being signed into law this weekend, requires the information to be distributed to parents of children enrolled in public schools in grades 5 – 12 at the beginning of the school year.

Cervical cancer is the second leading cancer killer of women worldwide. The American Cancer Society records over 11,000 cases of invasive cervical cancer in the U.S. each year. About 4,000 American women die each year from this disease, which is caused primarily by Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV infects about 20 million people in the United States with 6.2 million new cases each year. There is no treatment for HPV, only treatment for related health problems such as cervical cancer.