Extended Pill use linked to cancer

[Guest guest]

Amazing how the supposed " experts " can continue to tell women to continue

taking the pill in the face of so many studies over so many decades all

showing it to be cancer-causing (among other problems!). I wonder if this

Dr. Purdie would volunteer to take the male pill? After all, there

needs to be more research done to prove that to be dangerous too.

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Extended Pill use linked to cancer

By Leanne Edmistone

20May03

WOMEN who take the contraceptive pill long term could dramatically raise

their risk of breast cancer.

A Norwegian study found a 45 per cent risk increase in women who had been

taking the second-generation Pill for three years or more, and 10 per cent

for those taking it for fewer than three years.

Women who took the first-generation Pill had a 25 per cent higher risk if

they've been taking it for fewer than three years, and 21 per cent higher

risk for more than three years.

But Australian experts last night said the findings, printed in the

International Journal of Cancer, were not conclusive and women should not

panic or stop using oral contraception.

The Pill is the most commonly used contraceptive favoured by 40 per cent of

Australian women who use contraception, according to the Australian Bureau

of Statistics.

Queensland Institute of Medical Research epidemiologist Dr Purdie said

while the study's argument was " compelling " , more research needed to be done

before a clear link could be established between breast cancer and the Pill.

Dr Purdie said the study did not adequately account for factors proven in

previous research, most importantly the fact that the longer women left

having their first child, the higher the risk of breast cancer.

" This is very much related to the use of the Pill, " he said.

Dr Purdie and Cancer Council of Australia CEO Professor Alan Coates said the

benefits of the oral contraceptive pill, especially in protecting against

ovarian cancer, were more compelling than any perceived risk.

Researchers at the University of Tromso studied more than 95,000 women aged

30-70 years, and of these 851 were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

The study found women who took the third-generation pill were at no greater

risk of breast cancer, regardless of the length of time they took it.

The second-generation pill, introduced in the 1970s, contains lower doses of

oestrogen, which was blamed for increasing cancer risks, than the first

version, introduced in the 1960s.

Dr Purdie said the third generation Pill, introduced in Australia within the

past decade, contains only progestagen and a different type to that used in

conjunction with oestrogen in the second-generation Pill, which could

account for the lack of risk.

Meryl W. Dorey,

Editor

Informed Choice Magazine

PO Box 177 02 6687 2436 Phone

Bangalow NSW 2479 02 6687 2032 FAX

meryl@ <mailto:meryl@...> informedchoice.com.au

http://www. <http://www.informedchoice.com.au/> informedchoice.com.au